Tamiment Institute Records
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
The Tamiment Institute was founded in 1935 as the educational arm of the People's Educational Camp Society (PECS), which owned and operated Camp Tamiment, an educational and recreational summer resort (originally) for socialists and their families near Bushkill, in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. The Institute organized lectures, conferences and seminars, essay contests, and book awards at the Camp and in New York City. The Collection contains clippings, correspondence, conference and seminar papers, essays, programs, administrative and financial records, and photographs.
Historical/Biographical Note
The Tamiment Institute was founded in 1935 as the educational arm of the People's Educational Camp Society (PECS), which owned and operated Camp Tamiment, originally a resort for socialists. The Institute organized lectures, an annual conference (1930s-40s) that focused on labor, industrial relations and related issues, seminars, an annual essay contest for college students, an annual book award (beginning in 1950), and concerts. These activities took place at the Camp and in New York City. The seminars featured prominent liberal and social-democratic intellectuals of the day, and were jointly sponsored with Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences, from 1958 to 1962. Topics included the Cold War, the city, and mass culture. Upon the 1956 closure and absorption of the Rand School of Social Science (a New York City school for workers and socialists, with close ties with the American socialist movement, founded in 1906) by PECS, the Institute undertook the reorganization of the Rand School's Meyer London Memorial Library, reopened in 1957 as the Tamiment Institute Library, which it then donated it to New York University in 1963. In 1960 the Institute established the quarterly periodical Labor History. The Institute also published the New Leader, successor to the New York Call.
Arrangement
The records are organized into three series:
I. Records
II. Photographs
III. Addendum: Administrative and Financial Records and Correspondence (Unprocessed)
Folders are arranged in alphabetical order by title within the processed portion of the collection; unprocessed materials have not been arranged by archivist.
Scope and Contents
Contains correspondence, documents, and a small number of photographs relating to the Tamiment Institute's various activities, including its annual conferences, book awards, and essay contest for college students. The collection also includes adminstrative and financial records for the Institute.
Subjects
Organizations
Genres
People
Topics
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by the Tamiment Institute, was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Tamiment Institute Records; TAM 007.004; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by the People's Educational Camp Society, 1963. The accession numbers associated with this gift are 1963.003, 1963.011, and 2010.103.
A List of Donations Made by Robert D. Bloom in Memory of Louis P. Goldberg was found in the repository. The accession number associated with this material is 2014.047.
Custodial History
The Tamiment Institute Records were transferred to New York University in 1963 by the People's Educational Camp Society (later renamed the Tamiment Institute), as part of a larger transfer of records of the Rand School of Social Science and of organizations associated with the founding and maintenance of the School (including the American Socialist Society, The Society of the Commonwealth Center, and the People's Educational Camp Society) as well as the contents of the School's library, the Meyer London Memorial Library. Additional records were donated in later years, whose likely source is the New York City law firm of Vladeck, Waldman, Elias & Engelhard.
A List of Donations Made by Robert D. Bloom in Memory of Louis P. Goldberg was found in the repository. The accession number associated with this material is 2014.047.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Photographs from this collection were established as a separate collection, Tamiment Institute Photographs (PHOTOS 195). In January 2014, this photographs collection was reincorporated into the Tamiment Institute Records (TAM 007.4).
Repository
Series I: Records, 1935-1972, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
Series I contains correspondence relating to the Tamiment Institute's various activities, including its annual conferences, notably one that established the journal Labor History, transcripts of conference and seminar papers, entries from the annual essay contest for college students, material relating to the institute's annual book awards, brochures and programs, clippings, and administrative and financial records. The principal correspondents are the successive educational directors of the Tamiment Institute: William E. Bohn, Ben Blaker, and Norman Jacobs, whose correspondence includes exchanges with prominent intellectuals, labor leaders and educators, socialists, journalists, and political figures, mostly concerning their possible or actual participation in Institute-sponsored events and activities. There is also some correspondence of successive Camp Tamiment Directors Bertha Mailly and Ben Josephson, as well as correspondence related to the 50th Anniversary of the New Leader. Conference/seminar papers include those by Bernard Berenson, Bruno Bettelheim, Erik Erikson, Oscar Handlin, Sidney Hook, Hans J. Morgenthau, Ernest Nagel, Reinhold Niebuhr, Talcott Parsons, and Leo Rosten.
Bohn, William E.: "A Short Snappy Biography" (typescript), undated
Book Award (3rd: 1952), 1952, inclusive
Book Award (4th: 1953), 192-1953, inclusive
Book Award (5th: 1954), 1953-1954, inclusive
Book Award (6th: 1955), 1954-1955, inclusive
Book Award (7th: 1956), 1956, inclusive
Book Award (8th: 1957), 1957
Book Award (9th: 1958), 1958, inclusive
Camp Tamiment: Brochures, 1958-1960, inclusive
Camp Tamiment Mortgage: Correspondence, 1939, inclusive
Camp Tamiment Town Meeting Series, 1941, inclusive
Chamber Music Festivals: Pamphlets and Posters, 1953-1957, inclusive
Clippings, 1941-1942, 1950, inclusive
Correspondence, 1926, 1947-1948, inclusive
Correspondence, 1949, inclusive
Correspondence, 1951, 1956, inclusive
Correspondence: Waldman & Waldman, Attorney, 1954, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Mass Culture, 1959, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Mass Culture: Correspondence, 1958, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Mass Culture: Correspondence, 1959, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Mass Culture: Minutes, 1959 Jun, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Mass Culture: Papers, 1959 Mar, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Mass Culture: Papers, Drafts, 1959 Jun, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Mass Culture: Related Magazines and Pamphlets, 1959, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on the Metropolis: Correspondence, 1960-1961, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on the Metropolis: Minutes, 1960, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on the Metropolis: Papers, Drafts, 1960 Jun, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Youth: Correspondence, 1960, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Youth: Correspondence, 1962, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on Youth: Papers, Drafts, 1961, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on United States Foreign Policy, 1962, inclusive
Daedalus and Tamiment Institute Seminar on United States Foreign Policy: Draft Texts, 1962 May, inclusive
Essay Contest (1st), 1946-1947, inclusive
Essay Contest (1st) Correspondence Regarding Eligibility and Certification of Contestants, 1947, inclusive
Essay Contest (1st) Essays, 1947, inclusive
Essay Contest (1st) Evaluation Material, 1947, inclusive
Essay Contest (1st) Log, 1947, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd), 1947, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Correspondence: Postcards, 1947-1948, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Correspondence Relating To Information And Entry-Blanks, 1947 Jan-1947 Feb, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Correspondence Relating To Information And Entry-Blanks, 1948 Jan, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Correspondence Relating To Information And Entry-Blanks, 1948 Feb, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Correspondence Relating To Information And Entry-Blanks, 1948 Mar-1948 Apr, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Correspondence Relating To Information And Entry-Blanks, 1948 May-1948 Dec, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Evaluation Materials, 1948, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Log, 1947-1948, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Non-Prize Winning Essays/1, 1948, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Non-Prize Winning Essays/2, 1948, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Prize Winning Essays, 1948, inclusive
Essay Contest (2nd) Reports, 1948, inclusive
Essay Contest (4th) Correspondence, 1956, inclusive
Essay Contests: Bulletins and Publicity Materials, 1946-1948, inclusive
Financial, 1972-1974, inclusive
Forum on Communism in the Twentieth Century, 1956, inclusive
Forum on Marxism Correspondence, 1958 Nov-1959 Mar
Forum on American Foreign Policy – Minutes, 1958 Feb 26, inclusive
Josephson, Ben Yearbook (Calendar), 1963, inclusive
Labor Archives of the Tamiment Library at NYU: Correspondence, 1964-1968, inclusive
Labor History Conference: Correspondence, 1958, inclusive
Labor History: Correspondence, 1958, inclusive
Labor History: Correspondence, 1959-1962, inclusive
Lecture Series: Correspondence, 1955-1956, inclusive
Lecture Series: Correspondence, 1957-1959, inclusive
Lee, Algernon: Life Insurance Policy – Correspondence, 1954, inclusive
Lee, Algernon: Obituaries, 1954 Jan, inclusive
List of Donations Made by Robert D. Bloom in Memory of Louis P. Goldberg, circa 1938
Meyer London Memorial Library, 1948, inclusive
National Labor Conference (1st), 1935, inclusive
National Labor Conference (2nd), 1936, inclusive
New Leader: Loan to 50th Anniversary of, 1973, inclusive
Rand School: Winter Ball, 1921, inclusive
Seminar on Education: Clippings, 1958, inclusive
Seminar on Education: Correspondence, 1958, inclusive
Seminar on Education – Papers: Arthur Bestor, Douglas Bush, John Childs, Sidney Hook, Hans J. Morgenthau, 1958 Jun, inclusive
Seminar on Education: Partial Transcript, 1958 Jun, inclusive
String Quartet Composition Award: Correspondence, 1953-1955, inclusive
String Quartet Composition Award: Correspondence, 1956-1957, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (4th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1938, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (5th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1938 Sep-1939 Jul, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (6th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1940 Apr-1940 May, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (6th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1940 May-1940 Jun, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (7th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1941 Feb-1941 Jun 19, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (7th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1941 Jun 20-1941 Jun 27, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (8th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1942 Mar-1942 Jul, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (9th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1943 May-1943 Jul, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (9th) – Labor Union Attendance: Correspondence and Other Materials, 1943 May-1943 Jun, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (10th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1944 Apr-1944 Aug, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (10th) – Labor Union Attendance: Correspondence and Other Materials, 1944 Mar-1944 Aug, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (11th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1945 May-1945 Jul, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (12th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1946 Apr-1946 Jun, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (12th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1946 Jun 20-1946 Jun 28, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (13th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1947 Jun 6-1947 Jun 24, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (14th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1948 Apr-1948 May, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Conference (14th): Correspondence and Other Materials, 1948 Jun, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Library: Reports, 1957-1959, inclusive
Tamiment Institute Publications, Requests for, Invoices, etc., 1955-1961, inclusive
The Sandpiper (Sandyville School children's newsletter), 1935, inclusive
Vladeck, Baruch Charney Biography: Grant to Franklin Jonas, 1972, inclusive
Series II. Photographs, 1950-1958, undated, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
Series II consists of black and white photographs that include images of the Tamiment Institute's annual book award ceremonies, of 1950 (to Rupert Hughes for his fictionalized biography of Samuel Gompers "The Giant Awakes"), 1951 (to Ethel Waters, for her autobiography, "His Eye Is On The Sparrow), 1953 (Carl Sandberg, for "Always the Young Strangers"), and 1958 (to John Kenneth Galbraith for "The Affluent Society"), at Camp Tamiment in Bushkill, Pennsylvania and at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Besides the authors being honored, photographs include Marx Lewis, Daniel Bell, Harry Laidler, Ben Josephson, and Eugene Lyons. Some were shot by Camp Tamiment photographer "Snappy" Lewis Goren. There are also shots of of unidentified lectures or seminars and classical music performances at Camp Tamiment circa the 1950s.
Tamiment Institute - Photographs, 1950-1958, inclusive
Loose photograph of Perry Como and child, undated
Series III. Addendum: Administrative and Financial Records and Correspondence (Unprocessed), 1970s-1990s, undated, inclusive
Scope and Content Note
Series III consists of administrative and financial records, and correspondence from 1970s through the 1990s.
