Harry Fleischman Papers
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Abstract
Harry Fleischman was a lifelong labor and socialist activist. His activities in the Socialist Party included serving as National Chairman of the Red Falcons, regional director of the Indiana-Illinois Socialist Party, and campaign manager for Norman Thomas's presidential campaigns in 1944 and 1948. These experiences informed his book, Norman Thomas: A Biography, published by W.W. Norton in 1964. Fleischman also worked as the labor and political editor of the Voice of America, as the director of labor and race relations at the American Jewish Committee, and was a board member of the Workers Defense League. This collection contains correspondence, typescripts, testimony, transcripts, scrapbooks, memos, photographs and research files. The research files pertain to Fleischman's Norman Thomas biography and to an uncompleted film project on Thomas.
Historical/Biographical Note
Harry Fleischman, a lifelong labor and socialist activist, was born in 1914 and as a teenager joined the Washington Heights "circle" of the Young People's Socialist League. His activities in the Socialist Party included serving as National Chairman of the Red Falcons (1936), regional director of the Indiana-Illinois Socialist Party (1942-1950), and campaign manager for Norman Thomas's presidential campaigns in 1944 and 1948. These experiences informed his book, Norman Thomas: A Biography, published by W.W. Norton in 1964.
He worked as labor and political editor of the Voice of America (1951-53), becoming an authority on Soviet slave labor. As director of labor and race relations at the American Jewish Committee (1953-1979), he wrote the syndicated column "Let's Be Human", distributed to over 2,300 union, Black, ethnic, and religious groups.
In the 1970s, Fleischman served as executive director of the National Alliance for Safer Cities, a community crime prevention and criminal justice reform coalition of over 50 national organizations.
Long concerned with full employment and job equality, he conducted a survey of fair contract compliance in 1968 which led to New York Mayor John Lindsay's Executive Order 71, to promote affirmative action for fair employment by city contractors. He was a board member of the Workers Defense League, a nonprofit worker advocacy organization, starting in 1963 and was the chair from 1981 until shortly before his death in 2004.
Arrangement
Series I has not been arranged by an archivist. Series II is arranged in alphabetical order.
The collections is arranged into tewo series:
Series I: Inventory, 1905-1994
Series II: Photographs and Ephemera, 1905-1989
Scope and Content Note
This collection contains correspondence, typescripts, testimony, transcripts, scrapbooks, memos, photographs and research files. The research files pertain to Fleischman's Norman Thomas biography and to an uncompleted film project on Thomas. From another uncompleted book project, there are transcripts of interviews with socialists. There is also material pertaining to the celebration of Norman Thomas's 80th birthday, various materials pertaining to Fleischman's socialist activities, including a sketch of "Didn't we have fun" for a reunion of the Young People's Socialist League, and memos to area directors of the AJC. Over seven hundred photographs document Harry Fleischman, Norman Thomas and their respective families.
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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 Harry Fleischman was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Harry Fleischman Papers; TAM 115; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Harry Fleischman, 1990. The accession numbers associated with this gift are 1990.017, 1990.018, NPA 1997.014, and NPA 2000.230.
Additional materials were found in repository; provenance is unknown. The accession numbers associated with these materials are 1990.019, 2005.004, and 2014.030.
Separated Materials
Approximately two hundred and seventy political buttons were separated to the Tamiment/Wagner Button Collection (BUTTONS 001).
About this Guide
Processing Information
Photographs separated from this collection during processing were established as a separate collection, the Harry Fleischman Photographs (PHOTOS 153). In 2014, the photograph collection was reincorporated into the Harry Fleischman Papers (TAM 115). These materials can be found in Series II: Photographs and Ephemera.
