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Jacob Lofman Papers

Call Number

TAM.285

Date

1928-1998, inclusive

Creator

Horowitz, Helen (Role: Donor)
Lofman, Jacob

Extent

1.5 Linear Feet in 1 record carton and 1 manuscript box.

Language of Materials

Materials are in English, Yiddish and Hebrew.

Abstract

Jacob Lofman (1911-2002) was a Polish-born photojournalist who maintained a lifelong interest in Jewish history and culture, and was involved with organizations devoted to Socialist Zionism and various forms of socialism. His photographic work appeared in many mass-market magazines, and was distributed for many years by the agency, PIX, Inc. The collection consists of personal and political correspondence, reports, newsletters, bulletins, memorial programs, flyers, and drafts of articles. A few items, mostly correspondence, relate to his work as a photographer.

Historical/Biographical Note

Jacob Lofman (1911-2002) was a Polish-born photojournalist who maintained a lifelong interest in Jewish history and culture, and was involved with organizations devoted to Socialist Zionism and various forms of socialism (including, for some years, Trotskyism). His photographic work appeared in many mass-market magazines, and was distributed for many years by the agency, PIX, Inc.

He was born on August 31, 1911 in Poland and apparently joined the Socialist Zionist organization, Hashomer Hatzair at an early age. He continued his membership in the group in the U.S. and wrote for its New York-based publication, Hashomer Hatzair. After emigrating to the United States he became a professional photographer; his work was widely distributed through the agency PIX, Inc. Among the many celebrities he photographed were Robert Frost and Sugar Ray Robinson, and one of his photographs was included in the historic "Family of Man" Exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in 1955. He and his wife, Rivke, had no children.

He read widely in Jewish culture and socialist politics, in several languages, and was associated with a number of socialist groups and parties in the U.S. He was a follower of Max Shachtman by the late 1930s and was a member of Shachtman's Workers Party in the 40s; he resigned from the Party, following a dispute with Shachtman, ca. 1948. He became involved with the Socialist Party in the 1950s, with Michael Harrington's Democratic Socialists of America in the 1960s and 70s, and eventually with Social Democrats, USA. He continued to read widely in left political literature, was a speaker on left and Jewish themes, and wrote for a number of newspapers, journals and newsletters over the years.

Arrangement

Organized into one series: 1. General Files, 1928-1998. Files are arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of personal and political correspondence; reports, newsletters, bulletins, memorial programs and flyers relating to the many left-wing organizations that Lofman was associated with, or interested in; some drafts of articles and translations that were sent to him by friends, or sent for his editorial attention; and a few items, mostly correspondence, related to his work as a photographer. Included are a few translations of articles by Polish dissidents, and some correspondence and printed items relating to left-wing politics in Israel.

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Jacob Lofman were transferred to New York University in 2002 by Helen Horowitz. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Jacob Lofman Papers; TAM 285; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Helen Horowitz in 2002. The accession number associated with this gift is 2002.017.

Collection processed by

Gail Malmgreen and Daniel Michelson, 2010

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:27:58 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

General Files, 1928-1998

AFL-CIO: Tom Kahn Mailings, undated; 1974-1977, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Appeal Bulletin (James T. Burnett), No. 12-13, Jun 1985-Nov 1986, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Appeal to Reason Bulletin (James T. Burnett), No. 5-6, Jun-Sep 1983, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Appeal to Reason Bulletin (James T. Burnett), No. 9, Sep 1984, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Appeal to Reason (James T. Burnett): Correspondence, 1989; 1993-1994; 1996; undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Appeal to Reason Newsletter (James T. Burnett), Vol. I, No. 1-7, Feb-Aug 1986, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Appeal to Reason Newsletter (James T. Burnett), Vol. II, No. 4-5, Apr-May 1987, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Appeal to Reason Newsletter (James T. Burnett), Vol. II, No. 9-10, Oct-Nov 1986, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Articles: Labor, general, 1959; undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Articles: Left Politics, general, 1968-1985; 1996; undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

B'nai B'rith Bugle (Lake Success Lodge and Chapter), Vol. 6, No. 7, Mar 1970, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

B'nai B'rith: Lofman Talk, [1974?], inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Brown, Irving: "Alternatives to Wars of Attrition: The Role of Democratic Forces in a Political Solution" (National Information Strategy Center), 1971, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 13 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Bulletin (Albert Gates, et al.), Apr 12, 1943, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 14 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

The Bulletin (George Marlen and J. C. Hunter; published by Red Star Press), Mar 1943, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 15 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Bulletin [includes J. R. Johnson], Apr 1943, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 16 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Bulletin on the National Question (Albert Gates, et al.), undated

Box: 1, Folder: 17 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Bulletin on the Negro Question (David Coolidge), undated

Box: 1, Folder: 18 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Business Cards (Jacob Lofman), undated

Box: 1, Folder: 19 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Committee in Support of Solidarity, 1982, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 20 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1961-1965, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 21 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1969, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 22 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1970, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 23 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1971, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 24 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1972, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 25 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1973, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 26 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1974, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 27 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1975, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 28 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1976, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 29 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1977, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 30 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1978, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 31 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1979, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 32 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1980, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 33 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1981, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 34 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1982, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 35 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1983, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 36 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1984, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 37 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1985, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 38 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1986, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 39 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1987-1988, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 40 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1989, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 41 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1990-1991, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 42 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1992-1993, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 43 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1994-1995, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 44 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 1996-1997, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 45 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, 2000, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 46 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, undated

Box: 1, Folder: 47 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, Outgoing, 1973, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 48 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, Outgoing, 1975, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 49 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, Outgoing, 1978, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 50 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Correspondence, Outgoing, undated

Box: 1, Folder: 51 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee/Democratic Socialists of America, 1981, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 52 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee/Democratic Socialists of America, undated

Box: 1, Folder: 53 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Democratic Socialists of America: New York, 1991; 1995-1996, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 54 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Falk, Julius: Leninism, the Comintern and Putschism (pamphlet), 1959, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 55 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Fourth Internationalist Tendency, 1986, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 56 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Frost, Robert: Publishers Correspondence re: Lofman Photos of, 1974, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 57 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Furmansky, Moshe (Hashomer Hatzair): Memorial Tribute, undated

Box: 1, Folder: 58 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Glotzer, Albert: Biographical Sketches (Martin Abern, Albert Goldman, and Ernest Rice McKinney), undated

Box: 1, Folder: 59 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Glotzer, Albert: Letter to Jacob Lofman, Jun 14, 1979, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 60 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Hashomer Hatzair issue includes "Toward a Greater Zionism" by Yaakov Lofman, Oct 1935, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 60a (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Institute for Democratic Socialism, 1990-1995, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 61 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

International Socialist League, undated

Box: 1, Folder: 62 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Jews for Peace and Equality, undated

Box: 1, Folder: 63 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Kahn, Tom: Obituary (Washington Post), 1992, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 64 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Labor Solidarity Network of Greater New York, 1987; undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 65 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

League for Industrial Democracy, 1970; undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 66 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Lofman, Helen: Funeral, 1999, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 67 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

MAPAM: Meir Yaari, "Theses toward the Third Convention of MAPAM", 1957, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 68 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

MAPAM: Peretz Merchav and Yosef Shatil Statements, [c. 1957?], inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 69 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

McKinney, Ernest Rice: 90th Birthday and Memorial, 1976; 1984, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 70 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Memorial Gatherings: Michael Harrington and Sidney Hook, 1989, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 71 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Milstein, Tom: "Contemporary Threats to the Open Society" (typescript copy), undated

Box: 1, Folder: 72 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Notes (in Hebrew), undated

Box: 1, Folder: 73 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

PIX, inc.: Sale of, 1970, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 74 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Passover Haggadah, 1987, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 75 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

The Real World (Marathon Group), No. 6 (Tom Milstein, et al.), May 1979, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 76 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, [early 1980s], inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 77 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

School Notebooks (Jacob Lofman, in Yiddish and Polish), 1928-1930, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 78 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Sedova, Natalia: Statement for Radio Liberation (recorded in Mexico), [1956?], inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 79 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Shachtman, Max: Statements about (Gordon Haskell, Albert Glotzer, Mordecai Povzea, and unsigned), 1986, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 80 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Social Democrats of New York, 1981; 1985; undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 81 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Social Democrats, USA, 1980-1987, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 82 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Social Democrats, USA, undated

Box: 1, Folder: 83 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Socialist Party/Young People's Socialist League, 1961-1971, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 84 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation, 1962, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 85 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Socialist Party-Democratic Socialist Federation, 1970-1972; undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 86 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Socialist Party-Democratic Socialist Federation Convention, Dec 1972, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 87 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Socialist Workers Party, 1939, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 88 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Socialist Workers Party, Jan 1940, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 89 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Socialist Workers Party, Feb 1940, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 90 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Socialist Workers Party, Mar 1940, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 91 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Socialist Workers Party, Apr 1940; undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 92 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Solidarity/Against the Current, 1990; undated, inclusive

Box: 1, Folder: 93 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Tool and Die Makers Lodge 113, International Association of Machinists: House Un-American Activities Committee Hearing (Memorandum and Albert Dency Testimony), 1959, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Translation from Hebrew: Yosef Barzilai, "Jerusalem, August 1929", 1965, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Translations from Polish: Andrzej Stawar, "Glosses: The Break", undated

Box: 2, Folder: 3 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Translations from Polish: Interviews with Jacek Kuron, 1981, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 4 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Translations from Polish: Irena Born, "The Rehabilitation of the K. P. P.", 1956, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 5 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Translations from Polish: Rajmund Habermass, "The Mole's Disaster - K. P. P.", undated

Box: 2, Folder: 6 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

The Trotsky School of Falsification, Part One (Red Star Press), 1942, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 7 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Commemorations, Metropolitan Synagogue, 1989; 1998, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 8 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party, 1940, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 9 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party, 1941, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 10 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Bulletin, No. 6, Jan 1941, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 11 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Bulletin, No. 8, Apr 1941, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 12 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Bulletin, No. 9, May 1941, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 13 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Bulletin, No. 10: Convention Discussion, Aug 1941, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 14 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Bulletin, No. 11: Convention Discussion, Sep 1941, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 15 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Educational Bulletin, Jul 1942, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 16 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Information Bulletin, No. 9, Jun 12, 1940, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 17 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Supplement to Information Bulletin No. 8, 1940, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 18 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Internal Bulletin, No. 3-5, Aug-Nov 1940, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 19 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: National Educational Bulletin, No. 1, Nov 1940, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 20 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: New York Local, 1940, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 21 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: New York Local, City Convention Bulletin, 1940-1941, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 22 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Party: Trotsky Memorial Meeting, 1941, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 23 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Yale Socialist Notes (with letter from Phil Dauman), 1970, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 24 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Young Social Democrats, 1982; 1984; undated, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 25 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Youth Committee for Peace and Democracy in the Middle East, 1970-1973, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 26 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Clippings (mostly Yiddish) I, 1960s-1970s, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 27 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Clippings (mostly Yiddish) II, 1960s-1970s, inclusive

Box: 2, Folder: 28 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Photographs, undated

Box: 2, Folder: 29 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012