Carl Blum Papers
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Historical/Biographical Note
Carl Blum was born in Brooklyn and joined Local 1511 of the International Brotherhood of Painters in 1945. He got a job as a woodfinisher at Bergen Cabinet. He was first appointed by the members to participate in contract negotiations in 1950, and he soon became a spokesman for the hardwood finishers in Brooklyn and Queens.
In 1962, Blum attended a protest meeting where painters from the various locals aired their grievances. At this meeting he met Frank Schonfeld, a leader of the opposition movement in the District Council of Painters, and they made common cause. As the leader of the Hardwood Finishers Club, one of many rank-and-file groups organizing within the Painters' union, Blum participated in the various efforts to oust the union's leadership.
These efforts escalated in 1966 after the indictment of one union leader for bribery and extortion. A government-supervised election was held in which Blum and others from the opposition in the District Council ran their own candidates. Frank Schonfeld was elected, and he appointed Carl Blum as his Administrative Aide. Schonfeld fired Blum in 1971 and he eventually became a General Representative for the International.
Scope and Contents
The select collection of papers, annotated by Blum, contains correspondence, flyers, legal documents, reports, bulletins and newspapers which relate to Blum's activity within District Council 9 and as an International Representative. These include the organizing activity and litigation concerning the Hardwood Finishers, the Schonfeld-Blum alliance and split, the 1967 and 1977-79 Trusteeships in District Council 9, opposition election literature written by Carl Blum and other opponents, documents on Local Union 490, the Paperhangers' Local, the Pension Plan, 1981 Special Trusteeship in District Council 4, Buffalo, Local Union 1815, Long Island, news clippings on corruption within the Painters, and copies of "The Constitutionalist", a rank-and-file opposition newspaper directed at the International.
INVENTORY AVAILABLE IN REPOSITORY; CONTACT : tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Carl Blum were transferred to New York University in 1993 by Carl Blum. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu, (212) 998-2630.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Carl Blum, 1993. The accession number associated with this gift is 1993.013.