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Guide to the National Maritime Union and Seafarers International Union Reference Files WAG.267

National Maritime Union and Seafarers International Union Reference Files

Call Number

WAG.267

Dates

1878-1981, 2007-ongoing, inclusive
; 1937-1969, bulk

Creator

Seafarers International Union of North America
Seafarers International Union of North America (Role: Donor)

Extent

4.5 Linear Feet
(5 boxes)

Extent

2 websites
in 2 archived websites.

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

In monitoring their chief rival, the National Maritime Union (NMU), the Seafarers International Union (SIU) collected newspaper clippings on the NMU, as well as material written by and about its president, Joseph Curran. Material on the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor (WCNYH), established in 1953 to investigate, deter, and remedy criminal activity and oversee fair hiring practice in New York Harbor, was also included. These reference files contain photocopies of clippings from the NMU Pilot, a quarterly publication, and from national papers such as the New York Times, San Francisco Call Bulletin, and New York World Telegram, many of them following Curran's career and documenting charges of fraud and racketeering on the New York City waterfront. The collection also includes files on the SIU, containing clippings and other historical material on the union and its presidents, Paul Hall and Frank Drozak.

Historical/Biographical Note

The Historical Research Department of the Seafarers International Union (SIU) kept extensive files on Joseph Curran, president of the NMU from 1937 until his death in 1981. "Big Joe" Curran, then an inactive member of the conservative International Seaman's Union, founded the Seaman's Defense Committee during a wildcat strike in 1936 on the Panama Pacific Line's S.S. California. The Committee was renamed the National Maritime Union in 1937, and Curran became its first president. He served as a vice-president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and ran for Congress on the American Labor Party ticket in 1940. After the second World War Curran took a major role in ridding the NMU of Communist-influenced officials and vigorously used the collective bargaining process to advance his union's agenda. In addition to national press coverage of the NMU, the SIU kept clippings of Curran's quarterly column in the NMU Pilot.

In addition to the NMU and Curran material, the SIU collected historical information, publications and clippings relating to its own activities and its president from 1957, Paul Hall. Hall, a staunch anti-Communist, defended his union against racketeers in the 1940s and 1950s and the encroachment of Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters in the 1960s. He was instrumental in the passing of the Energy Transportation Security Act of 1977. Also included are records of Hall's successor, Frank Drozak, SIU president from 1980 until his death in 1988.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically by topic.

Organized into 2 series:

  1. I, Clippings, 1878-1981
  2. II, Archived Websites, 2007-ongoing

Scope and Content Note

The Seafarers International Union of North America (SIU) reference files on the National Maritime Union (NMU) consist almost entirely of newspaper clippings from the NMU Pilot, a quarterly publication, and from national papers such as the New York Times, Boston Globe, and San Francisco Call Bulletin -- many of them following Joseph Curran's career and documenting charges of fraud and racketeering on the New York City waterfront. Of particular interest are the files of Curran's column in the NMU Pilot between 1937 and 1969. The Curran columns are organized by date, but subject headings (provided by the SIU staff) are included at the top of each photocopy. Also of note are folders containing background information on the SIU and its leadership, the SIU pamphlet, "How to get a Job on an Unorganized Ship" and a photocopy of "Seafarers Organizers Handbook" (SIU). Clippings from 1956 and 1963 document the work of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor (WCNYH).

The collection also contains the archived website for the Seafarers International Union, dating from 2007.

Subjects

Organizations

Genres

People

Topics

Places

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; National Maritime Union and Seafarers International Union Reference Files; WAG 267; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

To cite the archived website in this collection: Identification of item, date; National Maritime Union and Seafarers International Union Reference Files; WAG 267; Wayback URL; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by the Seafarers International Union, 1982. The accession number associated with this gift is 1982.006.

http://www.seafarers.org/ was initially selected by curators and captured through the use of The California Digital Library's Web Archiving Service in 2007 as part of the Labor Unions and Organizations (U.S.) Web Archive. In 2015, this website was migrated to Archive-It. Archive-It uses web crawling technology to capture websites at a scheduled time and displays only an archived copy, from the resulting WARC file, of the website. In 2019, http://seafarerslog.org/ was added to the web archive. The accession number associated with this website is 2020.010.

Take Down Policy

Archived websites are made accessible for purposes of education and research. NYU Libraries have given attribution to rights holders when possible; however, due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to identify this information.

If you hold the rights to materials in our archived websites that are unattributed, please let us know so that we may maintain accurate information about these materials.

If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material on this website for which you have not granted permission (or is not covered by a copyright exception under US copyright laws), you may request the removal of the material from our site by submitting a notice, with the elements described below, to the special.collections@nyu.edu.

Please include the following in your notice: Identification of the material that you believe to be infringing and information sufficient to permit us to locate the material; your contact information, such as an address, telephone number, and email address; a statement that you are the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed and that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and made under penalty of perjury; and your physical or electronic signature. Upon receiving a notice that includes the details listed above, we will remove the allegedly infringing material from public view while we assess the issues identified in your notice.

Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

The following collections contain materials related to the National Maritime Union and Seafarers International Union Reference Files:

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Moving Images Collection (FILMS 001);

John Gladstone Papers (WAG 146);

International Longshoremen's Association: Reference Files of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union (WAG 055);

Marine Workers Historical Collection (TAM 125);

Marine Workers Oral History Collection (OH 030);

Clarence Reed Papers (WAG 015);

Randall B. (Pete) Smith: Maritime Radicalism Collection (TAM 203);

Henry Spira: National Maritime Union Rank and File Collection (TAM 418).

Collection processed by

Elizabeth Du Rocher, Hillel Arnold and Gail Malmgreen, 2007

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-12-18 14:50:57 -0500.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English.

Processing Information

In 2020, the archived webites for the Seafarers International Union was added as Series II.

Revisions to this Guide

January 2020: edited by Nicole Greenhouse to reflect additional administrative information and added archived websites
November 2021: Updated by Anna Bjornsson McCormick to change the title of Series I to reflect contents.
December 2023: Updated by Rachel Mahre to add to the Related Materials note.

Edition of this Guide

NUM and SIU Ref Files of the SIU Wag #267.doc

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012
https://library.nyu.edu/locations/special-collections-center/