Search

The Union Settlement Association Records document a century of the settlement's activities, and provide a unique view of the first wave of the settlement movement in America. They document social conditions, demographic change, political activity, philanthropy and social work in East Harlem with a strong emphasis on the urban renewal period of the 1950s and '60s. The records include: annual reports, board minutes and committee files, headworker and executive director files, program reports, community organization files, and visual materials such as photographs, maps and architectural drawings.

The records include annual reports, correspondence, memos, minutes, program files, news clippings, administrative records and photographs. They document the agency from its origins in a committee led by the Lenox Hill Neighborhood Association to its work during the 1990s providing social services to thousands of East Side residents. The founding and early history of the Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center are best documented by minutes in Series II, showing the collaboration between the New York City Housing Authority and the Lenox Hill Neighborhood Association to establish the agency. They also offer the most comprehensive view of administrative, fundraising and program decisions from the early years to the 1990s. This series is supplemented by architectural drawings and plans for the community center in Series VI. Program records in Series V focus on the period 1980-90, with a few items from the 1960s and '70s. The agency's fundraising efforts are documented in Series III, which includes correspondence with foundations and individuals, donor lists and committee files.

Correspondence, manuscripts, subject files and research notes of Sigmund Diamond. Included among the correspondence are Diamond's letters to and from various distinguished members of Columbia University and other academic insitutions, as well as correspondence with many noted sociologists and historians. Included in the manuscripts is Diamond's "In Quest." The subject files comprise material from Diamond's tenure at Columbia and include some material pertaining to his forced departure from Harvard in the 1950's due to his previous communist affiliation, and his active role in maintaining the efficacy of the Freedom of Information Act. The research files include microfilms and notes.

Correspondence, manuscripts, playscripts, screenplays, diaries, documents, contracts, financial records, photographs, phonograph records, motion pictures, playbills, posters, sheet music, cartoons, art work, memorabilia, scrapbooks, and printed materials. . The collection consists chiefly of correspondence and production files relating to the creation, production, and performance of their works for stage, screen, radio, and television, such as Leave It To Me and Kiss Me Kate (with music by Cole Porter), Boy Meets Girl, and My Three Angels. Correspondence (with twentieth century authors, playwrights, musicians, political figures, and actors) includes: George Abbott, Jean Arthur, Bennett Cerf, Katharine Cornell, Jo Davidson, George and Ira Gershwin, Alec Guinness, W. Averell Harriman, Lilli Lehmann, Mary Martin, Laurence Olivier, Mary Pickford, Cole Porter, Regina Resnick, Eleanor Roosevelt, Robert E. Sherwood, Lincoln Steffens, Kurt Weill, Rebecca West, and Thornton Wilder. There is also correspondence concerning Bella Spewack's work with the New York Girls' Scholarship, UNRA, and the Sports Center of Israel. In addition to the production files, there are manuscripts and typescript drafts for novels, short stories, and articles by the Spewacks.

Correspondence, manuscripts, notes, technical reports, memoranda, questionnaires, interview schedules, personal and professional documents, several photographs, one tape recording, and printed materials. The correspondence files contain letters to colleagues and researchers such as Bernard Berelson, Robert Lynd, Robert Merton, and Frank Stanton. The subject files document Lazarsfeld's many research projects such as the Admissions Officers Project, 1964-1970, the Planning Project for Advanced Training in Social Research, 1950-1955, and his first major endeavor, the Princeton Radio Research Project, 1937-1940. There are complete records for his 1954-1955 study on McCarthyism's effect on college teaching. These original materials consisting of correspondence, interview schedules, and questionnaires contain many detailed comments which could not be included in the published version of this study, THE ACADEMIC MIND (1958). Numerous files relate to Lazarsfeld's position as Associate Director of the Bureau of Applied Social Research (BASR). There are manuscripts of books, research papers, lectures, and articles by Lazarsfeld as well as by his students and colleagues.