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August Claessens Papers, 1906-1963

Title: August Claessens Papers 1906-1963

August Claessens was a leading educational and political figure in the Socialist Party. In the fall of 1917, Claessens was elected to the New York State Assembly, as a representative of one of Manhattan's Lower East Side assembly districts, and was one of five socialist assemblymen who the Assembly refused to seat after their 1919 reelections. In 1922, Claessens was allowed to take office after being re-elected for the third time. In the mid-1930s Claessens withdrew from the Socialist Party and became the executive secretary and, later, the national chairman of the Social Democratic Federation. Claessens held the position of national chairman until his death in 1954, and also ran unsuccessfully for a number of local and state offices. Claessens taught a variety of subjects at the Rand School of Social Science from the mid-1920s until his death in 1954, including public speaking, psychology, race relations, labor-management relations, socialist theory, politics, anthropology, and sex and society. Claessens also served as an instructor in several evening schools sponsored by various New York City labor unions. The collection contains manuscripts, lecture notes, correspondence, photographs, clippings, and printed ephemera.

ArchivalResource: 2.25 linear feet; in 5 manuscript boxes and 2 folders

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