Bernhardt, Debra E.

Debra Bernhardt (1953-2001) was a labor historian and director of the Tamiment Library and the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University. She came to the Wagner Labor Archives at its beginning, in 1979, and was responsible for building its core collections of labor records and oral histories. Bernhardt was active in the Society of American Atchivists, the New York Labor History Association, the Oral History Association qand many other historical, archival and political organizations. Many the many projects she directed or participated in were book Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: A Pictorial History of Labor in New York City (with Rachel Bernstein, publ. 2000), a multipart radio series on political activism in New York produced for National Public Radio, and the effort to obtain National Historic Landmark status for Union Square.

From the description of Debra Bernhardt papers, 1978-2001. (New York University). WorldCat record id: 590568088

Begun in 1979, The New Yorkers at Work Oral History Collection is an ongoing series of interviews, conducted primarily by the staff of New York University's Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, that document the history of labor in the metropolitan area. The largest group of interviews were collected for the New Yorkers at Work: Oral Histories of Life, Labor, and Industry Curriculum Project. In 1980, with a grant from the New York Council for the Humanities, about 150 interviews were conducted with workers and union activists in industries representative of the city's economy. Eight documentary radio programs were produced from these interviews for broadcast over National Public Radio. Additional interviews were conducted by Archive staff to augment archival and manuscript collections; a few others were donated by researchers or students. The most extensive of these was a series of 15 interviews conducted by SUNY Old Westbury Labor Studies students of Professor Joe Harris-many of them with Long Island labor leaders.

From the guide to the New Yorkers at Work Oral History Collection, 1979-2000, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)

Oral history project conducted by Debra Bernhardt, student at the University of Michigan.

From the description of Debra E. Bernhardt transcripts, 1972-1975. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34423107

Born on May 9, 1953 in Fürth, Germany, Debra E. Bernhardt (an activist, archivist, and labor historian) was raised in Iron River, Michigan. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, her master's degree in history and archives management from Wayne State University in Detroit, and her doctorate from New York University in Public History (1988).

Bernhardt joined the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at its founding in 1979 and was largely responsible for building the archive in its early years. The Wagner Labor Archives was founded as a collaborative project between the New York City Central Labor Council, and the Tamiment Library to collect and preserve the historical records of the New York City trade-union movement and labor’s heritage nationally. She was the head of the Wagner Labor Archives from 1989 until her death on March 22, 2001. During this time she described her work as “documenting the undocumented,” and she helped to build a collection of material on New York workers’ struggle for basic labor rights, civil liberties, immigrant rights, racial and gender equality.

Bernhardt was involved in many broader projects related to labor history including getting New York City’s Union Square declared a National Historic Landmark in 1998 and serving as principal editor for Working Women’s Roots: An Oral History Primer . She was also involved in New Yorkers at Work an eight-part radio series funded by the New York Council for the Humanities that aired on National Public Radio in 1981, based on a collection of oral history interviews Bernhardt conducted and archived. Bernhardt co-authored the book Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: A Pictorial History of Working People in New York City (New York University Press, 2000), with oral historian Rachel Bernstein. The book “symbolizes her career-long commitment to archiving the records of the organizations, cultures, and politics of working people, of “ordinary” New Yorkers, and giving these people voice through oral histories and public programming.” Like the radio show before it, the book was the culmination of an extensive collaborative documentation process: for nearly two decades the title Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives (familiarly known as OPEL), described survey projects of extant records, conferences, oral history series, a report on labor records, and a series of increasingly complex exhibitions held at the Museum of the City of New York and elsewhere.

For her work she received numerous awards including the John Commerford Award for labor history documentation from the New York Labor History Association in 1995, the NSDAR (National Society of the Daughters of the Revolution) Award for Excellence in Community Service and Historic Preservation in 2000 and the Distinguished Service Award from the New York City Central Labor Council in 2001.

Sources:

Greene, Janet Wells. “The Making of a "Practical Radical": An Interview with Debra E. Bernhardt.” Radical History Review . Number 81, Fall 2001, pp. 136-151. Labor Arts (web page) - http://www.laborarts.org/about/dbernhardt.cfm Labour History News (web page) - http://labourhistory.net/news/i0103_20.php NYU Office of Public Affairs (web page ) http://www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/releases/detail/562 Walkowitz, Daniel J. “Debra E. Bernhardt: Activist, Archivist, Historian.” Radical History Review Number 81, Fall 2001, pp. 133-135.

From the guide to the Debra Bernhardt Office Files, 1978-2001, (Tamiment Library / Wagner Archives)