Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

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)

This is an expanding artificial collection originally known as the Tamiment Library / Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives General Photograph Collection. Apart from the material transferred to the Library’s vertical files, the collection holds photographic images that complement, but are not part of or do not fit into the scope of the Library’s other holdings.

From the guide to the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Labor and Radicalism Photograph Collection, Bulk, 1940-1965, 1860-1985, (Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive)