Guide to the Pierson and Alice Ostrow Papers, 1928-1993

ArchivalResource

Guide to the Pierson and Alice Ostrow Papers, 1928-1993

1928-1993

Pierson Ostrow (1914-1967) and Alice Scardino Ostrow (1915-2001) were socialist and progressive activists. Both were born and raised in Philadelphia, and they met there as students. They joined the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL) and became members of the Socialist Party by the early 1930s. After marrying they moved to Newark, New Jersey. In 1948 Alice Ostrow ran on the Socialist Party ticket for New Jersey's 12th Congressional district. Mr. Ostrow was a philatelic dealer and real estate appraiser, and in the latter capacity was active in the campaign for Vermont's fair housing law, passed in 1967 (the Ostrow's had moved to Vermont in 1955). In Newark, Alice Ostrow worked for the IRS and was legislative representative of the Federation of Federal Employees. She also worked for the Communications Workers of America and organized New Jersey Tenants for Rent Control. After her husband's death, Ms. Ostrow moved to New York City where she was active in the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples, the Workers Defense League, and Americans for Democratic Action. The collection contains unpublished writings of Pierson Ostrow (student essays, poetry, political essays, and a play), files (containing internal documents, printed ephemera and publications) on the Socialist Party and YPSL, both nationally and in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Newark, New Jersey (including one on Alice Ostrow's Congressional campaign), files on the American Youth Congress, Camp Arcola (a Federal Emergency Relief Administration camp fro unemployed women in Arcola, PA), the Junior International League of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Pennsylvania Committee for Total Disarmament, a scrapbook (clippings and writings), and individual letters to Pierson Ostrow from Harry Laidler, Upton Sinclair and Girolamo Valenti.

0.5 linear feet (1 box)

eng, Latn

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zm65v8 (person)

Upton Sinclair was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1878. Sinclair was an American author, novelist, journalist, and political activist who wrote many books in several genres. He is most well-known for his exposé, The Jungle regarding conditions in Chicago's meat packing plants, which influenced the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. Much of Sinclair's writing was related to the economic and social conditions of the early twentieth century. He was heavily in...

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Socialist Party of Pennsylvania

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6905wh0 (corporateBody)

Valenti, Girolamo

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Girolamo Valenti (1893-1958) was an anti-fascist, anti-communist Italian-American labor leader, socialist, and editor. He was born in Valguarnera, Sicily, and came to the United States in 1911. There he worked as a labor organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers in the eastern United States, as well as for the American Shoe Workers Protective Union. He was also editor of several Italian-American newspapers, including the antifascist daily Il Nuovo Mondo (1925-1931), La Stampa Libera, La Par...

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Ostrovskiĭ, Arkadiĭ, 1914-1967

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r79swn (person)

Pierson Ostrow (1914-1967) and Alice Scardino Ostrow (1915-2001) were socialist and progressive activists. Both were born and raised in Philadelphia, and they met there as students. They joined the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL) and became members of the Socialist Party by the early 1930s. After marrying they moved to Newark, New Jersey. In 1948 Alice Ostrow ran on the Socialist Party ticket for New Jersey's 12th Congressional district. Mr. Ostrow was a philatelic dealer and real estate ...

Socialist Party (U.S.)

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The Socialist Party (U.S.) was founded in 1901, bringing together moderate socialists from the Social Democratic Party, and dissident members of the Socialist Labor Party. In 1936 the ongoing differences between the “Old Guard” and “Militant” factions, resulted in a split, with the Militant group retaining the SP name and much of the membership, while the Old Guard faction retained most of the organizational and financial assets. From the guide to the Socialist Party (U.S.) Minutes, ...

Thomas Norman Mattoon, 1884-1968

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Norman Mattoon Thomas (1884-1968), was a leading American socialist, pacifist, author, and six-time presidential candidate on the Socialist Party of America ticket, between 1928 and 1948. Born in Marion, Ohio, he was a graduate of Princeton University, attended Union Theological Seminary, where he became a socialist, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1911. Thomas opposed the United States' entry into the First World War, a position that earned him the disapproval of many in his soci...

Ostrow, Alice Scardino, 1915-2001

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b43s1d (person)

Pierson Ostrow (1914-1967) and Alice Scardino Ostrow (1915-2001) were socialist and progressive activists. Both were born and raised in Philadelphia, and they met there as students. They joined the Young People's Socialist League (YPSL) and became members of the Socialist Party by the early 1930s. After marrying they moved to Newark, New Jersey. In 1948 Alice Ostrow ran on the Socialist Party ticket for New Jersey's 12th Congressional district. Mr. Ostrow was a philatelic dealer and real estate ...