Bernard Seaman labor cartoons
Collection
0501-LBR
Bernard Seaman was a cartoonist whose work was featured in many labor union publications. This collection includes labor cartoons and other drawings created by Seaman from the 1930s until the late 1980s. A significant portion of the collection consists of original cartoons, but also includes leaflets, union greeting cards, handbills, posters, and broadsides. Organizations represented include the AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO, as well as the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE), Seafarers International Union, International Longshoremen's Association and other unions at the local and international levels. Organizations at the local level are mostly from New York City.
This collection is open to the public and must be used in the Special Collections reading room. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.
Photocopies or digital surrogates may be provided in accordance with Special Collections and University Archives duplication policy.
Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.
Archival materials may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during our processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.
18.00 Linear Feet (24 document boxes and 5 flat cases--oversized)
This collection consists of Bernard Seaman's labor cartoons and other drawings, as well as original rough sketches, final drafts, and published versions of particular items covering the years 1930-1988. There are 4,694 items including 2,152 original cartoons, 1,313 sketches, and 678 printed cartoons.
A significant portion of the collection consists of cartoons mounted on card stock and sketches but also includes leaflets, union greeting cards, handbills, posters, and broadsides utilized in organizing drives, educational efforts and political mobilization. Organizations represented include the AFL, CIO and AFL-CIO, as well as the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), International Union of Electrical Workers (IUE), Seafarers International Union, International Longshoremen’s Association and other unions at the local (mostly New York City-focused) and international level. Some items are from independent labor and left publications. Among key subjects covered are a wide variety of issues concerning the labor movement, as well as broader political issues. These include civil rights and civil liberties, human rights, communism, labor law and legislation, economic issues, political action, automation and organizing.
The titles of cartoons and other materials within this collection were transcribed by archives staff from the original documents and include keywords and phrases that are harmful. The harmful language within the original documents was not censored because it provides historical context for understanding the era, attitudes, and opinions of the materials’ creators. Although the nature of the cartoon titles is usually a critical, satirical characterization of people and social issues, we acknowledge the slang phrases and derogatory language are harmful.
Bernard Seaman was a cartoonist whose illustrations appeared in many labor union publications. Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Seaman attended the City College of New York, the Art Students League of New York, and the University of Alabama. He served as the art editor for the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, the Seafarers’ International Union, and the International Union of Electrical Workers, and later became the editorial cartoonist for AFL-CIO News. Seaman’s works were published in the NEW YORK TIMES, BUSINESS WEEK, ILGWU JUSTICE, THE CALL, 338 NEWS, TEXTILE LABOR, WORKERS’ AGE, THE NEW LEADER, UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKER, LABOR AND MANAGEMENT NEWS, THE LABOR LEADER, LABOR’S DAILY, and AMERICAN MARITIME OFFICER, among numerous others, and were reprinted widely across the United States and Europe.
Intellectual arrangement of materials is chronological for dated materials and alphabetical by title for undated materials, which are listed at the end after the dated materials. Physical arrangement and housing is based on item size.
Helen Seaman, Bernard Seaman's wife, donated the materials to the George Meany Memorial Archives in 1994. The George Meany Memorial Archives transferred these materials as part of a major transfer of their archive and library holdings to the University of Maryland Libraries in 2013.
This collection was accessioned but unprocessed by the George Meany Memorial Archives.
In the summer of 2019, Allison Riehl reviewed the collection, the records from the George Meany Memorial Archives and the accession record available on ArchivesSpace. In the fall of 2019 and spring of 2020, Riehl created an itemized preliminary inventory for the cartoons. This inventory included the transcription of the textual content of each item, which now appear in the Scope and Content note for each item. The cartoons were rehoused in acid-free folders and moved into Hollinger boxes more appropriate for the size of the documents. Based on the time span when Seaman was actively working, circa dates were given to items that were undated. Riehl inventoried 19 out of 20 boxes at the item level, and reboxed items based on size using a temporary box numbering system.
In the spring of 2022, Rosemarie Fettig inventoried and rehoused Box 20 of the original accession materials at the item level in accordance with precedent set by Riehl. Fettig compared the cartoon titles and other text present on the items to establish circa dates for undated items by matching them to dated items, and conducted research based on names of political/historic figures, significant pieces of legislation, and major identifiable events mentioned in the cartoons to identify further circa dates. However, there are many cartoons and other materials that could not be associated with a circa date with any certainty, so these are dated with the range 1930-1988. Additionally, the donor materials included a list of “Dates and Captions of Cartoons in ILGWU Justice 1935-1960” which was used to further clarify item dates.
In the fall of 2022 through spring 2023, Fettig rearranged the physical order of the items so that materials that could be identified as related to each other were housed together in the same folders. These relationships were based on the titles, textual content, and visual content of the items. She also rearranged items by size, by foldering and moving them into Hollinger and oversize boxes of appropriate size, some of which had previously been stored loose. Fettig also modified the formatting of the item titles and descriptions for clarity, including the expansion of acronyms.
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives