Tamiment/Wagner Archives Tell Labor's Story Well

The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, housed in New York University’s Bobst Library, is one of the few archives that specifically focuses on the history of unions and the labor movement in the United States. The collection originated in the early 1900s, when Tamiment Library was associated with The Rand School of Social Sciences and the Socialist Party of America. It remained an independent institution until NYU acquired it in the 1960s. The Wagner Labor Archives was created in the early 1970s due to staff interest and union funding. There was further expansion in the 1990s and early 2000s to increase the number of viewpoints represented in the archive to expand its diversity.

The original focus of the collection was on the political left and its affiliated figures and policies, but it was broadened over the years to include the history of organized labor in New York and the rest of the country. It houses the archives of some of New York City’s most-prominent labor organizations, such as District Council 37, the United Federation of Teachers and the New York State chapter of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).