- unitid
-
{"value"=>"3013", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 3013", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1895-1955", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1895/1955"}
{"value"=>"1940-1955", "type"=>"bulk", "normal"=>"1940/1955"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1895
- date_inclusive_end
-
1955
- keydate
-
1895
- date_start
-
1895
- date_end
-
1955
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Town Hall, Inc. records"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"234 linear feet (281 boxes)"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">Stephen A. Schwarzman Building</span> <span class=\"addressline\">Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Town Hall was founded in 1894 by six prominent suffragists under the name League for Political Education to continue the struggle for women's rights by raising political consciousness. Robert Ely was director of the League from 1907 to 1937. The Town Hall building, erected with funds raised by public subscription, was opened in 1921 as \"a meeting place, clearing house for ideas, forum, lyceum, concert hall, school, and college.\" In 1935 George Denny, associate director of the League and later president, created America's Town Meeting of the Air, a radio program to foster discussion of political, social and economic concerns. The name of the institution was changed in 1938 to The Town Hall, Inc. and in 1956 it became affiliated with New York University. Collection contains correspondence, memoranda, minutes, reports, financial records, transcripts, publicity materials, photographs, and scrapbooks of newsclippings concerning the League for Political Education and Town Hall, Inc. League for Political Education records consist of correspondence and minutes, 1935-1937, of the executive and other committees. Records of America's Town Meeting of the Air, 1935-1956, include general correspondence, letters from listeners, office memoranda, audience mail reports, speakers aid materials, correspondence of the director of radio and television operations, publicity materials, photographs, and newsclippings. Collection contains Town Hall records, such as correspondence, financial and legal papers, transcripts of lectures, printed matter, and photographs, from the Historical Dept., Concert Dept., Short Courses Division, and other units of the institution."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Materials in English"}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Town Hall, Inc. records, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Town Hall, Inc", "type"=>"corpname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Following the defeat in 1894 of the women's suffrage amendment to the New York State constitution six prominent suffragists created the League for Political Education in New York City. Led by Mary Putnam Jacobi, the founders sought to continue the struggle for women's rights by raising political consciousness. In 1901 Robert Ely became its director, a post he held until 1837. In 1907 a kindred. service, the Civic Forum, was formed by the League to foster higher standards of. civic responsibility and international goodwill. In the same year the League formed The Economic Club as a non-partisan organization for the discussion of economic, social, and industrial problems. The League opened The Town Hall on 43rd Street in New York City in 1921 as \"a meeting place, a clearing house for ideas, a forum, a lyceum [similar to the Chautauqua Institution which had served the needs of adult education in western New York in the 1870s] a concert hall, a school, and a college\". In 1930 George Denny, a former drama teacher and professional actor, was appointed associate director. Denny created America's Town Meeting of the Air in 1935 as an integral part of the educational work of the Town Hall and The League for Political Education. He conceived ATMA as a nation-wide wide version of the New England town meeting where topics of community concern were discussed. He also hoped that it would help restore confidence in the democratic system in a nation shaken by economic instability and confused by the rapid rise and challenge of alien political ideologies. The National Broadcasting Company was persuaded to finance all out-of-pocket expenses and in May-July of 1935 six experimental programs were broadcast over a national network. The early programming reflected the concerns of the Depression Era: unemployment, the New Deal, the threat of radicalism in the unions. By 1937 the imminence of war dominated the broadcasts. In 1944 and 1945 the programs were sponsored By Reader's Digest. During this period ATMA had to answer charges that is programming reflected the conservation of the sponsor and that many of the questions asked by the audience were not spontaneous but planted. The programming for the late forties and early fifties dealt with German guilt, corrupt unions, and the crucial issues underlying the cold war: international security, defense buildup, political and military commitments abroad, leftist infiltration of labor unions, etc. At this time, too, television began to take away the radio audience and ATMA experienced a decline in attendance and sharp drops in ratings. In 1952 Denny made his last appearance as moderator and in 1956 ATMA was broadcast for the last time after 928 programs. In the same year The Town Hall was reorganized and became affiliated with New York University. In 1958 its name was charged to The Town Hall of New York University and it became a part of the University's Division of General Education.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>Included in the records are letters written by notable persons to Robert E. Ely, director of <em render=\"underline\">The League for Political Education</em>, which was the parent organization and founder of The Town Hall. There are also correspondence, dossiers, preliminary records sheets, and brief biographies relating to proposed memorial chairs in The Town Hall auditorium and to lectureships and foundations to bee endowed in the names of prominent deceased persons; correspondence and papers, late 1930-1950, of the Concert Department including lease registers and appointments books, statistics engagement details, financial reports, box office material. Also to be found are correspondence and papers, 1940s and 1950s of the Short Courses Division consisting of transcripts f lectures and workshops material; correspondence, 1930s, 1940s, of the Music Department; and correspondence and papers, cl935-1956, of the radio wing of The Town Hall, America's Town Meeting of the Air. These papers include general correspondence, letters from listeners, advance program correspondence, inter-office memoranda, audience rail reports, speakers' aid material, correspondence of the director of radio...</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Town Hall, Inc. records are arranged in five series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/3013#c1244009'>League for Political Education</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/3013#c1244015'>America's Town Meeting of the Air</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/3013#c1244082'>Town Hall</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/3013#c1244185'>Scrapbooks</a></div>\n</li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/mss/3013#c1244266'>Mental Health Short Courses</a></div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>104 audio disks (78 rpm) and 24 open reel tape copies of twelve lectures from Town Hall's short courses on mental heath. Present are the full eight lectures from the series \"Psychiatry and You\" given in the spring of 1949 and four of the lectures from the fall 1949 series, \"Psychiatry and Personal Relations\". Prominent lecturers included Erich Fromm, Lawrence Kubie, and Margaret Mead. Among the topics covered were alcoholism, mental illness, physical disabilities, male- female relations, and psychiatric services.</p> <p>Original disks and open reel tapes are not available for public use. Consult the archivist on duty to arrange for service cassettes to be created for use in the reading room.</p> <p>Transcripts are available in Box 187 for the lectures by Erich Fromm, Lawrence Kubie, Frederick H. Allen, and Leo H. Bartemeier. [There are also transcripts of the remaining lectures in the \"Psychiatry and Personal Relations\" series and later mental health short courses, 1950-1953].</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>1957, Received from The Town Hall (N. Y. U).</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Accessioned by Michaud, 5/23/84</p>"}
- note
-
{"value"=>"Additional records of musical programs held at Town Hall are located in the Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts"}
{"value"=>"Sound recordings, 1938-1949, from a series of lectures at Town Hall on mental health issues are described separately"}
- extent_statement
-
234 linear feet (281 boxes)
- date_bulk_start
-
1940
- date_bulk_end
-
1955