Found 15 collections related to Harlem (New York, N.Y.) -- Social conditions

Lafargue Clinic was founded in 1946 as the first mental health clinic in Harlem by the well-known psychiatrist Fredric Wertham (director of the mental hygiene clinic at Queens General Hospital), along with novelist Richard Wright and Earl Brown, a staff writer for Life. The collection consists of material regarding the founding and operation of the clinic. less

The Harlem Neighborhoods Association records chronicle the deteriorating quality of life in Harlem from the 1940s to the late 1970s. The collection consists of correspondence and memoranda, board of directors and committee minutes, financial reports, publicity and outreach materials, membership lists and printed matter. The committee and program files document an ongoing organizational concern for chronic social dysfunction and urban poverty in Harlem. The most substantive files are the Day Care Committee, 1952-1956; the Housing Committee, 1952-1956; the Recreation Committee, 1948-1958; the Parents Committee, 1952-1968, and several youth related programs spanning from 1948 to 1963. Other substantive issues include: school decentralization in Harlem, urban renewal, drug prevention and family planning. Frequent correspondents include James H. Robinson who served as chairman of the West Harlem Council of Social Agencies, Harriet Pickens and Mildred Fisher, respectively chairperson and executive secrtary of the Central Harlem Council for Community Planning, and committee chairpersons Exie Welsch, Eugene Houston and Gertrude Tanneyhill. Also included is a scrapbook of articles and other printed matter documenting local efforts in 1963 to raise funds for the construction of a two-hundred bed hospital in Mount Morris Park. less

Catholic interracial center, also known as Friendship House, established in 1938 to assist Harlem residents in need of relocation due to inadequate housing. Information sheets and relocation questionnaires in addition to various federal, state, and city housing reports. less

The Riverton was a seven-building complex built by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1947, one of four complexes they built during the 1940s. The complex was bounded by 135th and 138th Streets, Fifth Avenue, and Harlem River Drive. The Riverton Houses collection consists of a variety of material but does not constitute records of the Riverton. These files came from the Administration offices at 2156 Madison Avenue. Included is a file for Clifford L. Alexander, Sr., the first resident manager (1947-1964) of the complex. There are also miscellaneous files dealing with the management of the Riverton, including the position description for the resident manager; descriptive information regarding the Riverton; and letters regarding street lights, parking signs, and traffic conditions affecting the residents of the Riverton. less

Sammy Price was a recording artist, house pianist, recording supervisor, and band leader at Decca Records in New York. Additionally, he was the Executive Director of Neighborhood Board no. 2. The Sammy Price Papers, 1929-1992, consist of materials pertaining to his musical and political career. less

Thomas Sinclair, Jr., was an African-American lawyer, director of the Upper Manhattan Rent Commission, Chairman of the Housing Committee of the Harlem Neighborhoods Association, and a New York City Housing Court judge. The Thomas Sinclair collection consists of biographical data, some letters and speeches, minutes and other documents of Community Boards 10 and 11 regarding urban renewal in Harlem in the 1960s, and some legal files, one of which concerns the proposed installation of Stuart H. Merriam as minister of Harlem's Broadway Presbyterian Church (1961-1962). less

George Edmund Haynes was a sociologist and a leader in religious programs and social work education for the Harlem community. The papers include reports, memoranda, and speech by Dr. Haynes relating to different aspects of his work as a sociologist and member of the Harlem community. Of special interest is a report by Haynes entitled "Impressions from a Preliminary Study of Negroes of Harlem," 1921. less

The James S. Watson Papers, 1913-1991, document his career as a judge, his legal decisions and opinions, his numerous civic and community activities, and his personal and family life. The Papers consist of correspondence, legal documents, minutes, writings, financial records, clippings and printed material. The Personal Papers include biographical material and correspondence to and from family, friends, and acquaintances, both in Jamaica and the United States. Letters from son James to his parents while serving during World War II are located in the Personal Papers and the Family Papers series where additional family correspondence is filed. Although material prior to 1930 is sketchy, the Professional Series documents the entirety of Watson's working career and his electoral campaigns. Of special interest in this series are two files located in the General File sub-series which deal with cases filed by the Newspaper Guild of New York against The New York Amsterdam News in 1936 and 1937, respectively, regarding the firing of city editor Ted Poston and reporter Henry Lee Moon in 1936 and editor Obie McCullum and sports writer and theater critic Roi Ottley in 1937. On both occasions Watson acted as arbitrator. Watson's professional life is further documented in the Speeches and Writings series, as is his role in the Harlem and West Indian communities which is also recorded in the collection's Civic and Community Activities series. Overall, the Civic and Community Activities series contain correspondence, requests for aid, meeting notices, minutes and reports from the Harlem Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association, the Harlem Adult Education Committee and various labor and civil rights groups. The General File series contain requests for immigration and financial assistance as well as correspondence from Claude McKay and editor A.M.Wendell Malliet with whom Watson consulted regarding a projected autobiography. less

Project began in 1965 with funding from the New York Public Library and state and federal sources to demonstrate the value of intensive library services in a disadvantaged community through strengthened book collections, relevant programs, and in-service training. Reference materials used in community outreach programs, and papers generated by such programs including correspondence, booklets, playbills, financial records, and flyers. The Program Services series consists of alphabetical files of correspondence, guest lists, programs and publications relevant to the production of book parties, exhibits, lectures and workshops offered by the Project. Administrative files comprise monthly statistics, insurance forms, employee attendance, expenses, and records of invoices, as well as records of the Central Harlem Project Community Conference. Resource materials include correspondence and publications on services and projects, institutions and book resource lists, and literary services. less

Action for Community Empowerment (ACE) was a grassroots community development non-profit organization based in Central Harlem dedicated to decent housing, safe neighborhoods, and tenant empowerment. The Action for Community Empowerment records, 1987-2006, contain information regarding ACE's efforts to improve housing and organize tenants in Central Harlem from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. less

Arnold P. Johnson (1910-1994), a native of Cuba, was a businessman, labor organizer, community activist, a World War II veteran, founder of the Harlem Small Business Chamber of Commerce, and resident of Harlem. The Arnold P. Johnson papers are comprised of printed meeting minutes for community organizations in which Johnson held official or volunteer positions. less

The Abyssinian Baptist Church Oral History Project consists of transcripts of interviews with ten African-American women—all Abyssinian members—about their recollections of Abyssinian Baptist Church as well as their Southern roots, their spiritual experiences and their political and Christian education. All of the women interviewed were more than seventy years old, and one was over ninety, at the time the interviews were conducted in 1992. The interviewees are: Helen Brown, Robbie Clarke, Susan Craig, Gwendolyn Jones, Esther McCall, Estelle Noble, Fannie Pennington, Olivia Pearl Stokes, Amy Terry, and Laura B. Thomas. Their remembrances date to the late 1920s, but the primary time period under discussion is from 1940 to 1970. Located in Harlem, Abyssinian was the first black Baptist church established in New York State (1808) and the fifth in the United States. The interviewer was Martia G. Goodson, an assistant professor at Baruch College at the time of the project. less

Launched in 1937, the Harlem Neighborhoods Association (HANA) served as a clearinghouse for various social agencies and community organizations operating in Harlem until 1978. The Harlem Neighborhoods Association audio collection consists of three audio recordings, including some of their meetings. less

African American psychiatrist Elizabeth Bishop Davis began her career in the late 1940s with the Lafargue Clinic, the first mental health facility that primarily served African Americans in Harlem. Her father, the Rev. Shelton Hale Bishop, rector of St. Philips' Church, helped to establish the clinic, which was housed in the church. In 1962, she accepted the position of director of Harlem Hospital's newly established Department of Psychiatry, serving in that position until 1978. During this period she became an authority on providing psychiatric care in inner-city settings. Davis began teaching in 1957 at the College of Physicians & Surgeons, where she received her medical degree (1949). In 1971 she was promoted to clinical professor of psychiatry, and retired in 1978. The Elizabeth Bishop Davis papers include papers given by Davis at professional psychiatric conferences from 1964 to 1982 as well as published articles, 1964-1979. While the topics are varied, many deal with mental illness among black people, psychiatric health care in an inner-city setting, and the role of psychoanalysis in the treatment of the mentally ill. Other themes deal with the consequences of poverty and racial discrimination on mental health, particularly in Harlem, community psychiatry and black psychiatrists. There are also papers presented by other Harlem Hospital psychiatrists and women staff, including Gladys Engri. less