Sidney Gluck Papers

Date Range: 1958 – 2001
Survey Conducted: Mon, 2009-02-23
Creator: Gluck, Sidney J.

History: Over the span of his fifty-year career, Sidney Gluck has been a successful businessman, professor, artist, and public interest advocate. He has earned degrees in Business Administration and Economics at City College of New York; Fabric Technology and Design at The New School of Textile Technology; History, Art and Philosophy at the New School for Social Research; Political Economy at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research; and Political Science at Empire State College of New York.

Gluck’s interest in China began academically. For over fifty years, Gluck has taught Political and Economic Science through a Classical Marxist perspective. Since the inception of China’s modern government, he has made the country a special case study, closely tracing its history from Maoism and its relations to Russian Communism, through Chou En Lai’s advocacy of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics, to Deng Xiaoping’s Modernization and Opening to the West and Jiang Zemin’s reforms and advance to globalization. In 1955, Gluck organized the Live and Let Live movement to influence public sentiment away from war with China over two Taiwanese island outposts, Quemoy and Matsu (a precursor of SANE). In the 1970s, Live and Let Live’s seven-point program served as a model for President Nixon’s opening of relations with China. Gluck hosts “Pacific Rim New Review”, a public access television show in New York currently in its seventh year of syndication. He also regularly contributes news analysis on radio about topics such as Japanese, Chinese, and American comparative economies and capitalisms. Until September 1999, Gluck served as Co-President of the New York Chapter of US-China People’s Friendship Association (f. 1974), a national non-profit educational organization promoting diplomacy and exchange between people from the two countries. He is also Co-Founder and Chairman of the US-China Society of Friends, a new interdisciplinary membership organization of professionals interested in exchanges between China and the U.S. He has lectured extensively and has written articles which have appeared in the Beijing and United States press. He is also regularly engaged to speak at Chinese-American community functions.

Sources: Wyith Incorporated. “Board of directors and advisory council: Professor Sidney J Gluck.”

Summary: The collection contains periodicals, subject files, printed materials and books relating to Gluck’s work and interest in China and Cuba. Six linear feet of the collection pertain to Cuba and the remaining twenty feet contain materials on China.

The bulk of the collection consists of periodicals from China, including Social Sciences in China, New China, China’s Foreign Trade, US-China Review, Chinese Literature: Fiction, Poetry, Art, and the Beijing Review (known before 1979 as the Peking Review). These periodicals trace three decades of Chinese history and development, documenting internal workings and rifts within the Communist Party, policy shifts, and relations with Russia, and largely exist in complete runs, many dating back as far as 1960.

Also included are a number of printed materials, including pamphlets, brochures, and small booklets. Most of these were written in English and issued by the Chinese government or by government-sponsored presses and are on topics ranging from women in Chinese society to Tibet and the protection of cultural relics. A number of travel magazine and travel guides are also included, as are newsletters from the National Committee on US-China Relations and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.

In addition, a number of subject files relating to Chinese economics, politics and foreign relations are included. These files date from 1960 to 2001 and contain newspaper clippings, journal articles, printed email messages, and Gluck’s notes for lectures.

One linear foot of records from the US-China People’s Friendship Association of New York dating from 1998 to 2000 are also present. They include newsletters, correspondence, meeting minutes and informational flyers pertaining to events.

A small number of books, comprising roughly one linear foot, are also part of the collection, on topics including Chinese history, politics, culture and economics.

Total Size: 26 linear feet, 26 boxes
APA-related Size: 20 linear feet, 20 boxes
Languages of materials: English and Chinese
Arrangement: other
Location: Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University
Bibliographic Control: none
Conditions Governing Access: Contact repository for detailed information on conditions governing access.