China

Zhang Hongtu Papers

APA Staff
Zhang Hongtu picDate Range: 1974 – 2011
Survey Conducted: Fri, 2011-08-05
Creator: Zhang, Hongtu (1943-)

History: Born in China’s Kansu Province in 1943, Zhang Hongtu studied at the Central Institute of Arts and Crafts in Beijing. The Chinese Civil War and the Cultural Revolution presented many difficult challenges to Zhang, not only because of his family’s Muslim background, but also because of shifting perceptions of artists and intellectuals. His schooling was cut short, and he was assigned to do farm work in the countryside. A few years later, he was assigned to make jewelry to be sold to Westerners. Throughout this period, Zhang continued making art. After participating in a group exhibition sometimes called the “Contemporaries Group,” Zhang moved to the United States in 1982, his wife and son joining him a few years later. He studied at the Art Students League in New York City and later became an artist-in-residence at the Asian American Arts Centre. Read more →

United Automobile Workers of America, District 65 Photographs

APA Staff

Basebll Protest

Date Range: 1938 – 1969
Survey Conducted: Fri, 2011-05-20
Creator: United Automobile Workers of America, District 65

History: District Council 65 of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) began as a group of Jewish laborers working in dry goods warehouses in the Lower East Side of New York City. The union became a local of the Wholesale Dry Goods Employees Union in 1935 before affiliating with the Distributive Trades Council of New York and the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Its affiliation with the UAW began in 1979. In later years, the union’s membership grew beyond the warehouse and retail workers to include white-collar workers in publishing and universities. The union remained active until bankruptcy forced the union to close in 1994. Read more →

Neil Sih Papers

APA Staff
Date Range: 1934
Survey Conducted: Fri, 2008-11-14
Creator: Sih, Neil

History: Neil Sih was a Chinese Communist who became active in the Trotskyist Left Opposition in China. Born as Liu Renjing, he took the pseudonym of Neil Sih, which he claimed was given to him by Leon Trotsky. As a member of the Left Opposition, Sih was a staunch opponent of Chen Dixiu, then the de facto leader of the movement, whom Sih may have seen as an obstacle to his own succession in party leadership. Critical of the ruling party of China, The Kuomintang, Sih was jailed and tortured. In March 1937, four months prior to his scheduled discharge, Sih was released from prison after aligning himself with the Kuomintang. As a result, he was expelled from the Left Opposition, and later joined the Publicity Section of the National Military Council of the Kuomintang.

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New York Bureau of Legal Advice Records

APA Staff
Date Range: 1917 – 1919
Survey Conducted: Tue, 2011-04-26
Creator: New York Bureau of Legal Advice

History: Originating as the New York Bureau of Legal First aid and lead by attorney Charles Recht and feminist Frances M. Witherspoon, the organization was started with a grant from the Women’s Peace Party in 1917. Along with individuals, organizations like the People’s Council, the Socialist Party, the Civil Liberties Bureau and the Workmen’s Council all provided sponsorship (although the People’s Council and the Civil Liberties Bureau soon withdrew support). Responding to the need created by conflict with new laws related to World War I, the New York Bureau of Legal First Aid was the first organization to provide free legal advice and counsel to draft resisters, conscientious objectors, deserters and others who suffered infringements of their First Amendment Rights.

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Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Archive

APA Staff
Date Range: 1800 – 2011
Survey Conducted: Fri, 2010-12-10
Creator: Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA)

History: The Museum of the Chinese in America started as the New York Chinatown History Project in 1980 by historian John (Jack) Kuo Wei Tchen, community organizer Charlie Lai, and artists, historians, and students who recognized that the memories and experiences of older members of the community were in danger of becoming permanently lost to later generations. They hoped to address this problem by creating opportunities for collecting, preserving, and displaying historical materials reflecting the lives of Chinatown residents and workers over its long and complicated history. Read more →

Saul Mills Papers

APA Staff
Date Range: 1933 – 1989
Survey Conducted: Fri, 2008-11-14
Creator: Mills, Saul, 1910-1988.

History: Born in New York City in 1910, Saul Mills was a union activist, PR representative and journalist who worked in varying capacities with a number of newspapers, including The New York Daily News, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Brooklyn Standard Union and The City News Association. Mills’ newspaper experience and his association with the noted newspaper columnist Heywood Broun gave rise to Mills’ involvement in the labor movement. In 1934, he became a charter member of Broun’s Newspaper Guild which led to Mills’ dismissal from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Between 1936 and 1940, Mills worked as a public relations representative for CIO and AFL affiliated unions, including the Greater New York CIO Council

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Mark Hall Amitin/ World of Culture for the Performing Arts, Inc. Archive

APA Staff
Date Range: 1946 – 2001
Survey Conducted: Fri, 2009-10-23
Creator: Mark Hall Amitin/World of Culture for the Performing Arts, Inc.

History: Mark Hall Amitin received his doctoral degree from the Universite Paris VIII in 1978. He went on to present lectures and workshops at universities in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Asia. He worked as a consultant and producer for several major theatre festivals, including the American College Theatre Festival, the Rhode Island Theatre Festival, the Festival Mondial du Theatre in Nancy, France, and the New Theatre Festival in Baltimore. He has published articles on theatre and performance in academic journals and contributed articles and reviews on film and theatre to books, magazines, and newspapers. He has also acted in, and directed, film, television, and theatre projects in the United States as well as in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.

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Jay Leyda and Si-Lan Chen Leyda Papers

APA Staff
Date Range: 1913 – 1987
Survey Conducted: Mon, 2008-10-27
Creator: Leyda, Jay; Leyda, Si-Lan Chen

History: Si-Lan Chen was a dancer, choreographer and actor who pioneered the use of Chinese dance elements in modern dance and films such as “Anna and the King of Siam” (1946) and “The Keys to the Kingdom” (1944). Chen was born in Trinidad in 1905 to parents of African and Chinese descent. In 1912, she moved to London, where she studied dance at the Stedman Academy. In 1926 she moved to China to join her father, Eugene Chen, who had become secretary for Sun Yat-sen as well as Foreign Minister of the Canton government. However, after Chiang Kai-shek took power in 1927, the family fled to Moscow, where Chen enrolled in the Bolshoi Ballet School. She soon switched to Vera Maya’s school, finding Maya’s approach, which included both traditional ballet and more loosely organized “plastic dance,” more suitable to her own style. Chen gave her first important recital in 1930 at the Moscow Conservatory. Shortly after, she was widely recognized as the first modern Soviet dancer.

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HN (Hsiang-Ning) Han Archive

APA Staff
Date Range: 1969 – 2013
Survey Conducted: Mon, 2012-10-22
Creator: HN (Hsiang-Ning) Han

History: HN Han (Hsiang-Ning Han) is an internationally renowned artist, documentarian, curator and art educator, known for his evolving artistic style and creating his own form of pointillism with a spray gun. By reviving and transferring 19th century Post-Impressionism to 1970s New York, he influenced New York art movement during the height of New Realism.

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Sidney Gluck Papers

APA Staff
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.

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