Tamiment Library

The visit to NYU's collection at the Tamiment (sp?) Archives in Bobst wasn't my favorite. I felt like everything the collection had to offer could have been found (plus more) at the New York Historical Society. The only thing that really sparked my interest was the collection on the Triangle fire and the Ladies Garment Workers Union articles and photographs. But that's really only because I think isolated and esoteric New York history is interesting (I like personal histories rather than the history of the city as a whole.)

I got extremely bored when we started discussing the grassroots movements, rallies and protests in the neighborhood and the park. I'm not a huge fan of that kind of history. I also didn't like how the collection catered ONLY to leftist politics. Granted, I am an extreme leftist thinker myself, but I think in discussing union history it's incredibly important to have a historical collection and preservation that caters toward the backlash of union organization and leftist politics. The collection was lacking because I saw no knowledge or interest in the RESPONSE TO left politics. It seemed like a huge blindspot to me because I think in researching things such as protests and unions it's key to understand WHY there are such things and in that understanding you must understand the other side, understand WHAT and WHY people are organizing and protesting in the first place.

But maybe I'm the only one who thought such...