Kassoy, Bernard Films, 1965-1998
Collection Number: 6385 F
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Bernard Kassoy Films, 1965-1998
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
6385 F
Creator:
Kassoy, Bernard
Quanitities:
2 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
Bernard (Bernie) Kassoy (1914-2008) graduated from the City College of New York and
Cooper Union Art School and worked in a wide range of media as a painter, printmaker,
photographer, sculptor and cinematographer. As a young artist, Kassoy began his career
in the WPA New York City Federal Art Project in 1936 and was arrested under the name
"Michelangelo Buonarotti" at the first sit-down strike against the WPA by the Artists
Union. He was also a US delegate to the 1983 International Association of Artists
conference in Finland.
In 1939 Kassoy was hired as a New York City high school fine arts teacher where he
taught until he retired in 1972. He also taught adult education classes on cinematography
at the High School of Music and Art. As a member of the American Federation of Teachers
Local 5, he created cartoons for their publication "The New York Teacher News," directed
the Teachers Union art gallery, and made stage sets for theatrical productions.
Bernie Kassoy's 136 editorial cartoons preserved by the Kheel Center were largely
created in the 1950s at a time when many US policy makers were enthralled by the search
for Communist Party members and sympathizers. In pithy cartoons he portrayed the struggles
of New York City students and teachers, as well as the Teachers Union's response to
these hardships. He accused school, city, and state officials of turning their attention
away from funding shortfalls, classroom overcrowding, outdated texts, dilapidated
buildings, teacher turnover, increasing teacher workloads, and stagnant wages, to
focus on the question of whether any teachers appeared to be advocating Communism.
Though Kassoy repeatedly criticized these manifestations of McCarthyism, he was never
blacklisted. His work can also be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern
Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, and Fennimore House
Museum.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference
archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
Procedures for Document Use.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Bernard Kassoy Films #6385 F. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 |
Mexico - 1948 ; Pond (extra)
|
1948 | |
Scope and Contents
2 film reels
|
|||
Box 1 |
Pond, Water Reflections - Close ups of buds & flowers - Paintings to be edited and
titled
|
||
Scope and Contents
2 movie reels
|
|||
Box 1 |
W.C. Film -- Work Print #1 ; GUNA Sequence - shutter closed -- blank film
|
||
Scope and Contents
2 movie reels
|
|||
Box 1 |
Phetrasant
|
||
Box 1 |
Unlabeled
|
||
Box 1 |
Silent
|
||
Scope and Contents
Eastman Kodak Company - Cine-Kodak, White Leader Safety
|
|||
Box 1 |
Original - Guitar Winston
|
||
Box 1 |
Original - Sculptures
|
||
Box 1 |
A Lesson in Watercolor -- on tape 2/1998
|
1998 | |
Box 1 |
Sound
|
||
Scope and Contents
Eastman Kodak Company Cine-Kodak White Leader Safety
|
|||
Box 1 |
Unlabeled
|
||
Box 1 |
Unlabeled
|
||
Box 1 |
AEA '71
|
1971 | |
Scope and Contents
Kodachrome Movie Film
|
|||
Box 1 |
Original : Students on Terrace ; Model & Still Life in SDY Class
|
||
Box 1 |
Unlabeled
|
||
Box 2 |
One reel, several titles
|
1981-1983 | |
Scope and Contents
Kick -- 12/13/81 & 2/7/82 ; A Whole Lot of Sunlight -- 3/2/82 ; If You Go Away --
3/16/82 ; Not a Day Goes By -- 4/3/82 ; The Party is Over - 4/24/83 ; Just in Time
- 5/1/83 ; All the Things You Are - 5/1/83
|
|||
Box 2 |
Unlabeled
|
||
Box 2 |
On tape : P Tomm
|
||
Box 2 |
Misc. Family -- Bklyn ; Bellaire ; Lynbrook ; Family Picnic
|
||
Box 2 |
Pietrasanta Dupe
|
||
Box 2 |
Honey & Baby Merry
|
||
Box 2 |
GUNA on tape 2/18/1998
|
1998 | |
Box 2 |
Baby - 1st year ; 2nd year
|
||
Box 2 |
Europe 1965
|
1965 |