Contents
Collection Overview
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Contents of the Collection
Organization of the Collection
Search Terms
Series 1: Biographical
1914-1969
Series 2: Correspondence
1934-1974
Series 3: Writings
1949-1973
Books Written by Finkelstein
|
Sidney Finkelstein Papers,
1914-1974
Finding Aid
Finding aid prepared by Linda Seidman and David Goldberg.
Encoding funded by The Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation.
2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
Creator:
|
Finkelstein, Sidney Walter 1909-1974 |
|
Title:
|
Sidney Finkelstein Papers |
|
Dates:
|
1914-1974 |
|
Abstract:
|
Noted
critic of music, literature, and the arts, as well as a
writer and an active member of the Communist Party U.S.A.
Includes letters to and from Mr. Finkelstein; original
manuscripts of reviews, articles, essays, and books; legal
documents, educational, military, and personal records,
financial papers, contracts, photographs, and lecture and
course notes. |
|
Extent:
|
11 boxes(5.5 linear ft.) |
|
Language:
|
English. |
|
Identification:
|
MS 128 |
Acquired from: Maynard Solomon, 1986.
Processed by Linda Seidman and David Goldberg, 1986, 2001.
Preferred Citation
Cite as: Sidney Finkelstein Papers (MS 128). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
The collection is open for research.
Return to the Table of Contents
Sidney Finkelstein, born in Brooklyn, New York on July 4, 1909, received his Bachelor's degree from City College in New York in 1929 and his A.M. from Columbia University in 1932 before he became a renowned critic of music, literature, and the arts. In 1955, he earned a second master's degree from New York University. During the 1930s he served as a book reviewer for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and worked for the United Postal Service. In the 1940s he joined the music staff of the Herald Tribune and also served as a music reviewer for several other publications including New Masses, Masses and Mainstream. Finkelstein became active in the Communist Party U.S.A. (CPUSA) where he served as the party's leading musical and cultural theoretician. Finkelstein applied his interpretation of Socialist Realism in several books on arts and culture, the most famous being Jazz, a People's Music (1948). Between 1951 and 1973 he served on the staff of Vanguard Records, a New York based record label that specialized in jazz and classical recordings. In 1957 he was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee for his Communist party affiliation. Finkelstein died in Brooklyn, New York on January 14, 1974.
|
|
|
|
1909 |
Born July 4, Brooklyn, NY |
|
1929 |
B.A., City College |
|
1930s |
Book reviewer, Brooklyn Daily Eagle |
|
1932 |
A.M., Columbia University |
|
1940s |
Music staff, The Herald Tribune; also music
reviewer, New Masses, Masses and Mainstream, and other
publications |
|
1951-1973 |
Staff, Vanguard Records |
|
1955 |
M.A., New York University |
|
1957 |
Called to testify before House Un-American
Activities Committee |
|
1974 |
Died, January 14, Brooklyn, NY; survived by two
brothers |
Return to the Table of Contents
The Sidney Finkelstein Papers (1914-1974) are organized
into 3 series: Biographical (1914-1969), Correspondence
(1934-1974), and Writings (1949-1973, n.d.). Biographical
materials include legal documents, educational, military, and
personal records, financial papers and contracts,
photographs, and lecture and course notes. Correspondence
includes letters both to and from Mr. Finkelstein and
consists primarily of informal discussions of his works and
the writings of others on related topics. Finkelstein's
writings constitute the bulk of the collection and include
original manuscripts of reviews, articles, essays and books
he wrote during his career. Finkelstein's writings cover a
broad array of topics and include discussions of jazz,
classical music, music criticism, aesthetics, literary
criticism, profiles of the work of individual artists, and
Socialist Realism and its relevance and application to
cultural studies.
|
|
|
|
1946 |
Axelrod, Eric |
|
1970 |
Cameron, Angus--of Knopf |
|
1965 |
Capouya, Emile |
|
1955 |
Cazden, Norman |
|
1964 |
Cohen, Robert Sonné--physicist |
|
1955, 1956 |
Downes, Olin--critic |
|
1964 |
Gelbin, Gertrude--editor, Seven Seas |
|
n.d. |
Hille, Waldemar |
|
1956, 1965 |
Kent, Rockwell and Sally |
|
1948 |
Lask, Tom--New York Times Book Review |
|
1965, 1966 |
Lawson, John Howard |
|
1970 |
Lowenfels, Walter |
|
1964 |
Lumer, Hyman--editor, Political Affairs |
|
1969 |
Markin, Ann |
|
1966 |
Richmond, Al |
|
1972 |
Russell, Ross |
|
1966 |
Selsam, Millicent and Howard |
|
1971 |
Schneerson, Grigon |
|
1947 |
Siegmeister, Eliew--composer |
|
1948 |
Smith, Harrison--Saturday Review |
|
1953 |
Tamura, Toshio |
|
1948 |
Thomson, Virgil--composer |
|
1959 |
Veiaus, Abraham--Syracuse Univ. |
|
1966 |
_______, John |
Return to the Table of Contents
Return to the Table of Contents
This collection is organized into three series:
Return to the Table of Contents
Series 1: Biographical
1914-1969
Box
|
Folder
|
|
| 1 |
1 |
Legal documents and other personal records
1914-1957
|
|
2 |
Education, records of
1925-1955
|
|
3 |
Military records
1942-1947
|
|
4 |
Publishing contracts and related materials
1947-1969
|
|
6 |
Course outline: Philosophy of
Art
|
|
7 |
Lecture notes and course outline
|
Series 2: Correspondence
1934-1974
Box
|
Folder
|
|
| 1 |
8 |
Letters from SF
1949-1966
|
|
9 |
Letters to SF
1934-1954
|
|
10 |
Letters to SF
1955-1964
|
|
11 |
Letters to SF
1965-1974
|
Series 3: Writings
1949-1973
Box
|
Folder
|
|
| 1 |
12 |
Student paper by SF: The Imagery of
Picasso's Blue Period
|
|
13 |
Student paper by SF: The Philosophy of Art
of Frank Lloyd Wright
|
|
14 |
Masters thesis: Picasso
(fragment)
|
|
25 |
(Combined with folder 16)
|
|
26 |
Is Jazz a National Expression or an
International Folk Music?
|
Box
|
Folder
|
|
| 2 |
30 |
Music and Music Criticism: A New
Look
|
|
31-33 |
Myths and Realities of the Arts
c. 1949
|
|
34 |
Psychoanalysis and the Arts
1951
|
|
35 |
On realism, especially Charles White
(fragment)
|
|
36 |
On Charles White's paintings
|
|
37 |
Realism in Art, review of
c. 1954
|
|
38 |
Realism in Art, article about & SF
response
|
|
39 |
On Arnold Hauser's "The Social History of
Art" (fragment)
|
|
40 |
Dialectical Materialism and the
Arts
|
|
41 |
On John Dewey's "Art as
Experience"
|
|
42 |
On Tagore's play "The King of the Dark
Chamber" (fragment)
|
|
43 |
On two articles regarding young
intellectuals
|
|
44 |
The Art and Science of C.P. Snow
c. 1961
|
|
45 |
Composer and Nation, letters re: review of
1961
|
Box
|
Folder
|
|
| 3-5 |
46-71 |
Dialectics of Art/Form and
Freedom
|
Box
|
Folder
|
|
| 6 |
72-73 |
Notes on Greece/Spain: High Renaissance
architecture, Spanish Colonial architecture, Romanesque
sculpture
|
|
74 |
On Henry James' "The Sacred Fount"
1960
|
|
75 |
James: Introduction to Princess
Cassanassima
|
Box
|
Folder
|
|
| 7 |
76-84 |
Dialectical materialism & Art/ What Is
Art?
|
Box
|
Folder
|
|
| 8-10 |
85-93 |
The Literary Influence of Existentialism/
The Literature of Alienation
1965
|
|
94-95 |
Media & the Arts: The Sense and Nonsense
of McLuhan
1968
|
|
96 |
McLuhan Book - published
versions
|
Box
|
Folder
|
|
| 11 |
98 |
How Music expresses Ideas
1970
|
|
99-100 |
Who Needs Shakespeare?
1973
|
Return to the Table of Contents
|