Collection Full View
Leo Litzky Collection (1937 - 1977)
RepositoryNew Jersey Historical Society
Collection IDMG 1525
Size1 linear foot (2 boxes)
Collection Description
Dr. Leo Liztky was principal of several Newark schools, including Cleveland Junior High School (1956-1959), West Kinney Junior High School, Webster Junior High School, Central Evening High School, West Side High School, and South Side High School (later Malcolm X. Shabazz High School). Litzky held a PhD degree in education. His career spanned the period from the 1940s to the 1970s. He and his family lived in Newark until 1971, when they moved to West Orange.
The collection contains files of original documents and clippings relating to legal proceedings in the aftermath of the Newark teachers strike of 1970-1971. Dr. Litzky's wife Hannah Litzky, a teacher and guidance counselor at Weequahic High School, was a union official active in the strike and was among the teachers imprisoned for contempt of court in connection with the strike. Her $200 fine was paid by a former student.
The collection contains files of original documents and clippings relating to legal proceedings in the aftermath of the Newark teachers strike of 1970-1971. Dr. Litzky's wife Hannah Litzky, a teacher and guidance counselor at Weequahic High School, was a union official active in the strike and was among the teachers imprisoned for contempt of court in connection with the strike. Her $200 fine was paid by a former student.
Collection Contents
Included in the collection are writings, clippings, commission reports, high-school faculty/principal lists (1969-1978), school surveys, transcripts of speeches, and graduation programs from, or related to, various Newark schools, and material related to labor issues in New Jersey. Also in the collection are Litzky's writings regarding the neighborhoods in which he worked and his students' home lives, and material concerning the consequences of the Newark teachers strike.
Box 1, Folders 1 and 2: contain several research papers by Litzky, two on teachers' salaries (1944 and 1945) apparently written during his study for a graduate degree; another on the Cleveland Junior High School District with rich detail on the neighborhood milieu (June 1937); an essay on the inner-city secondary school written for the Year Book of the New Jersey Secondary School Teachers Association (1966); and a report of the Committee on the Structure of the Secondary Schools, Newark Board of Education, 1963 (Litzsky was the chair of the committee; the report contains a critique by an unknown reader.). Also present is a copy of Litzky's testimony, as principal of the West Kinney Junior High School, before the Youth Study Commission of New Jersey (1959); and a copy of a survey of religious schools in Essex and Bergen Counties produced by the American Jewish Congress (1955).
Box 1 also contains five folders with clippings on Cleveland Junior High School (1956-1959) and West Kinney Junior High School (ca. 1964); several photographs of Cleveland JHS athletic teams, Cleveland JHS newsletters; two folders of workbooks produced by the Department of Radio and Television of the Newark Board of Education; and two folders with lists of teachers and principals of Newark secondary schools (1968-1978).
Box 2, Folders 1-5: contain newspapers and clippings, including a copy of the New Jersey Labor Herald (January 1963), the Newark Evening News 75th Anniversary Edition (1958), issues of the South Side High School Recorder (1965), issues of Advance (an African-American newspaper published in Newark, 1966), and clippings on South Side High School (1965-1969).
Box 2, Folders 6-10, contains correspondence, press releases, newsletters, memos, flyers, notices, legal documents, and clippings concerning strike issues, legal proceedings against strikers, and imprisonment of activists in the Newark teachers strike. Among the correspondents are Hannah Litzsky, Carole A. Graves (president of the Newark Teachers Union), attorney Seymour Cohen (who represented the Union), Governor William T. Cahill, and American Federation of Teachers President David Selden. Folder 7 contains Teachers Union agreements, a copy of Louis E. Yavner's "Preliminary Report to the Newark Teachers Union: What's Wrong with the Newark School System..." (1964), and a copy of the Union's "More Effective Schools Plan" (undated). Folder 9 contains several issues of the NTU Bulletin, the union's newspaper. Folder 9 contains clippings, including some from the Black Muslim newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, in support of the strike.
Box 1, Folders 1 and 2: contain several research papers by Litzky, two on teachers' salaries (1944 and 1945) apparently written during his study for a graduate degree; another on the Cleveland Junior High School District with rich detail on the neighborhood milieu (June 1937); an essay on the inner-city secondary school written for the Year Book of the New Jersey Secondary School Teachers Association (1966); and a report of the Committee on the Structure of the Secondary Schools, Newark Board of Education, 1963 (Litzsky was the chair of the committee; the report contains a critique by an unknown reader.). Also present is a copy of Litzky's testimony, as principal of the West Kinney Junior High School, before the Youth Study Commission of New Jersey (1959); and a copy of a survey of religious schools in Essex and Bergen Counties produced by the American Jewish Congress (1955).
Box 1 also contains five folders with clippings on Cleveland Junior High School (1956-1959) and West Kinney Junior High School (ca. 1964); several photographs of Cleveland JHS athletic teams, Cleveland JHS newsletters; two folders of workbooks produced by the Department of Radio and Television of the Newark Board of Education; and two folders with lists of teachers and principals of Newark secondary schools (1968-1978).
Box 2, Folders 1-5: contain newspapers and clippings, including a copy of the New Jersey Labor Herald (January 1963), the Newark Evening News 75th Anniversary Edition (1958), issues of the South Side High School Recorder (1965), issues of Advance (an African-American newspaper published in Newark, 1966), and clippings on South Side High School (1965-1969).
Box 2, Folders 6-10, contains correspondence, press releases, newsletters, memos, flyers, notices, legal documents, and clippings concerning strike issues, legal proceedings against strikers, and imprisonment of activists in the Newark teachers strike. Among the correspondents are Hannah Litzsky, Carole A. Graves (president of the Newark Teachers Union), attorney Seymour Cohen (who represented the Union), Governor William T. Cahill, and American Federation of Teachers President David Selden. Folder 7 contains Teachers Union agreements, a copy of Louis E. Yavner's "Preliminary Report to the Newark Teachers Union: What's Wrong with the Newark School System..." (1964), and a copy of the Union's "More Effective Schools Plan" (undated). Folder 9 contains several issues of the NTU Bulletin, the union's newspaper. Folder 9 contains clippings, including some from the Black Muslim newspaper, Muhammad Speaks, in support of the strike.
FormatsPhotographic materials; Textual materials
SubjectsBusiness / Commerce; Education
Time Period20th Century
LanguageEnglish
Access policyOpen for research
ProcessedYes
Finding AidYes