The collection contains: twenty-nine silver gelatin photoprints mounted on Fome-Core, Masonite, and cardboard, ranging in size from 5-1/2" x 9-1/4" to 10-11/16" x 13-13/16"; three 5" x 7" unmounted silver gelatin photoprints; a scrapbook which originally contained 56 silver gelatin photoprints, ranging in size from 2" x 3" to 7-1/2" x 9-1/2"; and silver gelatin film negatives (presumably acetate) for the prints. The scrapbook includes a New York Daily News clipping about Rivers: "Builds a Bridge to Students" by Anthony Burton (dated May 12, 1970 by Rivers) with a photograph showing him speaking to a crowd,
Most of the photographs depict the construction of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings--iron workers on the job and relaxing during breaks, and pictures of the buildings at various stages of completion. Other subjects are: a demonstration to prevent World War II (1935), a color photoprint of the Civil Rights March and Demonstration in Washington, D.C. (1963), and two magazine clippings from a Soviet publication, New Times, in which Rivers's prize-winning "Self Portrait" (1930) was reproduced.
Most of these prints were made by Charles Rivers many years after the creation of the original negatives, probably ca.1970s 1980s. The collection is in generally good condition, except that many of the print surfaces are scratched.
Biographical / Historical:
Charles Rivers created a certain amount of confusion about his origins, whether accidentally or intentionally. Born Constantinos Kapornaros[1] (or Kostandinos Kapernaros)[2] in the small town of Vahos in Mani, an isolated area in the southern Peloponnesian region of Greece, on May 20, 1904, he emigrated to the United States as a child of five or six with his parents. His school record showed that he was enrolled in 1911 at the age of seven.[3] The family lived in Maine or New Hampshire, then Massachusetts, and later other locations in New York state. It is believed that his new name was derived from the Charles River in Boston.[4] The change may have been occasioned by a need to conceal his deep involvement in left-wing political and union activities.[5]
Mr. Rivers settled in New York City in 1950 and resided there until 1993.[6] He sometimes identified his birthplace as Denver, Colorado,[7] but this may have been a fabrication or simplification, based on the fact that Greek church baptismal records were kept in Denver.[8] His sons James and Ronald believe that he never became an official American citizen. Late in life, in order to visit his birthplace, he was issued a passport, based on his school records, which stated that he was born in Denver.
Rivers photographed the construction of the Chrysler Building (1929) and the Empire State Building (1930) in New York City. He was inspired to take up photography by seeing the work of the influential documentary photographer Lewis Hine, whose famous images of working children helped win passage of protective child labor laws. Rivers and Hine both photographed the Empire State Building and the men building it, yet Rivers apparently was unaware until years later that his idol had been present. Employed as an iron worker, Rivers traded his pail of tools for a Zeiss Ikon[9] camera during his lunch hour or when photographic opportunities arose. While the workers depicted in some of the photographs clearly are aware of the photographer's presence, Rivers's project presumably was conducted more or less surreptitiously. It is not known for certain if the paths of Rivers and Hine ever crossed, but his son Ron considers it unlikely: Hine photographed only the Empire State Building in connection with his "Men at Work" project,[10] not the earlier Chrysler Building, and Rivers did not work on the Empire State Building for a very long period. His self-portrait on the Empire State Building, "The Bolter-Up," may have been intended as a memento during one of his last days on that job.[11]
Rivers became unemployed in the Depression and consequently became involved in national efforts to create Social Security, unemployment insurance, and housing programs. These experiences apparently encouraged his active participation in politically leftist activities, as coverage about him in Soviet publications attests. A pacifist, in 1935 he was involved in demonstrations aimed at preventing World War II, and in the 1960s he took part in anti-Vietnam demonstrations and encouraged young people to continue such resistance.
In the 1950s Rivers worked in steel fabrication, in a chemistry lab as a technician, and briefly as a legislative aide for a New York state senator.
In 1986 Rivers submitted his 1930 self-portrait, posed on the Chrysler Building, to the International Year of Peace art contest sponsored by the New Times, published in Moscow: it was awarded a prize and diploma.
Mr. Rivers died in 1993, only two weeks after moving to Arlington, Texas to enter a nursing home near his sons' homes.
1. The page on Rivers in New York University=s Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives web site (http://laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=82) --noted 5 June 2002), claims Rivers was born in 1905 and changed his name Ato resemble those of the Mohawk Indians working on the high steel of New York City=s skyscrapers and bridges".
2. This spelling is given in an e-mail from James Rivers to Helen Plummer, Aug. 19, 2002.
3. Ibid.
4. Telephone conversation between Ron Rivers and the author, 6 June 2002. Additional information was provided by Ron Rivers in electronic mail messages, 5 June and 12 June 2002.
5. James Rivers, op. cit.
6. Telephone conversation with Ron Rivers, 6 June 2002.
7. In a biographical statement for the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art (copy supplied by Helen Plummer), Charles Rivers called Denver his birthplace. The George Eastman House photographer database also included this apparently erroneous information, probably derived from the Amon Carter statement (telephone conversation with Helen Plummer, 3 June 2002).
8. Ron Rivers, telephone conversation, 6 June 2002.
9. Identified by Charles Rivers as the camera used in the skyscraper photographs: interview by Carol Sewell, "Photographer looked at U.S. from high view," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dec. 27, 1986. Rivers also used a Rolleiflex, according to Ron Rivers (see note above), but the folding Zeiss Ikon camera would have been a more convenient addition to a lunchbox than the bulkier Rolleiflex. The collection negatives are not in the Rolleiflex square format, moreover.
10. See Judith Mara Gutman, Lewis W. Hine and the American social conscience. New York: Walker, 1967.
11. Ron Rivers, telephone conversation, 6 June 2002.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Smithsonian Institution
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Included Rivers's self-portrait, "The Bolter Up," in its summer 2002 exhibition, "Metropolis in the Machine Age," in the form of a new print made from a digital copy of the Archives Center's original negative. The author discussed the new print from the Rivers negative and other photographs in this exhibition in an invited gallery lecture, "The Skyscraper Photographs of Lewis Hine and Charles Rivers," Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, June 6, 2002.
Materials at Other Organizations
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas
See Barbara McCandless and John Rohrbach, Singular moments: photographs from the Amon Carter Museum, with select entries by Helen Plummer. Reproduction of a Rivers photograph, with description and analysis, p. 30. Additional information has been generously supplied by Ms. Plummer, curatorial associate, and Barbara McCandless, curator of photography, Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, Fort Worth Texas.
Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at New York University
Museum of the City of New York
Some of his photographs were included in the Amon Carter Museum of Western Art exhibition, "Looking at America: Documentary Photographs of the 1930s and 1940s," December 1986.
Provenance:
The collection is a gift from Mr. Charles Rivers, 1989.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Archives Center claims copyright. Rights were conveyed to the Archives Center through a Deed of Gift signed by the donor.
Primarily black-and-white photographic prints and photographic negatives created by Pat Bress and Chuck Bress in the late 1980s. The photographs depict jazz musicians and singers performing at two Washington, D.C. night clubs, Charley's Place and Blues Alley, in challenging lighting situations. Also, a box of correspondence and miscellaneous written documents related to the photographers' work and association with jazz figures.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into five series.
Series 1: Textual Materials
Series 2: Photographic negatives and contact sheets
Series 3: Photographic Prints (8 x 10)
Series 4: Photographic Prints (11 x 14)
Series 5: Photographic Prints (16 x 20)
Biographical / Historical:
Married couple Chuck and Pat Bress worked as photographers, both individually and as a team. Also jazz aficionados, they photographed jazz musicians
Provenance:
Collection donated by Pat and Chuck Bress in 2011.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Pat and Chuck Bress retain copyright. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Goya Foods, Inc., supported the cultural life of various communities in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company's current headquarters is in Secaucus, New Jersey. Photographs, calendars, sales promotional materials, cookbooks, packaging, and news clippings. Photographs depict primarily company sponsored events, but a few are family pictures.
Scope and Contents:
The Goya Foods, Incorporated Collection documents the history of the company from the 1960s to 2000. (A few earlier documents pertaining to Unanue and Sons and family photographs can be found in the collection, as well.) Materials include photographs, calendars, sales promotional materials, cookbooks, recipe packages, point-of-purchase items, and box and can labels, scrapbooks, and clippings files. Sound recordings, televisions advertisements, and anniversary video productions are also included. The material documents sales meetings, plant activities, and workers' events as well as the office life of the company and the philanthropic efforts and community activities of Goya Foods, Incorporated.
Series 1, History and Biography 1960s-1990s, includes photographs and biographies of the Unanue family members. Also includes company anniversary programs.
Series 2, United States Publicity Materials, 1970-2000, undated, contains extensive files of news clippings (compiled by an outside agency) arranged in chronological order. Also, press releases and publicity materials and copies of the newsletter La Voz Femenina[2], 1982-1989.
Series 3, United States Photographs, 1960s-1990s, includes photographs of Goya "sponsored" activities, which took place in the United States. The majority of the photos are unlabeled and undated. The series is divided into twelve subseries.
Subseries 3.1, Parades and Festivals, 1966-1999, include parades and festivals which Goya participated in, mainly in New York City and New Jersey. For many parades, Goya created a special float for participants to ride on. Many parades feature pageant contestants (see Subseries D). Tito Puente is a frequent performer.
Subseries 3.2, Parties and Banquets, 1970s-1990s, include many of the banquets and parties included are related to the various parades and pageants, this may or may not be obvious from looking at the photographs. Also included are employee parties.
Subseries 3.3, Community Events, 1970s-1990s, Goya prides itself on its civic work within the Hispanic communities of the United States. This subseries reflects many of the events Goya has sponsored or been a part of, including its support of the Manhattan Valley Golden Age Senior Center and Casa de Don Pedro, a home for children.
Subseries 3.4, Pageants, 1980s-1990s, include beauty pageants sponsored throughout the 1980s and 1990s, usually associated with a community parade (for example, a Dominican Parade Pageant). Sometimes the photos from the pageants and related events are included, though the parades themselves can be found in Subseries A.
Subseries 3.5, Employees, Plants, and Offices, 1960s-1990s, include photographs of Goya employees (both line workers and executives), offices, and plant facilities. Events in which employees participated (dances, parties, and picnics) are included here.
Subseries 3.6, Awards, 1970s-1990s, include awards given to the Unanues or Goya Foods, Incorporated by various organizations and awards given to others by Goya.
Subseries 3.7, Celebrities, 1980s-1990s, mainly events with celebrities in attendance. Prominent people include: Cardinal Cooke, Gloria Estefan, Michael J. Fox, Ed Koch, Spike Lee, David Letterman, Olga Elena Mattei, and Tito Puente.
Subseries 3.8, Sporting Events, Teams, and Awards, 1970s-1990s, soccer, baseball, bowling, volleyball, and softball teams are included, as well as little league teams and sporting workshop participants (mainly children with "professional" players). Teams are mostly Goya sponsored, though some professional players appear.
Subseries 3.9, Concerts, 1980s-1990s, include Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and Willie Colón concerts at Penns Landing, plus multi-city Festival de Musica Goya, 1990.
Subseries 3.10, Trade Shows, 1966, 1980s, include Food expositions, trade shows, and demonstrations.
Subseries 3.11, Travel, 1970s-1990s, trips taken by [presumably] Goya employees. Santo Domingo, Peru, and Haiti were destinations.
Subseries 3.12, Unidentified, 1970s-1990s
Sub-subseries 3.12.1, Parade related events, 1980s-1990s
Sub-subseries 3.12.2, Other, 1970s-1990s
Series 4, United States Corporate Materials, 1960s-1990s, includes product labels and packaging, advertising materials, press kits, and memos.
Series 5, Puerto Rican Publicity Materials, 1980s-2000, consists of publications arranged chronologically within each title.
Series 6, Puerto Rican Photographs, 1960s-2000; undated, include photographs documenting events sponsored by Goya in Puerto Rico. The majority of the photographs were not identified or dated. The items that could be identified were arranged by subject including parades, parties, banquets, community events, employees, plants, offices, award ceremonies, sporting events, travel and products.
Subseries 6.1, Parades, 1977, include images from one parade, Reina el Dario la Prenza.
Subseries 6.2, Parties and Banquets, 1970-1996, primarily document employee parties.
Subseries 6.3, Community Events, 1972-1999; undated, documents Goya's involvement with the Puerto Rican community and some of the events that the company sponsored.
Subseries 6.4, Employees, Plants, and Offices, 1961-1999, undated, include images of Goya employees (both line workers and executives), offices, and plant facilities. Events in which employees participated (dances, parties, and picnics) are included here.
Subseries 6.5, Awards, 1970s-1996; undated, awards given to the Unanues or Goya Foods, Incorproated by various organizations and awards given to others by Goya.
Subseries 6.6, Sporting Events, Teams, and Awards, 1970s, contains one (1) folder of sporting events and teams sponsored by Goya.
Subseries 6.7, Travel, 1960s; undated, document trip(s) taken by [presumably] Goya employees primarily to Boca Cagrejos and Puerto Rico.
Subseries 6.8, Products, 2000, undated, contain images of Goya products and of a photograph shoot for an advertisement.
Series 7, Puerto Rican Corporate Materials, 1970s-2000, included are office forms, blank letterhead, advertising materials, press kits, annual reports, and newsletters.
Series 8, Audiovisual Materials, 1990s; undated, consists of commercials and biographical programs on the Unanues. ** No reference copies exist for most audiovisual materials; please see the Reference Archivist for availability in viewing.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in eight (8) series:
Series 1, History and Biography 1960s-1990s,
Series 2, United States Publicity Materials, 1970-2000; undated
Series 3, United States Photographs, 1960s-1999; undated
Subseries 3.1, Parades and Festivals, 1966-1999
Subseries 3.2, Parties and Banquets, 1970s-1990s
Subseries 3.3, Community Events, 1970s-1990s
Subseries 3.4, Pageants, 1980s-1994
Subseries 3.5, Employees, Plants, and Offices, 1960s-1990s
Subseries 3.6, Awards, 1970s-1990s
Subseries 3.7, Celebrities, 1980s-1990s
Subseries 3.8, Sporting Events, Teams, and Awards, 1970s-1990s
Subseries 3.9, Concerts, 1987-1990; undated
Subseries 3.10, Trade Shows, 1966-1994; undated
Subseries 3.11, Travel, 1970s-1996
Subseries 3.12, Unidentified, 1970s-1990s
Sub-subseries 3.12.1, Parade related events, 1983-1993
Sub-subseries 3.12.2, Other, 1970s-1992; undated
Series 4, United States Corporate Materials, 1960s-1990s
Series 5, Puerto Rican Publicity Materials, 1980s-2000
Series 6, Puerto Rican Photographs, 1960s-2000; undated
Subseries 6.1, Parades, 1977
Subseries 6.2, Parties and Banquets, 1970-1996
Subseries 6.3, Community Events, 1972-1999, undated
Subseries 6.4 Employees, Plants, and Offices, 1961-1999, undated
Subseries 6.5, Awards, 1970s-1996, undated
Subseries 6.6, Sporting Events, Teams, and Awards, 1970s
Subseries 6.7, Travel, 1960s, undated
Subseries 6.8, Products, 2000, undated
Series 7, Puerto Rican Corporate Materials, 1970s-2000; undated
Series 8, Audiovisual Materials, 1990s, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Prudencio Unanue (1886-1976) was born in the Basque region of northern Spain. He immigrated to the island of Puerto Rico in 1902 and married Carolina Casal (1890-1984) in 1921. In 1916, he moved to New York where he studied business and worked for a customs agency. Missing the tastes and smells of home cooking, the Unanues believed that there was an expanding immigrant market for the ingredients of "authentic Spanish cuisine." In 1936, they opened Unanue, Incorporated, a warehouse on Duane Street in lower Manhattan, to supply corner stores or bodegas. Over thirty years, the Unanue and Sons import business grew tremendously. Eventually, the business began to do its own food processing, canning, and packaging. In 1958, Goya Foods bought its first factory in Brooklyn, New York.
The Unanues and Sons Company purchased the name "Goya"[1] in 1936 from a Moroccan sardine supplier for one dollar. In 1946, the company changed its name to Unanue and Sons, Incorporated. It assumed the name Goya Foods, Incorporated in 1961, although it had used the name Goya for its products since 1936.
Goya Foods Company continued to innovate, pioneering television advertising in Puerto Rico. During the 1960s, Goya Foods sought out opportunities to expand its customer base as larger numbers of Caribbean immigrants moved into the United States. By sponsoring music festivals, sports teams, and other activities Goya Foods supported the cultural life; parades, beauty pageants, festivals, of various communities in the United States and Puerto Rico.
In 1974, Goya Foods moved to its current office headquarters and factory building in Secaucus, New Jersey. By 2000, Goya owned factories in upstate New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, as well as Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Spain.
Footnotes:
[1] Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) was an influential Spanish artist whose paintings reflected the historical upheavals of his time. For many, the art of Francisco de Goya truly revealed Spain because he painted all of its people.
[2] Note that words in Spanish are set off in italics; periodical titles are underlined.
Related Materials:
Government of Puerto Rico Division of Community Education Posters, Teodoro Vidal Collection, and Tito Puente Papers.
Separated Materials:
The Division of Culture and the Arts (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds items related to this collection including promotional items, display props, a neon sign, products and containers, and clothing. See accession number, 1999.3017.
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the National Museum of American History in 1999 by Goya Foods, Inc. through Rafael Toro, Director of Public Relations.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Physical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow.
Technical Access: Do not use when original materials are available on reference video or audio tapes.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Unrestricted research use on site by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
