Guide to the Melvin Seidenberg Photographs, c. 1828-1988
Arrangement
Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Melvin Seidenberg Photographs,
Creator
Seidenberg, Melvin, 1915-2003
Collection Number
MSP#566
Extent
3.75 linear feet linear feet(8 boxes)
Date
c. 1828-1988
Abstract
Melvin Seidenberg and his wife Elenore moved to Pittsburgh in 1946 after he received an offer of employment from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to cover general assignments. In 1962, Seidenberg accepted a community relations position with the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and later accepted a position with the Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT), from which he retired in 1985. The Melvin Seidenberg photographs include prints, negatives, slides and transparencies which correspond with Seidenberg's papers, research, and writings. The photographs contain images documenting Renaissance I, the history of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, housing, urban planning, redevelopment, and transportation. There are also a few images of Seidenberg, his family, friends, and colleagues.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
The guide to this collection was written by Theresa E. Rea.
Sponsor
The processing of this collection was underwritten by the PNC Charitable Trusts- J. Samuel and Rose Y. Cox Foundation, Giant Eagle Foundation, and the Heinz History Center. For information concerning sponsorship, contact the Director of the Library and Archives.
Born in 1915 to Polish and Russian Jewish immigrants in Pueblo, Colorado, Melvin Seidenberg attended the University of Oklahoma for two years and worked for a newspaper in Oklahoma before returning to Pueblo in 1936. After his return, he was employed as a reporter and assistant sports editor for the Pueblo Chieftain. In 1942, Seidenberg enlisted in the United States Navy. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor as a medical orderly and transferred to Washington D.C., during the last year of the war. There he wrote news releases and marine combat correspondence for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. It was during that time he met his future wife Elenore Ullman. They were married in 1945. They later had three children: Daniel in 1952, Willa in 1956, and Julie in 1961.
In 1946, Seidenberg was hired by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for general assignments and also to cover real estate and urban affairs. About 1950, Pittsburgh became the first major city to undertake a modern urban-renewal program. A large section of downtown was demolished and converted into parks, office buildings, and a sports arena. Seidenberg chronicled many facets of the renewal program.
While on the editorial staff for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Seidenberg co-edited A Pittsburgh Album 1758-1958: Two Hundred Years of Memories in Pictures and Text with Roy Stryker. He was credited with giving the Fort Duquesne Bridge the name that lives on in Pittsburgh's lore "The Bridge to Nowhere." Seidenberg also created a chronology of the two hundred year history of Pittsburgh for Stefan Lorant's book Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City, published in 1964.
Seidenberg left the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1962 and worked for the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh (URA). He set up a department of community affairs within the URA and wrote speeches, statements, articles, brochures, etc., for promoting URA projects and creating liaisons with neighborhoods. Seidenberg had an interest in housing and housing discrimination in the area neighborhoods and wrote about housing inequalities. He also covered community affairs and other social issues, including social planning aspects on communities and social problems in urban renewal.
With support from the URA, Seidenberg played a role in establishing Urban Youth Action, Inc., (UYA) in the Hill District in 1966. Founded by Bernard H. Jones, Sr., the organization stresses community service, education, and job training to help young people to develop positive life and leadership skills. For his contributions to the UYA, Seidenberg was later named an honorary board member.
About 1970, Seidenberg left the Urban Redevelopment Authority and took a position writing for the Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT). After his retirement in 1985, Seidenberg continued to do some spotting for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was part of the statistics crew for approximately fifteen years. Both Seidenberg and his wife were active and supporters of many groups in Pittsburgh including the League of Women Voters, Thomas Merton Center, and WDUQ public radio. He volunteered and continued to do some writing and consulting for organizations, such as League of Women Voters, UYA, URA and PAT, until his death in 2003.
Scope and Content Notes
Melvin Seidenberg Photographs consist of eight of archival boxes which are arranged in three series according to medium. The series designations are as follows: Prints, Negatives, and Slides/Transparencies. Many of the images are repeated in each series. The photographs complement much of the research and work that Seidenberg did during his career.
Conditions Governing Access
No access restrictions. The Senator John Heinz History Center does not own reproduction rights to all of the material in this collection. All responsibility for questions of copyright is assumed by the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Elenore Seidenberg, wife of Melvin Seidenberg on August 14, 2008.
Preferred Citation
Melvin Seidenberg Photographs, c. 1828-1988, MSP#566, Rauh Jewish Archives, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Theresa E. Rea in October 2010.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Separated Materials
The Melvin Seidenberg Papers have been separated, arranged, and described with the catalog designation of MSS#566.
The Melvin Seidenberg Oversize Papers have been separated, arranged, and described with the catalog designation of MSO#566.
The Melvin Seidenberg Oversize Photographs have been separated, arranged, and described with the catalog designation of MSR#566.
To the library: For the full list of publications transferred to the library, please refer to the compiled list located in the donor file.
To the museum: Pirates plastic bank, sponsor PN Bank (Pittsburgh National Bank), Tile of the Fort Pitt Tunnel, coin
This series consists of ten folders arranged alphabetically by topic, and includes a variety of sizes, including 8x10 and 5x7, 35 mm strips, and one glass plate negative.
Many of the negatives are from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. They include images of the VJ day celebration, Duquesne power strike, Wabash terminal fire, and the polio vaccine. The negatives were removed from their original identification envelopes and placed into sleeves. Each envelope was copied and placed with the negatives.
Negatives that depict transportation are also in this series. They consist of two folders of images from the Phase III Hearing of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, which focused on capital improvement program for public transportation held on February 26, 1971.
Containers
Box 7, Folder 1
Containers
Box 7, Folder 2
Scope and Contents
Hill District-Lower Hill, undated
North Side-Allegheny Center, 1962-1963
Containers
Box 7, Folder 3
Scope and Contents
David Lawrence views model of Lower Hill, 1950
Duquesne Light Strike, 1950
Philip Murray's Funeral, 1952
Polio Vaccine-Dr. Salk Giving Shot, 1955
Wabash Fire, 1946
Containers
Box 7, Folder 4
Scope and Contents
Gateway Center-Elles? Building, 1950
Mellon Square, 1955
Mellon-Steel Building, 1951
Point Park, 1950
Point Park Demolition, 1950
US Steel Building Scaffold, 1952
Scope and Contents
Hill District-Lower Hill, c. 1956-1958
Oakland-Health Center
Containers
Box 7, Folder 5
Containers
Box 7, Folder 6
Containers
Box 7, Folder 7
Containers
Box 7, Folder 8
Containers
Box 7, Folder 9
Containers
Box 7, Folder 10
Scope and Contents
This series is housed in one document case and divided into two smaller subseries entitled Slides and Transparencies. The Slides series consist of four folders and two small document cases that contain lantern slides. The slides primarily show neighborhood and neighborhood redevelopment. The Transparencies series contains aerials with overlays and images of transportation.
Scope and Contents
This subseries consists of four folders and two small document cases. The slides are divided into neighborhoods with one folder of various neighborhood residents and one folder containing images of Seidenberg, his wife Elenore, friends, and colleagues. Most of the slides are in color, with a few in black and white. Also included with the slides are papers documenting slide presentations. Many of the slides are labeled and/or numbered but these numbers do not directly correspond with the lists.
The two smaller document cases contain lantern slides and note cards that were believed to be used for a presentation on North Side redevelopment. Not all of the slides correspond with the cards. The slides trace a pictorial history of Allegheny Center and Manchester from its early establishment to approximately 1954.
Containers
Box 8
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 1
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 2
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 3
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 4
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 5
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 6
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 7
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 8
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 9
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 10
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 11
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 12
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 13
Containers
Box 8a, Slide 14
Containers
Box 8b, Slide 1
Containers
Box 8b, Slide 2
Containers
Box 8b, Slide 3
Containers
Box 8b, Slide 4
Containers
Box 8b, Slide 5
Containers
Box 8b, Slide 6
Containers
Box 8, Folder 1
Scope and Contents
Downtown
Aerials
B&O Passenger Station, 1910
Bigelow Boulevard
Exposition Park, 1905
Fort Duquesne Bridge
Gateway Center
Golden Triangle
Liberty Avenue
Manor Building
Mellon Square
Night Scenes
Point
East Liberty
340 Amber Street
Aerials, pre-1958
Alexander King Home
Broad Mall looking east
CLP-Whitfield Street
Centre Avenue, 1950s
Commerce Way, 1964
East Liberty Fire 1962
Frankstown Avenue, 1964
Frankstown and Penn Avenue
Friendship Plaza
Highland Avenue, 1950s
Highland Square ands Medical Center east, 1971
Joy of Life toward Highland Avenue
Mary Ann Negley Home
Matthews Building, 1971
North St. Clair Street-Pennley Park Site, 1956
North St. Clair Between Rural and Broad, 1956
Old Negley Homestead
Omega Street, 1971
Original Hot Dog
PNB & Highland Building, 1910, 1920s
Peabody High School
Penn Avenue, 1986s-1960s
Penn Avenue at Centre Avenue
Penn Circle, 1971
Penn Circle South, 1971
Penn Mall at Collins, 1880s, 1971
Penn Mall Looking West, 1971
Pennley Park Court, 1965
Presbyterian Church
Public Housing
Regent Theatre
Rehabilitation Homes
Rodman Street Houses, 1971
Rural Street, 1958
Rural Street looking north, 1956
Sears Roebuck., 1964
Store Front, 1947
Woodland road and Fifth Avenue-Winter Scene, 1890s
Garfield
Jordan Way (alley), 1969
Containers
Box 8, Folder 2
Scope and Contents
Hill District
Aerials, 1957
Alley Looking Towards Downtown, 1956
Centre Avenue, 1956
Center for the Arts Site-view from Bluff Street, 1970
Chatham Street, 1956
Civic Arena, 1971
Civic Arena and Washington Plaza, 1964
Clarence Connelly School
Crosstown Boulevard, 1964
Demolition, 1957
Epiphany Church before clearance, 1956
Herron Avenue
Housing, c. 1950s
Logan Street-part of Washington Plaza, 1957
NYC Workers, 1970
Pennsylvania Railroad Station, 1956
Ridgeway Street, 1967
Saint Peter's Church, 1957
Slum housing, c. 1956
Street scenes, 1950s-1969
Synagogue-Interior/Exterior, 1965
Synagogue-Tower Hill
Toward Downtown, 1958
Wylie Avenue, 1958
Wylie at Fernando, 1957
Homewood
Baxter Park Playground, 1970
Hamilton and Tioga
Homewood Avenue, 1965
Homewood Kids, 1964
Homewood Play Lot, 1964
Street Scenes, 1964
Containers
Box 8, Folder 3
Scope and Contents
North Side
Allegheny Center, 1970
Allegheny Center-New Office Building, 1971
Allegheny General Hospital, 1964
Allegheny Public Square-Library, 1971
Chateau Street West, 1960s
Chartiers Valley-Overmyer, 1971
East Street, 1971
East Street Valley, 1967
Federal Street from Allegheny Center Mall, 1971
Lockhart Street, 1971
Northview Heights Public Housing
Ober Park, 1971
Old Post Office-Children's Museum, 1971
Pressley Street High Rise, 1971
Rehab Street, 1964
Riverfront, 1971
Saint Paul's Lutheran Church, 1970
Stadium from Allegheny Center
Stadium Preliminary Rendering
Stadium Site, 1965
Three Rivers Stadium view from Fort Duquesne Bridge, 1970
Woods Run Slums
Oakland
Aerial
Cathedral of Learning, 1964
Forbes Avenue
Panther Hollow, 1964
Pitt Towers
Schenley Plaza, 1964
Miscellaneous
Sheraden Park, 1971
Silver Lake Park, 1971
Strip District towards Downtown
Windgap-Broadhead Fording Phase One, 1970
Containers
Box 8, Folder 4
Scope and Contents
General
Seidenberg, Melvin
Scope and Contents
The transparencies consist of color aerials with some overlays from Homewood, North Side, Three Rivers Stadium, Oakland, and East Liberty, dated about 1962. Also included are images of city buses and Light Rail Transit (LRT).