Table Of Contents

Descriptive Summary

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Information

Arrangement of the Collection

Restrictions

Subject and Genre Headings

Related Material

Administrative Information

Container List

Series 1: Senatorial Papers 1962-1965, Undated

Series 2: Post-Senatorial Papers 1963-1975, Undated

FREDERIC S. BERMAN PAPERS (APAP-229), 1962-1975

Biographical Sketch

Frederic S. Berman was born on March 7, 1927 in New York. He graduated from Columbia College in 1949 and received his law degree from New York Law School in 1951. Berman practiced as an attorney at the firm Berman & Berman from 1952-1964 and again from 1969-1972, specializing in business law. He also was an adjunct member of the faculty at New York Law School from 1958-2003, teaching such courses as criminal law, personal property, municipal law and post-conviction remedies and procedures.

Berman entered public service in the 1960s. Voters from the 20th District elected him to the New York State Senate in 1964. A Democrat, he served from 1964-1966 and focused on issues of air pollution, tenants' rights, and legislative ethics. He was a member of the Corporations, Education, Finance, Motor Vehicles and Transportation and Taxation Committees. As the Commissioner of the New York City Rent and Housing Department from 1966-1969 he spearheaded efforts to slow rising rent through rent control and reform measures. He also served as a New York City Criminal Court Judge from 1973-1976 and sat on the New York State Supreme Court from 1976-1997.

Since 2006, he has served as Adjunct Professor Emeritus at New York Law School and is known as an authority on law and social change.

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Scope and Content Information

The collection predominantly contains materials acquired by Frederic Berman during his time as a New York State Senator. Series 1, Senatorial Papers, contains campaign information as well as results from public opinion surveys. Campaign literature from Bruno Cappellini, Eleanor Clark French, John G. Heimann, Eric M. Javits, Robert Kennedy, and John V. Lindsay, and other contemporary New York politicians is found throughout the files. The Berman Papers also feature a substantial variety of newsclippings from local New York City news sources pertaining to Berman's political platforms, such as air pollution, political ethics, and rent and housing issues. Bills introduced by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell and background materials about Mitchell, whom Berman defeated in the 1964 State Senate election, are abundant in Berman's research files.

Series 2, Post-Senatorial Papers, contains materials from Berman's time as the Commissioner of the New York City Rent and Housing Department and includes pamphlets, bound reports, photographs, correspondence, and drafts and final publications of articles written by Berman. There are a few items from Berman's career as a New York City Criminal Court Judge, but no materials pertaining to Berman's service on the New York State Supreme Court.

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Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is organized into the following series:

Both Series 1 and 2 are arranged alphabetically.

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Restrictions

Access

Access to this record group is unrestricted.

Copyright

The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives will provide information about copyright owners and other restrictions, but the legal determination ultimately rests with the researcher. Requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the Head of Special Collections and Archives.

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Related Material

Archivists transfered Joint Legislative Committee to Study Revision of Corporation Laws, Seventh Interim Report to 1963 Session of New York State Legislature to the book division of Special Collections. The catalogue record for the monograph will be included in Minerva, the University Library Catalog.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Places

Genres and Forms

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Identification of specific item, series, box, folder, Frederic S. Berman Papers, 1962-1975. M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany, State University of New York (hereafter referred to as the Berman Papers).

Acquisition Information

Frederic Berman initially donated his papers to Syracuse University in a series of accessions beginning in 1966. In 2006, the papers were transferred to the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: Laura Welch
Date: © 2012 By the University at Albany, SUNY. All rights reserved.
Revision history:

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Container List

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