Newman Library Sources on Martin S. Begun

Resources on the late Martin S. Begun for Hagedorn Internship Program students for the Martin S. Begun scholarship.

About the Martin S. Begun Scholarship

Martin S. Begun photograph from his race for Congress in the 1970s.Among his many government, civic and community activities, Martin S. Begun, who died in 2016, was the founding chair of the Dean's Advisory Board of Baruch's School of Public Affairs, now known as the Austin W. Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. 

His wife, Louise Sunshine, has endowed an annual scholarship in his name to a student enrolled in the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs who is participating in the Hagedorn Internship Program, which provides students with a semester-long experience of working in a non-profit organization. The recipient shall be known as the Martin Begun Scholar.

The applicants shall write an essay about some aspect of Martin Begun’s civic or governmental activities utilizing the archival material available in the Newman Library. Candidates will be selected by the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. 

To help applicants for the Martin S. Begun scholarship, the library and archives have prepared this guide of library and archival resources that are currently available.

 

 Martin S. Begun during his campaign for Congress in the 1970s.

                                                                                                                                                                                    

About the Martin S. Begun Archives

The Newman Library's Archives Department has processed the Martin S. Begun Collection and has created a finding aid to help researchers in their use of the collection. The collection has also now been fully digitized and made available via our website below.

The Martin S. Begun Collection touches on one of the most tumultuous periods of New York City’s recent history – the Fiscal Crisis of the 1970s. As a senior administrator and professor at the New York University School of Medicine, he was named coordinator of the Task Force on Health by incoming Mayor Abraham D. Beame in 1973 to overhaul medical care in New York. He served from 1974-1994 as chair of the Community Services Board of the city’s Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services, along with many other civic appointments. A long-time leader of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, he maintained  ties with leading federal, state and city officials, from Vice President Hubert  Humphrey to Governors Nelson Rockefeller and Hugh Carey and Mayors  John Lindsay and Edward Koch, in addition to Beame. Begun also ran unsuccessfully for Koch’s seat in Congress in 1978 after Koch became mayor.

Assistance Available to Students

Students wishing assistance may contact the following to schedule an appointment to access the collection in the Archives and for consultations: