Jacob Remes

Jacob Remes

About Jacob

Jacob Remes is a Clinical Associate Professor of History at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and associated faculty in the Department of History. He studies and teaches the working-class and labor history of North America, with a focus on urban disasters, working-class organizations, and migration. His book, Disaster Citizenship: Survivors, Solidarity, and Power in the Progressive Era (University of Illinois Press, 2016) examines the overlapping responses of individuals, families, civil society, and the state to the Salem, Mass., Fire of 1914, and the Halifax, N.S., Explosion of 1917.
Men sit with their heads in the hands.

The Show Must Go On: Rob Kapilow and Jacob Remes on “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (1932)

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Primary Source: “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” (1932), music by Jay Gorney, words by Yip Harburg, recorded by Rudy Vallée “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” with music by Jay Gorney and words by Yip Harburg, became a big hit for Rudy Vallée, then a major idol and music star, in 1932. Having become popular at… MORE

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The Show Must Go On: Jacob Remes on the Salem Fire of 1914

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On Thursday, June 24, 1914, a fire started at a the Korn patent leather factory in Salem, Massachusetts, and quickly spread across the city of about 45,000 people. By the next day, 18,000 people were rendered homeless, jobless, or both, 47% of them French Canadian immigrants or their descendants. The National Guard (sometimes then called… MORE

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