Guide to the Commission On Industrial Relations Special Agents' Files,
1908-1931 [bulk 1914-1931].

The Commission on Industrial Relations was established by Act of Congress on August 23, 1912. The Commission's charge was to "inquire into the general condition of labor in the principal industries of the United States, including agriculture, and especially in those which are carried on in corporate forms ...; into the growth of associations of employers and of wage earners and the effect of such associations upon the relations between employers and employees ..." among other duties.

Professor George E. Barnett of Johns Hopkins University and Leo Wolman, a Ph.D. candidate at Johns Hopkins, were hired by the Commission to investigate several matters relating to union membership and the specific nature of several collective bargaining agreements. Dr. Wolman later went on to become a professor of economics specializing in labor and industrial relations at Columbia University.

Correspondents are Dr. George E. Barnett and Leo Wolman (special agents of the Commission) with the majority of trade unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor and a number of independent unions. Barnett initiated the study and supervised Wolman in completing the project. Included is a manuscript first draft of the resulting report entitled "The Extent of Organization in the United States in 1910," including manuscript and printed occupational and census tables. Also a file of constitutions, by-laws, agreements and rules of order for the San Francisco trade unions and the San Francisco Labor Council (1907-1913) and several reprints of articles by Barnett (1916-1926).