Guide to the Workers' Education Bureau Of America Records,
1921-1951

Founded in 1921 by a group of unionists and educators, the Workers' Education Bureau of America (WEB) functioned under the directorship of Spencer Miller and John D. Conners as a service organization for research, teaching, publication, and extension work in workers' education. WEB received financial, political, and consultative support from American Federation of Labor (A.F. of L.) leaders, including Samuel Gompers, William Green, and Matthew Woll. In 1951, WEB was formally integrated into the A.F. of L. as its Education Department.

Section 1. History: Records consist mainly of correspondence, memoranda, and reports pertaining to the routine administration and activities of the Workers' Education Bureau of America. Organizational records include financial statements and auditors' reports (1922-1947); bibliographies; reading lists; clippings; and certificates of incorportation and certification. Also, memoranda, letters and reports pertaining to the Labor Book Fund; workers' education programs in various states; the Federal Emergency Relief Administration-WEB jointly sponsored West Coast School of Unemployed Workers (1934); the WEB-A.F. of L. dispute with Brookwood Labor School (1929); financial matters; the establishment of a labor correspondence school, the International Labor News Service for Worker Education, the Pittsburgh Labor College, and the A.F. of L. Education Department.

Includes correspondence chiefly of Spencer Miller and John D. Conners with Samuel Gompers and William Green (presidents, A.F. of L.) and Matthew Woll (vice president, A.F. of L.); the American Association of Adult Education; William Haber (professor, Michigan State College); William J. Bowen (president, Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers' International Union of America); Victor A. Olander (secretary-treasurer, Illinois State Federation of Labor); and Fannia M. Cohn (secretary, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union) pertaining to the Workers' Education Bureau Press Inc., workers' education, A.F. of L.-WEB relations and joint programs, and leadership training.

Section 2. Organizational activities: Records consist of memoranda, reports, correspondence and miscellaneous documents pertaining to WEB relations with the A.F. of L.; various workers' education programs conducted by unions, academia, and government agencies; and the founding and development of WEB. Include documents pertaining to the establishment of the Labor Book Fund (1922-1928). Also, reports, memoranda and notes pertaining to vocational, adult, and workers' education programs in various states (1935-1939); A.F. of L-WEB joint conferences on labor and public education; Rutgers University-New Jersey Federation of Labor-WEB joint conferences on international labor relations (1946-1947); and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) workers' education radio broadcasts (1939). Additionally, correspondence of Spencer Miller with Harry Russell (director, WEB, New England Region) on regional conferences and programs (1925-1928); of Sterling Fisher (director of educational radio talks, CBS) on research and radio broadcasts (1939); and of William Green on workers' education programs in academia (1935).

Also, correspondence of John D. Conners with Harold Taylor (president, Sarah Lawrence College) on Fulbright Scholarships, and worker and student exchange programs with Ruskind College, Oxford Univ., and with Matthew Woll on WEB and A.F. of L. cooperative projects and workers' education programs. Also, correspondence of Woll (in the capacity of labor chairman, National Advisory Council on Radio in Education) with William Green and President Franklin D. Roosevelt regarding WEB radio broadcasts (1932).

Section 3. Publications and research documents: Consist of reading lists and bibliographies; published and unpublished pamphlets and reports; notes, memoranda, and manuscript drafts of reports on research projects; and news releases and bulletins of WEB and various cooperating agencies. Include materials by Samuel Gompers, Edward C. Lindeman, Theresa Wolfson, John D. Conners, Mark Starr, Fannia Cohn, Nelson H. Cruikshank, and Arthur Elder pertaining to workers' education; public speaking; child labor; leadership training; collective bargaining; voluntary unionism; the history of the A.F. of L.; labor plays; social security; unemployment; workmen's compensation; labor and the economy; labor history; unions and the community; the construction industry; and the international labor relations programs conducted by the American Council of Education and the American Friends Service Committee.

Section 4. Miscellaneous correspondence and reports: Consist chiefly of published and unpublished reports; routine correspondence of Spencer Miller and John D. Conners; and notes and memoranda. Materials regard workers' education and the atomic age, international labor problems, leadership training, radio programs, technology and unemployment, regional workers' education programs, teacher training, and unemployment (1921-1951).