ILGWU Education Department, Beverly Shulman Papers, 1972-1991
Collection Number: 5780/106

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library


DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
ILGWU Education Department Beverly Shulman Papers, 1972-1991
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5780/106
Abstract:
Consists of materials on several of the ILGWU's training institutes, seminars, and conferences.
Creator:
Shulman, Beverly
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). Research Dept.
Quanitities:
2 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English

Biographical / Historical

The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States. It was one of the first U.S. Unions to have a membership consisting of mostly females, and it played a key role in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union is generally referred to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG". The ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, and political influence to become one of the most powerful forces in American organized labor by mid-century. Representing workers in the women's garment industry, the ILGWU worked to improve working and living conditions of its members through collective bargaining agreements, training programs, health care facilities, cooperative housing, educational opportunities, and other efforts. The ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1995 to form the Union of Needle trades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to create a new union known as UNITE HERE. The two unions that formed UNITE in 1995 represented only 250,000 workers between them, down from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.

Biographical / Historical

Beverly Shulman was Special Projects Coordinator in the Education Department of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU).

Biographical / Historical

Local union's of the ILGWU established and maintained robust, ambitious educational departments early on in the international's history. As these groups grew in size and scope, the international office sought to coordinate and centralize educational programming for the union's members, culminating in the formation of the Educational Department in 1918.
The department's programming included courses at the Workers' University at the Washington Irving High School in New York City, lectures at Unity Centers and Unity Houses in the northeastern United States, and other events. The educational offerings of the International's Education Department were varied, as had been the education departments of the local unions, and included not only classes in labor studies but also courses in languages, music, and the arts. The ILGWU's 1937 musical "Pins and Needles" exemplified the diversity of the union's programs.
Directors of the Education Department, especially Fannia Cohn and Mark Starr, wrote extensively on the ILGWU's programs and worker education in general. Longtime director Gus Tyler not only directed the department, but also served as the ILGWU's on-staff scholar. In later years, the Education Department went beyond collaborating with other education organizations and arranging in-house programs to also supporting post-secondary education for union members and their families.

The Education Department records document activities across the entire period of the department's existence, with the bulk of the records covering the 1970s and 1990s. It contains papers from directors of the Education Department: Fannia Cohn, Mark Starr, Gus Tyler, and Kitty Krupat.
The earliest documentation of the department's work is found in the Fannia Cohn papers (5780/049, 5780/049 P); these contain correspondence, subject files, speeches, photographs, and printed material from her work as director of the Educational Department. A microfilm copy of the Fannia Cohn papers held at the New York Public Library (5998 mf) complements the Kheel Center's holdings. Documentation of the work of another longtime leader of the Education Department, Mark Starr, is contained in these records (5780/166, 5780/166 PUBS), as well as in a related collection from Starr on worker education programs (5243).
Documentation of the work of Gus Tyler, who led the merged Education and Political Department after Mark Starr's retirement in 1960, is also contained in the ILGWU records (5780/052, 5780/088, 5780/096). Tyler's papers are complemented by those of Assistant Director Jasper Peyton (5780/086) and Special Projects Coordinator Beverly Shulman (5780/106). These collections contain routine correspondence and memoranda, reports, materials relating to training institutes, seminars, and conferences, and printed material.
The papers of Kitty Krupat, who was serving as Education Director at the time of the ILGWU/ACTWU merger in 1995, constitute the entirety of Education Department records from the 1990s. They include correspondence, memoranda, reports, and financial records relating to the ILGWU's independent and collaborative education projects, including the Worker-Family Education Program, the Joint Union-University Committee on Labor Education, and the Consortium for Worker Education, as well as numerous trainings, conferences, and seminars. Also included in the files are materials from local unions and regional departments of the ILGWU, files on the Internationals' conventions, and reports to the General Executive Board.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.
Conditions Governing Use

This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Preferred Citation

ILGWU Education Department, Beverly Shulman Papers #5780/106. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.

Related Materials

Related Collections: 5780: ILGWU records 5780/138: ILGWU Education Department, Kitty Krupat Papers 5780/166: ILGWU Education Department Records 5780/166 PUBS: ILGWU Education Department Publications 5780/086: ILGWU Education Department, Jasper Peyton Papers 5780/049: ILGWU Education Department, Fannia Cohn Papers 5780/049 P: ILGWU Education Department, Fannia Cohn Photographs

SUBJECTS

Names:
Shulman, Beverly.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Educational Dept.
Subjects:
Women's clothing industry -- United States
Clothing workers--Labor unions--United States.
Clothing workers -- United States
Industrial relations -- United States

CONTAINER LIST
Container
Description
Date
Box 1 Folder 1
The Global Factory ILGWU Worker-Family Education Program: An ESL Curriculum
1991
Box 1 Folder 2
Mayoralty Primary. Beame. Expenses
1977
Box 1 Folder 3
Mayoralty Primary. Beame. Correspondence: Incoming and Outgoing
1977
Box 1 Folder 4
Mayoralty Primary. Beame. Bronx Headquarters
1977
Box 1 Folder 5
Mayoralty Primary. Beame. Queens Headquarters
1977
Box 1 Folder 6
Mayoralty Primary. Beame. Manhattan Headquarters
1977
Box 1 Folder 7
Mayoralty Primary. Leaflet Distribution
1974-1976
Box 1 Folder 8
Mayoralty Primary. Endorsement of Mayor Beame
1977
Scope and Contents
August 15 - September 8, 1977
Box 1 Folder 9
Mayoralty Primary. Phone Banks
1977
Box 1 Folder 10
Citizens Committee for Assumption of Welfare
1977
Scope and Contents
Nov. 1977
Box 1 Folder 11
Mayoralty Primary. Beame. Suggestions for Telephone Banks, Local Reports from Local Headquarters.
1977
Box 1 Folder 12
Mayoralty Primary. Beame. Managers Pictures Taken with Mayor Beame
Box 1 Folder 13
Hugh Carey Campaign
1978
Box 1 Folder 14
Nelson-for-Senate Committee
1980
Box 1 Folder 15
Arbitration Seminar
1980
Scope and Contents
Oct. 14-16, 1980
Box 1 Folder 16
Critical TV Seminar
1980
Box 1 Folder 17
Hotels - for Conferences
1978
Box 1 Folder 18
Advanced Staff Training Inst.
1979
Scope and Contents
March 26 - April 11, 1979
Box 1 Folder 19
Advanced Staff Training. Re: ILGWU Training
1978-1979
Box 1 Folder 20
Advanced Staff Training. Price Watch Patrol
1979
Box 1 Folder 21
Staff Training Institute
1978
Scope and Contents
November 8-21, New York, 1978.
Box 1 Folder 22
Staff Training Institute. Correspondence.
1978
Box 1 Folder 23
Supervisor's Conference
1978
Scope and Contents
June 7-9, 1978.
Box 1 Folder 24
Organizers' Conference
1978
Scope and Contents
February 2, 1978.
Box 1 Folder 25
Report to the Education Committee of the General Executive Board ILGWU
1979
Scope and Contents
August 20-22, 1979.
Box 1 Folder 26
ILGWU National Legislative Conference
1978
Box 1 Folder 27
Organizers' Conference. Non Union Forms.
1978
Box 1 Folder 28
Organizers' Conference. Attendance and Schedule
1977-1978
Box 1 Folder 29
Organizers' Conference. Correspondence.
1978
Box 1 Folder 30
Organizers' Conference. Diplomas.
1978
Box 1 Folder 31
Organizers' Conference. Materials sent to Ed Schneider.
1978
Box 1 Folder 32
Organizers' Conference. John DiGirolamo, Weekly Reports.
1978
Box 1 Folder 33
Advanced Training Institute, Unity House
1981
Scope and Contents
August 1981.
Box 1 Folder 34
Advanced Staff Training Inst.
1981
Scope and Contents
August 16 - 22, 1981
Box 1 Folder 35
Organizers' Conference. Kit Material.
1978
Box 1 Folder 36
Organizers' Conference. Expenses
1977-1978
Box 1 Folder 37
Organizers' Conference. Conference Contracts.
1978
Box 1 Folder 38
Organizers' Conference. A Study of Voter Attitudes
1977
Box 2 Folder 1
Organizers' School. Training Institute
1976
Scope and Contents
Reservations, Invoices, Checks Received & Paid Out.
Box 2 Folder 2
Productivity Seminar. Bank Statements
1977-1981
Box 2 Folder 3
National Legislative Conference, Washington D.C.
1977-1978
Scope and Contents
Jan. 29 - Feb. 1, 1978.
Box 2 Folder 4
Distribution of Demonstration Materials Country-Wide
1972
Box 2 Folder 5
Northeast Dept.
1972
Box 2 Folder 6
New York, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and Cloak - Out-of-Town
1972
Box 2 Folder 7
Eastern Region
1972
Box 2 Folder 8
Public Relations. All Submitted Files on Proposed Hiring of PR Firms
1972
Box 2 Folder 9
Public Relations. All Bookings. TV, Radio, Newspapers (private interviews)
1972-1973
Box 2 Folder 10
Responses to Requests for Literature
1973
Box 2 Folder 11
New Scripts
1979
Box 2 Folder 12
ILG Film Strip
1978-1979
Box 2 Folder 13
"We are the ILGWU" Booklets
1979-1981
Box 2 Folder 14
Harbor Festival
1978-1980
Scope and Contents
July
Box 2 Folder 15
Harbor Festival
1978
Scope and Contents
July 4, 1978.
Box 2 Folder 16
"Harbor Festival Salute 1980"
1980
Box 2 Folder 17
Harbor Festival
1981
Scope and Contents
Lane Kirkland.
Box 2 Folder 18
Harbor Festival
1981
Box 2 Folder 19
Harbor Festival
1980
Scope and Contents
July 4, 1980.