ILGWU Archives Department, Robert Lazar Papers, 1890-1985
Collection Number: 5780/121
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
ILGWU Archives Department, Robert Lazar Papers, 1890-1985
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5780/121
Abstract:
In addition to documentation of the archives' everyday operation, the papers of ILGWU
archivist Robert Lazar include photocopies of materials from the ILGWU records, collected
printed material about the ILGWU, sheet music, meeting minutes of local unions, and
accounting ledgers.
Creator:
Lazar, Robert
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
Quanitities:
4.33 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
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.
The ILGWU Archives were established in New York City in 1973, under the direction
of Henoch Mendelsund. Robert Lazar served as archivist. The archives sought to collect
union correspondence, meeting minutes, collective bargaining agreements, publications,
photographs, audio recordings, film, and memorabilia. In 1987, the ILGWU Archives
were transferred to the Kheel Center.
The records of the Archives Department include administrative records files relating
to the establishment and operation of the unit, subject files containing photocopies
of archival material, archival records maintained by the department, and publications.
Administrative records document how the archive was built, operated, and used. They
include inventory and accession forms, correspondence with union officials and donors,
financial records, and guidelines for the processing and care of archival records.
These also include procedures for using the collections, guidelines for donating materials,
and signed forms by researchers who accessed the archives. Materials relating to the
archives' oral history project are also contained in these administrative files. These
oral history audio recordings and transcripts (5780 OH and 5780/110 OHT) are available
at the Kheel Center.
Subject files include prominent figures in the union, local unions, and other ILGWU
affiliates and contain photocopies of records documenting the work of these individuals
and organizations. Among the subject files and archival records are the ILGWU's founding
meeting minutes (5780/111, box 1, folder 13), as well as minutes of the ILGWU predecessor
union Sanctuary Local Assembly 3038 of the Knights of Labor.
Archival records include union correspondence, accounting ledgers, local union meeting
minutes, and other material. The accounting ledgers of the Central States region are
among the relatively few records held at the Kheel Center that document the activities
of that department. The meeting minutes of Local 89, Local 48, Local 414, and Local
2585/414 fill out gaps in other series. These records from the Archives Department
complement those in other series of the ILGWU Records
The Archives Department Publications (5780/121 PUBS) consist of printed material
collected by the unit. They include newsletters and newspapers from local unions,
collective bargaining agreements, membership censuses, financial and statistical reports,
information welfare funds, legal records, and some material related to arbitration.
Included in the papers of longtime ILGWU Archivist Robert Lazar (5780/121) is published
sheet music.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference
archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
Procedures for Document Use.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
ILGWU Archives Department, Robert Lazar Papers #5780/121. Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections: 5780: ILGWU records
Names:
Lazar, Robert
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 |
Schoenwald: Labor Studies Center -- Retirement Planning
|
1973 |
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Schoenwald: Friendly Visitors Program (Office for the Aging)
|
1972 |
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Schoenwald: Office for the Aging (Governor's Advisory Committee)
|
1982 |
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
|
1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Aging: White House Conference on Aging -- Correspondence and Surveys
|
1982 |
Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Aging: White House Conference on Aging -- Articles (Clippings)
|
1981 |
Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Social Security: Bert Seidman -- Correspondence
|
1970-1971 |
Box 1 | Folder 8 |
Social Security: Hearings of the Select Committee on Aging (Shoenwald)
|
1983 |
Box 1 | Folder 9 |
Schneider, Ed: Correspondence
|
1978-1983 |
Box 1 | Folder 10 |
ILGWU Retirees Membership Meeting
|
1959-1961 |
Box 1 | Folder 11 |
Civil Rights Complaint Against ILGWU
|
1968 |
Box 1 | Folder 12 |
Daily Labor Report and Miscellaneous Legal Updates
|
1968 |
Box 1 | Folder 13 |
Local 89 (Dressmakers Union): Executive Board Minutes
|
1976-1984 |
Box 1 | Folder 14 |
Local 89 (Italian Dressmakers Union): Executive Board Minutes
|
1974-1976 |
Scope and Contents
Bound volume
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 15 |
Local 89 (Dress and Waistmakers' Union): Summer Colony Minutes and Audit
|
1923-1927 |
Box 1 | Folder 16 |
Local 2585/414: Minutes
|
1940-1945 |
Box 1 | Folder 17 |
Local 414: Minutes
|
1945-1946 |
Box 1 | Folder 18 |
Local 414: Minutes
|
1946-1961 |
Box 1 | Folder 19 |
Local 48: Executive Board Minutes
|
1978-1981 |
Box 1 | Folder 20 |
Appeal Committee, ILGWU: Hearings re Charges Against Local 9
|
1933 |
Scope and Contents
Bound volume
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 21 |
Dress Code Authority: Minutes
|
1933-1934 |
Scope and Contents
Bound volume
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 22 |
Dubinsky: Gov. Cuomo Citation
|
1983 |
Box 2 | Folder 1 |
Biflex Foundations: Agreement with ILGWU, Corset and Brassiere Workers of NY Local
32 and Amalgamated Ladies' Garment Cutters' Union Local 10
|
1954- 1958 |
Box 2 | Folder 2 |
Sophie R. Quinn Scholarship Fund
|
1970 |
Box 2 | Folder 3 |
Walterboro Dress Corp. (William Baliush, President): Promissory Note to ILGWU Revolving
Fund
|
1958 |
Box 2 | Folder 4 |
Wind 'n' Sky (Saul Weinstein): Promissory Note to ILGWU Southeast Region
|
1967 |
Box 2 | Folder 5 |
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Inc.: Mortgage Note with ILGWU
|
1979 |
Box 2 | Folder 6 |
Mortgage Loans, Georgia
|
1965 |
Box 2 | Folder 7 |
One-Ninety Corporation: Articles of Incorporation, By-Laws, Stock (Knit Goods Workers
Union, Local 190, Philadelphia)
|
1960-1976 |
Box 2 | Folder 8 |
One-Ninety Corporation: Tax Exemption Letter
|
1961 |
Box 2 | Folder 9 |
One-Ninety Corporation: Tax Returns (Form 990)
|
1965-1981 |
Box 2 | Folder 10 |
Arbitration Awards: Cases Heard by Raymond V. Ingersoll
|
1924-1926 |
Box 2 | Folder 11 |
Arbitration Awards: Cases Heard by Arthur S. Meyer
|
1946 |
Box 2 | Folder 12 |
Arbitration Awards: Cases Heard by Harry Hopkins
|
1945 |
Box 2 | Folder 13 |
ILGWU Local 25, Dress and Waist Manufacturers' Association: Conference
|
1915 |
Box 2 | Folder 14 |
ILGWU, Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association, NY Joint Board
of Cloak and Skirt Makers' Union: Council of Conciliation Findings and Recommendations
|
1915 |
Box 2 | Folder 15 |
Joint Board of Cloak, Skirt and Reefer Makers' Union of Greater NY: Correspondence
|
1920 |
Box 2 | Folder 16 |
Industrial Council of Cloak, Skirt, and Suit Manufacturers: Legal Briefs
|
1926 |
Scope and Contents
brittle
|
|||
Box 2 | Folder 17 |
Los Angeles Cloak Joint Board
|
1959-1963 |
Box 2 | Folder 18 |
Amphenol-Borg (Delavan and Jefferson) Agreements/Negotiations
|
1962-1966 |
Box 2 | Folder 19 |
Borg Textiles: Bunker-Ramos Corporation (Delavan and Jefferson) -- Negotiations and
Agreement
|
1970-1971 |
Box 2 | Folder 20 |
H. W. Gossard: Agreement with ILGWU
|
1970 |
Box 2 | Folder 21 |
Wausau: Marathon Rubber Products -- Negotiations
|
1970-1973 |
Box 2 | Folder 22 |
Wausau: Negotiations
|
1963 |
Box 2 | Folder 23 |
Wausau: Local 374 -- NLRB Election -- Correspondence and Contract Notes
|
1946-1950 |
Box 2 | Folder 24 |
Central States Region: Meyer Perlstein (ILGWU Vice President) -- Correspondence
|
1937-1951 |
Box 2 | Folder 25 |
Central States Region: Agreements and Cases
|
1937-1940 |
Box 2 | Folder 26 |
Central States Region (Chicago): Agreement, Injunction
|
1890-1924 |
Box 2 | Folder 27 |
Unity House/Pike County Hotels Corporation: Dining Room Salaries, Income Statement
|
1935-1936 |
Box 2 | Folder 28 |
Unity House/Pike County Hotels Corporation: Financial Reports
|
1937-1941 |
Box 2 | Folder 29 |
Unity House: Tax-Exempt Status
|
1968 |
Box 2 | Folder 30 |
Grossinger's and Local 1 Dining Room Employees
|
1963-1965 |
Box 2 | Folder 31 |
Unity Broadcasting Corporation of Massachusetts: Stock Certificates
|
1945-1947 |
Box 2 | Folder 32 |
Union Dues
|
1974 |
Box 3 | Folder 1 |
50th Anniversary: Local 178
|
1984 |
Box 3 | Folder 2 |
All American Fashion Show
|
1985 |
Box 3 | Folder 3 |
Chaikin 10th Anniversary Invitations
|
1985 |
Box 3 | Folder 4 |
Affiliated Dress Manufacturers: Agreement
|
1976 |
Box 3 | Folder 5 |
Affiliated Dress Manufacturing: Agreement
|
1979 |
Box 3 | Folder 6 |
Liberal Party Primary: Gus Tyler
|
1968 |
Box 3 | Folder 7 |
Liberal Party Primary: Javits
|
1968 |
Box 3 | Folder 8 |
Liberal Party Primary: Johnson
|
1968 |
Box 3 | Folder 9 |
Liberal Party Primary: Republican-Liberal Collaboration Scandal -- Newspaper Clippings
|
1973 |
Box 3 | Folder 10 |
Liberal Party Primary: Newspaper Clippings
|
1966-1968 |
Box 3 | Folder 11 |
Local 10: 1968 Election
|
1968 |
Box 3 | Folder 12 |
ILGWU: Newspaper Clippings
|
1975-1982 |
Box 3 | Folder 13 |
ILGWU: Convention and Election
|
1962 |
Box 3 | Folder 14 |
ILGWU: Convention and Election
|
1968 |
Box 3 | Folder 15 |
Meyer London Biography Manuscript by Marx Lewis
|
1985 |
Box 3 | Folder 16 |
National Maritime Union Election
|
1967-1968 |
Box 3 | Folder 17 |
Trade Union Advisory Committee on International Affairs: German Trade Unions
|
1948 |
Box 3 | Folder 18 |
Union Labor Life Insurance Company
|
1961-1970 |
Box 3 | Folder 19 |
Union Health Center: 50th Anniversary Commemorative Medal (JFK)
|
1963 |
Box 3 | Folder 20 |
Correspondence, Miscellaneous
|
1982-1985 |
Box 3 | Folder 21 |
Education Department: Training for Trade Union Service Course
|
1935-1940 |
Box 3 | Folder 22 |
Venezuela Labor Mission and Exhibition, "Unions In Action"
|
1970 |
Box 3 | Folder 23 |
Progressive Dressmakers Workmen's Circle Branch 122: Scrapbook
|
1943-1945 |
Scope and Contents
Some material in Hebrew alphabet
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 1 |
Union Label
|
1975 |
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 2 |
Have a Heart, Taft-Hartley
|
1947 |
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 3 |
Men Awake!
|
1937 |
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 4 |
I Hear America Singing
|
1951 |
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 5 |
Cradle Song
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 6 |
Af a Fule Voch
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 7 |
Cavalleria Rusticana
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 8 |
Di Shvue
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 9 |
Four Russian Folk Songs
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 10 |
It's a Grand Night for Singing: Williamson Music, Inc., Choral Series
|
1945 |
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 11 |
Jota
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 12 |
Les Millions D'Arlequin
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 13 |
Lustspiel Overture
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 14 |
Minuett from G Minor Symphony
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 15 |
Orientale
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 16 |
March of the Sardar
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 17 |
Romanza Andaluza
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 18 |
Sarabande and Gavotte
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 19 |
Serenade D'Autrefois
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 20 |
Serenade in Four Movements (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik)
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 21 |
Slavonic Dance
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 22 |
S'Loifen S'Yogen
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 23 |
Transcriptions for Mandolin Orchestra
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 24 |
Titus
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 25 |
Bach: Aria and Minuet
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music for second mandolin
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 26 |
Bach: First Mandolin
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 27 |
Gopak
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 28 |
Gopak Complete
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 29 |
Slave March (Tschaikowsky)
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 30 |
Hungarian Dance No. 5 (Brahms)
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 31 |
Symphony No. 6 Surprise and Miscellaneous
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 32 |
Prelude in G Minor and Miscellaneous
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 33 |
Anitra's Dance
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 34 |
Minuet in G (Beethoven)
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 35 |
The Nightingale
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 36 |
Aria and Minuet (Bach)
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 37 |
National School Orchestra: On the Volga and Miscellaneous
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 38 |
Schirmer's Band Music: Second Hungarian Rhapsody and Miscellaneous
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 39 |
Festival Fantasy, Cielito Lindo (Paparello)
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 40 |
La Golondrina and Miscellaneous
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 41 |
Prelude (Rachmaninoff)
|
|
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 42 |
Marche Militaire
|
1917 |
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 4 | Folder 43 |
Largo
|
1925 |
Scope and Contents
sheet music
|
|||
Box 5 | Folder 1 |
Accounting Ledgers: Central States (book 1)
|
1934-1938 |
Scope and Contents
Brittle, bound; oversized box
|
|||
Box 5 | Folder 2 |
Accounting Ledgers: Central States (book 2)
|
1934-1938 |
Scope and Contents
Brittle, bound; oversized box
|