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.
Formed in 1937, the Research Department of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) supported the administrative operations of the Union and coordinated the ILGWU's investigative operations. It provided union leaders with information on wages, working conditions, economic conditions, and other matters in the women's garment industry; analyzed information for the union; and monitored developments in the industry.
In addition to providing research for union leadership, Research Department staff prepared materials for Congressional testimony, presented cases on behalf of local unions to the War Labor Board, and worked to administer the Fair Labor Standards Act. At times, the director of the Research Department represented the ILGWU in national forums.
The Department also maintained an extensive library, collecting and housing documents from Union administrative staff that were deemed substantive and of lasting value to the Union, whether produced internally or externally. The information gathered by the Department was of particular value during labor disputes and contract negotiations.
Lazare Teper was the founding director of the ILGWU's Research Department, working in that position from 1937 to 1980. Born in Russia sometime between 1906 and 1908, Teper later studied at the University of Paris and earned his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. He died in New York City in 1985.
The Research Department records reflect the department's varied functions, documenting its role in gathering and analyzing information for international and local union leadership, representing the union before government and labor organizations, and gathering materials of research, and oftentimes historical, value. Some segments of the records focus on one aspect of the department's work, and others include documentation across the department's functions.
Research Department director Lazare Teper's papers, for example, include files relating to the Wage Stabilization Board (5780/105). The department also maintained records focused on the National Coat and Suit Industry Board (statements of receipts and disbursements, label division reports, meetings minutes, bulletins to members, and other reports and resolutions), as well as some related legal files (5780/123). Also among the documents collected by the Research Department are the New York Coat and Suit Industry Reports between 1934 and 1960. (5780/168)
Parts of the Research Department records consist primarily of collected documents from ILGWU affiliates. In this way, they resemble and, in some instances, complement the parts of the Archives Department Records (5780/121, 5780/121 PUBS), records generated by local unions (Series III), and the general collection of ILGWU publications (5780 PUBS). Research Department records of this kind contain records of predecessor unions to the ILGWU and ILGWU local union records (5780/045), or the annual report, "Conditions in the Women's Clothing Industry" (5780/078).
Other parts of the Research Department records document all of the department's functions. These records include financial and administrative reports, meeting minutes, and correspondence (5780/056, 5780/209), collected printed material (5780/168), and ILGWU statements on issues related to the garment industry (5780/209).
The Research Deparment collected documents included financial and administrative reports, meeting minutes, correspondence, and other materials documenting the activities and interests of the ILGWU Research Department. Much of the material concerns various strikes, including the New York cloakmakers' strikes of 1926 and 1929, as well as the "Protocol of Peace" of 1910. There are some additional items dealing with the New York Cloak Joint Board. A good portion of the material is administrative in nature. Notable individuals represented in this collection include: Louis Brandeis; August Claessens; Julius Henry Cohen; A. J. Muste; Benjamin Schlesinger; Norman Thomas; Alexander Trachtenberg; and B.C. Vladeck. Organizations include various joint boards of the union throughout the United States and the Workers Party of America. Subjects include communism and the union; conventions of the ILGWU; labor negotiations; labor disputes; strikes (particularly in New York City); unemployment insurance; and wages in the garment industry.
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.
ILGWU Research Department Collected Documents #5780/056. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections:
Incl. conference communications from Industrial Council & from Trade Union Educational League.
Oct. 15, 1921. Report on Communist meeting re organizing in New York Joint Board.
Incl. "Statement on the Needle Trade Situation;" "Proposed Plan for a Shop Delegates System of Organization for the ILGWU
Draft resolution.
GEB report to special convention re Local 1 controversy; brief submitted to Appeal Comm. of GEB re election of delegates by William Bloom & Harry Wagner.
Incl. declaration of principles by the Progressive delegates to the convention; list of delegates.
Joint statement by delegates of Locals & of Dressmakers Jt. Bds. of N.Y. & Chicago re refusal of convention to seat delegates; Louis Hyman statement; list of delegates.
Incl. convention call.
Ballot for N.Y. vice presidents.
Reports by Morris Sigman (1912) and George Wishnak (1937).
Reports, statements of Union, management and commission.
Copies of correspondence. bet. Jt. Bd. & Governor's Office, memo to Industrial Council of the Cloak, Suit & Skirt Mfrs., Inc.
Corres. bet. Ladies' Garment Mfrs. Assoc. & Jt. Bd.; 1921 strike calls.
Minutes.
Minutes.
Oct. 7, 1913. Minutes of investigation committee.
Financial reports.
Mar-June 1907. Financial contributions to strike fund; by-laws of Boston Cloak Mfrs. Assoc.
Incl. NLRB case re Boston Maid, Inc.
April 1921, Decision of Bd of Referees in Cloak, Suit & Skirt Industry.
Memo concerning health & decency budget required for a wage earner's family in Cleveland; incl. research material.
Incl. releases & telegrams.
Memo to S. Hamburger (Union accountant) re costs of injunction against Union in 1924 strike.
June 30, 1930. Injunction by Brooklyn Ladies' Garment Mfrs. Assoc. against Union and Associations.
Corres. with International Union Bank re loans and investments.
Incl. Records re loans, bank book of Jt. Bd.
Financial reports; incl. statement of expenses for 1919 general strike.
Form ltrs.
Dec. 13, 1926. Decision by Paul Abelson (impartial chairman).
Minutes.
Demands, list of mfrs., conference report (1933).
Notices of meetings, incl. some from left-wing.
Reports on investigation in the waist shops controlled by the Union (1923) & on "Investigation of the Dress Industry" by Nathan Wolf (1924).
May 1920-Mar. 1921. Reports of American Association District.
Mar. 18, 1921. Report of Brooklyn Office.
June 1920-July 1923. Reports of Independent Reefer Dept.
Dec. 1919-May 1923. Reports of Protective Division.
May 1920-May 1921. Reports of Skirt & Dress Dept.
The Crisis and the Cloakmakers, statement by executive board.
Yiddish. Incl. list of General Strike Committees & resolutions.
Incl. report on Garment Industries Board of Trade, Inc. & memo to Nat'l. Coat & Suit Recovery Bd. containing list of Associations having collective agreements with the Union.
Incl. financial report & memo concerning increase in cost of living in Phila.
Incl. hearings of Special Committee, appointed by Exec. Bd., re allegations by Pure and Simple Trade Union League against administration (Feb. 5 & 9, 1923).
Notification to members of hearings re membership in Trade Union Educational League (TUEL) and Committee of Fifty (formerly Pure & Simple Trade Union League); minutes of hearing (Nov. 10, 1923) & notes of meetings (Dec. 15 & 31, 1923).
Yiddish. Statement by Samuel Zeldin & Isidor Steiner re GEB policy on TUEL membership? statement by Local exec. bd. members.
Org. comm. minutes (Feb. 2, 1933) ; Declaration of the Trade Union Center Group & United Progressive League (Nov. 4, 1933); Open Letter re week-work to Local 9 from Local 1 (July 16, 1933).
Jurisdictional dispute bet. Locals 1 & 17; incl. report & recommendations of Committee of Three (Benjamin Schlesinger, S. Koldovsky & Hyman Schoolman), appointed by GEB (The Ladies Garment Worker, Dec. 1917); Gomper's telegrams (1924); "Why Local 17 Be Reinstated" (sic) by Abraham Rosenberg (1928).
Petitions of reefer makers for the re-establishment of Local 17.
Special Investigation Comm.; "Reefer Makers Memorandum In Support of Resolution #105, of the 19th Convention of the I.L.G.W.U. held in Boston, Mass. May, 1928."
Aug. 28, 1928. Special Investigation Comm. minutes.
Sept. 4 & 20, 1928. Special Investigation Comm. report of hearings.
Sept. 4 & 20, 1928. Special Investigation Comm. report of hearings.
B. Charney Vladeck statement re Local 2 elections (Jewish Daily Forward, May 18, 1930); B. Schlesinger ltr. re report of Special Committee investigation of Local 2 elections; copies of ltrs. to Special Comm. re alleged election irregularities.
Louis Hyman declaration (n.d.); Declaration of Principles of Trade Union Group of Local 9 (May 1931).
Nov. 1914-Dec. 1926. Ledger Book.
Nov. 1933. Trial material against administration of Local; incl. exhibits consisting of statements, broadsides, leaflets.
Conference Comm. meeting re reaffiliation of Locals 22 & 23 (Nov. 6, 1922); press releases (1936).
Report on investigation of Samuel Fremed (manager).
Financial records.
Report of meeting (June 19, 1939).
undated documents. Lists, including members of Trade Union Educational League.
Strike. Incl. correspondence. re strike, lists, statements, press releases & newspaper clippings.
Resolution.
May 1922-Feb. 1923. Financial reports.
Declaration of principles for Local health & welfare plan.
July 1921-Mar. 1922. Audit.
"I Accuse" by Saul Metz.
Charges against J. Katz, H. Aidenland, Hyman Libow, S. Rothman, Louis Farber, William Sporn, A. Mallin, L. Klotz & L. Nickelsberg for illegal group activity incl. publication of Union Vanguard.
Audit, Joint Committee of Action (June 24-Nov. 3, 1925).
Declaration of Executive Boards of Locals 2, 9, 22 (Sept. 23, 1925).
Minutes, Jt. Comm. of Action; protest against suspension of locals? statements & resolutions incl. Union pamphlet, The L Communist Plaque In Our Unions.
Trial; charges brought by Israel Feinberg against members of Locals 2, 9, 22 w. lists of accused; statement of Special Committee appointed by Joint Board.
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Trial; transcript of proceedings of trial (June 25-July 9, 1925).
Suit re loan by Julius Portnoy, Joseph Boruchowitz, Abe Zirlin (plaintiffs) against International Union Bank and Frederick F. Umhey (defendants) (February 15, 1927).
Incl. GEB resolution suspending Locals 2, 9, 22; resolution of mass meeting, condemning Pres. Sigman.
Descriptions of documentary material on right-left struggles in ILGWU; incl. handwritten copies of statements & news releases of 1926 Cloakmakers Strike (94 pp); "Internal Conflict Within the ILGWU" (11 pp).
Descriptions of documentary material on right-left struggles in ILGWU; incl. handwritten copies of statements & news releases of 1926 Cloakmakers Strike (94 pp); "Internal Conflict Within the ILGWU" (11 pp).
"Labor Injunctions," part II (pp. 79-237) and notes (pp. 21-85).
"Labor Injunctions," part II (pp. 79-237) and notes (pp. 21-85).
"Contempt" (pp. 46-121) and notes (pp. 1-24).
"Jewish Unionism, Its Birth Pangs & Contribution to the General American Labor Movement" (42 pp).
The Cloak Strike Day By Day, A Chronological History of the Recent Conflict in the Cloak and Suit Industry.
"Communist Activities in the American Trade Union Movement," no author, no date; material on Communist movement, the TUEL, gleaned from various sources incl. American Labor Year Book (1923-24) & newspapers.
The Rise and Fall of Communism in the ILGWU, no author (12 pp).
Dec. 28, 1928-Jan. 1, 1929. National convention reports.
National convention reports.
Misc. printed matter.
Reports of meetings of General Strike Committee.
Corres. & complaints by mfrs. & disposition of pending complaints by Organization Committee.
Ltrs. from August Claessens, Charles Solomon, A.J. Muste, & Norman Thomas re speaking engagements.
Exec. bd. lists.
Lists of shops, Union and non-Union; also list of shops controlled by deposed Joint Board.
Minutes of General Strike Committee & . Provisional Strike Committee.
Minutes of Joint Board meetings.
Press releases by Jt. Bd.
General Strike Comm. reports & statements.
"Outline of developments during the strike" (weekly newsletter).
Statements by Morris Sigman.
Statements appearing in Freiheit & other papers.
Incl. history of Strike; GEB order on N.Y. Cloakmakers' Union; "Pacts About the Cloak Strike;" & appeal by W. Green for contributions to strike (Oct. 18, 1926).
Incl. GEB statement to membership & statement of facts submitted to GEB.
Incl. copy of ltr. from Industrial Council of Cloak, Suit and Skirt Mfrs., Inc. to Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Summary of provisions in new agreement; agreement bet. Youthmaid Cloak Co. & Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union; announcements re agreement from Industrial Council.
Financial records.
Lists of members of Industrial Council & Union cloak shops in all districts.
Lists of shops.
Lists of strike halls & committees.
Picket Committee report.
Ltrs. to The Day & other papers.
Shop chairman resolutions.
Strike call & GEB announcement of decision re strike & results of strike referendum.
Plans of Speakers & Entertainment Committees; lists of speakers and hall assignments.
Printed material issued by Speakers & Entertainment Committees; incl. Speaker's Guide.
"Memorandum of Understanding Reached in Conference Between the Affiliated Association and the Union."
"Facts About the Dress Strike."
"Itemized Report of Distribution Committee of the Joint Food Relief Committee of the Striking Dressmakers."
Strike Committee appointments lists; printed material for speakers by Speakers Committee.
Incl. Speakers Comm. report.
Lists of shops, jobbers, designers, Industrial Council members, employees; "Report of Investigation of Phila. Cloak Union."
Union and non-union shops in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, East New York and out-of-town.
Ltr. re police & strikers from Miles M. Dawson (chief counsel), Ladies' Waist Makers' Union; questions re police conduct.
The Great Revolt. Order continuing preliminary injunction in case of Max H. Schwarcz against ILGWU (Aug. 27, 1910).
I.c.w. Louis Brandeis & Julius Henry Cohen.
Incl. correspondence. bet. Boston Ladies' Garment Manufacturers Association & Boston Dress and Waist Manufacturers Association; reports from Union office re complaints.
Minutes (April 26, 1913, June 4, 1914).
Minutes of conference bet. M. & C. Skirt Co. & ILGWU at City Club (Aug. 21).
Report of Bd. of Arbitration (Sept. 24, 1915) & modification by Julian Mack (Aug. 21, 1917).
Agreements bet. Children's Dress Mfrs. Assoc. & Locals 10, 50 & 58 (Mar. 4th).
Draft of demands.
Decisions of Bd. of Arbitration (Jan. 21, Feb. 5 & 6).
"Memorandum of Points to be Presented to the Board of Arbitration re Wage Increase" (15 pp).
Minutes of Bd. of Arbitration meeting of Assoc. & Union (Feb. 3-4, pp. 5-125).
Statements by Louis Brandeis before Bd. of Arbitration.
"Before the Council of Conciliation in the Cloak and Suit Industry. Statement in behalf of the ILGWU and Jt. Bd. of Cloak and Skirtmakers Unions" (39 pp.), submitted by Morris Hillquit (July 13); decision re preferential hiring and price settlements by Council.
July 21, 1915. Council of Conciliation transcript (pp. 479-634).
March 4, 1915. Bd. of Grievances minutes re A. Gershel & Co. & other matters.
Dec. 19, 1913. Minutes of conferences bet. Union & mfrs. re apprentices in cutting trade (47 pp).
"A Statement from the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers Protective Association" (16 pp) re "existing condition," in the industry; Morris Hillquit's remarks on impending lockout (April 26).
Incl. "Proposal by the Dress and Waistmakers Association for suggested changes in the Agreement between Association, the ILGWU & its Locals" (1919); "Protocol of Peace Between the Dress & Waist Manufacturers assoc. & the ILGWU" (Jan. 1917 -Jan. 1919).
Complaints to Board of Arbitration by Dress and Waist Manufacturers Assoc. and Union.
Oct. 1913. Bd. of Arbitration complaint, ILGWU vs. Dress & Waist Manufacturers assoc. (draft).
Bd. of Arbitration complaint, Dress & Waist Mfrs. Assoc. vs. ILGWU.
Extracts of Bd. of Arbitration decisions (Mar. 19 & Apr. 12).
Rulings and Recommendations of the Bd. of Arbitration in the matter of legal holidays.
Minutes of conferences of Bd. of Grievances.
Test rates under the Protocol; ltr. from "Dress & Waist Mfrs. Assoc. to Bd. of Grievances" (Aug. 5, 1913, 11 pp); "Charges made by Dress & Waist Mfrs. Assoc. in relation to stoppages of work on May 1, 1913" (Oct. 6, 19 pp).
Minutes of meetings bet. Dress & Waist Mfrs. Assoc. & the ILGWU.
Ltr. & memo from N.I. Stone, (wage Scale Bd.), of violations of Protocol since its inception.
Minutes of meeting of Wage Scale Board (July 8) with report & recommendation of N.I. Stone.
Incl. reports, correspondence., "A Year of the Protocol" (The American Cloak and Suit Review, Sept. 1911).
Jan. 19, 1916. Minutes of meeting and decision of Bd. of Arbitration.
Incl. list of employees in Union office; members of Executive Bd. Comm., Jt. Grievance Bd. Comm., & Wage Scale Bd. Comm.
Handwritten notes on the history of the Protocol.
Corres. with other unions re cost of living and earnings.
Incl. studies on wages & hours among garment workers (1915-21).
Memoranda on earnings of workers in various segments of the Cloak Industry? wages for week-workers in the Cloak and Suit Industry.
Memorandum concerning wage rates of workers in the cloak and suit shops controlled by the N.Y. Jt. Bd, of Cloakmakers; incl. reports by various departments of the Jt. Bd.
Report on Cost-of-Living Investigation (35 pp); "Memorandum Concerning Increase in the Cost-of-Living Jan-July 1920;" memorandum on cost-of-living increases in various areas of NYC.
Statistical data & wage studies.
Statistical data & wage studies.
Leaflets & brochures relating to left-right struggle in garment industry.
Meetings.
Incl. Regulation for Unemployment Insurance Fund set up in NYC (Feb. 25, 1925); memo to GEB concerning unemployment insurance problems (Nov. 15, 1920).
A Brief Survey prepared for ILGWU by Alfred L. Bernheim, Labor Bureau, Inc.
Reports & press releases.
Incl. reports (1923); "The Unity News" (Aug. & Sept. 1935)
Incl. chart of provisions in agreements (1910-22); no-strike, no-lockout clauses (1910-48); handwritten demand for resignation of John Dyche & Abraham Rosenberg by Jt. Bd.; list of individuals at Supreme Court (Mar. 21, 1916); minutes of Social Welfare Section, Women's City Club (n.d).