Guide to the National Council On Household Employment Records,
1927-1943

The National Committee on Employer-Employee Relationships at Home, (called the National Council on Household Employment from 1931 until its disbandment) functioned to coordinate educational and research activities of groups interested in this field.

The Committee was created in October, 1928 by a national conference on the subject of household employment held in Washington, D.C. at the invitation of the Bureau of Home Economics, the Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Industrial Department of the National Young Women's Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.). The consensus at this conference was that the hours, wages, living conditions, and working conditions of paid employees in the home needed clarification and possible adjustment. The Committee was determined to function as a clearinghouse for all groups working in the field, to stimulate relevant studies and experiments, to develop an educational program to benefit both employer and the employed, and to gradually work out standards for household employment. The initial impetus for the Washington conference came from Anetta Dieckman of the Industrial Department of the Y.W.C.A. and from Amey E. Watson, a teacher at Haverford College who was then engaged in a study of household employment. Watson served as director of the Committee until the summer of 1930 and was a member during most of its existence. The organization continued to function until 1942.

Administrative records of the National Council On Household Employment consist of minutes (1934-1942); financial records (1935-1939); membership files (1935-1939); legal documents, including model legal documents drafted by the Committee; and promotional literature about the group.

General correspondence (carbons and originals, 1928-1942) is chiefly of Lucy P. Carner (chairman of the Committee, executive, Industrial Department of the National Board, Y.W.C.A.); Mary Anderson (director, Women's Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor); Louise Stanley (chief, Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics, U.S. Department of Agriculture); Amey E. Watson; Hildegard Kneeland (secretary of the Committee, Bureau of Home Economics); Anetta Dieckman (secretary, Industrial Department of Y.W.C.A.); Frank Dekker Watson (Central Committee on Household Occupations); Dorothy P. Wells (National Board, Y.W.C.A.); William P. Hill (industrial secretary, Urban League of Pittsburgh, Pa.); Mildred Taylor (Business and Industrial Department, Y.W.C.A.); Helen E. Featherstone (instructor, Frank Wiggens Trade School); Bernice Foley (industrial secretary, Y.W.C.A.); Benjamin R. Andrews (professor of Household Employment, Teachers College, Columbia University); Bertha Nienburg (assistant director, Women's Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor); Emma H. Gunther; Hazel Kyrk (associate professor, Department of Home Economics, University of Chicago); and occasional letters from the U.S. Work Projects Administration, U.S. Department of Labor (Public Employment Bureaus), National Recovery Administration, and Federal Emergency Relief Administration.

The correspondence deals with the financial situation of the National Committee; conference planning, routine administrative matters; work and problems of the Committee; the future of the National Committee; a suggested institute on labor relationships in the home to involve leading women's colleges; proposals for a voluntary agreement between employers and employees; proposals for a union or code of standardization; training of household employees; tests on general household work; reports from various states on their household employment situation and training; and personnel problems involved in household management. Additionally, the correspondence contains several letters to Eleanor Roosevelt concerning her possible chairmanship of the National Council and her subsequent refusal. Also, occasional letters from John B. Andrews (executive secretary, American Association for Labor Legislation); Frances Perkins (secretary of labor); and Anna Laylor Burdick (agent, Industrial Education, U.S. Department of Interior).

The subject files in this collection (1895-1942) document activities of a wide spectrum of organizations acting on behalf of household workers in the United States and abroad. These files include organizing literature for a domestic workers' union (1937), scripts for plays regarding household employment (1942-1943), photographs of household employees in training, notes and lectures for a course in household employment, survey data on household employment, data on various employee training courses, sample contracts, etc.

Publications (1908-1941, bulk 1935-1941) in these papers include excerpts, reprints, clippings, and writings in typescript on a wide variety of germane topics including race relations in domestic service.

Also known as: Committee on Employer-Employee Relationships in the Home. Records.

Also known as: Watson, Amey E. Papers.

Also known as: National Conference on Household Employment, Washington, D.C., 1928. Records.

Correspondence is arranged chronologically. Subject files and convention documents are arranged alphabetically by subject. Publications and manuscripts are arranged alphabetically by author.