AFT Local 616 (Rochester, NY) Federation of Classroom Teachers Records, 1929-1971
Collection Number: 5845
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
AFT Local 616 (Rochester, NY) Federation of Classroom Teachers Records, 1929-1971
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5845
Creator:
American Federation of Teachers (AFT)
AFT Local 616
Federation of Classroom Teachers
Quanitities:
1 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) was started in Chicago, with eight locals
signing on as AFL president Samuel Gompers welcomed the union into its fold in 1916.
AFT grew quickly in the beginning, chartering 174 locals in its first four years.
The years following World War I saw school boards pressuring and intimidating teachers
to resign from the union.
As membership dropped in the 1920s, the union continued to fight for tenure laws
and academic freedom of the teachers whose beliefs were being investigated by political
committees during the 'Red scare" hysteria following WWI.
The Depression years were not much better, low salaries and economic insecurity were
issues needing attention. Female teachers found themselves faced with "contracts which
still stipulated that an employed teacher must wear skirts of certain lengths, keep
her galoshes buckled, not receive gentleman callers more than three times a week and
teach a Sunday School class," said the American Teacher magazine. In some cases teachers
were dismissed for joining the AFT or for working on school board election campaigns.
By 1932, the Norris-La Guardia Act outlawed yellow dog contracts, which made teachers
promise not to join the union.
Starting with WWII the AFT worked hard to push war bond sales, war relief and air
raid programs in schools. After the war the AFT continued to fight to improve the
conditions of the schools and their teachers.
In the 1950s, loyalty oaths started up again. The AFT continued work on the civil
rights movement, filing an amicus curiae brief in the historic 1954 Supreme Court
desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and expelling locals that
had not followed an earlier mandate to desegregate.
During the 1960s, besides fighting for civil rights, the AFT and its affiliates worked
at getting collective bargaining agreements with stubborn school boards. Also the
first major strike by university professors in the United States and a one-day walkout
by the United Federation of Teachers in New York City took place. Over 300 teacher
strikes occurred throughout the country during the 10 years following the UFT's walkout.
The national AFT grew from less than 60,000 members in 1960 to over 200,000 by the
end of the decade.
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
AFT Local 616 (Rochester, NY) Federation of Classroom Teachers Records #5845. Kheel
Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Names:
American Federation of Teachers.
American Federation of Teachers. Local 616 (Rochester, N.Y.)
Subjects:
Teachers' unions--New York (State)--Rochester.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Mail Box Policy
|
1962-1964 |
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Correspondence - General
|
1969-1970 |
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Briggs - Subcommittee 1965
|
1965 |
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Correspondence Misc.
|
1961-1963 |
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Coaches 1961
|
1961 |
Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Correspondence AFT
|
1961-1964 |
Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Boycott, March 3
|
1970 |
Box 1 | Folder 8 |
Correspondence 1970-1971
|
1970-1971 |
Box 1 | Folder 9 |
Monroe Com. St. John's
|
1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 10 |
Alinsky
|
1965 |
Box 1 | Folder 11 |
N.Y. City UFT
|
1961 |
Box 1 | Folder 12 |
1964 - Election
|
1964-1966 |
Box 1 | Folder 13 |
Correspondence
|
1971 |
Box 1 | Folder 14 |
Agenda 70-71 + Minutes 70-71
|
1970 |
Box 1 | Folder 15 |
New Caucus
|
1965-1970 |
Box 1 | Folder 16 |
Biernbaum, Brown
|
1960 |
Box 1 | Folder 17 |
Correspondence Board of Educ.
|
1964 |
Box 1 | Folder 18 |
Correspondence ESFT
|
1961-1965 |
Box 1 | Folder 19 |
I #29
|
1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 20 |
Salding Class
|
1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 21 |
5% TakeHome
|
1965 |
Box 1 | Folder 22 |
Correspondence Retirement
|
1961 |
Box 1 | Folder 23 |
ME - Correspondence - Releases positions
|
1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 24 |
RFCT - Newspaper
|
1960-1964 |
Box 1 | Folder 25 |
Federation
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 26 |
RFCT - Members
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 27 |
Longer School Day
|
1963 |
Box 1 | Folder 28 |
Vocational Ed.
|
1969-1971 |
Box 1 | Folder 29 |
Release - Statements
|
1966-1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 30 |
Issues
|
1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 31 |
Organizing AID from Union Brothers
|
1956 |
Box 1 | Folder 32 |
ESFT Organization 1970
|
1970 |
Box 1 | Folder 33 |
B. of Education Minutes
|
1959 |
Box 1 | Folder 34 |
Election Results 1964 and Negotiations Dec 2, 1964
|
1964 |
Box 1 | Folder 35 |
Union - Pres McKensie
|
1969 |
Box 1 | Folder 36 |
Commissioner Allen
|
1962 |
Box 1 | Folder 37 |
Rochester - Desegregation 3 -'67
|
1967 |
Box 1 | Folder 38 |
Richard Bouchard
|
1964 |
Scope and Contents
2 Photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 39 |
Anne Browne et al. CF Birnebaum Letters
|
1963 |
Box 1 | Folder 40 |
Budget
|
1958 |
Box 1 | Folder 41 |
RFCT - Conferences
|
1961 |
Box 1 | Folder 42 |
Retirement General
|
1964 |
Box 1 | Folder 43 |
Conf. + Programs
|
1967-1968 |
Box 1 | Folder 44 |
Tenure
|
1961-1963 |
Box 1 | Folder 45 |
Communications - AFT - Dir. Organization
|
1964 |
Box 1 | Folder 46 |
I.U.D. Materials
|
1961 |
Box 1 | Folder 47 |
Salary Matters Local
|
1962-1964 |
Box 1 | Folder 48 |
B. Of Education Presentations
|
1929-1945 |
Box 1 | Folder 49 |
Clipping
|
1962 |
Box 1 | Folder 50 |
ESFT - Newspaper UFT
|
1959 |