Plotkin, Abraham Collection, 1911-1978
Collection Number: 6036/016
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Abraham Plotkin Collection, 1911-1978
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
6036/016
Abstract:
This collection documents Plotkin's work as an ILGWU organizer in the Midwest, Florida,
Hawaii, and on the Pacific Coast. It also contains correspondence with European trade
unionists, and Plotkin's diary on his time in Germany in 1932-1933 and his experiences
in Berlin during the Nazi rise to power. Includes trip to International Clothing Workers
Federation Congress in Vienna. Also articles in manuscript on various aspects of life
in Berlin.
Creator:
Plotkin, Abraham
Quanitities:
2.5 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.
Abraham Plotkin was born on August 22, 1892 (1893) in the Ukraine. After arriving
with his family in the United States, they initially lived in Philadelphia before
settling in New York. Plotkin soon had to work to supplement the family income and
became employed in a small sweatshop. He continued to hold odd jobs while working
on his education; attending night classes in New York City and taking courses at a
Denver law school, though he did not obtain his degree. Plotkin was interested and
became involved in Socialism, labor, and union organizing. As a young adult, he joined
the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and remained a prominent figure in
the organization for most of his adulthood. He died in May of 1988, at age 96.
The collection has three distinct components. The first section of the collection
mainly consists of correspondence, collected articles and clippings organized alphabetically
by either individual or subject. There is letters, expenses and documents about or
during his travels, across the country while he was a representative of the ILGWU
on the Pacific Coast, and abroad when he toured several countries in Europe visiting
Socialist and labor institutions. Some of the other subjects include correspondence
with Joseph Breslow, Jean Bangs (first wife), Maurice Brown, Max Danish, including
copies of articles Danish had written as well as stories and poems, David Dubinsky,
Melech Epstein and Diego Rivera. Available is photographs, programs, clippings and
articles from the AFL Conference to Combat Intolerance held in Chicago in 1949. Information
is also included on the strike of the H.W. Gossard Co. in 1941 along with clippings
and a copy of the agreement with the union. The remainder of the correspondence in
this section of the collection documents Plotkin's role as an ILGWU representative
and organizer. Notable are the files from his time as the ILGWU representative in
Hawaii which contains information and letters documenting the garment industry, factories,
and homework situation as well as the standard of living for garment workers on the
island. Also significant are the correspondence, reports, recommendations and clippings
documenting Plotkin's involvement helping to organize Miami shops through meetings,
leaflets and articles. Photographs throughout the collection have been digitized and
include portraits of Plotkin, group shots of locals, meetings and conferences, staff
and board members, strikes, and his travels such as Florida and his time in Berlin.
The second component of the collection consists of National Labor Relations Board
Hearings including the Carson Pirie Scott & Company, the Decatur Garment Company,
and the A.F. Keating Company all in Chicago, as well as Wage Board Recommendations
and minimum fair wage standards for garment industries in Illinois.
The remainder of the collection is composed of the typed manuscript of Plotkin's
time in Berlin in 1932-1933. He begins in October 25, 1932. His diary recounts his
travels, individuals he met
As well as his published article "Destruction of the Labor Movement in Germany"
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
Abraham Plotkin Collection #6036/016. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections: 5780: ILGWU records
Names:
Plotkin, Abraham, -- 1893-1988.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union -- Archives.
CONTAINER LIST
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
|
Series I. ILGWU
|
|||
|
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, reports on Union activities in Mid-West, Miami, Florida, Pacific Coast
and Hawaii. Correspondence with European trade unionists during 1930s on European
political and economic situation.
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
A
|
1933-1956 |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Advance
|
1923 |
|
Scope and Contents
Volume 6, Number 49: February 2.
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Agreements, notes on negotiations
|
1950-1959 |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 |
American Federation of Labor, Conference to Combat Intolerance
|
1949 |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 |
B
|
1931-1953 |
|
Scope and Contents
Includes: Joseph Breslaw letters and letters to Jean Bangs (first wife) relating experiences
of his Pacific Coast travels, 1931.
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Chicago
|
1946-1956 |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 |
D
|
1933-1959 |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 |
Danish, Max
|
1911-1919 |
|
Scope and Contents
Articles (short stories), poems, manuscripts.
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 10 |
Dubinsky, David
|
1931-1954 |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 |
Epstein, Melech
|
1952-1956 |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 |
F
|
1930-1949 |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 |
G
|
1951-1957 |
| Box 1 | Folder 14 |
Germany (and East Europe)
|
1930-1939 |
|
Scope and Contents
Correspondence
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 15 |
H
|
1923-1953 |
| Box 1 | Folder 16 |
H.W. Gossard Company, Logansport, Indiana
|
1951 |
|
Scope and Contents
Agreement
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 17 |
Hartig, Valtin
|
1933-1938 |
|
Scope and Contents
Correspondence on European situation
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 18 |
Hawaii
|
1958-1959 |
|
Scope and Contents
Correspondence and reports on all facets of Union activity; agreements.
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 19 |
Hawaii
|
1958-1959 |
|
Scope and Contents
Newspaper clipping files
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 20 |
Hege, Bob
|
1961-1978 |
| Box 1 | Folder 21 |
I
|
1948-1954 |
|
Scope and Contents
Impartial arbitration decision between garment industries in Illinois and Union
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 22 |
J
|
1932-1948 |
|
Scope and Contents
Letters from William Jaffee and Raymond Johnson
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 23 |
K
|
1933-1936 |
|
Scope and Contents
Fritz Kummer letters on European (Germany) situation
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 24 |
Lieberman, Elias
|
1955-1967 |
| Box 1 | Folder 25 |
Los Angeles, California
|
1931-1948 |
| Box 1 | Folder 26 |
Los Angeles, California
|
1940-1949 |
|
Scope and Contents
Newspaper clipping files
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 1 |
M
|
1932-1965 |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 |
Miami, Florida
|
1954 |
|
Scope and Contents
Includes correspondence with David Dubinsky, all facets of Union activities
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 3 |
Miami, Florida
|
1955 |
| Box 2 | Folder 4 |
Miami, Florida
|
1954-1955 |
|
Scope and Contents
Newspaper clipping files
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 5 |
Miscellaneous
|
1952-1962 |
|
Scope and Contents
Correspondence
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 6 |
N
|
1935-1959 |
| Box 2 | Folder 7 |
National Urban League
|
1937 |
|
Scope and Contents
Correspondence and reports (notes on meeting of Picket Investiation Committee) on
controversy between Urban League and Union
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 8 |
O-P
|
1923-1956 |
| Box 2 | Folder 9 |
Plettl, Martin and Dorothea
|
1933-1935 |
| Box 2 | Folder 10 |
Plettl, Martin and Dorothea
|
1936-1978 |
| Box 2 | Folder 11 |
Q-R
|
1935-1960 |
| Box 2 | Folder 12 |
Rivera, Diego
|
1939 |
| Box 2 | Folder 13 |
Rufer, Harry
|
1935-1940 |
| Box 2 | Folder 14 |
S
|
1935-1956 |
| Box 2 | Folder 15 |
Stolz, G.; Schevenels, W.
|
1933-1934 |
|
Scope and Contents
Letters on European (Germany) situation
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 16 |
Stulberg, Louis
|
1956 |
|
Scope and Contents
Correspondence on potential organizational work for Plotkin on Pacific Coast
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 17 |
T-U
|
1948-1953 |
| Box 2 | Folder 18 |
Van Der Heeg, T.
|
1933-1940 |
| Box 2 | Folder 19 |
Voorhis School for Boys
|
1931-1935 |
| Box 2 | Folder 20 |
W
|
1952-1970 |
| Box 2 | Folder 21 |
Photographs
|
|
| Box 2 | Folder 22 |
Newspaper clipping files
|
|
| Box 3 | Folder 1 |
National Labor Relations Board Hearings [folder 1 of 3]
|
1935 |
|
Scope and Contents
Includes: Carson Pirie Scott and Company, Chicago, Illinois; Decatur Garment Company,
Chicago, Illinois; A.F. Keating Company, Chicago, Illinois.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 2 |
National Labor Relations Board Hearings [folder 2 of 3]
|
1935 |
|
Scope and Contents
Includes: Carson Pirie Scott and Company, Chicago, Illinois; Decatur Garment Company,
Chicago, Illinois; A.F. Keating Company, Chicago, Illinois.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 3 |
National Labor Relations Board Hearings [folder 3 of 3]
|
1935 |
|
Scope and Contents
Includes: Carson Pirie Scott and Company, Chicago, Illinois; Decatur Garment Company,
Chicago, Illinois; A.F. Keating Company, Chicago, Illinois.
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 4 |
Reports on Recommendations of the Wage Board for the Wash Dress Industry of Illinois
for Minimum Fair Wage Standards
|
1937 |
| Box 3 | Folder 5 |
Transcript of proceedings to make mandataory the directory order establishing minimum
fair wage standards in the cotton garment industry in Illinois
|
1939 |
|
Scope and Contents
June
|
|||
|
Series II. Germany
|
|||
|
Scope and Contents
Diary of Abraham Plotkin's trip to Germany in 1932-1933 and his experiences in Berlin
during the Nazi rise to power. Includes trip to International Clothing Workers Federation
Congress in Vienna. Also articles in manuscript on various aspects of life in Berlin.
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 1 |
Trip to Berlin
|
1932 |
|
Scope and Contents
Manuscript
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 2 |
"Berlin Lowdown"
|
1932 |
|
Scope and Contents
Manuscript account of Abraham Plotkin's stay in Berlin and other articles; includes
letters to Richard Rohman re publication
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 3 |
"Destruction of the Labor Movement in Germany"
|
1933 |
|
Scope and Contents
Article from American Federationist, August 1933
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 4 |
Diary of Berlin Experiences
|
1932-1933 |
| Box 4 | Folder 5 |
Diary of Berlin Experiences
|
1932-1933 |
| Box 4 | Folder 6 |
Diary of Berlin Experiences
|
1932-1933 |
| Box 4 | Folder 7 |
Duplicate pages from diary
|
|
| Box 5 | Folder 1 |
Journal posts - Oct.25, 1932-Nov.1, 1932 (2 copies)
|
1932 |
|
Series III. Journal Posts
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 2 |
Journal posts - Nov. 22, 1932-Nov.29, 1932 (some duplication)
|
1932 |
| Box 5 | Folder 4 |
Journal Posts - Nov. 24, 1932-Nov. 29, 1932 (some duplication)
|
1932 |
| Box 5 | Folder 5 |
Journal Posts - Dec.3, 1932-Dec.18, 1932
|
1932 |
| Box 5 | Folder 6 |
Journal Posts - Jan.5, 1933-Feb.8, 1933
|
1933 |