Alice Cook Biographical Reminiscences Audio-Visual Materials

Collection Number: /3012av

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Alice Cook Biographical Reminiscences Audio-Visual Materials, 1983-2003
Collection Number:
/3012av
Creator:
Cook, Alice
Quantity:
5.7 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Biography (genre), audiovisual materials.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Audio recordings of Alice Cook's biographical reminiscences
Language:
Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Alice Hanson Cook (1903 - 1998) devoted her life to helping working people, and especially working women, on four continents. What she herself called her ''patchwork career'' included social work, adult education, labor organizing, a tour of foreign service at the end of World War II, twenty years teaching in Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and authoring numerous books and articles. She was a pioneer in bringing attention to issues such as comparable worth, maternity leave, and pay equity, known for both her scholarly writings and her activism on the experiences of working women around the world.
Alice attended Northwestern University's School of Speech from 1920-1924, gaining her only formal degree. (She would later receive a number of honorary doctorates, including one from Northwestern.) While enrolled at Northwestern, Alice began her studies of both economics and social work, as well as beginning her lifelong attachment to the ideals of socialism. Early employment with the YWCA''s Industrial Department in the 1920s led her to find ways to use the Y for both union support efforts and attempts to organize women workers previously ignored by unions, such as domestic servants. These early efforts with the Y led to Alice''s involvement with adult labor education efforts such as the Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers, Arkansas' Commonwealth College, the Southern Summer School for Workers in North Carolina, and the Hudson Shore School. They also led to her first direct employment by the union movement, as she worked for the early CIO''s Textile Workers' Organizing Committee.
The 1930s and 40s also mark the beginning of Alice's interests in similar developments around the world. From 1929 to 1931, she studied in Germany under a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) fellowship, beginning her long association with the German system of adult and labor education. She would return to Germany after World War II, when she became the chief of adult education in Germany''s American Zone for the Education Division of the High Commission, Germany. Her travels through Germany at this time combined with her own personal experiences led her to become intrigued with questions of comparative systems of labor education. She would ultimately travel throughout both Western and Eastern Europe as well as Asia in order to carry out her research.
Alice's academic career began in 1952, when she was hired by the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. She began as a researcher in the School's extension division, but moved into a full academic teaching position in 1955. She served as a well-respected teacher in the School up to her retirement in 1972.
SUBJECTS

Names:
Cook, Alice Hanson

Form and Genre Terms:
Biography (genre)
Audiovisual materials

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
Alice Cook Biographical Reminiscences Audio-Visual Materials #/3012av. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
RELATED MATERIALS

Related Collections:
/3012: Alice Cook Papers
/4118mb: ILR School Alumni Memorabilia
/4238p: Alice H. Cook Memorial Celebration Photo Display
/4209p: Alice H. Cook Memorial Service Photographs
/4270: Francine Herman collection of Alice H. Cook Memorial Celebration files
/4282: ILR School Alice Cook 100th Birthday Conference Records
5930mf: Morris L. Cooke "Industrial Management" Monograph on Microfilm
CONTAINER LIST

Container
Description
Date
Box 1
Box 1
Recorded sometime from 1975-1981.
Box 2
Box 2
Recorded sometime from 1975-1981.
Box 3
Box 3
Recorded sometime from 1975-1981.
Box 4
Box 4
Recorded sometime from 1975-1981.
Box 5
Box 5
Recorded sometime from 1975-1981.
Box 6
Box 6
Recorded sometime from 1975-1981.
Box 7
Box 7
Recorded sometime from 1975-1981.
Box 8
Box 8 1983
November 28, 1983.
Box 9.1
Box 9.1 1987
Copy 1
Box 9.2
Box 9.2 1987
Copy 2
Box 10
1. Needham 2. Ardie 3. Working Mothers 4. Labor Department Perth
Box 11
16. Hongo continued 17. Nakazawa 18. Sato 19. Watanabe 20. Yoshida and Kenbara
Box 12
12. Women's Electoral Lobby continued 13. Salmon 14. Women in steel plant 15. Dept. of Labor Adelaide 16. Women's Meeting
Box 13
17. Swinson Popel 18. Levi Strauss 19. Clarke's Shoes 20. Group Laundry 21. Adams
Box 14
21. Adams continued 22. Trades and Labor Council 23. Employers' Association 24. Eaton 25. Committee on Sex Discrimination 26. Community Welfare
Box 15
27. Further Education; Cunningham; Migrant Hostel 28. Gully 29. Lyne Browne 30. Commonwealth Dept. of Labor
Box 16
30. Commonwealth Dept. of Labor 31. Nylex Corp. 32. Davenport 33. Brotherhood of St. Lawrence 34. Brickmakers Union 35. Telephone Union
Box 17
35. Telephone Operators continued 36. WEL Mahlab v. Richmond 37. State Department of Labor and Industry 38. Ericson's 39. Fords 40. Rowntree 41. ACTU 42. Coleman and WEL
Box 18
42. Coleman continued 43. E. Reud 44. Carl Wellesley 45. Burroughs-Welcome 46. Kearney; notes on Kunugra from Repol
Box 19
49. Anthony Squires 50. Nurseries 51. ACTU Women
Box 20
49. ACTU continued 50. Malley's 51. Women's Organizations 52. V. Smith 53. Fry
Box 21
54. V. Read and Letter 55. Justice Evatt 56. Summary of Debriefing
Box 22
1. Nakanishi 2. Suzuki 3. Vocational Training
Box 23
4. Takeshima 5. Yamamoto 6. Kageyama
Box 24
7. Vocational School 8. Tada 9. Izunoi 10. Isetou
Box 25
11. Kafore 12. Ichibongase 13. Hayashi
Box 26
13. Hayashi continued 14. Takahasi 15. Tanaka 16. Hongo
Box 27
20. Yoshida Lab Office continued 21. Child Care Center 22. Tokyo Women's Office
Box 28
22. Tokyo Women's Division continued 23. Hayashi Interview 24. Hoikuen Interview 25. Hayashi continued 26. Public Officials 27. Housing Project Center
Box 29
30. Hanami 31. Kamisawa 14. Takahashi continued 32. Tax Office
Box 30
32. Tax Office continued 32. Sato 33. Zentei 34. Seki, Nikkerei
Box 31
34. Seki continued 35. Jichiro 36. Zenichijuro 37. Zendentsu
Box 32
37. Zendentsu continued 38. Yamazaki 39. Nurses Association 40. Keio Case
Box 33
40. Keio Case continued 41. Akamatsu-Tanami 42. Nurses
Box 34
42. Nurses continued 43. Kashiwabara 44. Hamawi 45. Nuita 46. Takahashi
Box 35
47. Nakamoto 48. Nagoya 49. Mayuma
Box 36
49. Mayuma continued 50. Vocation officers 51. Ohwaki and Nagoya 52. Nagoya Meeting 53. Asano Maru
Box 37
54. Vocational School 55. Mistsumi Co. 56. Women's Club 57. Tizuka City 58. Abe
Box 38
58. Abe continued 59. Ata 60. Hebe, More 61. Iwataya 62. Noguchi
Box 39
62. Noguchi continued 63. Masuko 64. Sohyo 65. Rodo Kyokai 66. Tanaka 67. Shimazu
Box 40
67. Shimazu continued 68. Tomiyama and Mikake 69. Kageyama 70. Training Directors 71. ILO Association
Box 41
Vogel tapes
Box 42
Vogel Tapes, Jan Ting
Box 43
Box 44
Box 45
Box 46
Box 47
Box 48
Parish Notes
Box 49
5. Employers' Federation 6. Miscellaneous 7. Barney and Blanchard 8. Alan Jones 9. Bruce Buche 10. Callandar et al. 11. Latter T&LC Perth 12. Women's Electoral Lobby
Box 50 1978