National Consumers League Records, 1897-1959
Collection Number: 5235
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
National Consumers League Records, 1897-1959
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5235
Abstract:
Records document the League's research and lobbying activities for federal and state
legislation and various social action programs. Consist of routine business records,
published and unpublished reports, correspondence, and research documents pertaining
to equal pay, equal rights, minimum wage, child labor, women workers, migrant workers,
and fair labor standards.
Creator:
National Consumers League
Quanitities:
2 cubic feet
Language:
Collection material in English
The Boston, Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia Consumers Leagues founded the
National Consumers League in 1899. It became a central force in exposing social injustice,
particularly with respect to low wages and poor working conditions. Under the leadership
of its first general secretary, Florence Kelley, the League launched important initiatives
to improve wages and working conditions for many.
Women significantly involved in the League included Florence Kelley, Josephine Roche,
Lucy R. Mason, Mary Dublin, Elizabeth Magee, Frances Perkins, Clara Beyer, Mary Dewson,
Dorothy Kenyon and Josephine Goldmark. The League effected the passage, enforcement
and defense of laws having to do with safety, sanitation, night work, maximum hours,
child labor, minimum wages, social security, migrant camp conditions and fair employment
practices.
This collection includes organizational records and subject files of the National
Consumers League ranging from 1904-1955. It documents the League's goals and objectives
through correspondence, publications, legislative initiatives, and individual and
group activities. Subject files suggest an emphasis on the League's commitment to
workplace issues affecting children and women, migrant workers, equal rights, fair
labor standards, and minimum wage. A significant portion of the collection documents
the League's activities in New York State, often in concert with the Consumers League
of New York.
Organization records (1905-1955) consist of proceedings, resolutions, and reports
of annual meetings (1930-1955); minutes of the Board of Directors (1937-1954); annual
reports (1905-1916); and routine correspondence, press releases, programs, and speeches
pertaining to the arrangements for the League's 50th anniversary (1949).
Research materials (1904-1955) consist of documents collected and produced by the
League's staff and members to facilitate its legislative actions and research projects.
Include memoranda; manuscript notes; bulletins; research documents; miscellaneous
letters, and correspondence of various League officers and staff, including Florence
Kelly, with political figures and other social action agencies concerning federal
and state legislation and social action programs in occupational health and safety,
labor relations, equal rights amendments (1925-1955), "candy white lists" boycotts
(1929-1933), public education, equal pay, health insurance (1946), wages, hours and
working conditions for women, children and migrant workers, migrant labor camps, wage
and hour legislation, war labor standards, disability insurance, New York State household
workers (1938), work at home (1934-1945), unemployment insurance (1933-1936), defense
production, New York State Minimum Wage Boards, New York savings bank insurance (1938),
and social security. Also, reports, newsletters and pamphlets, chiefly of the League,
pertaining to equal rights amendments, child labor, migrant workers and fair labor
standards; and reports of the New York Minimum Wage Boards on the cleaning and dyeing,
hotel, restaurant, retail trade and laundry industries (1933-1945).
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
National Consumers League Records #5235. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Names:
National Consumers' League
Kelley, Florence, 1859-1932
Subjects:
Child labor -- United States
Consumers' leagues -- United States
Equal pay for equal work -- United States
Disability insurance -- United States
Health insurance -- United States
Savings bank life insurance -- New York (State)
Unemployment insurance -- United States
Labor laws and legislation--United States.
Migrant labor--United States.
War -- Economic aspects -- United States
Women -- Employment -- United States
Working class women -- United States
Lobbyists
Agricultural Workers. Housing. United States.
Domestics. Legal status, laws, etc.
Hours of labor. Law and Legislation. United States.
Industrial hygiene. Law and legislation. United States.
Industrial safety. Law and legislation. United States.
Sex discrimination against women. Law and legislation. United States.
Social security. Law and legislation. United States.
Wages. Cleaning and dyeing industry. New York (State)
Wages. Hotels, taverns, etc. New York (State).
Wages. Laundry industry. New York (State)
Wages. Minimum wage. New York (State)
Wages. Minimum wage. United States.
Wages. Restaurants, lunch rooms, etc. New York (State)
Wages. Women. United States.
Women. Employment. Law and legislation. United States.
Work at home. United States.
Working conditions. United States.
CONTAINER LIST
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Container
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Description
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Date
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Series 1: Organizational Records
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| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Annual Meeting Resolutions
|
1930-1947 |
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Scope and Contents
Significant resolutions pertaining to child labor, including a resolution favoring
a 16-year minimum work age for employment of children in industry and that adequate
appropriations be made for their educational needs
|
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| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Annual Meeting Resolutions
|
1930-1947 |
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Scope and Contents
Minimum Wage: A resolution urging concerted action to continue the League's national
campaign for minimum wage laws.
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| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Annual Meeting Resolutions
|
1930-1947 |
|
Scope and Contents
8/40 Hours Per Week: A resolution to urge the passage of state laws limiting hours
of work to eight in one day and forty in one week
|
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| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Annual Meeting Resolutions
|
1930-1947 |
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Scope and Contents
Equal Rights: A resolution voicing strong support for equal opportunities for men
and women in industry through legislation
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| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Annual Meeting Resolutions
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1930-1947 |
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Scope and Contents
Other resolutions pertaining to unemployment insurance legislation, the Social Security
Act, health insurance, migratory workers, labor-management relations, equal pay, and
establishing labor standards in all government contracts
|
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| Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Annual Meeting Proceedings
|
1938 |
|
Scope and Contents
Includes discussions on: economic implications of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA);
child labor and the FLSA; minimum wage experience; and a wage and hours program for
the states
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| Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Board of Directors - Minutes of Meetings
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1937-1954 |
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Scope and Contents
(Incomplete, arranged by month). Discussion topics are primarily those referred to
in File 1
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| Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Fiftieth anniversary
|
1949 |
|
Scope and Contents
Address by Dr. J. Douglas Brown, Princeton: Cooperation vs. Paternalism; 50th Anniversary
Award presentation to Dr. Alice Hamilton, Harvard Medical School; Remarks by Florence
Kelley; Speech by Senator Paul H. Douglas; Letter establishing the 50th Anniversary
Fund; Letter of congratulations from President Harry Truman ; Editorial comment by
the New York Times; List of Milestones (page 2 of 2)
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| Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Routine Correspondence
|
1944-1946 |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Bulletin of National Consumers League for Fair Labor Standards
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1945-1946 |
|
Scope and Contents
Issues: Fall, 1945; Fall, 1946; Winter, 1946
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| Box 1 |
(Additional organizational files in small Hollinger box within this box, i.e. File
34.)
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Series 2: Subject Files, National Focus
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| Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Candy Industry, Permanent Candy Committee
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1929-1933 |
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Scope and Contents
Proceedings from the Permanent Candy Committee of the NCL, November 12, 1929. Discussion
pertaining to hours and wages of workers in the candy industry. A 1933 memorandum
expressing regret for the need to discontinue the issuance of the candy manufacturers'
White List, owing to the breakdown of labor standards across industries
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| Box 1 | Folder 8 |
Child Labor, Pamphlets
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|
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Scope and Contents
See bibliography of pamphlets: appendix B
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| Box 1 | Folder 9 |
Child Labor, Industrial Accidents
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|
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Scope and Contents
Study findings and other writings by Florence Kelley; See bibliography of pamphlets/writings:
appendix A
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| Box 1 | Folder 10 |
Child Labor Manufacturers Program
|
1926-1953 |
|
Scope and Contents
Address to the NCL by New York Consumer's League President Dorothy Kenyon, 1927. Letter
to Florence Kelley from the U.S. Dept. of Labor, October 1927. Draft outlining a new
plan for youth in industry, November 15, 1926. News release, Industry Meets Educators'
Ideas, Modifies Child Education Program, National Association of Manufacturers, New
York, NY, 1928. Draft of Act to Amend the Child Labor Law, 1953
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| Box 1 | Folder 11 |
Disability Insurance
|
1949 |
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Scope and Contents
Recommendations of the Committee on Cash Disability Insurance, NCL
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| Box 1 | Folder 12 |
Equal Pay for Equal Work
|
1935-1945 |
|
Scope and Contents
Senate Bill S.1178: A Bill providing equal pay for equal work, June 21, 1945. U.S.
Dept. of Labor Women's Bureau. Suggested language for an Act to abolish wage differentials
based on gender. State of Montana code regarding equal pay: 1935 revision to 1919
code. State of Washington: House Bill approving 1943 revision of 1913 law on equal
pay
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| Box 1 | Folder 13 |
Equal Rights
|
1921-1925 |
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Scope and Contents
Remarks by Florence Kelley. List of, and comments from, national organizations officially
on record as against the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Proposed Amendment to the Unites
States Constitution and related correspondence. Routine correspondence
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| Box 1 | Folder 14 |
Equal Rights
|
1940-1950 |
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Scope and Contents
Comments by Secretary of Labor to Judiciary Committee on the ERA. List of Organizations
Opposed the ERA. Routine correspondence and records supporting and opposing the ERA
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| Box 1 | Folder 15 |
Health and Safety
|
|
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Scope and Contents
Pamphlets related to workplace-related illnesses, including exposure to poisons
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| Box 1 | Folder 16 |
Health Insurance
|
1945 |
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Scope and Contents
Summary of proposed National Health Insurance Bill, November 19, 1945. Routine correspondence
and news clippings on proposed National Health Bill
|
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| Box 1 | Folder 17 |
Hotel Industry
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1921-1922 |
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Scope and Contents
NCL pamphlets and leaflets on women hotel workers
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| Box 1 | Folder 18 |
Hours of Work
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|
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Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence, pamphlets, and new clippings related to hours of work required
by some employers, including that related to night work required of women and children
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| Box 1 | Folder 19 |
Illustrations
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Scope and Contents
8 original pamphlet illustrations (photocopies here, originals in File 70)
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| Box 1 | Folder 20 |
Labor Standards Conference
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1932-1934 |
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Scope and Contents
Reports from the first three annual meetings
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| Box 1 | Folder 21 |
Migrant Labor, Pamphlets and Government Issued Reports
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|
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Scope and Contents
See bibliography of pamphlets: appendix C
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| Box 1 | Folder 22 |
Migrant Labor, Newsclippings
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|
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Scope and Contents
Miscellaneous newsclippings, 1950s
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| Box 1 | Folder 23 |
Migrant Labor, Senate Hearings: Hopper Testimony
|
1952 |
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Scope and Contents
Testimony of Mabel Hopper, Consumer League of New York, Research Director of the Migrant
Labor Study. Accompanying Photographs (10) (photocopies here, originals in File 71)
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| Box 1 | Folder 24 |
Minimum Wage
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1911-1919 |
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Scope and Contents
Collection of pamphlets and leaflets, bulk published by the National Consumer League.
See bibliography of pamphlets: appendix D
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| Box 1 | Folder 25 |
Minimum Wage
|
1920-1959 |
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Scope and Contents
The Public Stake in Minimum Wage Laws: Address to NCL, May 22, 1946, Leon Henderson,
Chief Economist of the National Recovery Act (NRA). Minimum Wage and Collective Bargaining:
Address to NCL, , Solomon Barkin, Director of Research, Textile Workers Union, May
22, 1946. Collection of pamphlets and leaflets, bulk published by the National Consumer
League. Bibliography: Appendix E
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| Box 1 | Folder 26 |
Minimum Wage, Great Britain
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1909-1922 |
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Scope and Contents
British Minimum Wage Act of 1909. Report on the British Trade Boards Act, 1909- 1922
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| Box 1 | Folder 27 |
Social Security, National Testimony
|
1938-1954 |
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Scope and Contents
Statements on behalf of the NCL regarding Social Insurance (1950) and Bill to amend
the Social Security Act (1954). Bill introduced for improving maternity care and care
of infants, 1938. Correspondence from Social Security Board, 1938
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| Box 1 | Folder 28 |
U.S. Congress
|
1947 |
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Scope and Contents
Statement of the NCL to the House Judiciary Committee on H.R. 584 addressing suits
for portal-portal claims filed under the FLSA
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| Box 1 | Folder 29 |
U.S. Supreme Court
|
|
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Scope and Contents
Articles and pamphlets related to Supreme Court rulings on labor, including its ruling
on the J. Tipaldo Case
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| Box 1 | Folder 30 |
Unemployment Compensation, Merit Rating
|
1940 |
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Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence and Merit Rating Committee Report
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| Box 1 | Folder 31 |
Wartime Labor Standards (WWI)
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1917-1918 |
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Scope and Contents
Pamphlets on the need for saving labor power during wartime
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| Box 1 | Folder 32 |
Women, Labor Legislation
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|
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Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence on legislation affecting women's earnings and working conditions
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| Box 1 | Folder 33 |
Working Conditions
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Scope and Contents
Articles and leaflets regarding poor working conditions, particularly those for women
in the needle trade industry
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| Box 1 | Folder 34 |
Annual Reports
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1897-1916 |
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Scope and Contents
Consumer League of the City of New York Annual Report, 1897. National Consumer League
Annual Reports: 1905-07, 1910-16
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| Box 1 | Folder 35 |
Annual Reports
|
1897-1916 |
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Series 3: Subject Files, New York State Focus
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| Box 2 | Folder 35 |
Child Labor
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1935-1938 |
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Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence, confidential report on child labor in commercial agriculture,
proposed legislation relating to the sale of goods produced employing child labor,
news clippings
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| Box 2 | Folder 36 |
Child Labor
|
1942-1944 |
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Scope and Contents
NYS DOL report: "Child Labor and Hours in NYS Canneries, Summer 1944." Descriptions
of and routine correspondence related to the Coudert-Brooks Bill, a proposal to amend
the labor law relating to the combined hours of work and hours in school for minors
under the age of 18. Related newspaper clippings. An abstract of laws governing school
attendance and the employment of children in NYS
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| Box 2 | Folder 37 |
Child Labor, State Correspondence
|
|
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Scope and Contents
Summary of laws passed in Missouri, NYS, and Vermont prohibiting sale, etc. of goods
made by child labor. Bill S. 2226 proposing the regulation of interstate commerce
in the products of child labor and for other purposes. A Brief in opposition to Nunan-Moffat
Bill regarding the protection of children employed in industries engaged in interstate
commerce, presented by the National Child Labor Committee, 1937. News releases and
clippings, including several relating to prison-made goods
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| Box 2 | Folder 38 |
Constitutional Convention
|
1938 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence relating to a proposed change to Section 25 of the Judiciary
Article of the NYS constitution which would subject all administrative determinations
to review of the facts as well as the law
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| Box 2 | Folder 39 |
Consumers League of New York, Routine Correspondence
|
1919-1934 |
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Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence
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| Box 2 | Folder 40 |
Consumers League of New York
|
1935-1940 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence between NY league and National league, 1935-1940. Signed Bill
amending NYS labor law establishing new minimum wage standards for women and minors.
Signed by Governor April 28, 1937
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| Box 2 | Folder 41 |
Consumers League of New York, Routine Correspondence (addl)
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1941-1942 |
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Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence and membership listing
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 42 |
Consumers League of New York, Newsletters
|
1937-1941 |
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Scope and Contents
Newsletters
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| Box 2 | Folder 43 |
Consumers League of New York, Newsletters (addl)
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1947-1955 |
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Scope and Contents
Newsletters
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| Box 2 | Folder 44 |
Consumers League of New York, Publications
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 45 |
Disability Insurance
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1946 |
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Scope and Contents
Recommendations on disability insurance made by Consumers League of New York before
Joint Legislative Committee
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| Box 2 | Folder 46 |
Household Employment
|
1938 |
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Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence, news releases, re: proposed legislation to regulate hours
of employment of household workers, 1938. Notes on Women's Trade Union League re:
protective legislation for domestics
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| Box 2 | Folder 47 |
Industrial Homework
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1934-1945 |
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Scope and Contents
Correspondence, news releases, notices of public hearings on proposed orders restricting
industrial homework, NYS Supreme Court record of an appeal to permit industrial homework,
order prohibiting homework in artificial flower and feather industries. NYS DOL report
on trends in industrial homework
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| Box 2 | Folder 48 |
Labor Standards Committee, NYS
|
1933-1935 |
|
Scope and Contents
Letter referring to the establishment of the NYS Labor Standards Committee, January
12, 1912, list of Committee members. Minutes of meetings. Public hearing correspondence
and notices. List of Senate and Assembly members, 1934. Routine correspondence, public
statements, and news clippings on unemployment insurance, minimum wage
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| Box 2 | Folder 49 |
Migrant Labor, NYS, Conferences and Studies
|
1936-1951 |
|
Scope and Contents
Analysis by NYS Committee on Summer Farm Labor Problems of roundtable reports from
Conference on Agricultural Labor and Community Problems, Rochester, NY, 1945. NYS
DOL Report on children working on fruit and vegetable farms in NYS, 1951. Excerpts
from report on summer farm labor camps, 1936. Routine correspondence
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| Box 2 | Folder 50 |
Minimum Wage, Advisory Committee
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1933-1936 |
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Scope and Contents
Advisory Committee to Minimum Wage Board member list. Routine correspondence
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| Box 2 | Folder 51 |
Minimum Wage, General
|
1936-1958 |
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Scope and Contents
Background document on the genesis for minimum wage legislation. An analysis of minimum
wage legislation. Routine correspondence, news releases, newspaper clippings. Transcript
of radio address: Elinore Morehouse Herrick, Regional Director, NLRB, 1936. Brochure:
New York's Minimum Wage Law: The First Twenty Years, 1958
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| Box 2 | Folder 52 |
Minimum Wage, General (addl)
|
|
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Scope and Contents
Additional historical background on minimum wage. Routine correspondence. Brochure
from NYS DOL describing minimum wage and its objectives. Brief in support of minimum
wage legislation, Consumer League of NY
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| Box 2 | Folder 54 |
Minimum Wage, Correspondence
|
1941-1949 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence. Bibliography of publications relating to women workers and
child labor issues. Reprints of Industrial Bulletin articles related to women in industry
during wartime
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| Box 2 | Folder 53 |
Minimum Wage, Correspondence
|
1935-1940 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence. NYS DOL news releases
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| Box 2 | Folder 55 |
Minimum Wage, Inspection
|
1940-1946 |
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Scope and Contents
Correspondence, notice of exam to become an inspector. Examination questions. Appeals
by those who did not pass
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 56 |
Minimum Wage, Legislative Proposals
|
1936 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence. Legislative proposals and analysis. Newspaper clippings
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 57 |
Minimum Wage, Newspaper Clippings
|
|
|
Scope and Contents
Collection of newspaper clippings on minimum wage issues, primarily from 1933
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 58 |
Minimum Wage, Tipaldo Case
|
|
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence and newspaper clippings related to New York State Court of
Appeals' declaration that New York's Minimum Wage Law is unconstitutional
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 59 |
Minimum Wage, Candy Industry
|
1938-1940 |
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Scope and Contents
News releases
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 60 |
Minimum Wage, Cleaning & Dyeing Industry
|
1935-1939 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence, news releases
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 61 |
Minimum Wage, Hotel and Restaurant Industry
|
1935-1941 |
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Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence, news releases, leaflets
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 62 |
Minimum Wage, Laundry Industry
|
1933-1935 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence, news releases. (4) Film negatives of earning tables: Comparisons
between basic hours and wages (skilled/unskilled workers) in 47 laundry plants in
Greater New York and Westchester County, 1929 and 1931
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 63 |
Minimum Wage, Laundry Industry
|
1936-1940 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence, news releases
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 64 |
Minimum Wage, Retail Stores
|
1945 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence, news releases
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 65 |
Savings Bank Life Insurance, NYS
|
|
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence urging support of SBLI
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 66 |
Unemployment Insurance, NYS
|
1935-1940 |
|
Scope and Contents
Copy of NYS Unemployment Insurance Law, 1935. Analysis of Unemployment Ins. Bills
Pending in Albany. Routine correspondence, newspaper clippings
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 67 |
Wages and Hours, NYS, Correspondence
|
|
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence, majority from 1940s
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 68 |
Wage and Hour Legislative Proposals
|
1940 |
|
Scope and Contents
Routine correspondence. Legislative proposals
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 69 |
Wartime Labor Standards Committee, NYC
|
1942 |
|
Scope and Contents
Organizational member list. Minutes of Meeting, 1942. "War Emergency Dispensation
Act," an Act to dispense from certain limits of the labor law as warranted by the
war emergency. Guide on "Labor Standards for Maximum War Production in NYS."
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 70 |
Illustrations
|
|
|
Scope and Contents
Original illustrations (8) referred to in File 19 (child labor). These are pen and
ink drawings of working people used in NCL pamphlets, artist unknown, n.d.
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 71 |
Photographs
|
|
|
Scope and Contents
Original photographs (10) referred to in File 23 (migrant labor)
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Series 4: Publications
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 72 |
General Publications
|
|
|
Scope and Contents
See Appendix F for listing
|
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| Box 3 |
Text digitized from the collection.
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