National Consumers League Records
Collection Number: 5235
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
National Consumers League Records, 1897-1959
Collection Number:
5235
Creator:
National Consumers League
Quantity:
2 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Records (documents) .
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor- Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
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 Consist of routine business records, published and unpublished reports, correspondence,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.
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).
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.
Form and Genre Terms:
Records (documents)
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:
National Consumers League Records #5235. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University
Library.
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Container
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Description
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Date
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| Box 1 | Folder 1 | 1930-1947 | |
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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 | 1930-1947 | |
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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 | 1930-1947 | |
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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 | 1930-1947 | |
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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 | 1930-1947 | |
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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 | 1938 | |
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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 | 1937-1954 | |
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(Incomplete, arranged by month). Discussion topics are primarily those referred to in File 1
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| Box 1 | Folder 4 | 1949 | |
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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 | 1944-1946 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | 1945-1946 | |
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Issues: Fall, 1945; Fall, 1946; Winter, 1946
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| Box 1 | |||
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | 1929-1933 | |
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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 | ||
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See bibliography of pamphlets: appendix B
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| Box 1 | Folder 9 | ||
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Study findings and other writings by Florence Kelley; See bibliography of pamphlets/writings: appendix A
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| Box 1 | Folder 10 | 1926-1953 | |
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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 | 1949 | |
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Recommendations of the Committee on Cash Disability Insurance, NCL
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| Box 1 | Folder 12 | 1935-1945 | |
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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 | 1921-1925 | |
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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 | 1940-1950 | |
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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 | ||
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Pamphlets related to workplace-related illnesses, including exposure to poisons
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| Box 1 | Folder 16 | 1945 | |
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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 | 1921-1922 | |
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NCL pamphlets and leaflets on women hotel workers
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| Box 1 | Folder 18 | ||
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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 | ||
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8 original pamphlet illustrations (photocopies here, originals in File 70)
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| Box 1 | Folder 20 | 1932-1934 | |
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Reports from the first three annual meetings
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| Box 1 | Folder 21 | ||
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See bibliography of pamphlets: appendix C
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| Box 1 | Folder 22 | ||
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Miscellaneous newsclippings, 1950s
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| Box 1 | Folder 23 | 1952 | |
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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 | 1911-1919 | |
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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 | 1920-1959 | |
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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 | 1909-1922 | |
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British Minimum Wage Act of 1909. Report on the British Trade Boards Act, 1909- 1922
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| Box 1 | Folder 27 | 1938-1954 | |
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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 | 1947 | |
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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 | ||
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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 | 1940 | |
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Routine correspondence and Merit Rating Committee Report
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| Box 1 | Folder 31 | 1917-1918 | |
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Pamphlets on the need for saving labor power during wartime
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| Box 1 | Folder 32 | ||
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Routine correspondence on legislation affecting women's earnings and working conditions
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| Box 1 | Folder 33 | ||
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Articles and leaflets regarding poor working conditions, particularly those for women in the needle trade industry
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| Box 1 | Folder 34 | 1897-1916 | |
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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 2 | Folder 35 | 1935-1938 | |
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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 | 1942-1944 | |
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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 | ||
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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 | 1938 | |
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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 | 1919-1934 | |
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Routine correspondence
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| Box 2 | Folder 40 | 1935-1940 | |
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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 | 1941-1942 | |
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Routine correspondence and membership listing
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| Box 2 | Folder 42 | 1937-1941 | |
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Newsletters
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| Box 2 | Folder 43 | 1947-1955 | |
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Newsletters
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| Box 2 | Folder 44 | ||
| Box 2 | Folder 45 | 1946 | |
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Recommendations on disability insurance made by Consumers League of New York before Joint Legislative Committee
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| Box 2 | Folder 46 | 1938 | |
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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 | 1934-1945 | |
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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 | 1933-1935 | |
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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 | 1936-1951 | |
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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 | 1933-1936 | |
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Advisory Committee to Minimum Wage Board member list. Routine correspondence
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| Box 2 | Folder 51 | 1936-1958 | |
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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 | ||
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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 | 1941-1949 | |
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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 | 1935-1940 | |
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Routine correspondence. NYS DOL news releases
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| Box 2 | Folder 55 | 1940-1946 | |
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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 | 1936 | |
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Routine correspondence. Legislative proposals and analysis. Newspaper clippings
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| Box 2 | Folder 57 | ||
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Collection of newspaper clippings on minimum wage issues, primarily from 1933
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| Box 2 | Folder 58 | ||
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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 | 1938-1940 | |
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News releases
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| Box 2 | Folder 60 | 1935-1939 | |
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Routine correspondence, news releases
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| Box 2 | Folder 61 | 1935-1941 | |
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Routine correspondence, news releases, leaflets
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| Box 2 | Folder 62 | 1933-1935 | |
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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 | 1936-1940 | |
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Routine correspondence, news releases
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| Box 2 | Folder 64 | 1945 | |
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Routine correspondence, news releases
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| Box 2 | Folder 65 | ||
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Routine correspondence urging support of SBLI
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| Box 2 | Folder 66 | 1935-1940 | |
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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 | ||
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Routine correspondence, majority from 1940s
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| Box 2 | Folder 68 | 1940 | |
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Routine correspondence. Legislative proposals
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| Box 2 | Folder 69 | 1942 | |
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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 | ||
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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 | ||
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Original photographs (10) referred to in File 23 (migrant labor)
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| Box 2 | Folder 72 | ||
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See Appendix F for listing
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| Box 3 | |||