ILGWU Education Department, Fannia Cohn Photographs
Collection Number: 5780/049 P
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
ILGWU Education Department, Fannia
Cohn Photographs, 1916-1935
Collection Number:
5780/049 P
Creator:
Cohn, Fannia M. (Fannia
Mary);
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU)
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU)
Quantity:
0.5 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Photographs .
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Collection consists of photographs pulled from the Fannia
Cohn papers. Photographs include portraits of Cohn, as well as document activities
of Local 66, trips to Unity House, Triangle Factory fire commemoration, and other
union activities.
Language:
Collection material in English, Russian, Yiddish
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.
Fannia Cohn, garment worker, labor organizer and educator,
and officer, International Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union. Fannia Cohn was born in Minsk in the late 1880s
(there is disagreement as to the exact year). She
emigrated to the U.S. in 1904 and began working in a New
York garment factory in 1905. She joined the ILGWU in
1909 and quickly emerged as a skilled leader and
organizer. She was the first woman vice-president of the
ILGWU and in 1918 became Executive Secretary of the
Education Department, a position she held until her
retirement in 1961. She played a significant role in
worker education and was a co-founder of both the
Workers' Education Bureau and the Brookwood Labor
College. She died in 1962 in New York City.
Local union's of the ILGWU established and maintained robust, ambitious educational
departments early on in the international's history. As these groups grew in size
and scope, the international office sought to coordinate and centralize educational
programming for the union's members, culminating in the formation of the Educational
Department in 1918.
The department's programming included courses at the Workers' University at the
Washington Irving High School in New York City, lectures at Unity Centers and Unity
Houses in the northeastern United States, and other events. The educational
offerings of the International's Education Department were varied, as had been the
education departments of the local unions, and included not only classes in labor
studies but also courses in languages, music, and the arts. The ILGWU's 1937 musical
"Pins and Needles" exemplified the diversity of the union's programs.
Directors of the Education Department, especially Fannia Cohn and Mark Starr, wrote
extensively on the ILGWU's programs and worker education in general. Longtime
director Gus Tyler not only directed the department, but also served as the ILGWU's
on-staff scholar. In later years, the Education Department went beyond collaborating
with other education organizations and arranging in-house programs to also
supporting post-secondary education for union members and their families.
The Education Department records document activities across the entire period of the
department's existence, with the bulk of the records covering the 1970s and 1990s.
It contains papers from directors of the Education Department: Fannia Cohn, Mark
Starr, Gus Tyler, and Kitty Krupat.
The earliest documentation of the department's work is found in the Fannia Cohn
papers (5780/049, 5780/049 P); these contain correspondence, subject files,
speeches, photographs, and printed material from her work as director of the
Educational Department. A microfilm copy of the Fannia Cohn papers held at the New
York Public Library (5998 mf) complements the Kheel Center's holdings. Documentation
of the work of another longtime leader of the Education Department, Mark Starr, is
contained in these records (5780/166, 5780/166 PUBS), as well as in a related
collection from Starr on worker education programs (5243).
Documentation of the work of Gus Tyler, who led the merged Education and Political
Department after Mark Starr's retirement in 1960, is also contained in the ILGWU
records (5780/052, 5780/088, 5780/096). Tyler's papers are complemented by those of
Assistant Director Jasper Peyton (5780/086) and Special Projects Coordinator Beverly
Shulman (5780/106). These collections contain routine correspondence and memoranda,
reports, materials relating to training institutes, seminars, and conferences, and
printed material.
The papers of Kitty Krupat, who was serving as Education Director at the time of the
ILGWU/ACTWU merger in 1995, constitute the entirety of Education Department records
from the 1990s. They include correspondence, memoranda, reports, and financial
records relating to the ILGWU's independent and collaborative education projects,
including the Worker-Family Education Program, the Joint Union-University Committee
on Labor Education, and the Consortium for Worker Education, as well as numerous
trainings, conferences, and seminars. Also included in the files are materials from
local unions and regional departments of the ILGWU, files on the Internationals'
conventions, and reports to the General Executive Board.
The Fannia Cohn papers (5780/049) contain correspondence, subject files, speeches,
articles, photographs, and programs from Fannia Cohn's term as Executive Secretary
of the ILGWU Education Department. The materials in Series I are primarily letters
between Cohn and various individuals pertaining to trade union matters in general
and the ILGWU in particular. Included in the series are programs for lectures,
concerts, museum visits and tours of New York City that were offered to ILGWU
members and others as part of the Education Department's activities. Series II
consists of bulletins, articles, lectures and course outlines. Most of these
materials were written by Cohn herself or were prepared under her direction for use
at the union's Unity Centers and at the Workers' University. A number of articles
are by Mark Starr. There are also lectures by Charles A. Beard; Robert Brure;
Babette Deutsch; Paul H. Douglas; Harry Laidler; A.J. Muste; Grace Scribner;
Alexander Trachtenberg; Carl Van Doren; and Theresa Wolfson, among others.
Significant individuals represented in the collection include David Dubinsky, Samuel
Gompers, Morris Sigman ,Rose Pesotta, and H.G. Wells. Organizations include the
Education Department of the ILGWU, the Brookwood Labor College, the AFL, Pioneer
Youth of America, the Rand School of Social Science, and Unity House.
Names:
Bereowitz, Edith
Bosel, Mary
Bosel, Sadie
Calderon, Abe
Cohn, Fannia M.(Fannia Mary), 1885-
Curbelo, Carmen
Dubinsky, David, 1892-1982
Frati, Lucy
Fried, Lazar
Gidda, Sam
Goff, Mary
Kadison, Harry
Karlowski, Ann
Kula, Anna
Leonotti, Jimmy
Liberti, Frank
Lubin, Gertrude
Miller, Ruth
Pesotta, Rose, 1896-
Provenzale, Catherine
Provenzale, Christine
Rivera, Ambaro
Rosenfelt, Ada
Rossi, David
Rothberg, Clara
Sosnovsky, Anna
Starr, Mark
Vengen, Frances
Weiss, Bessie
Wertis, David
Wolfson, Theresa, 1897-1972
American Federation of Labor.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Educational Dept.
Subjects:
Clothing workers--Labor unions--United States.
Labor unions--Officials and employees.
Labor movement.
Labor movement--United States.
Labor unions.
Labor unions--United States.
Labor unions and education--United States.
Working class-- Education--United States.
Form and Genre Terms:
Photographs.
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:
ILGWU Education Department, Fannia Cohn Photographs #5780/049 P. Kheel Center for
Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Related Collections:
5780: ILGWU records
5780/106: ILGWU Education Department, Beverly Shulman Papers
5780/138: ILGWU Education Department, Kitty Krupat Papers
5780/166: ILGWU Education Department Records
5780/166 PUBS: ILGWU Education Department Publications
5780/086: ILGWU Education Department, Jasper Peyton Papers
5780/049: ILGWU Education Department, Fannia Cohn Papers
5780/049 mf: ILGWU Education Department, Fannia Cohn Papers on Microfilm
5780: ILGWU records
5780/106: ILGWU Education Department, Beverly Shulman Papers
5780/138: ILGWU Education Department, Kitty Krupat Papers
5780/166: ILGWU Education Department Records
5780/166 PUBS: ILGWU Education Department Publications
5780/086: ILGWU Education Department, Jasper Peyton Papers
5780/049: ILGWU Education Department, Fannia Cohn Papers
5780/049 mf: ILGWU Education Department, Fannia Cohn Papers on Microfilm
Container
|
Description
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Date
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|
Box 1 | Folder 1 | 1916-1934 | |
Includes: Niagara Falls "ILGWU Convention Special," 1934; Fairfield,
Connecticut, 1934; Bermuda 1924; A.F. of L. Convention, 1916; and
unspecified.
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 2 | ||
Includes: Formal portraits of Fannia Cohn, some on postcards, from Unity
House and her time as Executive Secretary of the ILGWU Educational
Department
|
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Box 1 | Folder 3 | ||
Includes: Local 66 excursion to Bear Mountain (1935) Fannia Cohn on the Local
66 Excursion (S.S. Colvert?) (1935)
|
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Box 1 | Folder 4 | 1926-1935 | |
Includes: Individuals, groups and activities at Bryn Mawr Summer School (Mt.
Ivy, Pomona, New York), the Brookwood (Summer) Institute/Session (Katonah,
New York); Commonwealth College; unnamed “affiliated school”; “P.Y. Camp,”
1931; Local 89 students, 1935. Identified individuals include: Fannia Cohn,
Dr. Theresa Wolfson; Christine Provenzale; Brookwood Commencement, graduates
including 2 from Puerto Rico: Ruth Miller, Rebecca Goldberg, Anna Kula,
Edith Bereowitz, Anna Sosnovsky, Fannia M. Cohn, Mary Goff, Ambaro Rivera,
Frances Vengen, Carmen Curbelo, Mark Starr, Abe Calderon.
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Box 1 | Folder 5 | ||
Commemoration of Triangle Fire victims including ILGWU Committee members
laying wreaths, gravestones (of Sarah Cooper, age 16; Rosie Mehl, age 15,
and Isi Rosen, age 17
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Box 1 | Folder 6 | 1930-1935 | |
Includes: Waterbury [Materbury?] Strike, 1935; two female ILGWU strikers Feb.
14, 1935 with signs “Strike at Osgood and Sons” and “We Want Recognition of
our Union;” Marion Memorial meeting, Oct. 1930; graphic of marchers with
ILGWU banner, and images portraying education and healthcare, partial bottom
reads: “…Pioneers in Bringing Education, Recreation, Art and Medical Science
to the Service of Labor;” and women beneath an “ILGWU Educational
Department” sign, ca. 1930s. Identified individuals include Fannia Cohn, Ann
Karlowski, Helen [?] Reed, Rose Pesotta, Clara Rothberg, Theresa Wolfson and
Dr. Igo [?] Goldstone probably at Brookwood ca. 1930s
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Box 1 | Folder 7 | 1924-1935 | |
Includes: Fannia Cohn; ILGWU Training For Trade Union Activity Institute;
ILGWU Education Department; and union Locals 1, 32, 35, and 143 members.
Educational Department Unity House Institute including Out-Of-Town students
(1935); training for Trade Union Activity/Institute(1935); sports and
recreation including boating, basketball, theatrical productions and hiking;
ILGWU Players; art exhibition and lecture on “Appreciation of Art” (1935);
Pine Grove - Unity House (1934). People include: Fannia Cohn; David
Dubinsky; Frank Liberti; A. Ostrofsky; Bessie Weiss; Jimmy Leonotti; Molly
Mottola/Matolla; Mamie Troccoli; Lucy Frati; Sam Gidda; Sadie Basel/Bosel;
Mary Bosel; Lazar Fried; David Rossi; Harry Kadison; Gertrude Lubin;
Nathalie Opatowsky; Sarah Shapiro; Rose Wertis; Ada Rosenfelt; Christine
Provenzale; Catherine Provenzale; Gertrude Lubin; Paul Degribetzer[?]; Harry
Kadison; and others.
|
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Box 1 | Folder 8 | ||
Includes: perhaps baby, childhood, and youth photos; signed photo of an
infant and toddler (“Jan. 1931 A Happy New Year to you Fannia dear - from
Teddy Peggy Pooky”); Photograph postcard of middle-aged and elder gentleman;
Postcard with Russian and Hebrew typeface mother and baby; young man; and
with who might be Fannia or a relative; two women holding a child; Christmas
note with two children, addressed to Fannia from Evelyn (1931); Fannia with
a young child; young boy. Postcard of Robert Smillie; Postcard - one man and
two women at work outdoors.
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Box 2 |