ILGWU Local 91 Records

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.

Chartered in 1921, Local 91 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), also known as the Children's Dress, Infant's Wear, House, Dress, and Bathrobe Makers Union, was formed with the merger of Local 41 and Local 50 and based in New York, New York.

The collection contains speeches and papers written for the newsletter, or to give at banquets and dinners by Belle Horensen. Horensen became the librarian for Local 91 in 1943, elected business agent in 1946, and was the manager from 1977 until her retirement in 1982. There is also some information on contracts and prices, scripts for membership meetings, and the 60th anniversary of Local 91 in 1973.

The collection also contains bound copies of Local 91's publication "Our Aim." Historical information of Local 91 can be found in the anniversary pamphlets, as well as the paper written by Morris Paladino for a Trade Union Fellowship Class at Harvard University, which provides an in-depth study of the industry, structure, governance, and organization of the union utilizing Local 91 as a case-study.

Related Collections:
5780: ILGWU records
5780/153: ILGWU Local 91, David Dubinsky Presentation Volume