ILGWU. Leon Stein Collection,1911-1977
Collection Number: 5780/069
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives
Cornell
University Library
Title:
ILGWU. Leon Stein collection,
1911-1977
Collection Number:
5780/069
Creator:
International Ladies'
Garment Workers' Union; Stein, Leon.
Quantity:
4.5 linear feet
Forms of Material:
Records
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Contains draft manuscripts of Leon Stein's writings, drafts
of his translation of the work of Abraham Cahan, research material for books on the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City and the Ludlow (Colorado)
massacre, and some correspondence.
Language:
Collection material in English
The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union was founded in New York City in 1900
by mostly Socialist immigrant workers who sought to unite the various crafts in the
growing women’s garment industry. The union soon reflected changes in the sector and
rapidly organized thousands of unskilled and semi-skilled women, mostly Jewish and
Italian young immigrants. Exemplifying the “new unionism,” the ILGWU led two of the
most widespread and best-known industrial strikes of the early Twentieth Century:
the shirtwaist makers’ strike of 1909 in New York City and the cloak makers’ strike
of 1910 in Chicago. The union also tried to adapt to the fragmented and unstable
nature of the industry. It adopted the “protocol of peace,” a system of industrial
relations that attempted to ensure stability and limit strikes and production
disruption by providing for an arbitration system to resolve disputes.
The ILGWU exemplified the European-style social unionism of its founding members.
They pursued bread and butter issues but provided educational opportunities,
benefits, and social programs to union members as well. In 1919, the ILGWU became
the first American union to negotiate an unemployment compensation fund that was
contributed to by its employers. The ILGWU also pioneered in the establishment of an
extremely progressive health care program for its members which included not only
regional Union Health Centers but also a resort for union workers, known as Unity
House. The Union also had an imaginative and pioneering Education Department which
not only trained workers in traditional union techniques, but provided courses in
citizenship and the English language.
David Dubinsky, an immigrant from Belarus who came to the US in 1911, provided strong
leadership that led to unprecedented growth in the union during his presidency from
1932 to 1966. He led the union through successful internal anti-communist struggles,
built on the ascendancy of industrial unionism by encouraging the formation of the
Committee for Industrial Organization, and helped the union become an important
political force in New York City and state politics, and in the national Democratic
Party and Liberal Party as well.
In the period following the Second World War, the union suffered a decline in
membership as manufacturers avoided unionization and took advantage of less
expensive labor by moving shops from the urban centers in the northeast to the
south, and later abroad. The ethnic and racial character of the ILGWU also changed
as European immigrants were supplanted by Asians, Latin Americans, African-
Americans, and immigrants from the Caribbean.
In July 1995 the ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union
(ACTWU) at a joint convention, forming UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and
Textile Employees). At the time the new union had a membership of about 250,000 in
the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
Leon Stein was born in Baltimore and raised in New York City. After graduating from
City College of New York in 1934, he worked as a cutter and patternmaker. In 1939,
Stein began writing for Justice, the official organ of the ILGWU, and in 1952 he
became its editor. In 1962, he published The Triangle Fire, an account of the March
25, 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company that killed 146 people. He edited
Justice until his retirement in 1977, the same year he published Out of the
Sweatshop. He died at the age of 78, in Cranbury, New Jersey on February 13,
1990.
Contains draft manuscripts of Leon Stein's writings, drafts of his translation of the
work of Abraham Cahan, research material for books on the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory fire in New York City and the Ludlow (Colorado) massacre, and some
correspondence.
Names:
International Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union.
Stein, Leon, 1912-
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Subjects:
Labor unions--Clothing workers--New York
(State)--New York.
Labor unions--Clothing workers--United
States.
Textile workers--New York (State)--New
York.
Textile workers--United States.
Form and Genre Terms:
Papers.
Access Restrictions:
The ILGWU Records, except for publications and materials produced for
publication, are restricted. Materials created prior to twenty years from the
current date are open to researchers only with prior written permission from the
Director of the Kheel Center; materials created during the past twenty-years are
closed; the minutes of the General Executive Board are closed. For more
information contact the Kheel Center.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet
and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
ILGWU. Leon Stein collection. 5780/069. Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University.
5780. ILGWU records
5780/087. ILGWU. Leon Stein papers
5780/087 P. ILGWU. Leon Stein photographs
"Permanent deposit."
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Untitled Manuscript and Edits. Part I
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Untitled Manuscript and Edits. Part II
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Untitled Manuscript and Edits. Part III
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Untitled Manuscript and Edits. Part IV
|
|
| Box 2 | Folder 1 |
"The Triangle Fire". Miscellaneous
|
1957-1972 |
| Box 2 | Folder 2 |
Selective Service, Local Board No.186
|
1944-1945 |
| Box 2 | Folder 3 |
Writings of Pauline M. Newman
|
1944-1976 |
| Box 2 | Folder 4 |
"Through the Needle's Eye", Collected and Edited by Leon Stein [folder 1 of 2]
|
|
| Box 2 | Folder 5 |
"Through the Needle's Eye", Collected and Edited by Leon Stein [folder 2 of 2]
|
|
| Box 2 | Folder 6 |
"The ILGWU" by Leon Stein [folder 1 of 2]
|
|
| Box 2 | Folder 7 |
"The ILGWU" by Leon Stein [folder 2 of 2]
|
|
| Box 3 | Folder 1 |
Correspondence of Leon Stein
|
1951-1963 |
| Box 3 | Folder 2 |
Excerpts on Fashion
|
|
| Box 3 | Folder 3 |
Leon Stein. Miscellaneous Articles and Correspondence
|
1964-1966 |
| Box 3 | Folder 4 |
Leon Stein Lectures
|
1951-1953 |
| Box 3 | Folder 5 |
Correspondence
|
1951-1979 |
| Box 3 | Folder 6 |
ILGWU Label Ads
|
|
| Box 3 | Folder 7 |
Fire Sprinkler Bill [folder 1 of 2]
|
1956-1966 |
| Box 3 | Folder 8 |
Fire Sprinkler Bill [folder 2 of 2]
|
1956-1966 |
| Box 4 | Folder 1 |
Beyond Wages. ILGWU UHC Social Service Program
|
|
| Box 4 | Folder 2 |
Report of Work, 1904-1906
|
1970 |
| Box 4 | Folder 3 |
Fire Warden Program [folder 1 of 2]
|
1958-1968 |
| Box 4 | Folder 4 |
Fire Warden Program [folder 2 of 2]
|
1958-1968 |
| Box 4 | Folder 5 |
Fire Safety in Factories
|
1959 |
| Box 4 | Folder 6 |
Triangle Fire Materials
|
1961-1966 |
| Box 5 | Folder 1 |
Leon Stein. Africa and Israel
|
1972 |
| Box 5 | Folder 2 |
Leon Stein. Correspondence
|
1960-1975 |
| Box 5 | Folder 3 |
Leon Stein. Correspondence
|
1967-1975 |
| Box 5 | Folder 4 |
Triangle Fire Anniversary Articles
|
1961 |
| Box 5 | Folder 5 |
Leon Stein. General [folder 1 of 2]
|
1944-1975 |
| Box 5 | Folder 6 |
Leon Stein. General [folder 2 of 2]
|
1944-1975 |
| Box 5 | Folder 7 |
Leon Stein. Correspondence
|
1972-1977 |
| Box 6 | Folder 1 |
Leon Stein. Lecture Materials
|
1957-1968 |
| Box 6 | Folder 2 |
ILGWU Notice to Apparel Buyers
|
|
| Box 6 | Folder 3 |
Leon Stein. Trip to Israel
|
1960 |
| Box 6 | Folder 4 |
Columbia Pictures
|
1956-1957 |
| Box 6 | Folder 5 |
Ludlow Mines
|
1962-1964 |
| Box 6 | Folder 6 |
Fire Warden Clippings
|
1957-1963 |
| Box 6 | Folder 7 |
Fire Warden Program and Materials
|
1958-1963 |
| Box 6 | Folder 8 |
Labor's Story
|
1959-1961 |
| Box 6 | Folder 9 |
Fire Warden Program Publications
|
1959-1963 |
| Box 7 | Folder 1 |
Industrial Relations. Final Report and Testimony
|
1912 |
| Box 7 | Folder 2 |
From Tape Recorder [folder 1 of 3]
|
1913-1914 |
| Box 7 | Folder 3 |
From Tape Recorder [folder 2 of 3]
|
1913-1914 |
| Box 7 | Folder 4 |
From Tape Recorder [folder 3 of 3]
|
1913-1914 |
| Box 7 | Folder 5 |
How the Journal Began
|
|
| Box 8 | Folder 1 |
The Ludlow Massacre, by Walter H. Fink
|
1914 |
| Box 8 | Folder 2 |
Ludlow
|
1962-1964 |
| Box 8 | Folder 3 |
Tape Transcripts [folder 1 of 2]
|
1913-1914 |
| Box 8 | Folder 4 |
Tape Transcripts [folder 2 of 2]
|
1913-1914 |
| Box 9 | Folder 1 |
Triangle Fire Images and Cartoons
|
1911 |
| Box 9 | Folder 2 |
Leaves From My Life by Abraham Cahan [folder 1 of 3]
|
1926 |
| Box 9 | Folder 3 |
Leaves From My Life by Abraham Cahan [folder 2 of 3]
|
1926 |
| Box 9 | Folder 4 |
Leaves From My Life by Abraham Cahan [folder 3 of 3]
|
1926 |
| Box 10 | Folder 1 |
ILGWU Anniversary Album
|
|
|
Reprint
|
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