ILGWU Unity House Photographs
Collection Number: 5780/122 P
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
ILGWU Unity House Photographs,
Collection Number:
5780/122 P
Creator:
International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union (ILGWU);
Unity House
Unity House
Quantity:
0.5 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Photographs.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
This collection includes files on the renovation of Unity
House. Also included is a 1993 article on the history of the ILGWU in Northern
Pennsylvania.
Language:
Collection material in English
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.
Unity House was a resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, operated by the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and used as a vacation destination and
educational center for its members and their families. It was purchased by Locals 22
and 25 in 1919, and consisted of a lake and 750 acres of land. In the 1920s the
locals sold the resort to the international organization. Unity House prospered
after World War II, but attendance dropped throughout the 1960s and continued to
dwindle in the 1970s and 1980s. The ILGWU closed the resort in 1990. In 2000 it was
purchased by a subgrantee of the Mountain Laurel Center for the Performing Arts.
Unity House not only served as a vacation spot for ILGers and their families, but
also as a meeting place for ILGWU officers and staff and other labor leaders. In
this way, the resort was very much the outgrowth of Unity Houses and Unity Centers
in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. In these cities, local unions
established libraries, educational offerings, and recreational activities, hosted at
local schools. With the establishment of the international's Educational Department
in New York City that worked in cooperation with local union members, programs
became increasingly robust. Such offerings that appealed to members' interests
beyond the so-called "bread and butter" issues characterized the ILGWU's approach to
organizing and building a union. Though Unity House in the Poconos was sold in 1989
and closed a year later, the ILGWU's educational programs for members and their
families continued in earnest until the union's merger with the Amalgamated Clothing
and Textile Workers
This collection includes files on the renovation of Unity House. Also included is a
1993 article on the history of the ILGWU in Northern Pennsylvania.
Names:
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Unity House.
Subjects:
Women's clothing industry--United States.
Clothing workers--Labor unions--United States.
Clothing workers--United States.
Industrial relations--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 Unity House Photographs #5780/122 P. Kheel Center for Labor-Management
Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
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