ILGWU Murray Gross Papers, 1945-1982
Collection Number: 5780/199
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
ILGWU Murray Gross Papers, 1945-1982
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives
Collection Number:
5780/199
Abstract:
This collection contains the papers of Murray Gross, including correspondence, newspaper
clippings and other printed material.
Creator:
Gross, Murray
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
Quanitities:
0.5 cubic feet
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.
Murray Gross entered the garment industry as a capmaker in 1925, and later worked
as a tucker and a dress operator. A former student at the Brookwood Labor College,
Gross was elected to the executive board of the Dress Joint Board in 1932. He was
longtime manager of Local 6. In 1941, he helped found the Union for Democratic Action
(later Americans for Democratic Action). After serving in the Army from 1943 to 1945,
Gross served as assistant general manager of the Dress Joint Board. In 1961, he was
appointed National Chairman of the American Veterans Committee, and in 1962, he was
named Commission of Human Rights for the City of New York. Murray Gross passed away
on July 12, 1981, in New York City.
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference
archivist for access to these materials.
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and
Procedures for Document Use.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
ILGWU Murray Gross Papers #5780/199. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Names:
Gross, Maurice
American Veterans Committee
Subjects:
Women's clothing industry -- United States
Clothing workers--Labor unions--United States.
Clothing workers -- United States
Industrial relations -- United States
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
American Veterans Committee
|
1956-1971 |
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Business cards
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Certificate of appreciation from John V. Lindsay, 1972; letter from Ted Kennedy, 1968
|
1968-1972 |
Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Committees
|
1955-1976 |
Scope and Contents
Committees on which Murray Gross served
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Congratulatory letters
|
1965-1972 |
Box 1 | Folder 6 |
Correspondence
|
1945-1953 |
Box 1 | Folder 7 |
Correspondence
|
1958-1981 |
Box 1 | Folder 8 |
Data regarding wage increase
|
1975 |
Box 1 | Folder 9 |
Murray Gross's diploma from SUNY-Empire State College
|
1979 |
Box 1 | Folder 10 |
Deborah Heart and Lung Center Testimonial Dinner Honoring Murray Gross
|
1977 |
Box 1 | Folder 11 |
East Africa
|
1965 |
Box 1 | Folder 12 |
Death certificate of Fanny Gross
|
1977 |
Box 1 | Folder 13 |
Letters of condolence, obituaries for Murray Gross
|
1981 |
Box 1 | Folder 14 |
Miscellany
|
1963-1980 |
Box 1 | Folder 15 |
Occasional Papers, Labor College
|
1980 |
Scope and Contents
Include "A decade of labor leadership, excitement, education and frustration," by
Murray Gross
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 16 |
ORT, Garment Employers' Chapter honors Alex Redein
|
1974 |
Box 1 | Folder 17 |
Roosevelt Day, Americans for Democratic Action
|
1949-1954 |
Scope and Contents
Programs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 18 |
85th birthday tribute to George Meany
|
1979 |
Box 1 | Folder 19 |
Unity House fliers
|
1951 |
Box 1 | Folder 20 |
Clippings
|
1956-1982 |