ILGWU. Miscellany, [1904-1986]
Collection Number: 5780/200
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives
Cornell
University Library
Title:
ILGWU. Miscellany, 1904-1986
Collection Number:
5780/200
Creator:
International Ladies'
Garment Workers' Union.
Quantity:
5.7 linear feet
Forms of Material:
Publications, minutes, records.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
This collection contains assorted periodicals, including
issues of Justice, Giustizia, and Die Gleichheit.
Language:
Collection material in English, Italian, and Yiddish.
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.
This collection contains assorted periodicals, including issues of Justice, Giustizia, and
Die Gleichheit.
Names:
International Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union
Subjects:
Clothing workers--Labor unions--New York
(State)
Women's clothing industry--Labor unions--New York
(State)
Industrial relations--New York (State)
Form and Genre Terms:
Records.
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. Miscellany. 5780/200. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University.
5780. ILGWU records
5780/061. ILGWU. Miscellany
"Permanent deposit"
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Bound book of meeting minutes
|
1904-1911 |
|
Wrapped in tissue paper. Mostly handwritten. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Jerusalem The Saga of the Holy City
|
1954 |
|
Limited edition copy
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 3 |
Givstizia
|
1930-1931 |
|
Justice in Italian. Bound issues (Jan. 1930-Mar. 1931) Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 4 |
Scrap book – The I.L.G.’er, Upper South Dept. and Baltimore Joint
Board
|
1956-1959 |
|
May 1956-May 1959. 8 copies
|
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| Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Giustizia
|
|
|
Justice in Italian. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
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| Box 1 | Folder 6 |
ILGWU News-History, 1900-1950, ILGWU Golden Jubilee Convention,
Atlantic City – Booklet – 3 copies
|
|
| Box 2 | Folder 1 |
Advertisement from – Fashion of the Times – magazine
|
|
| Box 2 | Folder 2 |
Amerika, no. 65
|
|
| Box 2 | Folder 3 |
The Dead Sea Scrolls of the Hebrew University, edited by E.L.
Sukenik
|
1955 |
| Box 2 | Folder 4 |
Die Gleichheit
|
1916 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 5 |
The Gleichheit
|
1922 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 6 |
The Gleichheit
|
1914 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 7 |
The Gleichheit
|
1919 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 8 |
The Gleichheit
|
1916 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 9 |
S/ant on Western Massachusetts District
|
1958 |
|
vol.1,no.1-2 (1958) ; vol.2,no.1- 2 (1958) ; vol.3,no.3-9 (1958)
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 9 |
The Springfield Massachusetts Sunday Republican
|
1961 |
|
May 28, 1961. Brittle
|
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| Box 2 | Folder 10 |
Arbitration of grievances
|
1946 |
| Box 2 | Folder 10 |
Acceptability as a Factor in Arbitration under an Existing Agreement
by William E. Simkin
|
1952 |
| Box 2 | Folder 10 |
The Arbitration Journal
|
1986 |
|
Sept. 1986
|
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| Box 3 | Folder 1 |
The Gleichheit
|
1926 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 2 |
The Gleichheit
|
1915 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 3 |
The Gleichheit
|
1923 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 4 |
The Gleichheit
|
1920 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 5 |
The Gleichheit
|
1925 |
|
Justice in Yiddish. Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 1 |
Justice
|
1919 |
|
Bound issues. Very brittle. 2 copies
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 2 |
Justice
|
1945 |
|
Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 3 |
Justice
|
1920 |
|
Bound issues. Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 4 |
Justice
|
1937-1938 |
|
Bound issues. Very brittle
|
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| Box 4 | Folder 5 |
Justice
|
1939-1940 |
|
Bound issues. Very brittle
|
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| Box 5 | Folder 1 |
Folder of correspondence and reports from Green Dolmatch Inc.
Advertising
|
|
| Box 5 | Folder 2 |
Folder with miscellaneous correspondence about
advertising
|
|
| Box 5 | Folder 3 |
The News
|
1980 |
|
Thurs., Jan. 31,1980. Partial issue
|
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| Box 5 | Folder 4 |
Turkey-The Tasty Impostor. by Craig Claiborne with Pierre
Franey
|
|
|
Laminated (appears to be a published recipe)
|
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| Box 5 | Folder 5 |
Decatur Weekly News
|
1935 |
|
Thurs., Feb. 28, 1935 issue (photocopy copy, original too brittle to
keep)
|
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| Box 5 | Folder 6 |
Justice - bound issues from 1971 brittle
|
1971 |
|
Bound issues. Brittle
|
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| Box 5 | Folder 7 |
Justice – bound issues from 1969 brittle
|
1969 |
|
Bound issues. Brittle
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 8 |
Justice – bound issues from 1970 brittle
|
1970 |
|
Bound issues. Brittle
|
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| Box 6 | Folder 1 |
The New Post
|
1910-1911 |
|
Very brittle
|
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| Box 6 | Folder 2 |
The New Post
|
1912 |
|
Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 7 | Folder 1 |
Scrapbook of news clippings
|
1941-1946 |
|
Very brittle
|
|||
| Box 8 | Folder 1 |
Scrapbook of news clippings
|
1950-1957 |
|
miscellaneous other years are included ‘loose’ inside the front cover, all
clippings are Very brittle
|
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| Box 8 | Folder 2 |
Scrapbook of news clippings
|
1935 |
|
Inside the front cover is a handwritten note “This scrap book was fixed by
Ruby Taylor. Her daughter Ada Gordon gave it to Anne Donaley who is giving
it to the Illinois Ladies Garment Workers Union, July 16, 1984” Very brittle
(place in mylar to try to keep it together)
|
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| Box 8 | Folder 3 |
Scrapbook news clippings and other items.
|
1978-1980 |
|
Some items are brittle
|
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| Box 9 | Folder 1 |
Miscellaneous papers taken out of 5780 O (oversize) – Statements,
correspondence, etc.
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