ILGWU Records, 1884-2006, bulk 1923-1995.
Collection Number: 5780
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives
Cornell University Library
Title:
ILGWU Records, 1884-2006, bulk 1923-1995.
Collection Number:
5780
Creator:
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
Quantity:
2,527 linear feet.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University
Abstract:
Archives of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) which document the history of the most significant labor
union representing workers in the women's garment industry in the United
States and Canada.
Language:
Collection material in English, Yiddish, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Korean.
The ILGWU was formed on June 3, 1900, by eleven delegates representing local unions in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
and Newark. These local unions—the United Brotherhood of Cloak Makers, the Skirt Makers Union No. 1 of Greater New York, the
Cloak Makers’ Protective Union of Philadelphia, the Cloak Makers Union of Baltimore, the Cloak Makers’ Union of
Brownsville, and the Cloak Makers’ Union of Newark, New Jersey—were comprised primarily of Jewish immigrants who had recently
arrived
from Eastern Europe, many of whom were socialist and had been active trade unionists before coming to America,
and in some instances, had become members of the ILGWU’s predecessor unions upon arrival. The ILGWU was granted a charter
from the
American Federation of Labor on June 22, 1900.
The ILGWU was an important force in establishing the rights to unionize, bargain collectively, and work under safe conditions.
In the opening decade of the twentieth century, galvanizing events such as the “Uprising of the 20,000” (1909-1910), the
“Great Revolt” (1910), and the Protocol of Peace (1910) helped the union grow quickly and push for major workplaces
changes in the industry. A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on March 25, 1911, claimed the lives of 146 young women
and men
and spurred cooperation between organized labor, government, and social reformers to institute unprecedented workplace
inspection and regulation.
At the same time, and especially as the union grew, the union’s agenda was not limited strictly to workplace issues. The ILGWU
developed several elements of “social unionism.” In addition to maintaining Health, Welfare, and Vacation Funds for
members, many local unions also organized Education Departments that presented a variety of course offerings to
members, ranging from English language classes, to labor history classes, to visual and performing arts classes. The ILGWU’s
Union
Health Center in New York City was established in 1913 and chartered in 1930, and Union Health Centers and Mobile
Health Units in other locations were soon founded elsewhere; the staff at these centers provided consultation and health services
to
union members across the United States. The union’s cooperative housing complexes offered affordable options for
workers in New York City, and the ILGWU’s Unity House, a resort in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania established in 1919
(and closed
in 1989), served as a relatively inexpensive getaway for union members and their families. By the time David Dubinsky
was elected president of the ILGWU, the union’s many and varied programs were large and robust, and the union was a formidable
presence in American organized labor.
During David Dubinsky’s tenure as president of the ILGWU from 1932 to 1966, the ILGWU grew in numbers, influence, and ambition.
As more garment workers in New York City joined the union, manufacturers sought to establish shops where they could hire
non-unionized workers and thus turn a greater profit. When these “runaway” shops opened up New England, central
Pennsylvania, and the Southeastern United States, the ILGWU followed. The union sent organizers to newly-opened shops, and
eventually
established district councils and regional departments to gain members and represent these “out-of-town” workers.
During this time, the ILGWU established its Training Institute to prepare students for organizing and staff positions with
the growing
union.
With an increasingly large membership, the union had become even more involved in cultural and educational activities. The
musical “Pins and Needles” opened at New York City’s Labor Stage in 1937 and enjoyed a successful Broadway run until 1940;
in
1950, the Northeast Department musical narrative, “My Name Is Mary Brown,” was staged at the ILGWU Golden Jubilee
Convention in Atlantic City; the ILGWU-produced feature film “With These Hands,” too, was premiered at that convention, and
it was
later released nationwide. The ILGWU Chorus and local unions’ mandolin orchestras continued to perform at union
events in their local communities.
Meanwhile, the ILGWU was becoming increasingly involved in domestic partisan politics and international affairs. The ILGWU
became a key stakeholder and major financial contributor to the American Labor Party and later the Liberal Party of New York,
before finally aligning with the Democratic Party in the 1960s. By 1962, John F. Kennedy was on hand to ceremoniously
open the ILGWU’s cooperative housing at Penn Station South, and in 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson gave a speech to observe the 50th
anniversary of the Union Health Center’s opening. In addition, the ILGWU’s Legislative and Political Department,
under the longtime direction of Evelyn Dubrow, participated in many and legislative and electoral efforts, with local unions
also
coordinating activities on the municipal and state levels. A wide range of ILGWU officers presented testimony
on a variety of topics relating to trade, workplace conditions, and other labor issues before the U.S. Congress.
On the international scene, in the years leading up to the United States’ involvement in World War II, the ILGWU collaborated
with other labor organizations, such as the Jewish Labor Committee and the Italian-American Labor Council, to oppose the
rise of fascism and Hitler in Europe; and in the post-war period, under David Dubinsky’s intensely anti-communist
leadership, the ILGWU worked closely with AFL leadership to provide material aid to those in war-ravaged Europe and establish
non-Communist unions in the region in decolonizing countries.
Nevertheless, over the course of its history, the ILGWU’s international leadership was consistently criticized as non-representative
of the union membership. In the union’s early years, this disparity was primarily gendered; a disproportionate
number of men rose from the powerful local unions in New York City to hold office of a union whose membership
was overwhelmingly female. As the racial demographics of the union changed, especially in the post-war period, the relative
absence of
union leaders who had risen from the ranks of more recent immigrant members earned the union critics, among them
the NAACP. The ILGWU’s reputation as a progressive force in American organized labor was further tarnished by the divisive
issue of the
right of union staff to organize. Though clerical workers of the ILGWU were organized as part of the Office Employees
International Union (OEIU), the ILGWU, and especially David Dubinsky, came under criticism for the treatment of union staff
who
sought to organize themselves, namely the Federation of Union Representatives (FOUR).
In the 1970s and 1980s, the decline of the United States garment manufacturing industry accelerated. Efforts to stem this
decline included the ILGWU’s aggressive campaign to educate American consumers of the importance of buying products bearing
the Union Label, testimony before Congressional committees on the effects of imports on garment workers in the
United States, and increased collaboration with international federations of clothing workers unions. These conditions, compounded
by the
controversial issue of regulating homework, posed serious challenges to the union. One response was designed and
executed at the local union level, and then expanded for the national membership; from 1983 to 1995, the Immigration Project
represented and advised individuals on immigration, naturalization, and amnesty matters, the first such program
of this kind established by an American union. Another response was to engage and help in the growth of workers’ centers in
the United
States and more actively engage with organizing efforts outside of the United States.
By the mid-1990s, however, the strategy for responding to the United States’ declining women’s garment manufacturing industry
was to merge with the union that had represented workers in the men’s garment manufacturing industry, the Amalgamated
Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU). At a joint convention in 1995, the two unions merged to form the Union
of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). Now under the leadership of President Jay Mazur, the new union
had a
membership of about 250,000 in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
The ILGWU Records include substantial historical documentation from many of International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union's
key officers, central offices, regional units, joint boards and local unions. In addition to correspondence, minutes, and
publications, the ILGWU archives contains union and garment industry work artifacts and memorabilia, audio-visual
materials and a substantial series of historical photographs. See Series Descriptions for more information.
Taken together, the four collections that constitute Series I, Constitutions, By-Laws and Conventions, 1893-1995, document
the founding of the ILGWU and the structure of its governance through 1995 when it merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and
Textile Workers Union to form UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees). This series includes
the ILGWU’s constitutions and bylaws from 1903 to 1992, as well as constitutions and bylaws for units comprising the ILGWU
such as
local unions, local unions’ health and welfare funds, and joint boards. Constitutions and bylaws are complemented
by documentation of the ILGWU’s conventions held between 1900 and 1995. This documentation includes published reports of proceedings,
and for some of the conventions, partial transcription of proceedings, notes, and ephemera.
While these four collections are the foundation of documentation on this aspect of the ILGWU, other parts of the ILGWU Records
complement them. Materials in Series VII, Printed Material, offer published reports on the International’s conventions.
Collection 5780 PUBS, Publications, includes off-prints of reports to delegates at the ILGWU conventions, as well
as other printed material published on the occasion of the international convention, such as ILGWU News-History, 1900-1950.
Issues of
the ILGWU’s official organs—The Ladies’ Garment Worker, Justice, Giustizia, Justicia, and Gerechtigkeit—as well
as the publications of local unions, joint boards, district councils, and regional departments also report on the union’s
conventions.
In addition to these publications, portions of the records of local unions, district councils and regional departments, as
well as the papers of ILGWU presidents, other officers, and staff complement the convention records in this series. Dispersed
throughout the records of local unions, district councils, and regional departments are draft resolutions, correspondence,
memoranda, and other materials relating to the selection of delegates to the international convention. The presidential
papers of Benjamin Schlesinger, Morris Sigman, David Dubinsky, Louis Stulberg, Sol Chaikin, and Jay Mazur include
correspondence and memoranda, presidential remarks, and printed material related to ILGWU conventions. The papers of Assistants
to the
President—Wilbur Daniels, James Lipsig, and Carl Proper—include off-prints of committee and department reports
to the delegates, administrative files and notes, and other materials pertaining to conventions. The papers of Irwin Solomon,
General
Secretary-Treasurer of the ILGWU at the time of its merger with ACTWU, are noteworthy for their documentation
of the work leading up to the creation of UNITE in 1995, in addition to records of earlier conventions.
Complementary to the text collections of the ILGWU Records, there are photographs, film, video, audio, and ephemera that document
the ILGWU’s conventions. Collections 5780 AV, Audio-Visual, and 5780 F contain film, video, and audio recordings
documenting some ILGWU conventions between 1950 and 1995. These recordings include speeches, reports, performances,
and presentation and discussion of resolutions. Collection 5780 P, Photographs, contains many images of the ILGWU’s conventions;
these include group photographs of members and delegates, staff and officers, the General Executive Board and
committees, as well as of all the attendees in the large venues where the conventions were held. Collection 5780 MB, Memorabilia,
includes
ephemera distributed in conjunction with the ILGWU’s convention such as medals, ribbons, badges, and pins; scarves,
hats, and pendants; and pens and fans.
Series II contains the records of several ILGWU joint boards, district councils, and regional departments throughout the United
States and Canada. This series is divided into two subseries: Subseries A. Joint Boards; and Subseries B. District
Councils and Regional Departments.
The scope and content and physical disarray or records contained in this series vary considerably. The records for some joint
boards, district councils, and regional departments are far more extensive than others, and many joint boards, district
councils, and regional departments of the ILGWU are not represented at all. In some instances, the records of
a joint board, district council, or regional department also contain files of, or pertaining to, constitutive local unions,
such as
meeting minutes, election results, and correspondence.
Subseries A, Joint Boards, 1909-1981
The charter and jurisdiction of Joint Boards was of perennial interest to the ILGWU, though the requirements for charter and
the jurisdictional scope of the organizations changed over time. According to the International’s 1918 constitution, “Two
or more L.U.s located in the same city or locality and engaged in various branches of the same trade shall organize
a joint board. All the branches engaged in the manufacture of cloaks, suits, reefers, and skirts, shall be considered one
trade.” In
the years to follow, the branches considered to be part of one trade were not outlined in the constitution, but
left to the discretion of the General Executive Board. By 1992, the requirements for chartering a joint board became even
more flexible,
providing that “Two or more locals located in the same city or locality may organize a joint board, if granted
a charter by the GEB, which shall define the powers and jurisdiction of such joint board.” Even while the requirements for
chartering a
joint board (and joint council) changed somewhat throughout the ILGWU’s existence, the primary purpose of the
joint board remained consistent—to negotiate agreements, settle grievances between members and employers, monitor conditions
in union
shops, and manage union staff and funds, and if necessary, discipline members found guilty of misconduct.
In this subseries, joint boards in eight cities—Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York City, San Francisco,
and Toronto—are documented in 21 unique collections. These collections are arranged alphabetically by state or
province, and within state or province, alphabetically by city.
The records of joint boards in New York City, spanning from 1913 to 1977, comprise the bulk of this subseries, and consist
of a wide range of material. Included are meeting minutes of the board, memoranda pertaining to the joint board’s operation,
materials generated through the grievance process, as well as correspondence with the board’s constitutive local
unions and departments of the international. Also of note are records documenting the ILGWU’s participation in New York State
Governor
Alfred Smith’s Advisory Commission on the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry beginning in 1924.
While the bulk of records in this subseries document the work of joint boards in New York, there are significant holdings
of records of Joint Boards in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Montreal, San Francisco, and Toronto. The largest of
these collections are the records of the Montreal Joint Board. These include correspondence with members, local
unions, and the international office, as well as reports and meeting minutes, conference files, materials relating to the
board’s work
in negotiations, elections, and the Quebec Federation of Labor. Some materials of the Montreal Joint Council,
as well as extensive materials pertaining to local unions in Quebec are also included; joint councils were composed of joint
boards and
other affiliates. The records of the Chicago Joint Board contains similar materials relating to that affiliate’s
work in that city, as well as correspondence with joint boards in other parts of the country. The records of the Los Angeles
Joint
Board are the only text collection in this subseries with a complementary photograph collection; these photographs,
contained in Collection 5780/046 P, show members in Los Angeles participating in meetings, conventions, officer installations,
parades, and other events.
In addition to documenting the activities of the ILGWU’s joint boards, the collections comprising this subseries also offer
evidence of the work of local unions in their city or locality. This record sometimes consists of correspondence with
members of those local unions about their activities or grievances; other times, meeting minutes forwarded from
the local unions are the full extent of the records that the joint board maintained. Thus, researchers interested in the work
of a
particular local union should review records in this subseries, as well as records in Series III., Local Unions,
1901-1996.
Subseries B, District Councils and Regional Departments, 1901-2000
District Councils were constituted of local unions that were not part of a joint board, with the primary purpose of organizing
garment workers in their area. In addition to organizing the workers of their area, these affiliates were bound by rights
and duties as determined by the General Executive Board; when no determination was made, district councils enjoyed
the same provisions as did the joint boards. Regional departments of the ILGWU, such as the Cloak-Out-of-Town Department or
the Upper
South Department, likewise were composed of local unions that were not part of a joint board; however, regional
departments might be constituted of both local unions and district councils (e.g., the Southeast Region was composed of dozens
of local
unions, plus the North Carolina District Council, which was composed of ten local unions).
This subseries is constituted of 19 collections, arranged alphabetically by name of district council or regional department.
This subseries contains records of several Pennsylvania district councils, as well as records of the Pacific Northwest
District Council, Western Massachusetts District Council, and some files of Canadian joint councils. This subseries
also contains records of the following regional department: Midwest, Northeast, Ohio Kentucky, Southeast, Upper South, and
Western
States.
A portion of several collections in this subseries contain the papers of several officers and staff. The papers of David Gingold,
longtime director of the Northeast Department, are contained in that department’s records. In the records of the
Pacific Northwest District Council, there are correspondence and notes of manager Mattie Jackson and her successor,
Katie Quan. The largest collection in this subseries, Western States Region Records, contain papers of several staff members
between
1940 and 1985: Cornelius Wall, Max Wolf, Ralph Smith, and Meyer Silverstein. Other strengths of this subseries
included regular reports from organizers in the Southeast Region Department, records documenting the work of the Northeastern
Pennsylvania Stakeholder Alliance relating to the closure of Leslie Fay facilities in that region, and collective
bargaining agreements negotiated by the Mid-West Region Department. This subseries is rounded out by issues of The Garment
Worker and
Ohio Kenucky News, publications of the Central Pennsylvania District Council and the Ohio Kentucky Region, respectively;
researchers interested in publications of district councils and regional departments of the ILGWU should also consult the
finding aid for 5780 PUBS, ILGWU Publications.
The photograph and audio-visual collections in this subseries document the operations of the affiliates, such as meetings
and conferences, strikes and rallies, and classes and recreational outings. The Central Pennsylvania District photographs
are
the largest of the two photograph collections, and they show the diversity of activities of the district’s members.
The audio-visual materials include films and videos that were either created or produced by the affiliates, or that featured
the
affiliates, their members, or officers of the ILGWU. Collection 5780/038 AV, Canadian Area films, appears to include
many dozens of reels of audio and film that were created in the course of producing Les
Midinettes.
As does Subseries A, the collections comprising this subseries also offer record of the work of local unions in their city
or locality. This record sometimes consists of correspondence with members of those local unions about their activities or
grievances; other times, meeting minutes forwarded from the local unions are the full extent of the records that
the joint board maintained. Thus, researchers interested in the work of a particular local union should review records in
this
subseries, as well as records in Series III., Local Unions, 1901-1996.
Over the course of the ILGWU’s existence, dozens of local unions came into and out of existence. Many were formed, then dissolved
or merged with other unions, as membership ballooned with the growth of the organized ladies’ garment industry in the
United States and diminished with its decline. In 1900, the ILGWU charted four local unions—the Cloak Makers’
Union of New York Local Union 1; the Cloak Makers’ Union Protective Union of Philadelphia Local Union 2; the United Cloak
Pressers of
Philadelphia Local 3; and the Cloak Makers’ Union of Baltimore Local Union 4. In 1994, the year before the ILGWU’s
merger with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers to create UNITE, over 200 local unions were included in the International’s
joint boards, district councils, and departments.
While the rules governing the composition, rights, and responsibilities of local unions changed somewhat between 1900 and
1995, the requirement for chartering a local union largely remained consistent: Local unions were composed of at least seven
workers in the same branch of the garment industry who applied for and received a charter by the General Executive
Board of the ILGWU, and the local union could dissolve or join a non-ILGWU union only if, by a vote, fewer than seven members
wished
to retain the charter from the ILGWU.
Throughout the ILGWU’s existence, the greatest concentration of local unions was in New York City, the historic center of
the United States garment industry and the city where the International had been founded and maintained its headquarters.
This
concentration is reflected in the ILGWU Records, as most of the records in this series document the activities
of New York City locals.
All told, however, this series contains records of 42 local unions—half of which were based in Boston, Milwaukee, Montreal,
Philadelphia, Springfield, and Worcester. Constituted of 63 collections, this series is arranged alphabetically by city, and
within city, by local union number.
The density of documentation of local union activity varies considerably, but the types of records are consistent throughout.
Again, the records of local unions of New York City are the most extensive, and of these, the records of Local 10, Local
22, Local 62, and Local 89. This is due primarily to the existence of managers’ or other officers’ correspondence,
and in the case of Local 22, records of its Education Department. These records reflect not only the routine work of staff
and
officers of locals, but in several instances, they document the ways that members interacted with their union.
In some instances, these were somewhat public affairs relating to disputes and grievances about elections, but in others,
they document
the ways that members made use of services provided by the local or the International. Also, the more substantive
of the collections of local union records illustrate the relationships between members, officers, and staff of a local and
state and
national politics; see, for example, Isidore Nagler’s correspondence about presidential campaigns or the Liberal
Party.
For records of local unions that do not include papers of their staff or officers, the bulk of the documentation takes the
form of meeting minutes and publications. Collections of minutes include minutes of meetings of local unions’ membership,
and
executive board and other committees; collections of publications, in general, contain local unions’ official
organ. Some local unions’ records include photographs and audio-visual material which documenting their activities including
strikes and
rallies, recreational trips, educational classes, conferences, and meetings.
Materials in other series of the ILGWU Records complement the collections organized into this series. The report and record
of proceedings in Series I, Constitutions, By-Laws, and Conventions often include some information on the activities of
joint boards, district councils, or regional departments of which a local union was a part, if not a report from
the local union itself. The records contained in Series IV contain the papers of ILGWU presidents, other officers, and staff;
in many
cases, these individuals maintained files on local unions or their managers. Likewise, the records of departments
and institutions, contained in Series VII, sometimes include either subject or correspondence files on local unions. Series
VIII,
Printed Material, includes a wide range of publications, including local unions’ newspapers and newsletters; even
in cases where the bulk of a local’s publications are contained in Series III, researchers should consult the collections
of Series
VIII if there are gaps in runs of issues. If not contained in a local union’s own records, it may be possible
to locate that affiliate’s collective bargaining agreements in Series VI, Contracts and Files.
Perhaps the most promising of the other series is Series II, Joint Boards, District Councils and Regional Departments. In
that series, local unions from the following states are represented: Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Georgia,
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia,
Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin. The United States commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the Canadian province of Quebec are
also
represented in Series II.
The records of ILGWU local unions held at the Kheel Center are the largest concentration of such documentation in the United
States, but as even a cursory consideration of the composition of the ILGWU or a quick review of its membership numbers
between 1900 and 1995 will indicate, records of a great number of local unions are not held. Researchers should
review holdings at other archival repositories, including those listed at the beginning of this finding aid, for records of
other local
unions of the ILGWU.
Series IV, Executive Officers and Staff, consists of 47 collections that document the work of 24 staff and offices of the
ILGWU. The collections in this series contain papers, photographs, memorabilia, and audio-visual materials, and they are
divided into two subseries: Presidents, and Other Officers and Staff.
Subseries A, Presidents, 1914-1995
Subseries A, Presidents, documents the tenure of 6 ILGWU Presidents: Benjamin Schlesinger (1914-1923, 1928-1932), Morris Sigman
(1923-1928), David Dubinsky (1932-1966), Louis Stulberg (1966-1975), Sol Chaikin (1975-1986), and Jay Mazur (1986-1995).
The 16 collections constituting this subseries are arranged chronologically by presidential term of service.
The papers of all of the presidents attend to workplace issues and the approaches taken by the ILGWU to address those issues.
At the same time, each of the collections of presidential papers highlights issues particular to that moment in the
history of the union. For example, Benjamin Schlesinger’s presidential papers are the earliest such documents
in the ILGWU Records, and thus provide a unique perspective on the union’s growth and interaction with other organizations
in its early
years, documenting not only major strikes during his tenure, but other early union activities.
Morris Sigman’s papers document the controversy around communist activity within the union, and the leadership’s efforts to
stem the growth of such activity by ILGWU members. These include a series on the 1926 cloakmakers strike in New York City,
including union statements, correspondence and memoranda, and financial records.
David Dubinsky’s voluminous papers illustrate the union’s unprecedented growth—whether measured in membership numbers, financial
assets, or political power—during his tenure, as well as the international reach that such growth enabled. Dubinsky’s
papers include an extensive series of correspondence and subject files, which document the broad interests and
investments of Dubinsky and the ILGWU. Dubinsky’s speeches and statements provide an account of the union’s official position
on current
events, political issues and organizations, as well as a sense of Dubinksy’s rhetorical style. An index to these
speeches and statements (Box 399, folder 1) is available.
Because David Dubinsky was deeply involved in very many facets of the union’s operation for over 30 years, his papers should
be consulted when considering any aspect of the ILGWU’s work between 1932 and 1966. For example, Dubinsky’s correspondence
documents the important roles he played in national and international politics, e.g., his work with the Jewish
Labor Committee, the American Labor Party, and the Liberal Party. His collection also provides information about administrative
issues
within the main office, or matters relating to local unions’ governance. In short, Dubinsky’s “hands-on” leadership
on the ILGWU makes his papers a potentially useful resource for any number of research topics.
The papers of subsequent presidents—Stulberg, Chaikin, and Mazur—document not only the work of these individuals, but also
the efforts to stem the decline of the union and the garment manufacturing industry in the United States. Louis Stulberg’s
papers also address the issues of civil rights and international labor activities, and the union’s shifting alliances
with domestic political parties. The papers of Sol Chaikin document the ILGWU’s approaches to dealing with an increase in
importation of garments to the United States. Jay Mazur’s papers show the work of the ILGWU to increase membership
through new organizing efforts, collaboration within the industry, and expansion of immigration services to members and their
families.
Audio recordings (5780 OH) and transcripts (5780/110 OHT) of oral history interviews with David Dubinsky and Louis Stulberg
are available.
The presidential records of Herman Grossman (1900-1903, 1905-1907), James McCauley (1904-1905), Mortimer Julian and Charles
Jacobson (1907-1908), and Abraham Rosenberg (1908-1914), as well as the records of Benjamin Schlesinger’s first tenure as
ILGWU president (1903-1904) are not held at the Kheel Center. Their location is unknown.
Subseries B, Other Officers and Staff, 1911-2006
Subseries B, Other Officers and Staff, includes the records of Myrtle Banks, Martin Berger, Muzaffar Chishti, Susan Cowell,
Wilbur Daniels, Joseph Good, Murray Gross, Alan Howard, James Lipsig, Jay Mazur, David Melman, James Parrott, Carl Proper,
Irwin Solomon, Leon Stein, Gus Tyler, and Frederick Umhey. Also included are the records of Louis Stulberg’s tenure
as General Secretary-Treasurer, and the Office Employees International Union (OEIU) local 153. The 31 collections comprising
this
subseries are arranged in alphabetical order by surname.
The collections in this subseries originated from a variety of offices within the ILGWU’s international headquarters. The
finding aids to these collections offer details about these different origins, but several characteristics about the materials
are consistent throughout.
One, ILGWU staff and officers were often involved in several projects at once, and the papers in this subseries reflect this
concurrent work. For example, James Lipsig’s papers document both his work as Assistant Executive Secretary and, from 1966
to 1976, as Treasurer of the ILGWU Campaign Committee, and other materials relating to Lipsig’s work might be
found in the Political Department records of Evelyn Dubrow from that period (5780/119). Likewise, Leon Stein’s papers include
material for
his book The Triangle Fire, but they also contain documents relating to his book on the 1914 Ludlow (Colorado)
massacre.
Two, in addition to being involved in concurrent projects, many staff and officers held different positions in sequence, thus
the materials in this subseries provide an incomplete picture of staff members’ work over time. Jay Mazur, for example,
had a long career in the ILGWU, and a researcher interested a comprehensive study of his work will find only a
segment of it in this subseries. Review of Local 40’s records, Local 23-25’s records, and Mazur’s presidential papers would
complement
the papers in this series (5780/154) from his tenure as Secretary-Treasurer. The same holds true for the work
of Louis Stulberg, who worked in Local 81 (Chicago) and Local 10 before serving in executive positions and finally, being
elected
president of the ILGWU.
Finally and along the same lines, all of the collections in this subseries are complemented by collections in other series
of the ILGWU Records. The files on the Garment Industry Development Corporation (GIDC) in James Parrott’s paper and the
Council on American Fashion (CAF) in Muzaffar Chishti’s papers complement one another, as well as the records
of the Apparel Job Training and Research Corporation (5780/114), insofar as they all document cooperative efforts between
the ILGWU, local
and national government, and industry to buoy the women’s garment manufacturing industry in the United States.
Gus Tyler’s papers, especially those that contain his columns and transcripts from his radio broadcasts (5780/096) obviously
complement
Leon Stein’s collection of writings, but they also pair well with the speeches, reports, and grey literature of
the Education Department (578/166 PUBS).
Collections of audio recordings (5780 OH) and transcripts (5780/110 OHT) of oral history interviews of 45 officers, staff,
and members of the ILGWU are also available.
The General Executive Board (GEB) was the highest governing authority of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union,
except when the ILGWU constitution stated otherwise. The GEB’s responsibilities included participation in the negotiation
of
collective bargaining agreements; authorization of strikes and the use of funds in relation to such actions; supervision
of the subordinate affiliates of the ILGWU, i.e., regional departments, district councils, joint boards and councils, and
local
unions; supervision of departments and institutions within the International office; and oversight of financial
and administrative matters.
In addition to these duties, the GEB was responsible for the appointment of an executive committee from its own ranks, as
well as the appointment or election of individuals to standing and special committees. Though “standing,” standing committees
came into and out of being over the course of the ILGWU’s existence. In 1950, for example, the GEB appointed seven
standing committees: Finance Committee, Grievance and Appeal Committee, Educational Committee, Death Benefit Committee, Jurisdiction
Committee, Health and Welfare Funds Committee, and Press Committee. By 1965 (and through 1992), the standing committees
were reduced to five: Appeals, Education and Community Relations, Finance, Workers’ Benefits, and Jurisdiction.
As for the composition of the GEB itself, while the individuals serving on the GEB changed with elections at the ILGWU’s regular
conventions, as well as through retirement or departure from the garment industry, the general composition of the board
remained for the most part consistent throughout the ILGWU’s existence. The GEB was composed of the President,
General Secretary-Treasurer, and a number of vice-presidents and executive vice-presidents; the number, title, and responsibilities
of
those vice-presidents changed over time. Meetings were held at least semi-annually, though in some years the GEB
met more frequently.
This series consists of meeting minutes, reports, correspondence, and other materials of the General Executive Board of the
International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. Included are resolutions of the GEB and ILGWU affiliates, GEB election results,
and in many instances, indexes to GEB minutes. Also included are reports from the ILGWU’s departments and affiliates,
and reports from the GEB’s standing committees, special committees, and executive committee. The work of the GEB’s Appeal
Committee, Election and Objection Committee, and Grievance Committee are especially well-documented; those committees’
case files include correspondence between the International office and ILGWU affiliates relating to members’ cases, notes
on
cases, notices of decisions, evidence presented to the committee in appeals, and meeting minutes.
Because the General Executive Board had supervisory authority over all ILGWU departments and affiliates and, in turn, those
departments and affiliates provided regular and formal reports to the General Executive Board, the collections in this
series are among the most complete in the ILGWU records. The regular reports from ILGWU affiliates highlight their
work and complement, or perhaps contradict, the records elsewhere in the ILGWU Records that document their work in greater
details.
In some instances, reports to the GEB are the full extent of the non-published documentation of an affiliates
work. Thus, the reports to the General Executive Board begin to fill out gaps in other parts of the records.
Of course, in addition to recording the work of the many entities that reported to the GEB, the records of the GEB also reflect
the priorities and strategies of the ILGWU leadership. This documentation is most evident in the meeting minutes of the
GEB’s executive committee. Researchers interested in this aspect of the ILGWU should also consult the papers of
the members of the GEB. In many instances, the papers of the union’s presidents and other officers include files on the GEB.
In some
instances, these files duplicate the records of this series, but in other instances, they complement the minutes
of and reports to the GEB, including correspondence and other related material. Likewise, where gaps exist, researchers should
also
review the papers of executive assistants; they, too, maintained files on the GEB and several of its committees.
Series VI, Contracts and Case Files, is comprised of 7 collections of collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) negotiated by
the ILGWU.
At the core of this series is a general collection of CBAs (5780/075 and 5780/075mf) that were in effect between 1907 and
2000. These include agreements with independent companies and associations of manufacturers, negotiated by individual local
unions, joint boards, and after its establishment in 1965, the Master Agreements Department. These two collections
are supplemented by a third (5780/191), which consists of CBAs negotiated with associations of manufacturers and effective
between
1916 and 1994.
The remaining collections in this series are comprised of contracts that the ILGWU filed as “Out of Business,” meaning that
the contract was with an independent manufacturer that had gone out of business or with an association of manufacturers that
had dissolved. These include contracts negotiated by the Master Agreements Department (5780/146), and by local
unions, joint boards, and joint councils (5780/147 and 5780/158) with individual companies. One collection (5780/145) contains
contracts
with out-of-business associations of manufacturers.
While this series contains the bulk of collective bargaining agreements within the ILGWU Records, additional CBAs may be found
throughout the collection. The records of Local 62-32 (5780/089), for example, primarily consists of that union’s
agreements. Other local unions, joint boards and councils, district councils, and regional departments may contain
agreements pertaining to their own or others’ areas. The papers of presidents, officers, and other staff may also contain
agreements,
as well as notes and correspondence relating to their negotiation. The papers of Wilbur Daniels (5780/113), for
example, contain documents from during his tenure as Director of the Master Agreements Department. Likewise, the papers of
Jay Mazur
(5780/203) contains notes, memoranda, and news clippings about contract negotiations while he was president of
the ILGWU.
In addition to CBAs in this series and dispersed throughout the rest of the ILGWU Records, researchers will find additional
ILGWU agreements in other collections at the Kheel Center. These include the Archival Collective Bargaining Agreements File
(6030) and the collection of collective bargaining agreements from the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau
of Labor Statistics (6178).
The ILGWU’s international office maintained departments and institutions to organize and advance the union’s work. This series
consists of 56 collections documenting the work of 20 of these departments and institutions, arranged alphabetically by
name. Taken together, they document the national and often international reach of the ILGWU’s work.
The scope and content of the collections varies, thus the daily operations and special projects of some departments are more
fully documented than others. The Research Department’s records, for example, not only include everyday administrative
records and department reports on the garment industry, but also some of the sources that research department
staff consulted in the course of their work. By contrast, the records of the Communications Department consist entirely of
subject and
biographical files that while providing helpful biographical information on ILGWU staff and officers, do not clearly
indicate how the organization routinely operated. Likewise, the collection for the ILGWU Library is in its entirety a photocopy
of
the catalog cards.
In some instances, the records of a department are divided further into collections of files maintained by individuals. The
records of the Education Department exemplify this. For that department, there are collections created by four former staff
members and one central file, all named accordingly. Together, they comprise the department’s records.
In other instances, certain individuals were long-time or founding directors of a department; their names were synonymous
with the department for a period; and their files constitute the bulk of the written documentation on the department. The
Retiree Services Department and the David Dubinsky Foundation, both organized around the time of David Dubinsky’s
retirement in 1966, are examples of this. Likewise, the bulk of the Political Department Records at the Kheel Center were
maintained
by Evelyn Dubrow. In these cases, the names of the directors appear in the title of the collection.
In yet other instances, the records of a department are neither concentrated in the records maintained by a single director
nor divided into files of several individual staff members. The records of the Apparel Job Training and Research
Corporation, for example, primarily consist of application forms, and it is not apparent who collected, organized,
and maintained them. The same is true of the relatively small collection of Union Health Center records, as well as a collection
of
publications from the Auditing Department.
For the most part, whether associated with a prominent ILGWU figure or not, the collections in this series contain sufficient
records to assist in ascertaining the primary function of a department or institution, and to complement the published
accounts of their work in the ILGWU’s official organ Justice or the union'sReport and Record of Proceedings.
Beyond this, several elements of this series may be of interest to researchers. More than any of the other segments of the
ILGWU Records, the records of the Archives Department and the Research Department cover a broad chronological scope. The
records of the Archives Department contain a copy of the founding minutes of the ILGWU (5780/111, box 1, folder
13), as well as notes and interviews with union leaders. The oral histories conducted by the ILGWU Archives Department (5780
OH and
5780/110 OHT) constitute the bulk of such interviews with ILGWU officials at the Kheel Center. Early documents
held in the Research Department Records include meeting minutes of the ILGWU predecessor union Sanctuary Local Assembly 3038
of the
Knights of Labor.
The aforementioned biographical files of the Communications Department are of interest not only because they provide sometimes
difficult-to-find, basic information on ILGWU members and officers, but because that information was provided by the
individuals themselves, on forms provided by the union and designed to be returned to the office when completed.
Organizational self-reporting is documented in the small collection of publications from the Auditing Department. These annual
reports
of membership, affiliates, and income provide information on the steady growth, and later, decline in the union’s
number of local unions and members, as well as clear reportage of the breakdown of the organization by city, region, and
territory.
The records of the Education Department and the Legal Department are larger than other department records in this series.
In addition to seeing how individual staff went about their work in the Education Department, the collection of department
publications (5780/166) spans seventy-five years of the union’s history and includes not only writings and speeches
by Fannia Cohn and Mark Starr, but also department publications for union members and catalogues of other publications available
to
members through the department, both documenting the kinds of lessons the ILGWU staff thought worthwhile to teach.
The records of the Legal Department document major legal cases with garment manufacturers, such as Kellwood and Judy Bond,
in court
documents and leaflets, as well as address legal issues relating to the ownership and maintenance of ILGWU institutions
such as the Union Health Center and Unity House. The controversy over the right of union organizers to organize themselves
is
also documented in the records of the ILGWU’s Legal Department.
Researchers should note that over the course of the ILGWU’s nearly century-long history, many departments and projects were
formed and disbanded, and a good number of these are not represented in this series. Thorough review of the ILGWU’s
Convention Report and Proceedings will yield information on departments’ formation, activities, and dissolution.
Reports to the General Executive Board between international conventions will also provide basic information on the activities
of
departments and institutions. The general collection of ILGWU publications (5780 PUBS) contains newsletters, pamphlets
and other printed material that supplement the department publications found in this collection.
Beyond published and other printed material, information on departments and institutions may be found in the papers of ILGWU
presidents, other officers, and staff. These individuals sometimes worked in or directed departments before moving into
administrative positions. The papers of Executive Vice-President Wilbur Daniels may contain material of interest,
for example, since Daniels worked in the Legal Department, Research Department, and Master Agreements Department over the
course of
his long career in the ILGWU. Likewise, researchers interested in the work of the Political-Education Department
should review Assistant Vice President Gus Tyler’s papers.
The collections organized in this series form the core of printed material in the ILGWU Records and consist of printed materials
either collected or published by the ILGWU and its affiliates. This includes the official organs of the ILGWU, namely
The Ladies’ Garment Worker and Justice, and publications from some of its affiliates. In addition to periodical publications of the union, this series contains
publications by union
officers, printed material collected by union officers and departments, and publications of entities of which
the ILGWU had a vested interest.
Only for the purposes of description, this scope and content note and the detailed listings below are divided into two: Official
Organs of the ILGWU, and Other Printed Material. This is a somewhat false distinction, given that the largest of the
collections in this series, 5780 PUBS, contains every kind of aforementioned publication. Thus, if a particular
title, or a particular issue of a title, is not found in the collection first consulted, researchers should be sure to consult
5780 PUBS
and, if possible, all of the collections comprising this series as well as collections of publications in other
series.
Official Organs of the ILGWU
The Ladies’ Garment Worker was the first official organ of the ILGWU. First published by the ILGWU in April 1910, the paper was issued monthly in Yiddish,
English, and Italian. The Ladies’ Garment
Worker included reports on activities of the ILGWU and its affiliates, analysis of the garment industry, articles by officers of
the union, reports of union activities, and announcements of upcoming events. Two features of The Ladies’ Garment Worker are especially useful for basic reference regarding the ILGWU’s growth in membership and changes in leadership: the publication
regularly included directories of local unions’ number, name, and
mailing address, as well as a listing of general officers’ names, titles, and addresses.
At the end of 1918, The Ladies’ Garment Worker ceased publication, and in 1919, Justice became the official organ of the ILGWU. It remained the official newspaper of the International until
the ILGWU’s merger with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1995. In addition to continuing
to publish Yiddish, English, and Italian editions, the ILGWU also published a Spanish edition. The paper was published monthly,
except in
the summer (July-August) when it was published bimonthly. As with its predecessor publication, Justice featured articles about union activities, analysis of the garment industry, announcements of upcoming events, and
communications from ILGWU officers. Sometimes, it included information on local union elections, notice of television
programs featuring the ILGWU, and photographs of members and officers. These photographs, along with the illustration work
of
Bernard Seaman and others, made Justice more visually-striking than the former ILGWU newspaper.
Other Printed Material
The materials published or collected by the International and its affiliates document the activities of the ILGWU’s members,
staff, and officers. The official organs of local unions, district councils, and regional departments are included in this
series. Writings by ILGWU officers include Yetta Horn’s translation of Abraham Rosenberg’s Memoirs of a Cloakmaker
and unpublished union histories by Fannia Cohn, Sol Goldberg, Julius Hochman, and others. Charles Zimmerman’s collection of
pamphlets
covers a wide range of sources, from the AFL-CIO’s Free Trade Union Committee to Roy Wilson Howard’s interview
with Joseph Stalin. Garment trade publications, including bulletins and newspapers, are also included.
While the collections in this series constitute the bulk of printed material in the ILGWU records, researchers should also
consult collections of printed materials that are listed as part of other series. In most instances, these collections are
the result of transferring printed materials from a collection of archival records, e.g. 5780/059 consists of
records of Local 23-25, and 5780/059 PUBS consists of publications of or collected by Local 23-25. In other instances, such
as with the
Auditing Department records, the printed materials constitute the entirety of the records for that affiliate.
Descriptions and listings for these collections may be found in Series I. Constitutions, By-Laws and Conventions, Series III.
Locals, and
Series VII. Departments and Institutions.
This series contains the core collections of visual materials of the ILGWU Records, including photographs, photographic negatives,
film and video, audio recordings, broadside, ad boards, and exhibit displays. Photographic and audio-visual materials
collections associated with an individual or specific ILGWU affiliate are included in other series. These collections
of media are indicated by their title names, as well as by “AV” and “P” appended to their collection numbers.
The collections that comprise this series include materials that came to the archives in a number of ways. They were created
for publication, circulated for internal use, commissioned to professional photographers and filmmakers, collected by staff
and members, and purchased from other unions. Given this, these collections provide a kind of holistic picture
of the union, documenting how the ILGWU managed its public image, communicated with members, and learned from other labor
organizations.
For example, the photographs collected for possible publication in Justice (5780/102 P) include familiar images that made it into print in the ILGWU’s official organ, while posters and fliers from
the collection of
broadsides (5780/109) might have been posted in a certain city or only distributed to workers in a particular
shop. Likewise, the audio-visual, film, and photograph collections (5780 AV, 5780 F, and 5780 P), contain materials that were
likely to be
heard or viewed only by members of a local union, such as the audio taped proceedings of a meeting or a home movie
of a trip to Unity House. These collections also contain materials that were to be broadcast nationally, such as interviews
with
ILGWU officers or Union Label commercials. An oral history project by the staff of the ILGWU Archives resulted
in the core holdings of audio recordings (5780 OH) and transcripts (5780/110 OHT) of oral history interviews with ILGWU officers
and
staff.
The visual materials contained in this series are complemented by the records housed elsewhere in the collection. The reports
and proceedings of the ILGWU’s conventions can help to identify individuals in unlabeled photographs of committees and
local union delegations. The organizing efforts detailed in the records of a regional department were sometimes
photographed from meeting to rally to press conference. The negotiations and conflicts over the establishment of piece rates
complement
the time and motion studies conducted by the ILGWU’s Management-Engineering Department. Researchers would do well
to review materials in other series of the ILGWU Records.
This series is comprised of 10 collections of scrapbooks and memorabilia created or collected by ILGWU members, officers,
and staff. Taken together, they document the ILGWU’s work for its members, as well as the union’s broad and varied approach
to
maintaining a place in the broader public’s eye. The international union banners, district council charters, local
strike placards, and individual staff members’ awards made the union highly visible to the considerable ILGWU membership and
the
public at-large. The wide range of ILGWU and Union Label merchandise available to members and industry representatives,
the sponsorship of a women’s apparel design award, and articles in the trade press kept the ILGWU emblem visible to a wide
public.
Two collections—one of union banners, one of union memorabilia—constitute the bulk of this series. The collection of union
banners includes those used by the international, local unions, and allied organizations that were at union and public
events. The collection of union memorabilia contains souvenirs from the international conventions, merchandise
featuring the ILGWU seal, Union Label Department promotional material, awards, certificates, and citations for individuals,
charters for
ILGWU affiliates, and placards from pickets, rallies, and other labor actions.
Several collections of memorabilia relate specifically to staff and officers of the ILGWU. David Dubinsky’s collection of
memorabilia is the largest of these, but Kitty Goldstein, Murray Gross, and Myrtle Banks also collected ILGWU memorabilia.
While these include materials that might also be found in the general memorabilia collections—such as Union Label
fabrics, ILGWU merchandise, and souvenirs from the union’s international conventions—they are distinguished by the awards
and
citations presented to the individuals from social and political organizations. The collection relating to the
case against Benedict Macri, who was charged in the murder of union organizer William Lurye, is focused on a staff member
of the ILGWU,
albeit in a different light.
Other collections relate to social, cultural, and political organizations with which the ILGWU was closely related. These
include entities owned by the ILGWU, such as the Poconos vacation resort Unity House and the New York City radio station
WFDR-FM, as well as the American Labor Party, with which the ILGWU was closely involved since the political party’s
formation in 1936. This series also includes collections that document the ILGWU’s important role in the women’s apparel industry.
These include scrapbooks of news clippings from Women’s Wear Daily, and scrapbooks on the ILGWU-sponsored fashion prize, America’s Next Great Designer Award.
Records in other series complement these memorabilia collections. Photographs of ILGWU members—attending the international
convention, picketing a local shop, or attending a national rally—sometimes include images of some of the placards, signs,
clothing and accessories held in these collections. Textual and photographic records of the ILGWU’s conventions
help to date and put into context convention souvenirs. Likewise, reports from the Union Label Department recount campaigns
to promote
the label within the industry and to the general public, and film and television productions from the department
underscore the scale of the campaign. The papers of David Dubinsky are especially complementary of the memorabilia on WFDR-FM,
Unity
House, and the ILGWU’s involvement with the American Labor Party.
This series consists of two small collections of miscellaneous records of the ILGWU. 5780/061 consists primarily of records
from the Research Department, but other records in the collection suggest that the Research Department may not have been
the affiliate that originally transferred the records. Collection 5780/200 consists primarily of publications,
but other, a few non-published materials are included as well.
Names:
Sigman, Morris.
Schlesinger, Benjamin, 1876-1932.
Dubinsky, David, 1892-
Stulberg, Louis.
Chaikin, Sol.
Antonini, Luigi, 1883-1968.
Zimmerman, Charles S., 1896-1983.
Pesotta, Rose, 1896-
Cohn, Fannia Mary, 1885-1962.
Nagler, Isidore, 1895-
Tyler, Gus.
Stein, Leon, 1912-
Mazur, Jay.
Daniels, Wilbur.
Solomon, Irwin.
Howard, Alan.
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Unity House.
American Federation of Labor. Committee for Industrial Organization.
Jewish Labor Committee (U.S.)
Democratic Party (N.Y.)
Liberal Party of New York State.
Subjects:
Trade-unions -- Clothing workers -- United States -- History.
Trade-unions -- Clothing workers -- New York (State) -- New York -- History.
Clothing workers -- United States -- History.
Clothing workers -- New York (State) -- New York -- History.
Clothing trade -- United States -- History.
Clothing trade -- New York (State) -- New York -- History.
Jews -- Employment -- United States -- History.
Jews -- Employment -- New York (State) -- New York -- History.
Italian Americans -- Employment -- United States -- History.
Italian Americans -- Employment -- New York (State) -- New York -- History.
Afro-Americans -- Employment -- History.
Afro-Americans -- Employment -- New York (State) -- New York -- History.
Trade-union health centers -- United States.
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.
In 1973, the records of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) were initially assembled as the ILGWU Archives
by Vice President and General Manager of the New York Cloak Joint Board Henoch Mendelsund, and in large part,
processed and maintained by ILGWU Archivist Robert Lazar, Ethel Goldwasser, and other union staff until the
ILGWU Archives’ closure in 1987. That year, President Jay Mazur arranged for the transfer of the ILGWU records from the ILGWU
Archives at
the union’s international headquarters in New York City to the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives at Cornell University’s Ithaca campus. Beginning with this first transfer of records in 1987 until the ILGWU’s
merger
with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) in 1995, the ILGWU regularly sent its non-active
records to the Kheel Center, resulting in a substantial and varied body of material. Since 1995, additional ILGWU materials
have
periodically been sent to the Kheel Center from UNITE and UNITE-HERE. These records, totaling more than 2,000
linear feet, document the rich and complex history of the ILGWU and the garment industry in the United States.
In 2010, the ILGWU 21st Century Heritage Fund provided a 2-year grant to continue the processing of the ILGWU records.
Cite As:
ILGWU Records. 5780. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Martin P. Catherwood Library, Cornell University.
Container
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Description
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Contains constitutions, dues books, membership and strike cards of the ILGWU and some of its predecessor unions.
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Contains cue cards and transcripts of the conventions of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
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Contains reports and proceedings of the conventions of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
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Consists of publications produced for the conventions of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), including
Annual Journals, Reports and proceedings, General Executive Board Reports, and Financial and Statistical
Reports.
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Subseries A. Joint Boards, 1909-1981
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Collection consists of the meeting minutes of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Los Angeles Cloak Joint Board,
1934-1968. Also included are weekly reports for the years 1941-1942.
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Consists of photographs transferred from the records of the Los Angeles Cloak Joint Board. Photographs include ILGWU members,
officers, and events.
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Contains general correspondence, questionnaires, agreements, and meeting minutes of the San Francisco Joint Board and several
local unions.
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Contains files on local unions throughout the Midwestern United States, as well as material on Joint Boards of Milwaukee,
St. Louis, and Kansas City. In addition to meeting minutes of several local unions in Chicago (59, 74, 76,
100, 208, 212, 261, 314, 381), this subseries includes minutes of meetings relating to the Chicago
Health Center and union health and retirement funds. General correspondence deals with organizing activities in the Midwest
area. Subject
files consist of correspondence concerning intra-office, union, and local matters, minutes of the
Joint Board, and publications either created or collected by the Joint Board. Correspondents throughout both series include
Morris Bialis,
Abraham Plotkin, Harry Rufer and Harold Schwartz. Locals represented in the records of the Chicago
Joint Board include: 67 (Toledo, OH),90 (Elgin, IL), 120 (Decatur, IL), 133 (Peoria, IL), 187 (Racine, WI), 189 (Batavia,
IL), 238 (Gary,
IN), 240 (Aurora, IL), 272 (Gilman, IL), 277 (Indianapolis, IN), 286 (Ishpeming, MI), 293 (Marquette
and Negaunee), 317 (Bay City, MI), 328 (Kokomo, IN) 337 (Elkhart, IN), 354 (Alpena, MI), 355 (Clinton, IA), 355 (Manistee,
MI), 364
(Port Huron, MI), 380 (Shelbyville, IN), 382 (Lincoln, IL), 392 (Logansport, IN), 441 (Kalamazoo,
MI), 489 (Kendallville, IN), 508 (Mauston, WI).
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Contains meeting minutes and correspondence of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Boston Joint Board, meeting
minutes for several Boston local s(12, 46, 46, 73, and 80), as well as the personal correspondence of
Philip Kramer.
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This collection contains 24 bound typescript volumes containing proceedings of arbitrations and joint board meetings in the
garment industry.
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Consists of records of hearings of the special commission of arbitration on July 15, 1924.
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The New York Cloak Joint Board records consist of articles, correspondence, reports, photographs, and other items. The bulk
of the collection is made up of correspondence of three of its managers, Israel Feinberg, Isidore Nagler,
and Henoch Mendelsund. There are also some records from the Cloak Out-of-Town Department. These items
primarily document concerns of the New York Cloak Joint Board from the 1930 through the 1960s. Much of the material is administrative
or routine in nature. Topics addressed include: benefits (especially health insurance and retirement
funds); contract negotiations; financial matters; jurisdictional disputes between locals and between the ILGWU and other unions;
ILGWU
conventions; legal matters; other ILGWU departments and locals; political activity (at both the national
and local level); relations with garment manufacturers; union organizing; wages; and worker education. There are also items
concerning international labor activities, proposed legislation in the U.S. and in New York State,
and aid to Israel.
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Contains minutes of the New York Cloak Joint Board, as well as of several of the board’s committees (Retirement Fund, Pension,
Executive, Finance, Investment, Rules, Administrative, Appeals, and Special Investigating). Also
contains minutes of the Russian Polish Cloak Makers Union and monthly financial reports of the Cloak
Joint Board.
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Contains the New York Cloak Joint Board’s payroll registers, summaries, and analyses for the years 1959 through 1972.
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Contains records relating to New York Governor Smith’s Advisory Commission on the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry in New York,
including volumes on the hearings before the commission in 1924 and 1925, reports, and
recommendations. Also included is the report of the New York Cloak Joint Board for the years 1956
to 1959.
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This collection consists of news clippings collected by the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Dressmakers Joint
Board concerning a general strike of August 1933.
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Includes minutes of Joint Board, Board of Directors, Grievance Committee, Appeal Committee, Health and Welfare Fund, and Retirement
Fund meetings.
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Contains the correspondence of the managers of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Joint Board Dress and Waistmakers
Union of Greater New York. The correspondents represented are Julius Hochman (manager 1928-1958)
and Charles S. Zimmerman (manager, 1958-1972).
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Contains lists of shops with unions included in the Joint Board of Cloak, Skirt, Dress and Reefer Makers’ Unions, the Joint
Board of Dress and Waistmakers’ Unions, or the Joint Board of Cloakmakers’ Unions. Also included is a
listing of “Manufacturers and Jobbers, Dress Industry,” produced by the Research Department in 1940;
the information therein pertains not only to New York City, but to locations across the United States.
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Contains correspondence, memoranda, printed material on companies and local unions throughout Ohio, and files on the Los Angeles
Joint Board and Philadelphia Joint Board. Also included are files on several Cleveland locals (26,
29, 37, 42, 63, 200, 207, 211), as well as locals in Toledo (67, 368, 466), and Conneaut (175).
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Contains reports on arbitration hearings and related material, as well as minutes of the Joint Board of Cloak and Skirt Makers’
Unions.
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Contains records of the Toronto Dressmakers Joint Council and the Toronto Cloak Joint Board, as well as several local unions
in Toronto. Locals 14, 72 (Cutters branch; Operators, Finishers, and Drapers branch, Office Committee;
Pressers branch; Election Objection Committee), 68, 83, 92, 94, and 192 are represented. Alphabetical
files document the activities of the Dressmakers Joint Council and the Cloak Joint Bard, including correspondence of the respective
managers, Samuel Kraisman and Joe Macks. Documents include meeting minutes, correspondence, newsletters,
reports, financial records, and agreements.
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Contains meeting minutes of Montreal Joint Board’s Board of Directors and the General Executive Board’s Grievance and Appeal
Committees, as well as of Local 262 of Montreal. Also included is some correspondence.
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Contains meeting minutes of the Board of Directors and the Grievance and Appeals Committees of the Cloakmakers Union, meeting
minutes of the Joint Committee of the Ladies Dress Manufacturing Industry for the Province of Quebec,
meeting minutes of the Joint Committee for the cutting departments of the Dress Manufacturing Industry
for the Province of Quebec, and meeting minutes of the Montreal Joint Board’s Educational Committee.
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Contains the records of the ILGWU’s Montreal Joint Board Dressmakers Union and the Montreal Joint Council Cloakmakers Union,
as well as Montreal’s Joint Committee of the Ladies’ Cloak and Suit Industry. These records include
meeting announcements and minutes, correspondence with local members and ILGWU leadership, and draft
and final agreements. Also contains material on the following local unions: 19, 43, 61, 112, 113, 205, 207, 241, 245, 246,
247, 248,
262, 263, 315, 342, 421, 422, 438, 439, 481, 485, 521.
|
||
Subseries B. District Councils and Regional Departments, 1901-2000
|
||
Films generated and collected by Canadian locals of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
|
||
This collection is almost entirely comprised of publications either published or collected by the Central Pennsylvania District.
This includes a substantial run of the district’s periodical, The Garment Worker (1956-1975), as
well as a variety of publications from labor organizations in Pennsylvania and throughout the northeastern
United States.
|
||
This collection contains photographs documenting the activities of the members and staff of the Central Pennsylvania District.
Included are photographs of union activities such strikes, rallies, meetings, and conventions, as well
as classes, social gatherings, trips to Unity House, and others.
|
||
Collection contains charters, correspondence, agreements, printed material, and memorabilia of the office of the Midwest Region
of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. Two series of correspondence (one alphabetical,
another chronological) and collective bargaining agreements constitute the bulk of the collection.
Several Midwest Region local unions are represented in the records: 5, 18, 59, 76, 100, 191, 240, 261, 272, 303, 326, 336,
337, 355, 373,
395, 436, 442, 455, 488, 505, 527.
|
||
This collection contains audio-visual material that was either produced by or featured the ILGWU. Included are videos from
ILGWU conventions and videos about the garment industry in the United States.
|
||
The first box of this collection contains the diaries (1950-1959) of David Gingold noting meetings, conferences, and important
phone conversations, as well as the appointment books (1950-1970) of David Gingold scheduling trips,
conferences, meetings, luncheons and holidays. The second box contains the speeches and statements
(1944-1960) made by David Gingold, and publications of the Northeast Department.
|
||
Contains material relating to the activities of the office of the Ohio Kentucky region, minutes of local union 300 between
1964 and 1968, and resolutions passed by city and state governments in the region in recognition of
Garment Workers’ Day, 1975. Also contains printed material either published or collected by the office,
including the Ohio Kentucky Region periodical, Ohio Kentucky News from 1960 to 1977.
|
||
This collection contains motion picture film, film strips, and reel-to-reel audio tapes created by or for the Ohio-Kentucky
Region. Included in the collection is documentation of a convention, and educational, cultural, and
recreational activities.
|
||
This collection consists of photographs transferred from the Ohio Kentucky Region records. Photographs document the activities
of the regional department, including meetings, rallies, and conventions. Some photographs appear to
have been used in the Ohio Kentucky Region periodical, Ohio Kentucky News.
|
||
Contains meeting minutes from several unions that constituted the district (locals 8, 101, 213, 214, and 215), as well as
the meeting minutes of the San Francisco Joint Board and the Pacific Northwest District Council, financial
statements of district funds, and board meeting materials of the Bay Area Health, Welfare Fund. Also
contains correspondence files of managers of the Pacific Northwest District Council, Mattie Jackson and Katie Quan, files
pertaining to
organizing efforts; especially well-represented are campaigns at Kong’s Knitwear/Elegant Knits (San
Francisco) and San Francisco Knitworks in the 1990s.
|
||
Consists of an audio cassette recording of an undated San Francisco Council meeting.
|
||
This collection consists of photographs transferred from the records of the Pacific Northwest District Council. Included are
photographs of a rally against NAFTA, meetings, and other union events.
|
||
Contains files on several local unions, district councils, and district departments in Pennsylvania. Especially well-documented
are the organizing efforts of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s Stakeholder Alliance and the 1994 strike of
Leslie Fay in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Records relating to the ILGWU chorus may be found in the
files on local union 295 and the Wyoming Valley District. Also contains meeting minutes of local union 295, local 249 and
327, and the
Hazleton District Council.
|
||
Contains council by-laws, correspondence, clippings, subject files, and material relating to council conventions between 1981
and 1987.
|
||
Contains general chronological correspondence (1951-1966), weekly reports from organizers (1959-1960, 1972-1974), and alphabetical
subject files. Among these alphabetical subject files are agreements (1946-1960), files on David
Dubinsky (1947-1968), regional reports to the GEB (1947-1962), records of the regional office’s political
department (1948-1969), and material pertaining to the annual regional conference (1953-1969). Locals represented in the records
of the Southeast Region include: 10, 23-25, 25, 62, 91 and 105 (New York, NY) , 122 (Atlanta, GA),
375 (Birmingham, AL), 378 (Flagg-Utica), 457 (Cullman, AL), 473, and 574.
|
||
This collection contains audio recordings of the Southeast Region’s conferences in 1978 and 1979, as well as audio recordings
of speeches and Union Label songs.
|
||
Contains records of the Upper South Department of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, including correspondence,
agreements, financial statements, and many files on joint boards, local unions, and conferences in the
region. Joint Boards of Baltimore, Cleveland, and New York City are represented in the records of
the Upper South Department.
|
||
Contains records of the Western Massachusetts District Council primarily documenting its financial transactions, including
records of state and federal tax payments, documentation of investments, fundraising for its Campaign
Committee, and benefits paid from the Northeast Department Health and Welfare Fund. A smaller portion
of the Western District Council records is correspondence on other matters.
|
||
Contains records of the office of the Western States Region’s constitutive departments, namely Political and Education, Organizing,
Legal Services, and Accounting and Miscellaneous Services. Contains an extensive series of papers
from Cornelius Wall (Director, Western States Region), Max Wolf (Director, Political and Education
Department), Ralph Smith (Director, Organizing Department) and Smith’s successor, Meyer Silverstein (Director, Organizing
Department).
Also contains reports of house calls to prospective ILGWU members in records from the Organizing Department
(boxes 80, 81, 87) and Cornelius Wall (box 94). Includes substantial records of arbitrations, cases before the National Labor
Relations Board, and company files. Dispersed throughout the records are files on all of the joint
boards and district councils (Los Angeles Joint Board, San Francisco Joint Board, Arizona-Utah District Council, Southern
California
District Council) as well as individual locals (in Oregon and Washington) that fell under the purview
of the Western States. However, activities in California are more fully represented than other areas of the Western States
Region.
|
||
ASSORTED LOCALS
|
||
Includes meeting minutes of Local 29 (Boston), Local 56 and 24 (Boston), Local 69 (Philadelphia), and Local 177 (New York).
|
||
Contains issues of The Emancipator, which began as the publication of local 187 in 1936; became the publication of locals
187, local 188, and local 273 in 1938; and eventually the publication of the Milwaukee Joint Board (locals
187, 188, 273, 292, and 334). In addition to coverage of Milwaukee and national news, The Emancipator
covered other Wisconsin locals: Raincoat Makers’ Union 374 (La Cross, then later, Wausau), Cotton Dress Makers’ Union 379
(La Crosse),
Garments Workers’ Unions 381 (Chippewa), Raincoat Makers Union 322 (Milwaukee?), Sportswear Union
325 (Baraboo), Cotton Dress Workers 417 (Watertown), Knitgoods Workers’ Union 432 (Delevan), Underwear Workers’ Union 450
(New London),
Sportswear (later Raincoat) Workers Union 464 (Stoughton), Sportswear Workers Union 503 (Stoughton),
Cotton Dress Workers’ Union 508 (Mauston).
|
||
MONTREAL, QUEBEC
|
||
Consists of minutes from Local 262’s Executive Board, Membership, Pressers Branch, and Welfare Fund Committee meetings.
|
||
Consists of minutes of Local 315’s Executive Board and Membership meetings.
|
||
Consists of minutes of Local 205’s Executive Board and General Membership meetings.
|
||
Records of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Locals 19, 43, 61, 112, 342, 438, 584, and 592. Included are meeting
minutes and correspondence.
|
||
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
|
||
Consists of the correspondence of managers Isidore Sorkin and Louis Hyman of Local 9 of the International Ladies’ Garment
Workers’ Union. Includes correspondence with several departments of the Cloak Joint Board and the office of
the President of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
|
||
Minute books of Local 9 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union for the years 1914-1944 and periodicals from the
43rd Convention of the Workmen’s Circle in 1943.
|
||
This collection consists of one photograph including Joe Gregory, Charlie Kaplan, Albert Rogers, and Mary Newman.
|
||
This collection contains executive board minutes and calendars, membership meeting minutes, and division minutes of the International
Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, Local 10, the Amalgamated Ladies’ Garment Cutters Union. Also
contains miscellaneous records of Locals 10, 23, and 25, including files on special meetings, membership
committees, and companies.
|
||
This collection contains minutes of Local 10's Executive Board meetings.
|
||
Dues books of Amalgamated Ladies' Garment Cutters' Union, Local 10 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Two
ledgers include alphabetical listings of 2,196 members, and a third ledger, for the year 1903, is
indexed.
|
||
This collection contains correspondence of Isidore Nagler and Moe Falikman. Nagler was Manager of the Amalgamated Ladies'
Garment Cutters' Union, Local 10 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union from 1939 to 1952.
Falikman succeeded him, serving as manager from 1953 to 1968.
|
||
Correspondence of Isidore Nagler, Manager of the Amalgamated Ladies' Garment Cutters' Union, Local 10 of the International
Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
|
||
This collection consists of a book of membership records for International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Local 10, Amalgamated
Ladies' Garment Cutters' Union. Also included are three spreadsheets and one death benefits
assignment letter.
|
||
Contains records documenting elections of local union officers. Included are files relating to Harry Shaw’s protest and appeal
to Local 10’s Election and Objection Committtee and, eventually, to the National Labor Relations
Board. Shaw was candidate for the office of Secretary of the Executive Board in 1971.
|
||
The Charles Zimmerman papers consist primarily of correspondence, reports, minutes, newspaper clippings, and broadsides dealing
with his activities as a leader in Local 22 (in Series I), as well as his other union and political
activities (in Series II). Among the most significant material in the collection is correspondence
documenting Zimmerman's activities with the Communist Party in the U.S. and its various factions and splinter groups, as well
as other
political organizations and figures. Correspondents include Jay Lovestone and William Z. Foster; there
is also considerable material dealing with the Communist Party of the U.S.A. and the "Majority Group," or Lovestone faction.
Other
political parties represented include the American Labor Party, the Liberal Party (New York State),
and the Socialist Party.
|
||
The collection includes images of important people and events in Local 22 including ILGWU President David Dubinsky, Local
22 Manager Charles Zimmerman, Max Danish, Fania Cohn, Rose Pesotta, and Maida Springer Kemp, along with
images of sports and cultural events, parades, marches, strikes, meetings and educational programs.
|
||
Collection consists of alphabetical files of Local 22 from 1920 to 1933, containing correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and
other material.
|
||
Records of International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Local 22, Dressmakers Union. Includes minutes of Executive Board,
Membership, and Grievance Committee meetings.
|
||
The records of the Education Department of Local 22, New York City are made up of correspondence, newspaper clippings, newsletters,
programs, photographs, and speeches documenting the activities of the Department from the 1930s
to the 1970s. In addition to documentation of the Department's activities, there is material on the
local's political involvement with the Liberal Party of New York State and some items about aid to the Republican cause during
the
Spanish Civil War. There are also some materials dealing with international labor cooperation, civil
rights, and communism in the U.S. Correspondents include Joseph Mazur and Saby Nehama.
|
||
This collection consists of photographs pulled from the records of Local 22’s Education Department. Included are images of
conferences, meetings, and rallies.
|
||
Contains the records of Local 22’s manager, Israel Breslow, including speeches and articles by Breslow, files relating to
local union elections, and Breslow’s reports to the membership.
|
||
Contains minutes of Local 23’s Executive Board and committee meetings, minutes of Local 25’s Executive Board and membership
meetings, Local 23 meeting minutes, minutes of Local 23-25’s Executive Board and membership meetings,
minutes of the Skirt and Sportswear Retirement Fund, and some financial documents, including ledgers
of general funds and sick benefits. The bulk of the records document the local’s activities in the 1970s through the 1990s,
and
includes files of Edgar Romney (Manager), May Chen (Assistant Director of Local 23-25 Education Program
and Assistant Director of the ILGWU Immigration Project), and Susan Cowell (Assistant to the Manager and later, Vice-President).
May
Chen’s files include substantial material on the local’s Worker-Family Education Program, and document
Chen’s organizing with the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Coalition of Labor Union Women, and the Asian Labor
Committee.
|
||
This collection primarily consists of photographs by Kathy Andrade and George Colon. Photographs document meetings, rallies,
Labor Day parades, and other local union events.
|
||
Consists primarily of issues of Local 23-25’s publication, Local 23-25 News, from 1970 to 1995. Also included are other publications
of the local, including its annual reports from 1971 to 1979.
|
||
This collection contains files of International Ladies Garment Workers Union Local 23-25, Blouse, Skirt and Sportswear Workers.
Included are files of the Coalition of Labor Union Women, as well as press releases, news clippings,
and other printed material.
|
||
This collection consists of two posters, “Garment Workers Rally to Defend Our Contract” and “Students Advocating the 1990
Census,” and photographs documenting activities of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW).
|
||
Collection contains issues of L'Operaia, the newsletter of Local 25 of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
|
||
Consists of issues of Local 25's publication L'Operaia.
|
||
Collection consists of issues of Local 25’s publication, The Message, from 1915-1918.
|
||
Includes minutes of Executive Board and Health and Welfare Fund meetings, speeches and reports of Manager Morris Kovler, as
well as some correspondence and financial data.
|
||
Contains meeting minutes of local 38’s General Executive Board and several of its committees, including the Trial Committee,
General Strike Committee, Investigating Committee, Membership Committee, and Special Committees. Also
contains membership meeting minutes of Local 38’s successor union, Local 124, as well as the local’s
publication, On the Avenue, and minutes of the local’s Italian branch.
|
||
Records of International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Local 40, Beltmakers Union. Includes minutes of Executive Board, Membership,
Grievance Board, and Committee meetings. Also includes correspondence, agreements, election
files, financial reports, strike files, issues of the local’s publication, The Belt Maker.
|
||
Contains records of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Local 48, Italian Cloakmakers Union, including minutes
of membership and Executive Board meetings, files on elections, notes, and correspondence.
|
||
Contains meeting minutes of Local 48’s Executive Board from 1920 to 1974.
|
||
Contains correspondence, notes and other writings by Mary Goff Schuster, documenting her varied work in Local 62.
|
||
Contains minutes of Local 62’s Executive Board’s meetings between 1913 and 1971, as well as issues of the local’s publication,
Our Union, from 1935 to 1970.
|
||
The Local 62 correspondence consists primarily of letters of Samuel Shore and Louis Stulberg, the managers of the Local during
much of the period. There are also articles, photographs, reports, and other materials in the
collection. These items primarily document the activities and concerns of the Local's leadership from
the depression years through the 1960s. The bulk of the material deals with Local administrative matters, benefits, garment
manufacturers, other ILGWU departments and locals, political activity (at both the national and local
level), relations with other unions, union organizing, wages, and working conditions in the shops. It is mostly restricted
to New York
City. In addition, there is some personal correspondence of both Shore and Stulberg.
|
||
Consists primarily of correspondence of Local 62’s manager, Matthew Schoenwald. Corrrespondents include staff in several of
the ILGWU departments, as well as Louis Stulberg, David Dubinsky, and Executive Director of The Lingerie
Manufacturers Association Jack Gross. Also included are records documenting the work of the Liberal
Party, including correspondence and mailing lists.
|
||
This collection includes collective bargaining agreements of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Local 62-32,
Intimate Apparel, Embroidery, Belt and Allied Workers Local.
|
||
Collection consists primarily of minutes of Local 66’s Executive Board and general membership meetings between 1922 and 1974.
Also contains issues of the local’s publication, Our Local 66, from 1942 to 1971, and meeting minutes
for Local 30, Designers Guild of Ladies’ Apparel.
|
||
Consists of the local’s publication, Our Local 66, from 1942 to 1983, as well as one pamphlet entitled “What Every Member
Should Know About His Benefits, Rights and Duties in the Union.”
|
||
Contains minutes of Local 82’s Executive Board’s meetings from 1917 to 1970, as well as minutes of Local 82’s general membership
meetings from 1919 to 1958.
|
||
Correspondence, speeches, and subject files covering Luigi Antonini's activities, both within and outside of the ILGWU, from
the 1920s to the 1960s. The correspondence documents many of Antonini's most significant contributions
to the ILGWU, the post-war Italian labor movement, and politics in New York State and the U.S. Included
in the collection are materials relating to Antonini's role in the ILGWU, especially in union administrative matters; documentation
of his involvement in building a free labor movement in post-war Italy; items dealing with his activities
in the American Labor Party and the Liberal Party of New York; and items that highlight his role in anti-fascist organizations
before and during the Second World War.
|
||
Consists of bound volumes of newspaper clippings documenting the activities of Local 89 between 1918 and 1944.
|
||
Contains minutes of Local 89’s general membership, Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Relief Committee, and Emergency
Welfare Committee meetings.
|
||
Contains records relating to the Health and Welfare Fund of Local 89-22-1.
|
||
Consists primarily of Local 91’s publication, Our Aim, from 1934 to 1947. Also includes other printed material, files on union
contractors, and employment agreements.
|
||
Presentation volume given to David Dubinsky by International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Local 91, Children's Dress, Infant's
Wear, House, Dress, and Bathrobe Makers Union. The volume contains the lyrics for the songs "A
Measure of Cloth" and "We Are the People," written by Gus Tyler to music by Lazar Weiner. The volume
was produced for the 24th ILGWU convention, held in New York City in May 1940.
|
||
Contains meeting minutes of Local 98’s Executive Board from 1938 to 1970, Manager Herbert Pokodner’s correspondence, and company
files that document the union’s organizing and service efforts. Also included are correspondence,
notes, and related National Labor Relations Board materials.
|
||
The Local 105 materials consist primarily of routine correspondence, reports, and minutes of executive and membership meetings.
Much of the correspondence is from Martin L. Cohen, the manager-secretary of Local 105. The bulk of
the material deals with administrative matters, contract negotiations, donations to (and requests
for donations from) charitable organizations, health, welfare and retirement benefits, garment manufacturers, other ILGWU
departments and
locals, and relations with the AFL-CIO. Some of the correspondence addresses the changing ethnic makeup
of the union's membership, particularly the steady increase in Hispanic workers during the 1950s and 1960s. Other items concern
the
adoption of children orphaned after World War II. A small amount of Martin Cohen's personal correspondence
is also included.
|
||
This collection consists of audio recordings of ILGWU staff and regional conferences, as well as some film strips.
|
||
This collection consists of photographs documenting Local 105’s activities between 1938 and 1968. Photographs include rallies,
local officers, and luncheons and dinners hosted in honor of guests of Local 105.
|
||
Records of International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Local 117, Cloak, Suit, Infants' and Childrens' Coat Operators and
Sample Makers' Union. Includes Executive Board and Membership minutes as well as Managers' reports.
|
||
Consists primarily of two series of correspondence of Local 132’s managers, Joel Menist and Sam Eisenberg, between 1954 and
1975. Also contains minutes of Local 132’s Executive Board and Health and Welfare Fund Board, as well as
a few issues of the local’s publication, Local 132 News.
|
||
The Local 155 records consist primarily of the correspondence of Louis Nelson, manager of Local 155 during the period. There
are also articles, speeches, and other materials, as well as a small amount of Nelson's personal
correspondence. These items document the activities and concerns of the Local's leadership from the
depression years through the late 1960s. In addition to routine Local administrative matters, the materials cover a wide variety
of
topics, including anti-Semitism, civil rights issues, health and retirement benefits, the women's
clothing industry, New York City elections, political activities of the Local, relations with other unions, forced labor in
the Soviet
Union, the Spanish Civil War, strikes, and union elections.
|
||
Contains records relating to Local 155’s elections in 1971 and the investigations of those elections the following year.
|
||
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
|
||
Contains the meeting minutes of Local 190, proceedings of the Joint Adjustment Board, and meeting minutes of the United Hebrew
Trades of Philadelphia and Vicinity.
|
||
Consists of issues of the publication of Local 190, Knit Goods News, from 1951 to 1983.
|
||
SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
|
||
Contains records of Local 226, including agreements with area companies, as well as correspondence with those companies and
union members. Also included are periodicals from several district councils in New England and
Pennsylvania: Southern New England District News, Seamlines (Upstate New York and Vermont District),
Garment Square Chronicle (Southern New England District), Needle News (Allentown-Reading District), and Needlepoint
(Wilkes-Barre-Pittston-Nanticoke District).
|
||
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
|
||
Contains agreements between Local 75 and area companies, as well as correspondence with those companies and union members.
Also included are two ILGWU Education Department publications, The Story of the ILGWU and And the Pursuit
of Happiness.
|
||
Subseries A. Presidents, 1914-1994
|
||
Correspondence, form letters, circulars and subject files relating to Schlesinger's term, June 1914 to January 1923. Topics
covered in these materials include union organizing; strikes, labor disputes, working conditions, and
other labor issues in the women's garment industry, particularly in New York City; inter-union relations;
relations between manufacturers' associations and the union; efforts by Schlesinger and others to form an alliance of garment
workers' unions; discussions with foreign garment workers' unions; education for workers in New York
City; and Jewish war relief efforts during World War I.
|
||
Correspondence and subject files relating to Schlesinger's term, October 1928 to June 1932. Topics covered in these materials
include: communist activity in the garment industry unions; contract negotiations; Schlesinger's role
as business manager of the Jewish Daily Forward (Chicago); labor disputes in the women's garment industry
of New York City; racketeering; socialism; garment industry strikes in New York City (including the 1929 Cloakmakers' Strike
and
the 1930 Dressmakers' Strike); the Tom Mooney Defense Committee; relations between manufacturers'
associations and the union; union conventions; union elections; union finances; and worker education.
|
||
The collection consists of correspondence, subject files, form letters, circulars, speeches and other items from Morris Sigman's
term as ILGWU president. Among the topics covered are: communist activity in the ILGWU, and the
leadership's battle against a communist takeover of the union; conditions in the U.S. garment industry,
particularly in New York City; education for workers; inter- and intra-union relations; ILGWU locals, with an emphasis on
the New
York City area; strikes in the garment industry (in particular the Cloakmakers' strike of 1926), as
well as in other industries; life and unemployment insurance for union members; relations with other garment workers' unions
in the
U.S., Great Britain, Poland and the Soviet Union, and with the International Clothing Workers' Federation
in Amsterdam; relations with the garment manufacturers; unemployment insurance; union legal matters; and union organizing
activities.
|
||
This collection contains David Dubinksy's professional and personal correspondence, speeches and statements, and greetings.
|
||
This collection contains audio recordings of David Dubinsky's speeches and other events attended by Dubinsky.
|
||
This collection consists of memorabilia, originally received with collection 5780/002. Scrapbooks, awards, buttons, badges,
union dues books, passports, and correspondence are some of the items included in this collection.
|
||
Contains photograph albums presented to David Dubinsky, as well as photograph albums featuring David Dubinsky between 1945
and 1967. Several albums document Dubinsky’s international travels, as well as his participation in events
in the United States.
|
||
Consists of one 15” x 20” charcoal drawing of David Dubinsky, signed by Seth Hoffman in 1942.
|
||
This collection consists of photos covering various aspects of David Dubinsky's life and work.
|
||
These scrapbooks concern David Dubinsky's visit to Europe and Israel in 1948, 1955, and 1956, and his retirement in 1966.
Also included is a May 1940 presentation book from ILGWU Local 91.
|
||
The Stulberg presidential records consist of correspondence, memoranda, photographs, speeches and subject files primarily
dealing with union matters during Stulberg's term in office, though there are some personal materials in
the collection as well. Topics covered include: civil rights; dealings with garment manufacturers;
international labor activities; locals and regional departments of the ILGWU throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada;
minority
membership in the ILGWU; relations with other unions; strikes and other labor disputes; union administrative
matters; union conventions; union involvement in politics and government, especially in New York City and New York State;
retirees' benefits, scholarships; union organizing; and wages.
|
||
This collection consists of a photograph of Stulberg with President Lyndon B. Johnson, inscribed by LBJ, and an invitation
to Harry S. Truman’s inauguration as President of the United States in 1949.
|
||
The Sol Chaikin papers document Chaikin’s tenure as president of the ILGWU from 1975 to 1986. Included in this collection
are extensive correspondence, memoranda, and notes by and to Chaikin from ILGWU officers, staff, and
members, politicians, and other labor leaders. Also included are transcripts of Chaikin’s speeches,
delivered to audiences of local union members, ILGWU and other international union conventions, United States Congress, international
labor organizations, and others.
|
||
Recordings of conferences, receptions, dinners, convention speeches, meetings, retirement, interviews, acceptance speeches
and others.
|
||
This collection contains photographs of Sol Chaikin at a variety of events, including conventions, meetings, and rallies.
Also included are photographs of ILGWU groups and institutions, political figures, and other
events.
|
||
Presentation volume of reproduced news clippings.
|
||
Consists of the records of Jay Mazur, during his term as President of the ILGWU until its merger with the Amalgamated Clothing
and Textile Workers of America to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees
(UNITE) in 1995. Included in Mazur’s files are alphabetical subject files which contain correspondence,
memoranda, notes, testimonies, news clippings, and other printed material on persons, organizations, and topics relating to
the work
of the ILGWU. Also, these papers include correspondence files, as well as records documenting Mazur’s
work on the AFL-CIO Executive Council and the ILGWU’s General Executive Board.
|
||
Subseries B. Other Officers and Staff, 1911-2006
|
||
This collection contains a variety of ILGWU and Union Label memorabilia, including pins, fabrics, pot holders, and a bag.
Also included are clippings, certificates, and other materials documenting Myrtle Banks’ work with the
ILGWU.
|
||
This collection includes photographs of Myrtle Banks’ retirement party in 1984, events at the City of Hope medical center,
local union meetings, and ILGWU conventions.
|
||
This collection consists of photographs, correspondence, and papers from the records of ILGWU officer Martin Berger.
|
||
This collection consists of Muzaffar Chishti’s Industrial Development and Labor-Management files, 1991-1995. Most records
pertain to Chishti’s work with the Council on American Fashion.
|
||
Correspondence, speeches, and books of Susan Cowell, Vice President of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
|
||
Contains files maintained by Wilbur Daniels while working as Associate General Counsel in the Legal Department, Assistant
to the President, Director of the Master Agreements Department (1965-19??), Vice President, and Executive
Vice-President. The bulk of the files pertain to the negotiation of agreements with companies and
associations in the 1960s and 1970s.
|
||
Contains records of Wilbur Daniels relating to General Executive Board meetings and ILGWU conventions, including reports,
correspondence, notes and planning documents. Also included are some correspondence President Sol Chaikin
and materials relating to his retirement in 1986.
|
||
Contains records of Wilbur Daniels from his tenure as Director of the Master Agreements Department, Vice President, and Executive
Vice President. Includes records relating to General Executive Board meetings, ILGWU conventions,
and administrative matters. Files from the Master Agreements Department contain agreements, arbitration
cases, bargaining demands, clippings, correspondence, constitution clauses, legal documents, mediation notices, miscellaneous
photographs, negotiations, notes, settlements, and wage standards.
|
||
Contains records of Joseph Good, including correspondence, briefs, contracts, and other materials relating to Good’s work
as Associate General Counsel of the ILGWU.
|
||
This collection contains the papers of Murray Gross, including correspondence, newspaper clippings and other printed material.
|
||
This collection contains audio recordings by or about Murray Gross, as well as records produced by the ILGWU New York Cloak
Joint Board and Labor Arts.
|
||
This collection contains citations, awards, and other memorabilia of Murray Gross.
|
||
This collection contains photo albums, as well as photographs of Murray Gross with Richard Nixon, Robert F. Kennedy, Lyndon
B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, and others.
|
||
Country files include correspondence and notes, printed material, and newspaper clippings on countries in which the ILGWU
had a special interest, especially the Dominican Republic and Honduras. Company files include
correspondence, memoranda, notes, and press material on companies with which the ILGWU dealt; especially
well-documented is the strike against and negotiations with Leslie Fay. Subject files include correspondence with and collected
printed material on labor leaders and politicians, as well as on subjects relating to the garment
industry and trade.
|
||
Contains correspondence, testimony, and other material relating to James Lipsig’s work as Assistant Executive Secretary of
the ILGWU. Also included are minutes of the Finance Committee and the Education Committee.
|
||
Contains the records of James Lipsig, Assistant Executive Secretary of the ILGWU, as well as Treasurer of the ILGWU Campaign
Committee from 1966 to 1976. Included are files on the Campaign Committee, Congressional redistricting,
disability, displaced persons, equal employment opportunity, the Jewish Labor Committee, and Unity
House. Meeting minutes include those of the Campaign Committee, Education Committee, Union Health Center Committee, and the
Socialist
Party USA’s New York State Convention. Reports include those from local unions summarizing their responses
on their Local Union Equal Opportunity Report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Also included are correspondence
and applications relating to the ILGWU’s Displaced Persons Project whereby the union sought admission
of 400 individuals per the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. Lipsig’s records also contain a draft manuscript of Gus Tyler’s
Organized
Crime in America: A Book of Readings (University of Michigan, 1962).
|
||
This collection consists primarily of transcripts of arbitration proceedings between Local 153 of the Office Employees International
Union and the ILGWU, and related statements and exhibits.
|
||
Consists of files maintained by Jay Mazur during his tenure as Secretary-Treasurer of the ILGWU. Included are correspondence
and memoranda with staff at the ILGWU's departments, as well as regional departments, joint councils,
and local unions. Records also include agreements and documentation relating to various investments
and funds.
|
||
Contains the files of Executive Assistant to the President David Melman from 1974 to 1992. Included are extensive company
files which include correspondence and other materials relating to contract negotiations. Also included are
records on General Executive Board meetings and ILGWU conventions, as well as general subject files.
|
||
Correspondence, reprints, and congressional testimony of James Parrott, Executive Assistant to the President, International
Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Parrott’s records consist primarily of subject files, many of which
pertain to ILGWU organizing around proposed changes on the regulation of homework, as well as around
the New York City's apparel industry, especially the Garment Industry Development Corporation.
|
||
The papers of Carl Proper consist primarily of subject files and files on labor-management committees.
|
||
Contains the files of Irwin Solomon during his tenure as Executive Vice President and later General Secretary-Treasurer of
the ILGWU. The collection consists primarily of correspondence files, but also includes financial reports
and files pertaining to the merger of the ILGWU and Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers of America
to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE).
|
||
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.
|
||
Leon Stein’s papers include draft manuscripts of Stein’s own writings, several of Stein’s unpublished manuscripts, drafts
of Stein’s translation of the work of Abrahan Cahan, research material for Stein’s books on the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City and the Ludlow (Colorado) massacre, correspondence, and assorted
clippings and printed material.
|
||
This collection contains a summary and partial transcript of the Triangle Fire trial, People of the State of New York vs.
Isaac Harris and Max Blank, as well as issues of New York Journal and New York Evening Journal from March
and April 1911.
|
||
This collection consists of photographs transferred from the Leon Stein papers. Photocopies of the photographs were inserted
in the original locations to identify transferred documents.
|
||
The Stulberg General Secretary-Treasurer records consist primarily of correspondence dealing with union managerial matters
during Stulberg's term in office, though there is also some correspondence from his tenure as executive
vice-president (April 1956-May 1959), as well as a small amount (ca. 1 linear foot) of personal correspondence
in the collection. Among the most signficant topics are: civil rights (including materials on the 1963 March on Washington);
collective bargaining agreements with other unions (custodial and clerical workers' unions); health
care (including Medstore plan for prescription drug discounts to union health members); housing for garment workers in New
York City;
locals, regional departments, and joint boards of the ILGWU throughout the U.S., Canada, and Puerto
Rico; relations with the AFL-CIO; retirement funds; union administrative matters; union conventions; union involvement in
politics in
New York City and New York State; and workers' compensation.
|
||
Chiefly correspondence and articles with and by Gus Tyler from the 1950s to the 1970s. Series I consists of Tyler's correspondence.
Series II is made up of subject files, dealing with both union and non-union matters. Series III
contains both correspondence with and articles by Tyler. Individuals represented include: Abraham
Beame; Sol Chaikin; Wilbur Daniels; David Dubinsky; Arthur J. Goldberg; Andrew M. Greeley; Averell Harriman; Hubert Humphrey;
Jay
Lovestone; George McGovern; John F. Kennedy; Robert F. Kennedy; Charles Silberman; Leon Stein; Philip
Taft; and Abraham Weiss.
|
||
Correspondence, subject files, articles, transcripts of broadcasts, photographs, and other materials dating from the end of
the 1950s to 1996. Series I consists of both ILGWU and non-union correspondence. Series II is made up of
subject files, dealing with both union and non-union matters. Series III contains publications, writings,
transcripts of radio and television broadcasts, and other materials. Series IV consists of miscellaneous materials, including
photographs, cassette tapes, and ILGWU publications.
|
||
Contains Gus Tyler’s records, documenting his work as Political Director of the ILGWU, writer, editor, and lecturer. In addition
to general subject files, records include administrative files, documentation of political activity
and speaking engagements, and Tyler’s writings, including columns and work for his book Organized
Crime in America.
|
||
The Umhey Executive Secretary records consist primarily of organizational records, subject files, and correspondence dealing
with union administrative matters. Much of the collection is made up of routine correspondence. There
is, however, significant material documenting such ILGWU activities as the annual convention, Union
Health Center, Unity House (the ILGWU resort), and Unity Broadcasting Corporation, which owned a number of radio stations
across the
country. In addition, the collection contains correspondence with government officials about labor
situations in the garment industry during World War II, and information about health care, benefits, and pensions for workers.
Some of
Umhey's personal records are also included.
|
||
Includes the minutes and reports of the General Executive Board of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
|
||
Includes the minutes and reports of the General Executive Board of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
|
||
Contains correspondence and case files of the Grievance Committee, Appeal Committee, Special Investigation Committee, and
Election and Objection Committee of the General Executive Board.
|
||
Contains the papers of Perry Parker, consisting primarily of minutes and reports of the General Executive Board meetings between
1986 and 1989, as well as some of Parker’s notes.
|
||
Consists of agreements and contracts between the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and associations of garment
manufacturers.
|
||
Consists of agreements and contracts between the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and associations of garment
manufacturers.
|
||
This collection consists of agreements and contracts between the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and defunct
associations of garment manufacturers.
|
||
This collection consists of 800 agreements and contracts between the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and associations
of garment manufacturers.
|
||
This collection consists of agreements and contracts between the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and defunct
garment manufacturing firms.
|
||
This collection consists of agreements and contracts between the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and defunct
independent garment manufacturers.
|
||
This collection consists of contracts between the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and defunct garment manufacturing
firms.
|
||
Contains application files from shops and workers therein to participate in the Apparel Job Training and Research Corporation’s
training program, financial records, and reports. Application files include applications from shops for
certification with AFTRC, agreements between the AJTRC and shops for on-the-job-training, applications
from individuals for enrollment in the AJTRC, and related correspondence. Financial records include invoices and related correspondence.
Reports address conditions in the apparel industry.
|
||
Contains correspondence, forms, and other files pertaining to the archives’ everyday operation, as well as photocopies of
materials from the ILGWU records on a variety of topics and local unions, and collected printed material about
the ILGWU.
|
||
In addition to documentation of the archives’ everyday operation, the papers of ILGWU archivist Robert Lazar include photocopies
of materials from the ILGWU records, collected printed material about the ILGWU, sheet music, meeting
minutes of local unions, and accounting ledgers.
|
||
Contains publications collected by the Archives Department.
|
||
Contains publications of the Auditing Department, including statements of receipts and disbursements (1935-1960), census reports
(1952-1984), and financial reports of general funds (1961-1994).
|
||
This collection primarily consists of sheet music of the ILGWU Chorus. Also included are a few records relating to the chorus.
|
||
Consists of photographs relating to the ILGWU Chorus, including portraits of chorus director Malcolm Dodds.
|
||
Biographical files on union members, union officers, and political and public figures.
|
||
This collection consists of photographs transferred from the Communications Department’s biographical files on union members,
union officers, and political and public figures.
|
||
Consists of alphabetical subject files maintained by the Communications Department.
|
||
This collection contains photographs used by the Communications Department of the ILGWU. Included are photographs documenting
ILGWU events and organizations, including conventions and other meetings, strikes and rallies, and local
unions and regional departments. Also included are photographs of ILGWU presidents and other officers,
political figures, and prominent labor unionists.
|
||
Records include correspondence with reports from organizations that had received grants, meeting agendas and minutes of the
foundation’s Board of Trustees, and summaries of successful applications. Also contains a manuscript that
chronicles the work of the David Dubinsky Foundation.
|
||
Consists of materials on several of the ILGWU’s training institutes, seminars, and conferences.
|
||
Krupat’s papers include correspondence, memoranda, reports, and financial records relating to the ILGWU’s independent and
collaborative education projects, including the Worker-Family Education Program, the Joint Union-University
Committee on Labor Education, and the Consortium for Worker Education, as well as numerous trainings,
conferences, and seminars. Also included in the files are materials from local unions and regional departments of the ILGWU,
files on the
Internationals’ conventions, and reports to the General Executive Board.
|
||
Contains correspondence, memoranda, and reports documenting the work of the Education Department between 1920 and 1979, including
material relating to several of the ILGWU Education Department’s Social and Education Centers in New
York City such as attendance sheets and correspondence of Fannia Cohn.
|
||
This collection consists of publications either created or collected by the Education Department. Publications include speeches
and articles by Fannia Cohn and Mark Starr, and reports of the Education Department and the Ladies
Apparel Accessories Council.
|
||
Series I contains subject files including correspondence, memoranda, news releases, pamphlets and notices, and routine paperwork.
Also included in this series is correspondence materials directly related to Jasper Peyton’s duties as
Assistant Education Director; most of these materials are from 1971 and 1972. Some odd photos are dispersed
through the collection. Series II includes Educational Reports to the General Executive Board, Educational Activities Reports,
correspondence, questionnaires, and routine paperwork. Series III includes several issues of Publishers’
Weekly and assorted anti-Communist printed material.
|
||
Correspondence, subject files, speeches, articles, photographs, and programs from Fannia Cohn's term as Executive Secretary
of the ILGWU Education Department. The materials in Series I are primarily letters between Cohn and various
individuals pertaining to trade union matters in general and the ILGWU in particular. Included in the
series are programs for lectures, concerts, museum visits and tours of New York City that were offered to ILGWU members and
others as
part of the Education Department's activities. This collection is also available on micorfilm.
|
||
Collection consists of photographs pulled from the Fannia Cohn papers. Photographs include portraits of Cohn, as well as document
activities of Local 66, trips to Unity House, Triangle Factory fire commemoration, and other union
activities.
|
||
Arranged alphabetically by name, the company files document the Health and Safety Department’s participation in the investigation
and improvement of conditions in workplaces around the country, including correspondence, memoranda,
and reports on shops. The Health and Safety Department also maintains several subseries of subject files:
one was on workplace hazards; these are arranged alphabetically by industry. A second was a general subject file that included
topics
relating to the routine business and research of the department; these are arranged alphabetically by
topic. The third is constituted of the health and safety organizations of other unions, as well as unions outside of the United
States.
The final series contains training materials, including files pertaining to specific trainings, files
of handouts on specific workplace hazards, and files of graphics and originals used in the production of the department’s
training
materials and publications.
|
||
The International Relations Department records consist chiefly of the correspondence of its director, Henoch Mendlesund, during
his tenure from 1968-1980, and Michele Briones. The collection also includes articles, reports,
conference materials, photographs, and other items. The materials in this collection have an emphasis
on labor issues in the developing world. There is correspondence with leaders of clothing and textile workers' unions in India,
Japan,
Turkey, Kenya, Latin America, Namibia, South Korea, among other countries. Other items concern conventions
and conferences of the ILGWU that emphasized international issues, visits from foreign union leaders to the ILGWU, and visits
of
ILGWU leaders to foreign countries. There are also some materials about garment workers' unions in Western
Europe. Topics addressed include working conditions, human rights, economic, political, and social conditions in developing
countries, and requests for aid to assist foreign unions.
|
||
Consists of publications either created or collected by the International Relations Department of the ILGWU.
|
||
Contains files relating to the ILGWU’s organizing and legal activities surrounding the Kellwood Company at several of its
divisions throughout the southern United States (Little Rock, Arkansas; Lonoke, Arkansas; Brownsville,
Kentucky; and Greenfield, Tennessee). In addition to court documents and correspondence and memoranda
relating to the ILGWU’s legal cases, these records contain documentation of the Kellwood strike, including surveys of strikers,
organizing leaflets and newsletters (from both the union and the company), and newspaper clippings on
the strike. Also includes Steve Honeyman’s draft accounts of the strike, transcripts of his interviews with ILGWU members
and staff who
participated in the strike, as well as working materials from the negotiations between the ILGWU and
Kellwood. Organizing leaflets from other shops in Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Texas are also included.
|
||
Contains audio recordings of interviews with ILGWU members relating to working at and, later, striking against the Kellwood
Company, as well as notes relating to these interviews. Also included are several tapes on sweatshops, some
of which feature Frederick Siems.
|
||
This collection consists of photographs taken during the ILGWU strike against the Kellwood Company between 1967 and 1972.
Included are images of meetings and rallies, as well as of the memorial service Eugene Hampton. Hampton was an
ILGWU member who was killed during the strike.
|
||
Consists of case files, case summaries, incomplete case files, contract histories, subject files and miscellaneous materials
from the Legal Department between 1928 and 1982.
|
||
This collection contains correspondence, memoranda, financial reports, and printed material relating to the establishment
of the ILGWU’s cooperative housing in New York City, as well as research into similar projects elsewhere. Also
included in this collection are files on the Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Center in New York City, arbitration
regarding faulty design and construction of Unity House in the Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania, and contract negotiations in
1979.
|
||
Contains transcripts, briefs, and other legal documents relating to Donnelly Garment Company v. ILGWU.
|
||
This file includes arbitration notes, correspondence, Cotton Garment Industry Application for Wage Adjustments, legal documents,
N.W.L.B. - Application for approval of wage or salary rate adjustment or schedule, notes, and payroll
summaries covering the period 1936-1946.
|
||
This collection consists of photocopied catalog cards of materials transferred from the ILGWU library to the Kheel Center.
|
||
Contains the Management Engineering Department’s research material and reports on technological changes in the garment industry,
as well as correspondence, reports, and other material relating to the department’s investigation of
conditions in specific shops.
|
||
Contains reports, comments, testimonies, and statements submitted by the ILGWU and other interested organizations and individuals
concerning revisions to the federal regulation of employment of homeworkers in certain industries,
proposed between 1986 and 1989.
|
||
This collection includes records from both the Research Department and the Operations Department. Arranged alphabetically
by company, these records consist of collective bargaining agreements negotiated by local unions of the ILGWU
and various companies.
|
||
Consists of operations standards manuals for women’s blouses for 1983 and 1984, and women’s skirts for 1984.
|
||
Arranged alphabetically, these records include correspondence, memoranda, reports, printed material created or collected by
the Organizing Department, and other material relating to its activities between 1961 and 1989. In addition
to documeint routine operations of the department, these records also include documentation of efforts
to roll back imports, including reports on congressional visits on a resolution on the subject. Also included are monthly
reports on
organizing activities from joint boards and regional departments, as well as periodic reports submitted
by local unions’, joint boards’, and regional departments’ organizing departments to the central organizing department; these
reports
include names of organizers and shops organized, and descriptions of current, future, and abandoned campaigns
that were to be included in the Organizing Department’s reports to the General Executive Board.
|
||
Contains Dun and Bradstreet Report on companies, reports on the companies’ activities with non-ILGWU firms, memoranda on companies
and efforts to organize workers therein, as well as some authorization cards.
|
||
Contains chronological correspondence files and financial records of the Professional and Clerical Employees (PACE) of the
ILGWU. Also included in this collection files relating to hearings before the National Labor Relations Board
regarding the organization of workers of the Central Tax Bureau of Pennsylvania and the Burlington News
Agency (Burlington, Vermont); these files include correspondence, transcripts of hearings, notes on visits to workers, and
organizers'
weekly reports.
|
||
This collection contains Evelyn Dubrow’s correspondence, memoranda, and reports relating to the her lobbying activities in
Washington, D.C. Also contained in this collection are letters and receipts documenting campaign
contributions, alphabetical files on states, as well as files on local unions, joint boards, and regional
departments. The records of the Political Department also contain ephemeral printed material relating to political campaigns,
including pamphlets, posters, and fliers.
|
||
This collection contains correspondence, memoranda, and reports relating to the Political Department’s lobbying activities
in Washington, D.C. Also contained in this collection are letters and receipts documenting campaign
contributions, alphabetical files on states, as well as files on local unions, joint boards, and regional
departments. The records of the Political Department also contain ephemeral printed material relating to political campaigns,
including pamphlets, posters, and fliers.
|
||
This collection contains Evelyn Dubrow’s correspondence, memoranda, and reports relating to her lobbying activities in Washington,
D.C. Also contained in this collection are letters and receipts documenting campaign contributions,
alphabetical files on states, as well as files on local unions, joint boards, and regional departments.
The records of the Political Department also contain ephemeral printed material relating to political campaigns, including
pamphlets,
posters, and fliers.
|
||
This collection contains the papers of Lazare Teper. In addition to subject files and correspondence, Teper’s papers include
files relating to the Wage Stabilization Board, including correspondence regarding applications to the
board, compensation adjustment, approval of fringe benefits, and proposed health and welfare plans.
|
||
Contains records of predecessor unions and locals of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, including the United
Brotherhood of Cloakmakers, Local 1; Knights of Labor, Sanctuary Local Assembly 3038; Unity House Committee
of Locals 22, 25, 60, and 66; United Progessive League of Cloak and Dressmakers; United Progressive League
of Local 1; Skirtmakers' Union, Local 5; ILGWU Research Department; Cincinnati Joint Board; Local 60, and Local 63.
|
||
This collection contains records of the National Coat and Suit Industry Board (statements of receipts and disbursements, label
division reports, meetings minutes, bulletins to members, and other reports and resolutions), as well as
some legal files.
|
||
Financial and administrative reports, meeting minutes, correspondence, and other materials documenting the activities and
interests of the ILGWU Research Department. Much of the material concerns various strikes, including the New
York cloakmakers' strikes of 1926 and 1929, as well as the "Protocol of Peace" of 1910. There are some
additional items dealing with the New York Cloak Joint Board. A good portion of the material is administrative in nature.
|
||
These files contain books, journals, reports, pamphlets, advertisements, and correspondence of the Research Department of
the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union. Also included are correspondence of Lazare Teper,
organizational material from local unions all over the United States, reports and writings by Research
Department staff (including analyses of strikes between 1940 and 1945), files on the Cone Mills and S. Lichtenberg campaigns,
as well as
documents collected by the department. Among the documents collected by the Research Department are the
New York Coat and Suit Industry Reports between 1934 and 1960.
|
||
Series I contains statements on issues related to the garment industry filed by the ILGWU between 1965 and 1995. Series II
contains correspondence with non-ILGWU organizations and individuals, arranged alphabetically by
correspondent or subject. Series III contains correspondence with ILGWU officers and staff, including
staff of local unions, joint boards and councils, and regional departments and offices; Series IV contains files on miscellaneous
subjects. Series V consists of the Research Department’s outgoing letters between 1964 and 1991.
|
||
This collection contains reports from the Research Department, including its annual “Conditions in the Women’s Clothing Industry.”
|
||
This collection contains reports and records of hearings held by the United States National Industrial Recovery Administration
between 1933 and 1937. Topics of these hearings include Code of Fair Practices and Competition,
Conference of Code Authorities and Trade Association Code Committee Employment, Employment Provisions
in Codes of Fair Competition, as well as hearings on amendments, history and violations of code.
|
||
This collection contains extensive files of hearings before, proceedings of, and memoranda and briefs submitted to the Department
of Labor’s Wage and Hours Division between 1938 and 1942, and 1950 and 1975. Committees represented in
these files include: Apparel Industry Committee, Button and Buckle Manufacturing Industry Committee,
Embroideries Committee, Hosiery Industry Committee, Knitted and Men’s Woven Underwear and Commercial Knitting Industry Committee,
Knitted
Outerwear Committee, Knitted Underwear and Commercial Knitting Industry Committee, Miscellaneous Apparel
Industry Committee, Special Industry Committee for Puerto Rico, Textile Industry Committee, and the Women’s Apparel Industry
Committee. Also included in this collection are records of the Department of Labor’s Public Contract
Division and Research and Statistics Division.
|
||
Personnel profiles on employees who were suspended or terminated, as well as the reason for the action. Personnel information
includes gender, marital status, race, and wages of employees suspended or terminated at particular firms.
|
||
This collection contains correspondence, memoranda, vouchers, and other material that document the work of the Department
of Retiree Services, including requests submitted to the department for funds in support of retiree groups and
related activities, and notification of decisions of whether to fund these requests and award amount.
Also included in this subseries are collected printed material and drafts of department publications.
|
||
This is a restricted collection consisting of evaluations of trainees from the years 1952, 1959, and 1965.
|
||
Correspondence, annual reports, articles, financial statements, and other materials documenting the evolving role of the ILGWU
Union Health Center. Much of the material is routine or administrative in nature. Other items in the
collection include articles by such figures as George M. Price and Pauline Newman, the Center's director,
on the issue of union health centers generally and the ILGWU Center in particular.
|
||
This collection contains booklets and pamphlets by and about the Union Health Center, as well as some reports of the Joint
Board of Sanitary Control.
|
||
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.
|
||
This collection contains memorabilia, including printed material from Unity House (pamphlets, brochures, and placemats), approval
for a liquor license from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, and portraits of David Dubinsky and
Sol Chaikin.
|
||
Official Organs of the ILGWU, 1910-1995
|
||
Collection consists of issues of the Ladies’ Garment Worker published between 1911 and 1917. Issues from the publication’s
first year (1910) and its final year (1918) are available on microfilm.
|
||
Contains issues of Justice published between 1919 and 1976.
|
||
Contains issues of Justice published between 1975 and 1995.
|
||
This collection consists of yearly indexes to Justice, the official organ of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union.
|
||
This collection contains issues of Gerchtigheit, the Yiddish-language edition of the ILGWU’s official organ Justice.
|
||
This collection contains issues of Giustizia, the Italian-language edition of the ILGWU’s official organ Justice
|
||
This collection contains issues of Giustizia, the Italian-language edition of the ILGWU’s official organ Justice.
|
||
This collection contains issues of Justicia, the Spanish-language edition of the ILGWU’s official organ Justice.
|
||
Other printed material, 1910-1995
|
||
This collection contains Current Bulletin, Weekly Market Letter, and Style and Merchandise Review, publications of the Industrial
Council of Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers.
|
||
This collection contains publications of several locals, joint boards, and departments of the International Ladies' Garment
Workers' Union. In addition to periodicals, this collection contains pamphlets, reports, anniversary
programs, and other publications from local unions.
|
||
This collection includes Canadian publications by and about the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
|
||
This collection consists of publications either produced or collected by the ILGWU. It includes periodicals of local unions,
joint boards, and the international periodicals, as well as publications from other
organizations.
|
||
This collection contains a bound volume of photocopies of a cloakmaker's memoirs. The memoirs were translated by Yetta Horn.
|
||
Manuscripts, typescripts, and bound volumes containing unpublished histories of the International Ladies' Garment Workers'
Union. Authors include Julius Hochman, Abraham Rosenberg, and Fannia Cohn.
|
||
This collection consist of pamphlets and other printed material collected by Charles Zimmerman.
|
||
This collection contains video recordings, audio recordings, motion picture film, microfilm, and film strips collected, produced
or otherwise created by the ILGWU. Available on DVD are films and videos of ILGWU conventions, the
ILGWU Management-Engineering Department’s time and motion studies, Union Label commercials, the 50th
anniversary of the Union Health Center. Other recordings document local union activities, lectures at the ILGWU’s Training
Institute,
speeches by union leaders, interviews with union officials on radio and television programs. This collection
also contains microfilmed records of the Auditing Department and the Finance Department.
|
||
This collection contains films collected, produced or otherwise created by the ILGWU. The ILGWU circulated films from its
international headquarters to local unions, schools, and other organizations. Included are films documenting
rallies, international conventions, local union meetings, and recreational outings.
|
||
This collection contains recordings of oral history interviews with officers, staff, and members of the ILGWU.
|
||
This collection contains photographs and photographic negatives documenting the work of the ILGWU. Included are photographs
used in the production of ILGWU publications (including but not limited to the union’s official organ,
Justice); snapshots from local, national, and international activities; photographs mounted for display
in the ILGWU Archives, local union and international offices; portraits of officers; group photographs of local members, delegates,
and
committees; and photographs of union buildings and offices.
|
||
Consists of items that were part of the ILGWU's permanent exhibit in New York City on the history of the union.
|
||
Paintings, drawings, plaques, certificates, proclamations, scrapbooks, and sketches generated by the International Ladies'
Garment Workers' Union.
|
||
This collection contains photographs used in, or considered for use in, Justice. Photographs document a wide range of ILGWU
activities and institutions, as well as many ILGWU members, staff, and officers.
|
||
This collection consists of broadsides created or collected by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union.
|
||
This collection consists of transcripts of oral history interviews with 45 officers, staff, and members of the ILGWU.
|
||
This collection consists of garment workers posters, featuring motifs of women and children.
|
||
This collection consists of fliers, posters, and broadsides produced and distributed by the ILGWU. Some of these materials
announce meetings, rallies, and other events; others more generally relate to the garment
industry.
|
||
This collection consists of audio cassettes covering a range of events and topics. Included are lectures by ILGWU staff, speeches
by Sol Chaikin, media coverage of David Dubinsky's death, conventions, conferences, and other union
functions, as well as interviews with cast members from the ILGWU musical production "Pins and Needles."
|
||
This collection consists of various collectibles from the ILGWU, such as badges, buttons, ball-point pens, tie tacks, money
clips, newspaper articles, plaques, photos, scarf, t-shirt, books and more.
|
||
Collection contains scrapbooks concerning the America's Next Great Designer Award, an annual award established in 1976 and
sponsored by the ILGWU.
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This collection consists of scrapbooks containing clippings from Women’s Wear Daily from 1977 to 1985. While some articles
feature the ILGWU, others address the women’s garment industry more generally.
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This collection contains scrapbooks assembled by officers and members of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
The scrapbooks primarily contain news clippings.
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This collection consists of a scrapbook of newsclippings about the American Labor Party.
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Collection consists of materials pertaining to the 1949 murder of William Lurye, an organizer for the ILGWU, and the 1951
trial of Benedict Macri, who was acquitted of the crime. Documents include a scrapbook of news clippings on
the case, a wanted poster for the fugitive suspect John Giusto, and the court transcript of Macri's trial.
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This collection consists of samples of Gold Bond certificates of different denominations, as well as related notes, correspondence,
receipts, and contribution lists.
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WFDR-FM was a non-profit radio station in New York City, owned and operated by the ILGWU from 1949 to 1952. This collection
consists of one program issued on the occasion of WFDR-FM’s inaugural broadcast.
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Contains banners created or used by the ILGWU at union events.
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This collection consists of photographs, Constitution and Receipt book for ILGWU, Local 23, and Kattie Goldstein's birth certificate
(born Chelio Leea Golstain (Chaya Leah Goldstein)). Items are brittle.
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This collection consists of letters, printed material, and case files from various departments and individuals within the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Included are files of John A. Dyche, Harry Greenberg, Herman
Grossman, Louis Hyman, Charles Jacobson, Edward Kramer, Charles Kreindler, Charles Baker, Rose Pesotta,
and Harry Uviller.
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This collection contains assorted periodicals, including issues of Justice, Giustizia, and Die Gleichheit.
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