AFT Local 616 (Rochester, NY) Federation of Classroom Teachers Records
Collection Number: 5845
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
AFT Local 616 (Rochester, NY)
Federation of Classroom Teachers Records, 1929-1971
Collection Number:
5845
Creator:
American Federation of Teachers
(AFT);
AFT Local 616;
Federation of Classroom Teachers
AFT Local 616;
Federation of Classroom Teachers
Quantity:
1 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Records (documents).
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Language:
Collection material in English
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) was started in Chicago, with eight locals
signing on as AFL president Samuel Gompers welcomed the union into its fold in 1916.
AFT grew quickly in the beginning, chartering 174 locals in its first four years. The
years following World War I saw school boards pressuring and intimidating teachers
to resign from the union.
As membership dropped in the 1920s, the union continued to fight for tenure laws and
academic freedom of the teachers whose beliefs were being investigated by political
committees during the 'Red scare" hysteria following WWI.
The Depression years were not much better, low salaries and economic insecurity were
issues needing attention. Female teachers found themselves faced with "contracts
which still stipulated that an employed teacher must wear skirts of certain lengths,
keep her galoshes buckled, not receive gentleman callers more than three times a
week and teach a Sunday School class," said the American Teacher magazine. In some
cases teachers were dismissed for joining the AFT or for working on school board
election campaigns.
By 1932, the Norris-La Guardia Act outlawed yellow dog contracts, which made teachers
promise not to join the union.
Starting with WWII the AFT worked hard to push war bond sales, war relief and air
raid programs in schools. After the war the AFT continued to fight to improve the
conditions of the schools and their teachers.
In the 1950s, loyalty oaths started up again. The AFT continued work on the civil
rights movement, filing an amicus curiae brief in the historic 1954 Supreme Court
desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and expelling locals that
had not followed an earlier mandate to desegregate.
During the 1960s, besides fighting for civil rights, the AFT and its affiliates
worked at getting collective bargaining agreements with stubborn school boards. Also
the first major strike by university professors in the United States and a one-day
walkout by the United Federation of Teachers in New York City took place. Over 300
teacher strikes occurred throughout the country during the 10 years following the
UFT's walkout. The national AFT grew from less than 60,000 members in 1960 to over
200,000 by the end of the decade.
Names:
American Federation of Teachers.
American Federation of Teachers. Local 616
(Rochester, N.Y.)
Subjects:
Teachers' unions--New York (State)--Rochester.
Form and Genre Terms:
Records (documents)
Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a
reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet
and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
AFT Local 616 (Rochester, NY) Federation of Classroom Teachers Records #5845.
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University
Library.
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | 1962-1964 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | 1969-1970 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | 1965 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | 1961-1963 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | 1961 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | 1961-1964 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | 1970 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | 1970-1971 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | 1967 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | 1965 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | 1961 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | 1964-1966 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | 1971 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 14 | 1970 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 15 | 1965-1970 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 16 | 1960 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 17 | 1964 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 18 | 1961-1965 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 19 | 1967 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 20 | 1967 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 21 | 1965 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 22 | 1961 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 23 | 1967 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 24 | 1960-1964 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 25 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 26 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 27 | 1963 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 28 | 1969-1971 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 29 | 1966-1967 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 30 | 1967 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 31 | 1956 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | 1970 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 33 | 1959 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 34 | 1964 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 35 | 1969 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 36 | 1962 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 37 | 1967 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 38 | 1964 | |
|
2 Photographs
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 39 | 1963 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 40 | 1958 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 41 | 1961 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 42 | 1964 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 43 | 1967-1968 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 44 | 1961-1963 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 45 | 1964 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 46 | 1961 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 47 | 1962-1964 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 48 | 1929-1945 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 49 | 1962 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 50 | 1959 | |