Burton Hall Union Democracy Oral History Collection
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Abstract
Burton Hall was born in South Orange, New Jersey in 1929. He graduated from Williams College in 1951 and Yale Law School in 1954. Hall set up his own practice in 1960, and soon his work was almost entirely comprised of rank-and-file members suing to protect their democratic rights within their unions. He was one of the pioneer attorneys in developing the case law for the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act. His precedent-setting cases involved protection of the rights guaranteed by law in that section of the Act known as the "Bill of Rights" of union members. He represented rank-and-file members in numerous cases involving issues such as eligibility for running for union office, discipline against members for criticism of their leadership, and expulsion of union members for advocating radical political ideas. Jane Latour collected these interviews in her capacity as archivist of the Burton Hall Papers. The collection consists of interviews with rank and file insurgents, family members, representatives of union democracy organizations and others who worked with Burton Hall. The bulk of the interviews relate to Painters and Teamsters (Local 282) union reform efforts. The collection consists of audio recordings, transcripts, and contextual documentation.
Historical/Biographical Note
Burton Hall was born in South Orange, New Jersey in 1929. He graduated from Williams College in 1951 and Yale Law School in 1954. While in college and law school he was a member of the Food, Tobacco and Agricultural Workers Union in Camden, New Jersey, the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union, Local 11, and the International Association of Machinists, Local 751, on the West Coast. He served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1956. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1957 and worked as a lawyer for a private firm and the Federal Aviation Agency before turning to labor law.
Burton Hall set up his own practice in 1960 as a labor lawyer. Soon his work was almost entirely comprised of rank-and-file members suing to protect their democratic rights within their unions. His office was located at 136 Liberty Street in Lower Manhattan. When the building was demolished to make way for the World Trade Center, he moved to 401 Broadway. Hall was one of the pioneer attorneys in developing the case law for the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act. His precedent-setting cases involved protection of the rights guaranteed by law in that section of the Act known as the "Bill of Rights" of union members. Thus he represented rank-and-file members in numerous cases involving issues such as eligibility for running for union office, discipline against members for criticism of their leadership, and expulsion of union members for advocating radical political ideas.
Arrangement
Finding aid and compact disks are arranged alphabetically by last name of the interviewee. Master cassettes are arranged according to an archivist-devised numbering scheme which is partially chronological. This arrangement likely reflects the order that the tapes were added to the collection. Some numbers were repeated in the scheme.
Scope and Contents
Jane Latour collected these interviews in her capacity as archivist of the Burton Hall Papers. The collection consists of interviews with rank and file insurgents, family members, representatives of union democracy organizations, and others who worked with Burton Hall. The bulk of the interviews relate to Painters and Teamsters (Local 282) union reform efforts.
The interviews were recorded on cassettes and have been digitized for preservation purposes. Some interviews have associated transcripts, interview notes, or summaries. There are also articles and other contextual documentation associated with certain interviews.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Conditions Governing Access
Unless noted at the interview level, materials are open for research without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Because of the assembled nature of this collection, copyright status varies across the collection. Copyright is assumed to be held by the original creator of individual items in the collection; these items are expected to pass into the public domain 120 years after their creation. Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives are maintained by New York University. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from repository. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Burton Hall Union Democracy Oral History Project; OH 034; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Interviews were conducted for deposit at the Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives by Jane Latour (archivist for the Butron Hall Papers) and others between 1988 and 2001. The accession number associated with this collection is 1992.017.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Access to audiovisual materials in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Collection was processed during the 1990s-2000s, and segments of the finding aid were written in the process. Digitization of audiocassettes was completed in 2011. Audiocassettes were rehoused in new cases as part of digitization and were reboxed in 2015. Finding aid was updated in 2015 to reflect digitization and reboxing, for compliance with DACS and local descriptive standards, and to clarify certain notes.
