Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the United Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union
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Abstract
The Printed Ephemera Collection on the United Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union is an artificial collection, collected and assembled by the Tamiment Library over the course of several decades. It consists largely of contracts and agreements between the Union and various companies, both from the United States and Canada, and ranging in date from the 1940s to the 1980s. The collection also contains constitutions, circular letters, reports, fliers, and pamphlets and publications, as well as articles and clippings about the Union. In the collection are materials from locals of the United Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union as well as materials from its predecessors, including the Cloth Hat, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union and the United Hatters of North America.
Historical/Biographical Note
The United Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union (UHCMW) was formed in 1934 by the amalgamation of United Hatters of North America and the Cloth Hat, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union. The United Hatters of North America was established in New York in 1896 as the result of the merger of two Knights of Labor-affiliated unions in the men's hat industry, the Hat Makers and the Hat Finishers. The Cloth Hat, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union was established in New York in 1901, as the United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers of North America (superseding the Cloth Hat and Cap Operators Union), and took its final name (adding Millinery Workers) in 1918. In 1983 the UHCMW joined the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, which in turn merged in 1995 with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union to form UNITE (Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees).
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into two series: Series I: Agreements and Contracts, 1940-1991; Series II: General Files, 1920-1978. Folders are arranged alphabetically within series.
Scope and Content Note
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the United Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union largely consists of agreements and contracts, it also contains constitutions and reports as well as printed ephemera such as fliers, circular letters, newspaper clippings, programs, pamphlets and other publications.
Series I: Agreements and Contracts, 1940-1989, consists of legal size agreements and contracts with companies around the United States and Canada.
Series II: General Files, 1920-1978, contains material from the United Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union, however, this series also contains material from the Cloth Hat, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union and the United Hatters of North America, two predecessor unions. The General Files consist of constitutions and financial reports as well as publications put out by the National Recovery Administration on codes of fair conduct for the hat manufacturing industry. There are fliers from the Millinery and Hatters Committee for Wallace, documenting the committee's support of Henry A. Wallace's bids for the US presidency in 1944 and 1948. The collection also contains a small number of fliers and ephemera regarding the Union Label Campaign and various union and national elections. In addition to material from the international and national bodies of the United Hatters, Cap, and Millinery Workers International Union, there are also files from locals, including Locals 3 and 8, both from New York City. The file on Local 8 contains financial reports, local election fliers, rank and file produced circular letters, and a constitution dated 1922, at that time under the auspices of the United Hatters of North America.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open 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. Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from this collection.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Materials in this collection have been compiled by the Tamiment Library. There is no accession record associated with this collection.
Custodial History
The provenance of the materials is varied. Items were obtained through purchases, donations, standing orders with publishers, arrangements with labor unions and other organizations, exchanges with other libraries, and through ongoing collecting by Tamiment staff.