Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the American Federation of Labor

Call Number

PE.014

Date

1892-1992, inclusive

Creator

Tamiment Library

Extent

3 Linear Feet (3 boxes)

Language of Materials

Materials are in English

Abstract

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) Printed Ephemera Collection is an artificial collection, collected and assembled by the Tamiment Library over the course of several decades. Founded in 1886, the AFL served as a large federation of labor unions for the United States and Canada. Unions affiliated with the AFL were traditionally organized by craft rather than industry-wide. The AFL joined with the more industrial focused Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) in 1955 to form the AFL-CIO. In the date range of the late 1800s up through the 1990s, the collection consists of constitutions, rosters, directories and manuals as well as printed ephemera such as fliers, brochures, circular letters, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and other publications. In addition to the material that was generated at the national level of the AFL and by its various departments and committees including the Workers Education Bureau, which later became a part of the AFL, the collection consists of material from city, state and regional Federations of Labor. The New York State Federation of Labor is represented in the collection with convention proceedings and reports, circular letters, press releases, pamphlets as well as the merger agreement reached with the New York State Industrial Union Council.

Historical/Biographical Note

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was founded in Ohio in 1886, its precursor was known as the Federation of Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada. Samuel Gompers was elected the first president. One of the first campaigns of the AFL was to fight nationally for the 8-hour day, a campaign that spread across the US and into Europe. Initially, organizing unions into the Federation was difficult, but steadily membership began to grow as the benefits of amalgamation became evident. The AFL organized workers more traditionally along craft lines, consequently, due to a division in strategy of organizing all workers in an industry, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was formed. The two merged in 1955 forming the AFL-CIO.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into two series: Series I: General Files, 1892-1955; Series II: City, State and Regional Federations of Labor, 1916-1961. Folders are arranged alphabetically within series.

Scope and Content Note

The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the American Federation of Labor consists of constitutions, rosters, manuals and reports, as well as printed ephemera such as fliers, brochures, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and other publications.

Series I: General Files, 1892-1981, consists of the pamphlets and printed ephemera generated by the AFL at the national level, along with several of its departments and committees. The Workers Education Bureau of America, a national project devoted to the education of workers, was supported and heavily influenced by the AFL. Eventually, in 1951, the Bureau was officially transferred to the AFL. The collection contains material from the Bureau following its absorption by the AFL, including bibliographies, conference schedules and programs, and pamphlets on a variety of topics. Similar material from the Department of Education is represented in the collection, including steward's manuals, publications relating to building local education programs, as well as conference programs and bibliographies. The collection contains printed ephemera pertaining to consumer cooperatives, the AFL's union label campaign, the planning of the Samuel Gompers Centennial celebration that took place in 1950, as well as more general fliers and brochures on the history of the AFL and trade union organizing.

Series II: City, State and Regional Federations of Labor, 1916-1992, consists of the printed ephemera generated by the city, state and regional Federations of Labor. The material in this series comes from cities all around the United States, including Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland and Los Angeles, as well as from states such as Kentucky, Texas, New Jersey, and Connecticut. A sizable portion of this series is from the New York State Federation of Labor. There are annual reports, convention and conference materials, constitutions, as well as a number of circular letters, press releases and pamphlets following labor legislation. Included is the merger agreement signed with the New York State Industrial Union Council in 1958, following the merger nationally of the AFL with the CIO.

Subjects

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.

Collection processed by

Adrien Hilton

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:28:06 -0400.

Language: Description is in English

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Series I: General Files, 1892-1981, inclusive

American Federation of Women's Auxiliaries of Labor, 1942-1944, undated, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Argentina, 1946-1947, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Building and Construction Trades Department, 1944, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Central Trades and Labor Council of Greater New York and Vicinity, 1930-1949, 1954, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Circular Letters and Open Letters, 1924-1954, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Committee for Unemployment Insurance and Relief, 1935, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Committee on Education/Committee on Industrial Education, 1912, 1923, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Constitutional Conventions, 1888, 1935-1946, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Constitutional Conventions: Committee on International Labor Relations: Reports, 1947-1954, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Constitutional Conventions: Executive Council: Reports, 1912, 1923, 1943-1954, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Constitutional Conventions: Speeches, 1934-1942, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Constitutions, 1918, 1929, 1936-1954, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Consumer Cooperatives, 1937-1948, undated

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Department of Education, 1954-1955, undated, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Department of Education, 1955, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Department of Research, 1955, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Directories and Rosters (of Affiliates), 1942-1952, undated, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Fliers and Ephemera, 1935, 1950, 1952, undated, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Free Trade Union Committee, 1951-1955, undated, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Food and Service Trades Council, undated

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Information Division, undated

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Information and Publicity Service, 1952-1954, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

International Labor Relations Committee, 1946-1949, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

International Labor Relations Department, 1947, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Labor's League for Political Education I, 1949-1954, undated, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Labor's League for Political Education II, 1949-1954, undated, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Manuals, 1951, undated, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Meany, George: Testimonial Dinner, 1953, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

National Committee for the Extension of Labor Education, 1949, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

National Legislative Committee, 1954, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

National Organizing Committee of Western Union Employees, undated

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Non-Partisan Committee, 1941, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Office of the General Counsel, undated

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Organizations Affiliated, 1936, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Pamphlets and Publications, 1892-1899, undated, inclusive

Box: 1 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Pamphlets and Publications, 1911-1918, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Pamphlets and Publications, 1920-1925, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Pamphlets and Publications, 1926-1929, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Pamphlets and Publications, 1930-1934, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Pamphlets and Publications, 1935-1939, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Pamphlets and Publications, 1940-1949, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Pamphlets and Publications, 1950-1955, 1980-1981, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Post War Planning Committee, 1944, undated, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Press Releases, 1938, 1951, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Provisional AFL-CIO Trade Union Committee: Greek American Council, circa 1945, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Publications Relating to, 1928-1958, undated, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Railway Employees Department, 1927-1952, undated, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Retirement Plan, 1950, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Sam Gompers Centennial Committee, 1950, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Sam Gompers Federal Labor Union Council, 1949, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Social Security Committee, 1954, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Southern Policy Committee, undated

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Trade Union Committee for Unemployment Insurance and Relief, 1932-1934, undated, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Trade Union Education League, 1926, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Union Label Trades Department, 1935-1941, 1952, undated, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Union Label Trades Department: Central Union Label Council of Greater New York, 1926-1941, undated, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Union Label Trades Department: Holcomb, Desma, "The Effectiveness of Union Label Campaigns by the Allied Printing Trades Council of New York from 1898 to 1916", 1993, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Union Label Trades Department: Union Label League of Pennsylvania, 1946, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Veterans Committee, 1946, undated, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Western Union Telegraph Company: Agreement, 1946, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Education Bureau, 1950-1952, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)

Workers Education Bureau, 1953-1954, inclusive

Box: 2 (Material Type: Mixed Materials)