Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
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Abstract
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is an artificial collection, collected and assembled by the Tamiment Library over the course of several decades. AFSCME was founded in 1932 in Wisconsin as an organization of white collar workers who wanted to save the civil service system in their state. The organization quickly spread to the national level. The material in the collection ranges in date from 1937 to the present and is generated by the national and international bodies of the union as well as from a few of its District Councils and Locals, notably District Council 1707, the Community and Social Agency Employees. The collection is made up of contracts, agreements and constitutions as well as printed ephemera such as fliers, brochures, newspaper clippings, pamphlets and other publications.
Historical/Biographical Note
AFSCME was founded in 1932 in Wisconsin as an organization of white collar workers who wanted to save the civil service system in their state. The organization quickly spread to the national level. By 1936, the American Federation of Labor had granted a charter to AFSCME. At the time, the union was 10,000 members strong, but with the integration of the AFL and the CIO in 1955, AFSCME accommodated 40,000 more members. The composition also began to change to include more blue collar workers, who were more familiar with trade unions and trade union organizing. During the 1960s, AFSCME was involved in the civil rights and student movements, culminating in a strike of sanitary workers in Memphis, Tennessee attempting to gain union recognition after two African American men were crushed to death in a garbage truck.
Jerry Wurf served as president from 1964-1981. Under his leadership, AFSCME drew up a new international constitution which included a member bill of rights, the first of its kind in union history. AFSCME's primary focus was on winning collective bargaining laws, and was successful in gaining an increase in wages and family health insurance benefits through collective bargaining agreements with dozens of states.
Arrangement
Folders are arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Content Note
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) gives a broad and general sense of the type of printed material generated by the national and international bodies of the union as well as the District Councils and Locals. The collection is made up largely of agreements, contracts and constitutions as well as fliers, pamphlets and publications. The pamphlets and publications are on a range of subjects, including sexual harassment and pay equity. There are also several manuals for stewards. A small amount of material documents activities of various rank and file groups including the Penn AFSCME Organizing Committee out of the University of Pennsylvania. The material in the collection ranges in date from 1937 to the present.
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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.
