Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the United Telegraph Workers
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Abstract
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Printed Ephemera Collection on the United Telegraph Workers is an artificial collection, collected and assembled by the Tamiment Library over the course of several decades. It consists of contracts, agreements and constitutions from the United Telegraph Workers as well as its predecessor, the Commercial Telegraphers' Union of America. There are also files from the various divisions of the Union, representing workers from Canada and the United States who worked for the Canadian Pacific System, the United Press System, and the Western Union, among others.
Historical/Biographical Note
The United Telegraph Workers was known until 1968 as the Commercial Telegraphers' Union of America. Founded in convention in New York City in 1903, the Commercial Telegraphers' Union of America emerged from a series of struggles between smaller unions of private and postal telegraph workers. At the time, over one hundred delegates represented seventy-five locals from across the country. During World War II and throughout much of its history, the union had been pitted against a single dominant employer, Western Union. Due to technological change in the industry and charged anti-union efforts, the Commercial Telegrapher's Union of America declined in numbers after World War II. In 1986, the 5,800 member United Telegraph Workers merged with the Communications Workers of America.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into three series: Series I: Commercial Telegraphers' Union of America, 1916-1966; Series II: United Telegraph Workers, 1968-1990; Series III: Divisions, 1916-1986. 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 Telegraph Workers largely consists of agreements, contracts and constitutions, as well as a few pamphlets and publications. Material comes from the predecessor Commercial Telegraphers' Union of America as well as from various divisions from around the United States and Canada, including the divisions that represented the Canadian Pacific System, the Associated Press System, the United Press System, and Western Union.
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.
