Series I: Files of Michael J. (Mike) Quill. Subseries I:A: TWU Presidential Files, 1928-1970, consists, for the most part, of files from the TWU President's Office during Quill's tenure (1936-1966), including incoming and outgoing correspondence documenting the full range of union activity. Notable are the extensive files of correspondence with TWU officers and staff; with officers and staff of the CIO at the national, state and city levels; with officers of other unions; with TWU members, including members serving in the military during World War II and members approving or condemning Quill's break with the Communist Party; with individuals in Ireland; and from the general public -- including letters of support, complaints and hate mail. Among the prominent correspondents represented are Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, Governor Herbert Lehman, U.S. Labor Secretary Frances Perkins, CIO presidents John L. Lewis and Philip Murray, Walter Reuther, Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, Jr. The series documents Quill's close contacts with TWU organizers and field offices across the country, and the key role he always played in the affairs of TWU Local 100 (New York City). Also documented are Quill's early and continuing support for civil rights, Irish nationalism, anti-fascist campaigns, and other progressive social and political causes, as well as his close ties to the Communist Party and his dramatic break with the Party in 1948-49. Publicity materials illustrate his pioneering use of radio and television to convey the TWU's message to the public. A separate section of files is devoted to Mike Quill's personal life, including his family, his finances, his illnesses and death, and memorial gatherings honoring him.
