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Subject Guide: Labor History

Archival and library highlights found at the Center relating to labor history and the individuals and organizations that fought for equal rights in the workplace.

Introducing Your Union, (I-309, AJHS)

Archival Material

International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union collection undated, 1924-1965 (I-309)

The ILGWU was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States. Founded in New York City in 1900 by 11 Jewish men who represented local East Coast unions, it was also one of the first labor unions to have a majority-female membership. This collection contains reports, publications, convention souvenirs, organization histories, handbooks, and information on health services and cooperative housing. 

Jewish Labor Committee collection undated, 1933-1969 (I-377)

This collection contains correspondence, brochures, memorandum, pamphlets, fliers, invitations, reports, programs and press releases. The documents in this collection describe issues concerning the Holocaust, Jewish resistance, European labor concerns, the Jewish Labor Movement in America and anti-communism and Soviet Jewry. Included are invitations, programs and general information concerning miscellaneous concerts, conventions, symposia, and summer fellowships. A brochure regarding the Jewish Labor Committee's Child Adoption Program and materials relating to the Women's Division and Workmen's Circle also are found in the collection. 

National Committee for Labor Israel Records (I-535)

The National Committee for Labor Israel (NCLI) was an American fundraising organization closely associated with Israel’s federation of labor and trade unions (Histadrut). NCLI provided financial support for the Histadrut’s educational, health, and social programs in Israel through national and regional solicitation campaigns. The documents in this collection can generally be divided into two distinct categories. The first is composed of the NCLI administrative and operational files, most heavily representing a period of time from the 1980s through 2006. The Israeli project files comprise the second category (Series III). These are slightly older records, often in Yiddish or Hebrew, many of which are transactional and contain little information. Collectively, however, they document an ambitious state-building project and the substantial American involvement in the development of modern Israel. 

Samuel Gompers Papers, 1904-1932 (P-416) (Digitized)

This one-folder, digitized collection contains three letters from Samuel Gompers to his wife written while traveling on union business, a letter supporting the German trade union movement, and an autographed card. Also includes a letter from Mr. Schwab in which Schwab comments on Samuel Gompers and his life. The comments were to be used in a projected biography by Mrs. Gompers.

Workmen's Circle Records, undated, 1903-1993 (I-304)

The Workmen’s Circle (Arbeiter Ring), founded in 1892, became a national order in 1900. It was established as a social and cultural Jewish labor fraternal order. Its purpose was to provide members with mutual aid and health and death benefits and to support the labor and socialist movements of the world. Historically, the Workmen’s Circle was closely tied to Jewish unions, the Yiddish labor press, and the Socialist Party. 

Collection consists of material from the administration, services, individual branches, and schools of the Workmen's Circle. The majority of the collection are publications of the Workmen's Circle relating to conventions and education. The collection also includes annual reports, newsletters, bulletins, and pamphlets

Library Materials

Bolshevism in American Labor Unions; : A Plea for Constructive Unionism / by John A. Dyche; with an Introduction by Julius Henry Cohen. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926. Print.

David Dubinsky, the I. L. W. U., and the American Labor Movement : Essays in Honor of David Dubinsky. New York, 1968. Print.

Jewish Labor in U.S.A : An Industrial, Political and Cultural History of the Jewish Labor Movement. New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, 1950. Print.

Personalities of the American Jewish Labor Movement / Bea Stadtler. New York, N.Y.: Education Dept., Workmen's Circle. Print.

Seventy Years of Life and Labor : An Autobiography / Samuel Gompers ; Edited and with an Introduction by Nick Salvatore. Ithaca, NY: ILR, New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell U, 1984. Print.

The Master of Seventh Avenue : David Dubinsky and the American Labor Movement / Robert D. Parmet. Paperback ed. New York: New York UP, 2012. Print.

What Labor Zionism Means to Me / Max Lerner. New York: Labor Zionist Organization of America, 1949. Print.