Preserving the historical record of American labor: union-library archival services partnerships, recent trends, and future prospects.ABSTRACT THE ARCHIVAL RECORDS OF American labor institutions are a rich resource for the studies of American history, society, and culture. Not only can a researcher find evidence for the institutional history of unions by examining these records, but a whole array of other research topics come into play: strikes and their effects on communities and businesses, the effects of technology/on employment and work processes, race and gender issues, and workers' culture, to name a few. This article briefly reviews endeavors by academic research institutions to capture and preserve this important historical resource, focusing on a recent project to assess the state of labor archives efforts and on the challenges facing union officials and labor archivists if a comprehensive documentation of American workers and their unions is to be achieved. A BRIEF HISTORY OF LABOR ARCHIVES EFFORTS Efforts to document the American labor movement by archivists, librarians, and scholars date back to the early part of the twentieth century with the work of Richard T. Ely Richard Theodore Ely, Ph. D., LL.D. (born April 13, 1854 in Ripley, New York; died October 4, 1943 in Old Lyme, Connecticut) was an American economist. He was born as the eldest of three children of Ezra Sterling and Harriet Gardner (Mason) Ely. and John R. Commons John Rogers Commons (1862–1945) was a well-known institutional economist and labor historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Life and career Born in Hollansburg, Ohio, Commons had a religious upbringing which led him to be an advocate for social justice , founders of the "Wisconsin School The Wisconsin school in economics was based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and played a prominent role in American economics in the first half of the 20th century. " of labor history Labor history may refer to:
An association of workers united as a single, representative entity for the purpose of improving the workers' economic status and working conditions through collective bargaining with employers. Also known as "unions". . That data ultimately became available to other researchers to examine and use. (1) Other data-gathering efforts followed Ely and Commons: the American Labor Year Book (begun in 1916) and labor-collecting by the Rand School for Social Science and the Tamiment Library. In the 1940s, the U.S. National Archives National Archives, official depository for records of the U.S. federal government, established in 1934 by an act of Congress. Although displeasure concerning the method of keeping national records was voiced in Congress as early as 1810, the United States continued began to take an active interest in fostering the preservation of labor union labor union: see union, labor. records, and the Labor-Management Documentation Center (now known as the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation) at Cornell commenced its collecting activity. The establishment of this research facility represents the first instance of labor unions agreeing to work in partnership with an academic institution to preserve union records to support labor history. Perhaps the signal event that launched a widespread effort to locate and collect American union records was the establishment of the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University Wayne State University, at Detroit, Mich.; state supported; coeducational; established 1956 as a successor to Wayne Univ. (formed 1934 by a merger of five city colleges). in Detroit. Founded in 1960 and housed in the Walter Reuther
UConn's main campus is in Storrs, Connecticut. , California State University Enrollment  at Northridge, the University
of Texas at Arlington For other system schools, see University of Texas System.History Established in 1895 as Arlington College, it was renamed Carlisle Military Academy (1902), Arlington Training School (1913), and Arlington Military Academy (1916). , the University of Maryland University of Maryland can refer to:
Rutgers maintains three campuses. , and the Ohio Historical Society The Ohio Historical Society is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1885 "...to promote a knowledge of archaeology and history, especially in Ohio." The society exists to interpret, preserve, collect, and make available evidence of the past, and to provide leadership on . Georgia State University History Georgia State University was founded in 1913 as the Georgia School of Technology's "School of Commerce." The school focused on what was called "the new science of business. established the Southern Labor Archives in 1969, and in 1977 the Robert F. Wagner For other persons named Robert Wagner, see Robert Wagner (disambiguation). Robert Ferdinand Wagner (8 June 1877–4 May 1953) was a Democratic United States Senator from New York from 1927 until 1949. Archives at New York University New York University, mainly in New York City; coeducational; chartered 1831, opened 1832 as the Univ. of the City of New York, renamed 1896. It comprises 13 schools and colleges, maintaining 4 main centers (including the Medical Center) in the city, as well as the was established. Encouraged by the research needs of social and "new" labor historians, labor archives enjoyed a period of reasonable financial support and strong scholarly interest. But even as the George Meany Memorial Archives was being established by the AFL-CIO AFL-CIO: see American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. AFL-CIO in full American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations U.S. in 1980 and new regional efforts were taking shape at California State University at Northridge, San Francisco State University • • [ , the University of Massachusetts The system includes UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth (affiliated with Cape Cod Community College), UMass Lowell, and the UMass Medical School. It also has an online school called UMassOnline. , and the University of Connecticut, the activism of the American labor archives effort seemed to peak. Labor archivists and other interested parties meeting at the George Meany Center for Labor Studies, Silver Spring, Maryland Not to be confused with Silver Springs. Silver Spring is an urbanized, unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. After Baltimore and Columbia, Silver Spring is the third most populous Census Designated Place in Maryland. , in November 1980, assessed the situation and made several recommendations. Noting that repositories were unable to keep up the collecting pace of the 1960s and 1970s, that huge backlogs of unprocessed records had accumulated, and that the costs of processing had risen, they suggested that unions develop their own in-house archives, with the newly established AFL-CIO archives program offering consulting services in archives and records management. They also called for the establishment of a clearinghouse of information on the location and extent of holdings in the many repositories holding labor materials. Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, steps were taken to implement these suggestions. Labor History published a special issue on labor archives in the U.S. in 1982 (which was updated and published in book form in 1992). The George Meany Center for Labor Studies has periodically offered a course in records management for local unions and has produced a records-management manual for distribution to local unions (Bernhardt, 1992). The Labor Archives Roundtable of the Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists (established 1936) is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 3,400 individual and institutional members. , composed of archivists from repositories with strong labor collections or agencies dealing in labor-related records, has sustained a discussion of labor archives issues since 1985. It was from the Labor Archives Roundtable that the Labor Archives Project, a recent effort to assess the work of labor archivists in the context of a changing labor movement, emerged. In 1997, the Labor Archives Project pulled together a large body of data relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc unions and organizational change, the current holdings of institutions that collect labor materials, and research trends. THE LABOR ARCHIVES PROJECT, 1995-97: PROJECT OVERVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS In 1995 a group of ten archivists responsible for union collections held by academic institutions commenced a discussion on what effect the changes in the American labor movement--in other words, the new AFL-CIO leadership, a spate of mergers, union institutional reorganizations, and increasing labor militancy and aggressive organizing campaigns--would have on the documentary record created by unions. This discussion led to research efforts into how unions were actually experiencing organizational changes, and how this was affecting established agreements between unions and repositories. In 1997, archivists representing five repositories holding substantial labor materials applied for and were awarded a Bentley Library Fellowship for the Study of Modern Archives Administration to assess the labor archives scene in light of the changing face of the American labor movement. (2) In July 1997, Debra Bernhardt (Wagner Labor Archives, New York University), Les Hough n. 1. Same as Hock, a joint. v. t. 1. Same as Hock, to hamstring. [ imp. & p. p. os> r>; p. pr. & vb. n. os> n. 1. An adz; a hoe. v. t. 1. To cut with a hoe. (Walter Reuther Library, Wayne State University), Lee Sayrs (George Meany Memorial Archives), Julia Marks Young (Southern Labor Archives, Georgia State University), and the author gathered in Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, city (1990 pop. 109,592), seat of Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with a large number of government and industrial research and development firms, many in high-technology fields such as to review preassigned areas of research and to develop an action plan for American labor archives. The group summarized its findings as follows: * A detailed organizational analysis of American trade American Trade, the trade that the United States has with foreign nations or within itself. The Government actively promotes exports and seeks to prevent foreign countries from maintaining trade barriers that restrict imports. unions, examining typical union structure, administrative functions and the extent of current organizational change, indicates that despite historical stability, many unions are entering a period of organizational transformation. The growing merger movement among AFL-CIO affiliates, the increasing number of unions undergoing internal reorganization, and expanding efforts in organizing and community outreach will have serious consequences for union record-keeping practices and thus the records produced. * Most unions engage in some form of records management. Approximately thirty of the seventy-eight AFL-CIO affiliates have in-house archives programs or agreements for archival services with outside repositories. The increased use of personal computers and the decline of central filing systems in union offices, as well as the overall fragility of records at the district and local levels, however, make it urgent that unions review and upgrade record keeping practices to ensure that crucial historical documentation from these organizational levels and entities is not lost. * With national holdings of more than 130,000 linear feet, labor archives serve steadily increasing numbers of researchers. Students and academic faculty continue to be the most reliable users, with union administrative staff comprising a significantly growing user group. Unions are rightly proud of their rich cultural and historical legacies. Outreach programs by archives to unions will help guarantee that union culture and history are used to benefit their creators. Based on the above findings, the following recommendations were derived: Immediate Actions * Disseminate LAP findings and recommendations to labor unionists, archivists, and historians through publications, presentations at professional meetings, and labor-sponsored regional meetings. * Enlist the support of national unions to pass constitutional provisions requiring appropriate disposition of records of enduring value of active and inactive affiliated bodies. * Encourage partnerships between labor organizations and interested repositories. * Organize basic records management and archival training for union records keepers. * Raise the archival consciousness of union officials about the disposition of historical and cultural materials when mergers and amalgamations Occur. * Update and reissue the directory of labor archives published in Labor History and the manual How to Keep Union Records. * Establish a Labor Documentation Action Network, a national labor archives coordinating council to be convened at the George Meany Memorial Archives with the participation of unions, archivists, and user communities to begin to implement the long-term recommendations. Long-Term Goals Long-term goals Financial goals expected to be accomplished in five years or longer. * Conduct a systematic analysis of holdings and gaps in U.S. labor documentation. * Bring under archival care significant historical records of the national unions, state labor federations, city central bodies, and significant locals that currently do not have archival partnerships. * Explore enhanced electronic access to labor archives. * Mount a pilot project to develop guidelines for the management of historically significant electronic records created by labor organizations. * Establish a labor archives field program to foster cooperative efforts. The LAP group's intention was to bring its findings and recommendations to as wide a body of constituents and interested parties as possible. The annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists became one venue for distribution, as did the Labor History Conference held annually at Wayne State University. The Project was also discussed at a gathering of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference in 1998. Key to moving to an implementation stage was obtaining a hearing from the leadership of the AFL-CIO to ask its support in moving ahead on building the network. A hearing proved difficult to obtain, however, and significant changes in the occupational status of several of the key LAP participants further delayed implementation of the recommendations. LAP'S RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND COMPOSITE DATA SUMMARY From the outset, the Labor Archives Project team realized its work would be more impressionistic/qualitative than scientific/quantitative. Although a more rigorous research methodology might have produced more thorough results, limited time and resources forced a fairly rough and ready approach. To gather information on the holdings, use, and organizational climate The concept of organizational climate has been assessed by various authors, of which many of them published their own definition of organizational climate. Organizational climate, however, proves to be hard to define. of unions, the team developed three questionnaires, two of which were applied to repositories maintaining significant labor holdings and one to unions. The repository respondents were: Aldrich Public Library, Barre, Vermont Butte-Silver Bow Public Archives, Butte, Montana Catholic University of America, Department of Archives, Manuscripts and Museum Collections Cornell University, Theodore Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives Duke University, Perkins Library, Manuscripts Department George Meany Memorial Archives, AFL-CIO Georgia State University, Southern Labor Archives Indiana State University, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana New York University, Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives Pennsylvania State University, Historical Collections and Labor Archives Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence, Rhode Island Rutgers University, Special Collections-Archives Southwest Missouri State University, Ozark Labor Union Archives State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Archives Division Temple University, Urban Archives Center University of Colorado, Western Historical Collections University of Connecticut, Historical Manuscripts and Archives University of Maryland, Historical Manuscripts and Archives University of New Orleans, Archives and Special Collections Department University of Pittsburgh, Archives of Industrial Society University of Texas at Arlington, Texas Labor Archives University of Washington, Northwest Regional Manuscripts Collection University of West Virginia, West Virginia and Regional History Collection Wayne State University, Walter P. Reuther Library (Note: Not all the above repositories responded fully to the two survey instruments provided.)
Appraisal, Selection, and Documentation Survey Form
1. Please report the quantity of labor records (union archives of
affiliates, papers of labor activists, etc.) that your repository
has accessioned in each of the ten preceding years: 1987--,
1988--, 1989--, 1990--, 1991--, 1992--, 1993--, 1994--,
1995--, 1996--.
2. Are there labor history collections you could not accession because
you lacked resources?--yes--no If yes, please estimate bow
many collections/linear feet--
3. Are you accessioning collections now that you would not have
preserved 10 years ago? Why or why not?
4. Is your collecting mission solely labor or more broadly social
history? Outline or attach mission statement.
5. Please indicate your collection's strengths in documenting the
following labor history topics: (Strong, Adequate, Could be
stronger)
Organizing
Political action
Labor disputes
Craft unionism
Radical unionism
Industrial unions
Public employees
Service workers
Labor insurgency
Rank and file documentation
Civil rights
6. What areas of the economy of your region have you (or other
collections at your institution) documented?
7. What areas do you wish you could better document?
8. Do you serve as the repository for local or state central bodies?
Please list.
9. Do you collect trade association records related to the industries
for which you collect labor records? Please list.
10. What kinds of records do you routinely decline to take when you are
in the field?
11. What is your practice regarding deaccessioning?
12. How large is your backlog?
13. To what level do you process?
14. By what means do you find resources to process large collections?
Please send samples of donor agreements.
15. Have you established records management programs with the unions
for which you serve as an historical repository?
16. What do you regard as the issue of greatest concern to labor
archivists?
17. What joint projects might labor archivists undertake to strengthen
our collections?
A second repository questionnaire was developed to solicit data on use of labor materials.
Labor Archives User Survey Form
1. Please indicate the number of linear feet of archival material
relating to labor you hold in your repository.
2. Please indicate the number of staff employed in support of your
labor collections.
3. The total number of research visits (1 day = 1 visit) utilizing
your labor collections over each of the last 10 years has been:
1987--, 1988--, 1989--, 1990--, 1991--, 1992--, 1993--,
1994--, 1995--, 1996--.
4. Over the last decade, researchers have been seeking information on
the following subjects (check those that apply):
Organizing
Political action
Labor disputes
Craft unionism
Industrial unionism
Radical unionism
Public employees
Service workers
Labor insurgency
Rank and file
Civil rights
Genealogy
Other topics
5. The types of use of your labor records over the entire period has
been (please rank in order of frequency--1 = most, 12 = least):
Administrative use by unions themselves
Public relations use by unions themselves
Attorney or other legal user
Government official
Projects by elementary or secondary school student
Academic work by undergraduate or graduate student
Scholarly work by historian or other humanities faculty member
Research by labor studies, industrial relations or human resources
professional
Genealogist or family historian
Media professional
Other user
6. Over the last decade researchers have requested records of these
types most frequently (please rank in order of frequency--1 = most,
17 = least):
Union charters, constitutions, by-laws and records concerning
jurisdiction
Minutes of meetings and conventions at all levels of organization
Membership records
Copies of contracts, minutes of collective bargaining meetings,
grievance files, arbitration awards
Correspondence relating to the records listed above and general
correspondence
Personal papers of labor officials and members
Organizing and field service reports
Annual and monthly financial reports, annual audits, account
ledgers
Official union publications
Films and videotapes
Photographic prints or negatives
Posters, placards, badges, buttons etc.
All other financial records, including bills, canceled checks, bank
statements, receipts and vouchers, work sheets, and pertinent
resolutions
Ballots and other election records
Personnel and employment records including application forms and
other records having to do with hiring, promotion, demotion,
transfer, layoff, termination, rates of pay, and selection for
training
Records used in making up the EEO-1, EEO-2, and EEO-3 reports
7. Please make any other suggestions you might have for the project
team.
Sample findings from repository forms: * Total labor archival holdings in linear feet (18 repositories reporting): 126,364 * Total collections in repositories (15 repositories reporting): 3,223 * Total number of labor archives full-time staff in U.S. repositories: 42.15 Records most frequently requested in ranking order: * Correspondence * Personal papers of labor officials * Photographic prints and negatives * Minutes * Contracts, grievances, arbitration files * Union publications * Union charters, constitutions, by-laws * Organizing and field reports * Membership records * Oral histories * Films and videos * Posters, badges, buttons * Annual financial records, audits * Personnel and employment records * Ballots and election records * Other financial records * EEO EEO Equal Employment Opportunity EEO Equal Employment Office EEO Eastern European Outreach (Murrieta, CA) EEO Extremely Elliptical Orbit EEO Exotic Electro-Optics, Inc. reports Types of users in ranking order: * Graduate and undergraduate students * Historians and humanities faculty * Unions for administrative purposes * Unions for public relations public relations, activities and policies used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution, or business establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by presenting them to the public in the most * Community members * Labor studies users * Media professionals * Rank and file * Genealogists * Elementary and secondary students * Attorneys * Government officials Part of the Labor Archives Project involved an assessment of organizational structural and administrative functional changes in American labor unions and the implications of these changes for records-keeping and creation. To do this, two LAP team members compiled information from twelve unions based on personal meetings or telephone interviews with knowledgeable union officials. Supplemental organizational information was collected on another eight unions based on brochures and Web site visits. Unions personally contacted were: * American Postal Workers Union The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) is a labor union in the United States. It represents employees of the United States Postal Service who are clerks, maintenance employees, and motor vehicle service workers. It also represents approximately 2,000 private-sector mail workers. (APWU APWU American Postal Workers Union ) * Bakery, Confectionery, and Tobacco Workers Union (BCT BCT Brigade Combat Team BCT Basic Combat Training BCT Best Conventional Pollutant Control Technology (EPA) BCT Business Cards Tomorrow BCT Banque Centrale de Tunisie (Central Bank of Tunisia) ) * International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) is a labor union which represents workers in the electrical industry in the United States and Canada, particularly electricians, or Inside Wiremen, in the construction industry and linemen and other employees of public (IBEW IBEW n abbr (US) (= International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) → sindicato internacional de electricistas IBEW n abbr (US) (= International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ) * International Chemical Workers Union * International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craft Workers * International Union of Electrical and Electronics Workers (IUE IUE International Ultraviolet Explorer (NASA) IUE Istituto Universitario Europeo (Italian: European University Institute) IUE Image Understanding Environment IUE Izmir University of Economics ) * International Union of Operating Engineers The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) is a labor union within the AFL-CIO representing primarily construction workers who work as heavy equipment operators, mechanics, surveyors, and stationary engineers, who maintain heating and other systems in buildings and (IUOE IUOE International Union of Operating Engineers ) * National Association of Letter Carriers The National Association of Letter Carriers (or NALC) is a labor union for employees of the United States Postal Service who serve as letter carriers (informally, "mail carriers", "mailmen", or "postmen", although many are now in fact female). (NALC NALC N-acetyl l-cysteine Microbiology A mucolytic agent used to collect sputa destined for TB culture that liquefies the mucus by breaking disulfide bonds ) * Service Employees International Union (SEIU SEIU Service Employees International Union SEIU Special Education Intake Unit SEIU Secondary Education Interdisciplinary Unit SEIU Software Engineering Institute Union ) * United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBC UBC Uniform Building Code UBC University of British Columbia UBC Union of the Baltic Cities UBC United Brotherhood of Carpenters UBC Universal Battery Charger UBC Union of Baltic Cities UBC Universal Bibliographic Control UBC Used Beverage Cans ) * United Food and Commercial Workers The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union is a labor union representing approximately 1.4 million workers in the United States and Canada in many industries, including agriculture, health care, meatpacking, poultry and food processing, manufacturing, textile and (UFCW UFCW United Food and Commercial Workers ) * United Steelworkers United Steelworkers (USW) historic labour union representing workers in steel, aluminum, and other metallurgical industries for much of the 20th century. In the U.S. of America (USWA USWA United Steelworkers of America USWA United States Wrestling Association USWA United States Windsurfing Association USWA United States Wristwrestling Association ) Supplemental information came from the following unions: * United Auto Workers (UAW (spelling) UAW - Misspelling of "IAW"? ) * International Association of Machinists (IAM IAM - Interactive Algebraic Manipulation. Interactive symbolic mathematics for PDP-10. ["IAM, A System for Interactive Algebraic Manipulation", C. Christensen et al, Proc Second Symp Symb Alg Manip, ACM Mar 1971]. ) * United Mineworkers of America (UMWA UMWA n abbr (= United Mineworkers of America) → amerikanische Bergarbeitergewerkschaft ) * Amalgamated Transit Union The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is a labor union in the United States and Canada, representing workers in the transit system and other industries. The ATU was founded in 1892, and today has more than 180,000 members in more than 273 local unions in 46 states and 9 (ATU (ADSL Transceiver Unit) A device that provides ADSL modulation of the telephone line. The device at the telco side is the ATU-C (Central), which is a line card plugged into the DSLAM. ) * American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Workers (AFSCME AFSCME American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees ) * American Federation of Teachers (AFT) * Office and Professional Employees International Union The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) is a United States labor union representing more than 150,000 white-collar workers in the public and private sector in the United States. (OPEIU OPEIU Office and Professional Employees International Union (labor union) ) * Communication Workers of America (CWA CWA Clean Water Act (33 USC) CWA Communications Workers of America CWA Concerned Women for America CWA CEN Workshop Agreement (European pre-normative document) CWA County Warning Area CWA Clean Water Action )
Labor Organization Survey Form
Name of union
Address
Contact/Source
Title/Position
Telephone number
Office/Division checklist (Does your organization maintain the
following organizational units at present?)
Office of the President
Office of the Secretary-Treasurer
Legal Counsel's Office
Organizing Department
Member Services Department
Community Services Department
Research Department
Legislative Department
Civil Rights Department
International Affairs Department
Publications Department
Information/Records Management/Archives
Public Affairs/Relations Office
Library
Finance and Accounting Office
Has there been significant organizational change in the past 10 years? If so, from * merger with another union or unions? * merger of interorganizational units or departments? * creation of new departments, offices or other units? * disbanding of existing departments, offices or other units? Please describe. Records Keeping Is there a central file system? Y N Do offices/departments/units maintain their own files? Y N Is there a records management program? Y N Is there an archives program or partnership with an outside institution? Y N If partnership, with whom? What is the percentage of records being created and maintained electronically? 10% 25% 50% more than 50% Are there any disposition policies in place for electronic records? If yes, please describe. Have inactive records been microfilmed over the years? Y N If yes, please describe (for example, ongoing, one time only, etc.) In the course of our conversations with union contacts on the matters listed above we also discussed records creation issues, the existence and disposition of union cultural materials, and audiovisual records at the national, regional, and local levels. Narrative notes on these were appended to the survey form. COMPOSITE DATA FEEDBACK Organizational Structure  This article has no lead section.To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, one should be written. Based on the questionnaire and other information sources, the team found that the typical American labor union is structured as follows: * Executive Board * Office of the President * Office of the Secretary-Treasurer * Legal Counsel's Office * Organizing Department * Member Services Department * Legislative Department * Data Processing (Management Information Systems) * Public Relations Department * Library * Publications Department * Finance and Accounting Office or Department Many unions also maintain the following alternate administrative units: * Education Department * Research Department * Human Resources Department * Civil Rights Department * Records Management Office * International Affairs Office * Community Services Department * Women's Affairs Department or Office * Health and Safety Department * Retired Members Office In some cases a special office for Canadian affairs is maintained. Significant Organizational Change Of the twelve unions contacted directly, most reported some significant organizational change over the past decade. The Carpenters union, for example, (ca. 1997) was undergoing far-reaching restructuring. IUE, SEIU, UFCW, Steelworkers, Bricklayers, and Chemical Workers all reported mergers of some kind. BCT reported some mergers of locals and national office administrative units. NALC, APU APU Azusa Pacific University APU Auxiliary Power Unit APU Alaska Pacific University APU Asia Pacific University (Japan) APU American Public University APU Anglia Polytechnic University (Chelmsford) , the Operating Engineers, and IBEW reported no significant organizational changes during the ten years prior to the survey. Records Management Of the twelve unions contacted directly, six had some form of records-management system in place, six did not. Those with partial or full records-management programs were: NALC, IBEW, IUE, Steelworkers, SEIU, and UFCW. Those without were: APU, BCT, Chemical Workers, Operating Engineers, Carpenters, and the Bricklayers. Archives Programs Of the twelve unions contacted directly, seven reported partnerships with academic research facilities. These were: Carpenters and BCT (University of Maryland), IUE (Rutgers University), Steelworkers (Penn State University), UFCW (State Historical Society of Wisconsin), SEIU (Walter Reuther Library), and Chemical Workers (University of Akron Enrollment in fall 2006 was 23,539 students.[1] The school offers more than 200 undergraduate degrees [2] and 100 graduate degrees [3]. The University's best-known program is its College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, which is located in a ). IBEW and APU reported maintaining a limited in-house archives programs. Electronic Records Circa 1997, the unions contacted maintained certain financial records in electronic form. All were interested in expanding electronic information technologies covering contract, arbitration, and membership data within their organizations. All of the unions contacted had made the move from central filing systems to decentralized de·cen·tral·ize v. de·cen·tral·ized, de·cen·tral·iz·ing, de·cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. filing motivated by the introduction of institution-wide personal computing. A RESEARCH AGENDA FOR A NEW GENERATION OF LABOR ARCHIVISTS Although an interesting and generally useful body of repository and union data was gathered during the Labor Archives Project, certain project weaknesses need to be addressed. The repository data-gathering instruments were the product of serious deliberation by LAP team members, yet the fact that respondents did not--and perhaps could not--respond fully suggests that the forms erred on the side of seeking too much information. However, the union survey form, since it was administered for the most part face-to-face, perhaps erred on the side of gathering not enough information. All qualitative research Qualitative research Traditional analysis of firm-specific prospects for future earnings. It may be based on data collected by the analysts, there is no formal quantitative framework used to generate projections. runs into the same problem: how much information is enough? Though the Bentley Historical Library The Bentley Historical Library is a historical library located on the University of Michigan North Campus in Ann Arbor. It was established in 1935 by the regents of the University of Michigan. supported the work of assessing and summarizing data gathered, the Labor Archives Project was a labor of love, conducted when the archivists involved could find time to focus on the basic research. While not throwing the baby out with the bath water, it must be admitted that what was learned through the LAP was cursory; the picture derived, fleeting. The approaching centennial of Ely and Commons' work in documenting American workers and their unions is a good occasion to think about revisiting the Labor Archives Project and updating its findings. Toward that end, I have compiled a research agenda and offer it to the labor archivists now moving into positions of influence in their repositories and encourage them to step forward to launch a Labor Archives Project II. The Labor Archives Project did not closely examine the status of union-repository partnerships other than to note the number of unions with archival service agreements and the number of American repositories collecting labor materials. LAP II would present the opportunity to update these figures and examine the nature of standard archival services agreements and how or if they are being regularly enforced. (3) Research Proposal In the interests of data-gathering manageability and optimum response, focus on ten repositories based on either their regional or national standing as representatives of the current levels of labor-collecting. Good candidates would be: 1. Walter Reuther Library 2. Pennsylvania State University 3. San Francisco State University 4. New York University (Wagner Labor Archives) 5. University of Maryland 6. Georgia State University (Southern Labor Archives) 7. Cornell University 8. University of Massachusetts 9. University of Texas at Arlington 10. State Historical Society of Wisconsin Contact curators or other spokespersons for these collections and ask the following questions: * How many unions do you currently serve? * How many cubic feet of union records have you acquired since 1997? * What is the average number of researchers using union records you have served per year since 1997? And, further: * Will you share a copy of your standard deposit agreement/instrument gift with us? * What do you select for transfer in terms of document types? * How often do you communicate with your union contacts? * Are you facing a backlog? Big, medium, or small? * What is your rate of processing labor records? * Are you satisfied with the terms of your agreements? * Are there specific problem areas? * Should your agreements be revisited with union officers and updated? Contact union officers from a select group of AFL-CIO affiliates (4) responsible for overseeing archives agreements and ask the following questions: * Have there been any mergers in this union since 1997? * Has there been any change of leadership since 1997? * Has there been any significant reorganization since 1997? * Has a records management program been instituted in this union? * How frequently do you transfer records to your designated repository? * To what extent are office transactions in your union conducted electronically? * Has the repository made any recommendations for identifying electronic records of enduring value? * Are audiovisual materials--training, organizing, legislative--included in materials scheduled for eventual transfer to the repository? Union memorabilia? * Are you satisfied with your agreement? * Should it be revisited and updated? A report based on this research approach would present the data according to the following categories: Repository Feedback Summary of the kinds of agreements in force Summary of selection criteria Frequency of communications Quantity of backlog and processing rates Satisfaction quotient Problem areas Revisit agreement, yes or no? Union Feedback Summary of mergers, leadership change, reorganization findings Records management program, yes or no? Records transfer frequency Summary of electronic records, AV, and memorabilia Satisfaction quotient Revisit agreement, yes or no? CONCLUSION: THE CHALLENGES AHEAD Labor unions retain an important role in American society as mediating institutions between deregulated corporate power and workers and their families. Though there are those who proclaim the irrelevance of the American labor movement in this era of global markets and the unhindered unhindered Adjective not prevented or obstructed: unhindered access Adverb without being prevented or obstructed: he was able to go about his work unhindered movement of capital, workers who enjoy the protections made possible by their union contracts see it differently. The content of the AFL-CIO's Web site and the sites of any of the major affiliates reflect both the domestic and global concerns of the American labor movement in traditional terms of wages and working conditions and in terms of the full range of social amenities currently under attack by antiunion conservative forces intent on turning back the clock to the late nineteenth century. The need to ensure the preservation of the historical record of American labor unions is perhaps more important than ever. The current organizational dynamics of unions bespeak be·speak tr.v. be·spoke , be·spo·ken or be·spoke, be·speak·ing, be·speaks 1. To be or give a sign of; indicate. See Synonyms at indicate. 2. a. To engage, hire, or order in advance. the urgency of the task facing labor archivists. Past efforts at establishing a coordinated approach to labor archives have succeeded only to a degree and the most crucial work remains to be done. The agenda set by the Labor Archives Project was ambitious, perhaps too ambitious, given the workaday realities facing labor archivists. But its honest and enthusiastic intent should not be demeaned or its results forgotten. With the proper preparation, a Labor Documentation Action Network (5) could be established and sustained. Key ingredients to such an effort are understanding and support on the part of labor union officials and active commitment by labor archivists. What is needed to achieve the recommendations of the Labor Archives Project is a catalyst, a vehicle to bring the necessary players together. LAP II may be just that catalyst. NOTES (1.) For a more detailed history of the work of Ely and Commons, see Miller (1984). For a more detailed account of labor documentation in the U.S. to the mid-1980s, see Connors (1987). (2.) From 1982 to 1997, the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan (body, education) University of Michigan - A large cosmopolitan university in the Midwest USA. Over 50000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan's three campuses. The students come from 50 states and over 100 foreign countries. , offered residential fellowships to archivists to foster systematic research into areas of professional concern. The fellowships were supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a foundation endowed with wealth accumulated by the late Andrew W. Mellon. It is the product of the 1969 merger of the Avalon Foundation and the Old Dominion Foundation. and the National Endowment for the Humanities National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) U.S. independent agency. Founded in 1965, it supports research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. . Originally called the Labor Archives Appraisal Project, the project's name was shortened to reflect the fact that research efforts involved the whole range of archival endeavors, not simply archival appraisal. (3.) It is unlikely that a team of five labor archivists such as came together in 1997 could be assembled again. The proposed research agenda is geared for undertaking by a single investigator or by a team of two investigators. (4.) These should be representative of craft, industrial, and service union spheres. (5.) Debra Bernhardt, late director of the Wagner Labor Archives/Tamiment Library at New York University, suggested this nomenclature to convey the need for an ongoing activist approach to labor documentation. REFERENCES Bernhardt, D. (1992). How to keep union records: A guide for local union officers and staff Silver Spring, MD: Labor's Heritage Press. Connors, T. (1987). The labor archivist ARCHIVIST. One to whose care the archives have been confided. and the "labor question": Two steps forward, one step back. The Midwestern Archivist, 12(2), 61-72. Miller, H. L. (1984). The American Bureau of Industrial Research and the origins of the "Wisconsin School" of labor history. Labor History 25(2), 165-188. Thomas James Connors, 250 8th St., SE, Washington, D.C. 20003 THOMAS JAMES CONNORS is Curator of the National Public Broadcasting Archives National Public Broadcasting Archives (NPBA) is a depository of American non-commercial broadcasting materials. It is housed at the University of Maryland, College Park. Its collection is open to the public. The NPBA includes the NPR News Programming Collection. , University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (also known as UM, UMD, or UMCP) is a public university located in the city of College Park, in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., in the United States. . From 1982-87 he was assistant archivist at the George Meany Memorial Archives, AFL-CIO. In the ensuing years he has been involved in various labor oral history and archives projects. He is the author of two articles on labor archives issues. In 1997 he led the Labor Archives Project, a coordinated research effort by a group of labor archivists to assess the status of labor archives in the United States. The Labor Archives Project was supported by the Bentley Historical Library Research Fellowship Program for the Study of Modern Archives. |
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