Finding Aids

Labor and Socialism

Abbott, Edith and Grace. Papers

Edith Abbott received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1905 and was a resident of Hull House until 1920. She served as Associate Director of the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy at the University of Chicago and also served as dean. She died in 1957. Grace Abbott received her Ph.M. from the University of Chicago in 1909 and studied law at the University of Chicago Law School. In 1915 she became the first director of the newly organized Immigrant's Protective League, and in 1917 was appointed to the Child Labor Division of the United States Children's Bureau. She and Edith both served as professors of Public Welfare at the University of Chicago. Grace died in 1939. Papers of Edith Abbott contain professional and personal correspondence, lecture notes for courses taught at the University of Chicago School of Social Administration (SSA), speeches and articles, the draft of the unfinished biography of Grace Abbott, some administrative files and reports of SSA, biographical material, and photographs. Papers of Grace Abbott contain personal and professional correspondence; manuscripts of articles, speeches, and radio broadcasts; biographical material; invitations; scrapbooks relating to the United States Children's Bureau; and pamphlets and memoranda on the Child Labor Amendment of 1924-25. Correspondents include Jane Addams, Sophonisba Breckinridge, Julia Lathrop, Frances Perkins, S.K. Ratcliffe, and Gifford Pinchot. Subjects include Hull House, child labor laws, child welfare, immigration, philanthropy, and public welfare administration. Also contains Abbott family papers, including correspondence, memorabilia, and photographs.

Buckingham and Carnatic Mills Photograph Collection

Nineteen photographic prints of the facilities at Buckingham Mills Company in Chennai, India (formerly Madras).

Chicago Communist Party. Records

The Chicago Communist Party Records contain correspondence, interparty announcements and meeting agendas, materials related to election campaigns, membership cards and lists of members, section reports, financial statements, book and journal publications, invitations, flyers, and brochures, and notes.

Chicago Foreign Language Press Survey. Records

The collection consists of 120,000 typewritten pages translated from newspapers of 22 different foreign language communities in Chicago, ranging from Lithuanian, Slovene, and Filipino to Chinese, Albanian, German, Greek, and Ukrainian communities. The dates of the original articles span the period of 1861-1938. The collection is arranged alphabetically by language group, beginning with Albanian newspapers and ending with those of the Ukrainian language press.

Debs, Eugene V., Walls and Bars. Manuscript

Eugene V. Debs, Leader of the Socialist Party of America. Manuscript and galley proofs of Walls and Bars which describes Debs's experience at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. Also includes an address from 1899 and two magazine articles published in 1922.

Eby, Kermit. Papers

Sociologist, educator, labor leader, and minister of the Church of the Brethren. Associate professor, University of Chicago, 1948-1950; professor, 1950-1962. Correspondence, articles, reprints, memoranda, and scrapbooks including material on the Friends Goodwill Mission to the Orient and the U.S. Commission for the Reorganization of Japanese Education. Includes speeches given at the Congress of Industrial Organizations relating in part to Philip Murray and James Carey. Correspondence reflects Eby's association with labor and political leaders, including William Benton, Elisabeth Borgese, Paul H. Douglas, Milton Eisenhower, Arthur Goldberg, A.J. Muste, Eleanor Roosevelt, the Reuther brothers, Willard Uphaus, and Henry Wallace. Also contains correspondence and memoranda relating to the University of Chicago.

Filbey, Emery T. Papers

Emery T. Filbey was born on December 23, 1878 in Cambridge City, Indiana. In the 1930’s served as the Vice-President of the University of Chicago in addition to serving on the National Labor Relations Board and in other government positions. He was actively involved in numerous philanthropic endeavors, such as the Pullman Education Foundation, the Douglas Smith Health Fund, and the Y.M.C.A.

Hart, Schaffner and Marx Labor Agreement. Records

The Hart, Schaffner and Marx Labor Agreement grew out of the unsuccessful nineteen-week strike of workers in the Chicago men’s clothing industry in 1910. It was initially signed by representatives of the workers and Hart, Schaffner and Marx and represented a compromise between the United Garment Worker’s (UGW) demand for a closed shop and management desire for an open one. The Records contain correspondence, grievance cases, and trade rulings.

Illinois Joint Committee for the Merit System in Civil Service Records

The Illinois Joint Committee for the Merit System in the Civil Service was formed in 1932 as a steering committee for the effort to strengthen and improve the civil service requirements in Illinois. The Records contain correspondence, annual reports, minutes, newspaper clippings, and scrapbooks of the Committee.

Indentured Persons Collection

Contains several documents pertaining to indentured persons (1766-1785), primarily rosters or lists of people immigrating to the United States as "redemptioners" in 1785. The collection also includes a 1766 indenture of apprenticeship for a nine year old boy.

Investigation by the United Mine Workers of Illinois into the Cherry Mine Disaster

Tyepscript records of the United Mine Workers of Illinois, documenting the inquest into the Cherry mine fire, Cherry, Illinois. Each volume contains records of sworn testimony, with coroner's report.

Laughlin, James Laurence. Papers

J. Laurence Laughlin (1850-933), Professor of Political Economy, editor of the Journal of Political Economy. The J. Laurence Laughlin Papers consist of a small collection of writings, correspondence, lectures notes and miscellany. The primary focus of the collection centers on two economic controversies in which Laughlin was involved concerning U. S. silver monetary policy and the legality and benefits of labor unions.

Morgan, Thomas J. Papers

Thomas J. Morgan (1847-1912), socialist activist and journalist. Born in England in 1847 and migrated to U.S. in 1869. Active in the machinists labor movement and the Socialist Labor Party. Editor and publisher of The Provoker. Contains correspondence concerning The Provoker, party correspondence, drafts of committee resolutions and statements with which Morgan was associated. Also includes drafts of speeches and articles by Morgan, miscellaneous clippings, journals and publications reflecting Morgan's activities in the Socialist Labor Party and politics in general, as well as Morgan's diverse public welfare interests.

Native American Educational Services. American Indian Business Association. Records

American Indian Business Association (AIBA), a Chicago non-profit which offered employment and training services to American Indian people. The AIBA was a consortium of 10 Illinois Indian Associations, each of which was represented on the Consortium Board whose meetings and associated documents are found in the collection. The AIBA worked with NAES College on the Job Training Partnership Act, and this collection also contains some papers and other items created by NAES. The collection forms part of the archives of Native American Educational Services.

Schilling, George A., Papers

George A. Schilling, labor movement leader and Secretary of the Illinois State Board of Labor Commissioners. The papers include five bound letterbooks, which span the period 1887 to 1907, correspondence, notes for and drafts of speeches, articles and letters, pamphlets, and miscellaneous items including clippings. The twenty unbound letters cover the period from 1913 to 1936.

Slotkin, Elizabeth J. Papers

Elizabeth J. Slotkin, labor economist and statistician. The collection consists of one folder of material, dating from the period 1957-1959. It consists of a paper written by Elizabeth J. Slotkin on new industrial employees and correspondence relating to that paper.

Stanfield, Reuel. Autobiography

The material is an autobiographical account of labor activist Reuel Stanfield's (1934-1961) organizing activities from 1934 to 1947, including the 1934 Longshoremen's Strike in San Francisco.

United States Shipbuilding Labor Adjustment Board Hearings. Records

Contains transcripts of hearings relating to labor, hours, wages in shipyards, shipbuilding plants, and private industries in which construction was carried on for the US Navy Department. Includes proceedings of the conferences with shipyard employees and builders held in Seattle and Philadelphia.

University of Chicago. Employees and Employment. Collection

This collection contains a range of material documenting employees and employment at the University of Chicago. Materials date between 1919 and 2000, with the bulk of materials dating between 1952 and 1980.

Vogel, Virgil J. Collection

Virgil J. Vogel (1918-1994) was an historian, political organizer, activist, educator and University of Chicago alumnus. The Virgil J. Vogel Collection spans 1903-1980 and represents the political activities of Vogel and his associate, the Socialist Party organizer Benjamin Williger. Included are records of a wide variety of leftist political organizations, particularly the the Socialist Party and the Young People's Socialist League; materials on political activity at the University of Chicago; leftist periodicals; and subject files on political and social topics. The collection also contains personal papers of Virgil Vogel.

Worshipful Company of Weavers. Charter, 1707, copy

The Worshipful Company of Weavers is the older of the Livery Companies in the City of London, established by 1130. The Collection contains a copy of a charter issued by Queen Anne in 1707. The copy is believed to have been created in connection with a legal case, circa 1745.