International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Louis Stulberg, President. Correspondence
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Scope and Contents
The Stulberg presidential records consist of correspondence, memoranda, photographs, speeches and subject files primarily dealing with union matters during Stulberg's term in office, though there are some personal materials in the collection as well.
Significant individuals in the collection include: David Dubinsky; Hubert Humphrey, Jacob Javits; Lyndon Johnson; Edward Kennedy; Jay Lovestone; Eugene McCarthy, George McGovern, George Meany, Richard Nixon; A Philip Randolph; Bayard Rustin; Robert Strauss; Harry S. Truman; Gus Tyler; and Charles S. Zimmerman.
Notable organizations represented in the collection are: the AFL-CIO; Americans for Democratic Action; the Democratic National Committee; the Liberal Party of New York; and the National Labor Relations Board.
Topics covered include: civil rights; dealings with garment manufacturers; international labor activities; locals and regional departments of the ILGWU throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, and Canada; minority membership in the ILGWU; relations with other unions; strikes and other labor disputes; union administrative matters; union conventions; union involvement in politics and government, especially in New York City and New York State; retirees' benefits, scholarships; union organizing; and wages.
Dates
- 1945-1977 [bulk 1966-1975].
Language of Materials
Collection material in English
Biographical / Historical
Louis Stulberg was born in Poland in 1901 and emigrated with his parents to Canada in 1904. After graduating from the Harborn Collegiate Institute in Toronto in 1918, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a cutter and joined ILGWU Local 81. Stulberg moved around the country, working as a cutter and union organizer in Toledo, Ohio, Chicago, and New York City. It was in New York that he finally settled, working as an official and organizer in ILGWU Local 10. Later he held a number of executive positions in the ILGWU, including the vice-presidency, a seat on the General Executive Board, the executive vice-presidency, and the office of General Secretary-Treasurer. He was elected president of the union in 1966, succeeding David Dubinsky, and served until his retirement in 1975. He died in 1977.
Stulberg's term was an inward-looking time, after the long tenure of David Dubinsky. A demographic shift in ILGWU membership, from largely Jewish and Italian workers to more Hispanic and African-American workers, had begun under Dubinsky, but accelerated rapidly during Stulberg's term. During this period, the ILGWU focused more heavily on organizing, and membership reached an all-time high in 1968. But by 1970, it had begun to fall dramatically, as more clothing manufacturers moved their operations abroad. The union also shed many of its political connections under Stulberg's leadership. In 1968 he led the union out of the Liberal Party, which it had helped to found, and severed its ties to the Americans for Democratic Action.
Extent
29 cubic feet
Abstract
The Stulberg presidential records consist of correspondence, memoranda, photographs, speeches and subject files primarily dealing with union matters during Stulberg's term in office, though there are some personal materials in the collection as well.
Arrangement
General Executive Board correspondence is arranged in reverse chronological order. General Office correspondence, regions, joint boards, and departments corresponcence, non-union correspondence, and requests from organizations are arranged alphabetically within each series. Locals correspondence is arranged numerically by local number.
Arrangement
- A. General Executive Board.
- Box 1
- B. General Office.
- Boxes 2-8
- C. International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.
- Boxes 8-9
- D. Regions, joint boards, and departments.
- Boxes 10-21
- E. Locals.
- Boxes 22-25
Quantity:
28 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Correspondence.
General
- Contact Information:
- Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives Martin P. Catherwood Library 227 Ives Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3183 kheel_center@cornell.edu http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/kheel
- Compiled by:
- Kheel Center staff
- Date completed:
- November 1976
- EAD encoding:
- Casey S. Westerman, July 8, 2002
- African American labor union members
- Civil rights -- United States
- Clothing trade -- Canada
- Clothing trade -- New York (State) -- New York
- Clothing trade -- Puerto Rico
- Clothing trade -- United States
- Clothing workers -- Canada
- Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- Canada
- Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- New York (State) -- New York
- Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- Organizing -- United States
- Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- Puerto Rico
- Clothing workers -- Labor unions -- United States
- Clothing workers -- New York (State) -- New York
- Clothing workers -- Puerto Rico
- Clothing workers -- United States
- Collective bargaining -- Clothing industry -- Canada
- Collective bargaining -- Clothing industry -- New York (State) -- New York
- Collective bargaining -- Clothing industry -- Puerto Rico
- Collective bargaining -- Clothing industry -- United States
- Correspondence
- Democratic Party (U.S.) (subject)
- Employee rights -- United States
- Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978. (subject)
- Industrial relations -- United States
- Javits, Jacob K. (Jacob Koppel), 1904-1986. (subject)
- Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973 (subject)
- Kennedy, Edward Moore, 1932- (subject)
- Labor union locals
- Liberal Party of New York State (subject)
- McCarthy, Eugene J., 1916- (subject)
- Memorandums
- Minority labor union members -- United States
- Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913- (subject)
- Organization files
- Photographs
- Postemployment benefits -- United States
- Speeches
- Strikes and lockouts -- Clothing trade -- New York (State) -- New York
- Strikes and lockouts -- Clothing trade -- United States
- Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972. (subject)
- Wages -- Clothing workers -- New York (State) -- New York
- Wages -- Clothing workers -- United States
- Women's clothing industry -- Canada
- Women's clothing industry -- New York (State) -- New York
- Women's clothing industry -- Puerto Rico
- Women's clothing industry -- United States
- Title
- International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Stulberg, Louis, President. Correspondence, 1945-1977 [bulk 1966-1975].
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Compiled by Kheel Center staff
- Date
- July 8, 2002
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Revision Statements
- 02/23/2024: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)
- 2007-05-29: converted from EAD 1.0 to EAD 2002
Repository Details
Part of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives Repository
227 Ives Hall
Ithaca NY 14853