Scope and Contents
The collection has three distinct components. The first section of the collection mainly consists of correspondence, collected articles and clippings organized alphabetically by either individual or subject. There is letters, expenses and documents about or during his travels, across the country while he was a representative of the ILGWU on the Pacific Coast, and abroad when he toured several countries in Europe visiting Socialist and labor institutions. Some of the other subjects include correspondence with Joseph Breslow, Jean Bangs (first wife), Maurice Brown, Max Danish, including copies of articles Danish had written as well as stories and poems, David Dubinsky, Melech Epstein and Diego Rivera. Available is photographs, programs, clippings and articles from the AFL Conference to Combat Intolerance held in Chicago in 1949. Information is also included on the strike of the H.W. Gossard Co. in 1941 along with clippings and a copy of the agreement with the union. The remainder of the correspondence in this section of the collection documents Plotkin's role as an ILGWU representative and organizer. Notable are the files from his time as the ILGWU representative in Hawaii which contains information and letters documenting the garment industry, factories, and homework situation as well as the standard of living for garment workers on the island. Also significant are the correspondence, reports, recommendations and clippings documenting Plotkin's involvement helping to organize Miami shops through meetings, leaflets and articles. Photographs throughout the collection have been digitized and include portraits of Plotkin, group shots of locals, meetings and conferences, staff and board members, strikes, and his travels such as Florida and his time in Berlin.
The second component of the collection consists of National Labor Relations Board Hearings including the Carson Pirie Scott & Company, the Decatur Garment Company, and the A.F. Keating Company all in Chicago, as well as Wage Board Recommendations and minimum fair wage standards for garment industries in Illinois.
The remainder of the collection is composed of the typed manuscript of Plotkin's time in Berlin in 1932-1933. He begins in October 25, 1932. His diary recounts his travels, individuals he met
As well as his published article "Destruction of the Labor Movement in Germany"
Dates
- 1911-1978
Language of Materials
Collection material in English
Conditions Governing Access
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.
Biographical / Historical
The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union was once one of the largest labor unions in the United States founded in 1900 by local union delegates representing about 2,000 members in cities in the northeastern United States. It was one of the first U.S. Unions to have a membership consisting of mostly females, and it played a key role in the labor history of the 1920s and 1930s. The union is generally referred to as the "ILGWU" or the "ILG". The ILGWU grew in geographical scope, membership size, and political influence to become one of the most powerful forces in American organized labor by mid-century. Representing workers in the women's garment industry, the ILGWU worked to improve working and living conditions of its members through collective bargaining agreements, training programs, health care facilities, cooperative housing, educational opportunities, and other efforts. The ILGWU merged with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union in 1995 to form the Union of Needle trades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE). UNITE merged with the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE) in 2004 to create a new union known as UNITE HERE. The two unions that formed UNITE in 1995 represented only 250,000 workers between them, down from the ILGWU's peak membership of 450,000 in 1969.
Biographical / Historical
Abraham Plotkin was born on August 22, 1892 (1893) in the Ukraine. After arriving with his family in the United States, they initially lived in Philadelphia before settling in New York. Plotkin soon had to work to supplement the family income and became employed in a small sweatshop. He continued to hold odd jobs while working on his education; attending night classes in New York City and taking courses at a Denver law school, though he did not obtain his degree. Plotkin was interested and became involved in Socialism, labor, and union organizing. As a young adult, he joined the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and remained a prominent figure in the organization for most of his adulthood. He died in May of 1988, at age 96.
Extent
2.5 cubic feet
Abstract
This collection documents Plotkin's work as an ILGWU organizer in the Midwest, Florida, Hawaii, and on the Pacific Coast. It also contains correspondence with European trade unionists, and Plotkin's diary on his time in Germany in 1932-1933 and his experiences in Berlin during the Nazi rise to power. Includes trip to International Clothing Workers Federation Congress in Vienna. Also articles in manuscript on various aspects of life in Berlin.
Quantity:
2.5 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Records, 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-center
- Compiled by:
- Kheel Staff, October 05, 2011
- EAD encoding:
- Randall Miles, October 30, 2015
- Title
- Plotkin, Abraham Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Compiled by Kheel Staff
- Date
- October 30, 2015
- 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)
Repository Details
Part of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives Repository
227 Ives Hall
Ithaca NY 14853