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United Mine Workers of America District 12 (Ill.) Records on Microfilm

 Collection
Identifier: 5301 mf

Scope and Contents

Collection consists of transcripts of joint conventions and conferences of coal mine operators and officials of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (1899-1919); joint board meetings between operators and officials of District 12 of the UMW for the purpose of adjusting grievances (1899-1928); and various contracts signed between locals in the Central Competitive Fields and the mine operators (1899- 1928).

This collection is divided into two series.

Series 1: Joint Conventions and Conference Proceedings (reels 1-3)

Series 2: Joint Grievance Board Transcripts (reels 4-7)

Dates

  • 1899-1928

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

District 12 encompasses the coal fields of Illinois and, throughout the period covered by these records, was one of the largest and most powerful districts in the United Mine Workers (UMW). District 12 was noted for its violent history of labor-management confrontation and, in the 1920's and 1930's, as a hotbed of sentiment against UMW central leadership, notably that of John L. Lewis.

District 12, in an attempt to maintain its contracts, unilaterally, and against the will of the Lewis leadership, accepted a reduction in the day rates of its members, thus leveling the final blow to the uniform scale of the Central Competitive Fields (CCF). In the late 1920's, moreover, District 12 was the center of a movement to unseat Lewis. Led by District 12 President Frank Farrington, John H. Walker, and Alexander Howatt, the movement culminated in 1930 with District 12 declaring itself autonomous from the UMW. After two years of complicated legal battles, District 12 was forced back into the UMW and Farrington and Walker were unseated by pro-Lewis candidates. In the process, a dual miners' union was formed in Illinois, the Progressive Mine Workers of America, which struggled, with questionable success, to wrest the allegiances of Illinois coal miners from the Lewis-dominated UMW.

Extent

1 collection (2 collections)

Abstract

Collection consists of transcripts of joint conventions and conferences of coal mine operators and officials of the United Mine Workers of America (UMW) from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (1899-1919); joint board meetings between operators and officials of District 12 of the UMW for the purpose of adjusting grievances (1899-1928); and various contracts signed between locals in the Central Competitive Fields and the mine operators (1899-1928).

Quantity:

7 microfilm reels

Forms of Material:

Articles, reprints, pamphlets, correspondence, photographs, microfilm.

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, April 02, 2015
EAD encoding:
Kheel Staff, April 02, 2015
Title
United Mine Workers of America District 12 (Ill.) Records on Microfilm
Status
Completed
Author
Compiled by Kheel Staff
Date
April 02, 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

Contact:
227 Ives Hall
Ithaca NY 14853