Reel 27

Scope and Contents Mitchell's complaints about the USES Memphis office continued (1,3,8,14). Three new companies joined the roster of firms employing STFU seasonal workers: the Venice Maid Co., Vineland, N.J.; the Clark Equipment Co., Buchanan, Mich., and the Sussex Poultry Co., Milford, Del. Reports arrived from W.C. Banks at the E.J. Hurff Co., Swedesboro, N.J. (9,17), Moses Brown at the Cranbury Poultry Co., Cranbury, NJ (12), and from Carrie Dilworth at Venice Maid (15,26). The college students arriving at...

Scope and Contents During July, the union recruited several hundred workers for the Campbell Soup Co.; the details on this and other activities related to the organized migration appear in an exchange between Schachter and Mitchell (15,21). The papers include the minutes of the College Girls Committee at Deerfield Packing (11,18) and a report to Mitchell from Lilease W. Rogers , the Chairman (28). J.E. Clayton traveled to Buchanan, Michigan to inspect the Clark Equipment Co. plant and wrote Mitchell on what he...

Scope and Contents On July 31, two STFU organizers and four truck drivers gathering workers for jobs at the Campbell Soup Co. were arrested by a USES official in Cotton Plant, Ark. Mitchell immediately fired off letters to the ACLU, WDL, and similar organizations, asking for help (1). The reader may follow the progress of the case through the letters of Cotton plant lawyer Ross Mathis (11,13,16,25) and through a "statement of facts" on the case (n.d. [August, 1944]). Rev. David S. Burgess, employed by the...

Scope and Contents The correspondence with California union leaders noted in the previous month continued during September. F.R. Betton made a lengthy visit to the Campbell Soup Co. to iron out grievances and sent back lengthy reports (6,8,11,12). David Burgess submitted a long report on his work at Campbell (12). There is also a good deal of correspondence with the National Sharecroppers Fund concerning STFU plans and funding for the coming year, including a prospectus entitled "Farm Organization in the...

Scope and Contents As the end of cotton picking season approached, the STFU tried to find temporary jobs for southern workers in Louisville, Ky. and with the Basic Vegetable Co. in Vacaville, Calif.; neither project ever materialized. Mitchell wrote to ex-FSA official Hayes Beall in Washington on winter job prospects in Florida (23), and Beall wrote directly to David Burgess, as Mitchell requested, outlining the possibilities (25). Much of the correspondence has to do with preparations for the forthcoming STFU...

Scope and Contents From the Collection: Consist of correspondence, reports, ledgers, legal documents, leaflets, printed material, photographs, and newspapers published by the union. These document the activities of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union from its origins through its transformations into the National Farm Labor Union in 1946 and the National Agriculture Workers Union in 1952, and through its merger with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters Union in 1960. The records also contain selected materials from the Socialist Party...