#laborarchives

"If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution." - Emma Goldman

Goldman (1869-1940) died on this day in Toronto, Canada. Goldman was an anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and speeches. She was born in the Russian Empire, and emigrated to the U.S. in 1885, she lived in New York City, where she joined the burgeoning anarchist movement in 1889.

Enjoy this adorable cat stationery found in the archives in Collection /3012 Alice Cook Papers! Alice Cook came to Cornell in 1952 and worked as a well-respected academic and teacher in the ILR School until her retirement in 1972.

Today, November 20th, is the anniversary of the first use of the word “scab” in print in 1816. The term was coined 200+ years ago by the Albany Typographical Society, referring to individuals who cross a picket line while workers strike. Here's some examples of the word "scab" mentioned in our collections.

As you eat your Halloween candy, maybe consider... what was it really like working in a candy factory? And in the 1920s, they didn't know either! This study, published in a pamphlet titled "Behind the Scenes in Candy Factories" was produced by The Consumers' League of New York and set out to uncover the true conditions behind the production process of the food the public consumes. To learn more about the Consumers' League of New York and the Candy White List standards, explore Collection 5307.

On this day in 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World, or the IWW, was founded at a 12-day convention in Chicago.

Their platform was radically different from that of any other contemporary union, and called for the organization of all workers, regardless of skill, gender, nationality, and religious creed, along industrial lines. Nothing less than the abolition of the wage system and of capitalism were the ultimate goals of the new organization, which became famous for its radical general strikes, militant tactics, and great appeal among new immigrants, women, and unskilled workers. Its members were nicknamed "Wobblies".

Learn more in our collections, particularly Collection #5210.

On this day in 1903 Mary Harris, more commonly known as “Mother Jones”, organized a children’s march in Philadelphia to focus public attention and demand action to stop textile mill owners from employing children to work long hours with dangerous machinery that had mutilated so many.

Three weeks later she led another march to New York City to encourage President Theodore Roosevelt to improve conditions for the child laborers. The National Child Labor Committee was formed the next year.

This poster is one example of many in the Guide to the Kheel Center Poster Collection, #6227, that includes posters advocating for health and safety policy reform, human rights issues, discrimination, political campaigns, labor issues, and unionization. The poster above is an example of publicity used to boost unionism and the strength of unions.

Alice Hanson Cook (1903-1998) was a labor educator first, through her work with the YWCA industrial department, Textile Workers Union, and Amalgamated Clothing Workers Union Joint Board in Philadelphia. She continued by contributing to research at Cornell through the ILR Extension working on a project titled "Integrating of Unions and Community", where she was then recruited by ILR to teach Labor History and Union Administration courses. Beyond teaching and research, she supported local Ithaca women's groups such as the Ithaca American Association of University Women, Professional Skills Roster, and Tompkins County Chapter of National Organization for Women.

While she retired in 1973, she was far from done with labor rights activism: she continued on to write several amicus briefs for discrimination cases worldwide, worked for the Ford Foundation on a study about working women worldwide, and published "Women and Trade Unions in Eleven Industrialized Countries", among other publications. She also wrote an autobiography, "A Lifetime of Labor", where she describes her self-proclaimed "patchwork career". Now, a dorm on West Campus is named in her honor, Alice Cook House.