Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
Name	Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
Established	1949
Location	Ithaca, New York
Type	archival repository
Parent institution	Cornell University

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation is an archival repository and research center housed at Cornell University that documents the history of labor, management, and industrial relations in the United States and internationally. The Center preserves manuscript collections, organizational records, oral histories, photographs, and audiovisual materials that support scholarship on labor movements, collective bargaining, and workplace policy. Its collections are frequently used by scholars studying figures and institutions across the fields of labor history and industrial relations.

History

The Center was founded through initiatives at Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and benefited from donors and leaders associated with National Labor Relations Board, American Federation of Labor, Congress of Industrial Organizations, United Auto Workers, and figures linked to Samuel Gompers, John L. Lewis, and Walter Reuther. Early collection development involved partnerships with unions such as United Steelworkers of America, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and Service Employees International Union, as well as corporate and governmental bodies including U.S. Department of Labor and National War Labor Board. Over decades the repository expanded to include records from labor attorneys, arbitrators, and mediators connected to American Arbitration Association and personalities like Cyrus S. Ching and George W. Taylor.

Collections and Holdings

The Center's holdings include manuscript collections from leaders of AFL–CIO, records from employers and trade associations like Chamber of Commerce of the United States, corporate archives linked to General Motors, U.S. Steel, and Bethlehem Steel, and documentation from labor advocacy groups such as Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and International Longshoremen's Association. It preserves oral histories featuring interviews with figures tied to May Day, Homestead Strike, Pullman Strike, Haymarket affair, and the Sit-down strike. The photographic and audiovisual holdings document events related to Fair Labor Standards Act, Taft-Hartley Act, New Deal, Wagner Act, and campaigns by organizations like Teamsters, Machinists Union, and Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America. Special collections include arbitration decisions and collective bargaining agreements involving entities such as Port of New York and New Jersey and Longshoremen.

Services and Access

Researchers access materials through Cornell University Library finding aids, special collections reading rooms, and digitized repositories that reference collections from the Center and related archives like Library of Congress labor collections. The Center provides reference services for scholars working on cases involving National Mediation Board, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and historical inquiries about labor policy under administrations such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Access procedures align with institutional policies used by repositories like New York Public Library, Smithsonian Institution, and university archives at University of Michigan and Harvard University.

Research and Publications

The Center supports scholarship published in journals and books by authors associated with Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Labor Studies Journal, American Historical Review, and presses such as Cornell University Press and Oxford University Press. Researchers have produced monographs on episodes involving Coal Strike of 1902, Steel Strike of 1919, Memphis sanitation strike, and biographies of leaders like A. Philip Randolph, Cesar Chavez, Eugene V. Debs, and Philip Murray. The Center also curates working papers and bibliographies used by faculty in programs alongside scholars from Columbia University, Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Chicago.

Notable Projects and Exhibits

Exhibits and projects have showcased themes tied to Labor Day, immigrant labor histories connected to Ellis Island, urban labor struggles in cities like Detroit, Chicago, and New York City, and industry-specific campaigns in sectors such as textile industry, railroads, and shipping industry. Collaborative exhibits have drawn on materials about events such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and campaigns led by organizations like Farm Workers Union and Amalgamated Transit Union. Digital projects have linked Center materials with collections at Digital Public Library of America and thematic exhibitions on milestones like the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Affiliations and Partnerships

The Center maintains institutional ties with Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University Library, and external partners including the American Labor Studies Center, International Labour Organization, AFL–CIO Archives, and regional repositories such as New York State Archives and New York Public Library. Collaborative grants and projects have involved organizations such as National Endowment for the Humanities, Ford Foundation, and scholarly networks including Labor and Working-Class History Association and the Oral History Association.

Staff and Administration

Administrators and archivists have included professionals trained in archival science and labor history who collaborate with faculty from Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, curators from Smithsonian Institution, and researchers from institutions like Rutgers University and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The Center works with donors and advisors drawn from unions such as United Auto Workers and AFL–CIO and with legal scholars from law schools including Harvard Law School and Yale Law School.

Category:Cornell University Category:Archives in the United States Category:Labor history