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AFL Executive Council, Samuel Gompers Memorial Committee records

 Collection 0008-LBR-RG4-005

The Executive Council is the executive body of the AFL and was responsible for the conduct of the federations' affairs between the annual conventions. This collection contains records, from 1924-1936, of the Samuel Gompers Memorial Committee including correspondence, extracts of Executive Council minutes, financial records, and one photograph, documenting the creation of the Samuel Gompers Memorial at Massachusetts Avenue at 10th Street NW in Washington, D.C.

Dates

  • 1924-1936

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to the public and must be used in the Special Collections reading room. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Photocopies or digital surrogates may be provided in accordance with Special Collections and University Archives duplication policy.

Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.

Archival materials may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during our processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.

Extent

0.5 Linear Feet

Scope and Content of the Collection

The Executive Council is the executive body of the AFL and was responsible for the conduct of the federations' affairs between the annual conventions. This collection contains records, from 1924-1936, of the Samuel Gompers Memorial Committee formed after the death of Gompers. The materials include correspondence, extracts of Executive Council minutes, financial records, and one photograph, documenting the creation of the Samuel Gompers Memorial at Massachusetts Avenue at 10th Street NW in Washington, D.C.

Biographical / Historical

(From Folder 1 of this collection) The Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) at the meeting held in December, 1924, following the death of President Gompers on December 13, 1924, appointed five members of the Executive Council to constitute the Samuel Gompers Memorial Committee. The Presidents and Secretaries of affiliated National and International Unions were invited to serve as an advisory committee. As a result of their deliberations it was decided to erect a memorial monument, the means to be provided by voluntary contributions. Affiliated organizations were requested to bring the matter to the attention of all wage earners so that opportunity would be afforded as many as desired to do so to contribute.

The total amount subscribed, including interest, was $133,584.12. The expenses for the erection of the memorial and landscaping of the plot were $117,748.87.

The memorial is erected at 10th and Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., the site assigned by Act of Congress. Mr. Robert Aitken of New York was the sculptor. Work on the monument was delayed more than once by the Fine Arts Commission, who rejected the original design selected by the committee. Dedication exercises were held on October 7, 1933, at which President Roosevelt delivered an address. The memorial is a group of symbolic figures in bronze with a granite base, typifying the strength and protection afforded to workers and their dependents as a result of their union in the organized labor movement. The group includes the seated figure of Samuel Gompers.

A more complete history of the memorial can be found in American Federation of Labor: History, Encyclopedia and Reference Book, Vol. III, Part I, pp. 945-955.

Custodial History

The George Meany Memorial Archives received these records sometime before 1985. The George Meany Memorial Archives transferred these records as part of a major transfer of their archive and library holdings to the University of Maryland Libraries in 2013.

Processing Information

Archives staff at the George Meany Memorial Archives initially processed these records in 1985. The University of Maryland Libraries received the records and the finding aid in 2013. In 2017, Bria Parker exported and cleaned the finding aid contents from the Eloquent Systems database using OpenRefine, and finally transformed the finding aids into Encoded Archival Description (EAD) using a series of programmatic scripts. The finding aid was ingested into ArchivesSpace in 2017, at which point Jennifer Eidson updated the descriptive content for accuracy. Revisions include changes to biographical/historical notes, scope and content notes, and the creation of new collection numbers. Jennifer Eidson also enhanced custodial histories and re-wrote collection titles to better conform to archival standards.

Title
Guide to the AFL Executive Council, Samuel Gompers Memorial Committee records
Status
Completed
Author
George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archives
Date
1985-08
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Library Details

Part of the Special Collections and University Archives

Contact:
University of Maryland Libraries
Hornbake Library
4130 Campus Drive
College Park Maryland 20742
301-405-9212