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.
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0.5 Linear Feet
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.
(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.
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.
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.
Part of the Special Collections and University Archives