Scope and Content of the Collection
The collection consists of 38 items, mainly correspondence, pertaining to 1) Baird's commission as organizer for the Knights of Labor, 1897-1898, and 2) his interest in promoting Robert W. Price as the founder of Labor Day, 1925-1927.
Included in the former group are bylaws for Local Assembly No. 775, Knights of Labor, Midland, Maryland; the Secret Work and Password; and a letter to Baird from Grand Master Workman Terence V. Powderly concerning Powderly's appointment as Commissioner General of Immigration (1897). Also included are letters and notices of other K of L officials such as John W. Hayes, referring to K of L ritual and the initiation process, plus an application for charter for Local Assembly No. 2278 located at Baltimore, Maryland (1909).
The second group of letters consists of correspondence between Baird and several of his former K of L Brothers relating to a Robert W. Price Memorial to be built at Price's gravesite at Weir, Kansas, and to Price's recognition as founder of Labor Day. Baird's main correspondent on these subjects is E. I. Powers of Pittsburg, Kansas, secretary of the Robert W. Price Memorial Association. Of special interest are letters between Powers and William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, 1927, which discuss the Price memorial and the origin of Labor Day from the AFL point of view.