Scope and Content of the Collection
The Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor is the governing body for the AFL. This collection contains early records of the AFL including correspondence, vote books, and minutes of the Executive Council during the years 1896 to 1954. The records are primarily bound scrapbooks with extreemly brittle pages.
The vote books have particular value in tracing the council's communications and decisions between its meetings, and in this respect they complement the minutes of the Executive Council. The vote books contain correspondence from Gompers [and John McBride, president 1894-1895] to members of the council, addressing specific issues upon which the council members then returned their votes.