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AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO Department of Organization and Field Services, Local Central Body Charter records

 Collection 0081-LBR-RG28-006

The Department of Organization and Field Services for AFL and CIO and then AFL-CIO was responsible for promoting cooperation between national and local union bodies, as well as advocating for union victories in National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections. These records document the relationships between local central bodies and their parent federation. Types of materials include charters and local documents.

Dates

  • 1889-1987

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 research find sensitive personal information in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.

Extent

24.75 Linear Feet

Scope and Content of the Collection

Local central bodies were smaller, regional chapters of AFL, CIO, or AFL-CIO which conducted business and campaigns in their area. These charter records document the affiliation of these local central bodies in the United States and its territories with their parent federation (AFL, CIO, or AFL-CIO). Documents reflect the struggle of local central bodies to organize, define their identity and purpose within their communities, and secure and strengthen the bonds with their respective federations.

Arrangement

These records are arranged in alphabetical order by state and name of the city where the local was located.

Custodial History

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

Archive staff at the George Meany Memorial Archives initially processed these records. 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 2018, at which point Rebecca Thayer updated the descriptive content for accuracy. Revisions include changes to biographical/historical notes, scope and content notes, and the creation of new collection numbers. Rebecca Thayer also enhanced custodial histories and re-wrote collection titles to better conform to archival standards.

Title
Guide to the AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO Department of Organization and Field Services, Local Central Body Charter records
Status
Completed
Author
These materials were processed by archives staff at the George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archives.
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