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.
The AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO scrapbooks were created by different departments of the AFL, CIO, AFL-CIO, and affiliated unions. They depict and commemorate various events in labor history, such as conventions, cornerstone ceremonies, and special dinners. Materials within the scrapbooks include newspaper clippings, photographs, and advertisements.
This collection consists of original artwork created for reproduction in the AFL-CIO News from 1955 to 1984. These editorial cartoons appeared regularly in the publication and reflect a wide variety of issues important to organized labor, including jobs, health care, the right to organize, safety and health, education, political action, and equality, among others. The illustrators most represented in this collection are John Stampone and Le Baron Coakley.
The Information Department was responsible for AFL-CIO publications and press releases. This is an artificial collection of photographs built from different collections in the George Meany Memorial Archives. The majority of the photographs come from the Information Department of the AFL-CIO which often used images in the AFL-CIO News newspaper.
The AFL-CIO Legislation Department was the lobbying arm of the AFL and later the AFL-CIO. This collection consists of the legislative reference files including congressional correspondence, state and local central bodies correspondence, office memoranda, and staff working files.
In December of 1955, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) merged into one entity, the AFL-CIO. This is a collection of AFL-CIO staff oral histories explores the history of the merger including challenges and successes.
