The "Vertical Files" include hundreds of thousands of pamphlets, leaflets, flyers, and other documents from individuals and organizations concerning the left and the labor movement in the US and around the world. They may range from government reports, trade union constitutions, or reprinted periodical articles available elsewhere, to unique items, such as a single issue of an obscure radical journal or a rough draft of an essay later published. Some of these files pertain directly to U.S. women and labor, while others hold relevant sources along with materials on other tangential or unrelated subjects. Researchers should expect most files cited here, unless otherwise indicated, to be small, containing a handful of items or perhaps even only one.
The Vertical Files are being added to BobCat over time, but Tamiment/Wagner's on-site card catalog and alphabetical listing of the files are more reliable guides to what is available for now. Some Vertical File material is also cataloged and available in the Tamiment stacks, such as many of the Government Documents (e.g., Women's Bureau publications). For more information, please consult with staff.
PLEASE NOTE: Of the various sources in Tamiment/Wagner collections included in this guide, the Vertical Files are the most difficult to survey for prospective researchers. It is particularly important with the Vertical Files to remember that the information provided here is merely a suggestion of what types of sources are available. Like other materials, they are subject to change and may also undergo periodic reorganization. Dates and/or notes on particular files' contents offered below are generally rough estimates at best.
The Vertical Files are organized into the following categories, reviewed below:
Author Files || Biographical Files || General Files || Organization Files || Pamphlet Files ||
Radical Pamphlet Literature from the Tamiment Library || Trade Union Files ||
US Government Documents || State Government Documents || Municipal Government Documents
Or click here for a sampling of Vertical Files by titles alone, in alphabetical order.
| Author Files | |
|---|---|
| These files are generally single or multiple writings under fifty pages in length by the same author (sometimes including works co-authored with others). | |
| File Names | General Subject(s) |
| Anderson, Mary | labor legislation for women, ca. 1920s |
| Bargowski, Dolores | on gender and class analysis, ca. 1970 |
| Blackenhorn, Mary D. | re: department store clerks, mid-1920s, by Consumer League official |
| Bloch, Dorothy | early 1950s defense of striking NY teachers |
| Cohn, Fannia | several writings (ca. 1920s-1950s) by ILGWU's Educ. Dept. head |
| Coit, Eleanor G. | workers' education ca. 1930s |
| Delzell, Ruth | history of US women trade unionists, ca. 1919 |
| Dewey, Lucretia | federal reporting on women in unions, ca. 1971 |
| Dickason, Gladys | on women and unions, ca. late 1940s, by ACWA V.P. and CIO official |
| Dorr, Rheta Childe | women's activism in factories and stores, ca. 1909 |
| Dreier, Mary E. | women and organizing in the early 1920s |
| Edelman, Judy | Communist Party's Women Commission on labor issues, ca. 1970 |
| Feldman, Sandra | teacher activism in New York City in the 1960s |
| Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley | several writings from late 1910s to 1960s |
| Gilman, Charlotte Perkins | includes early 20th c. writings on women and the marriage economy and women and social service |
| Gipple, Cindy | radical feminist class and gender analysis, ca. 1970s |
| Goldfield, Evelyn | (with co-authors) radical feminist critique of capitalism, ca. 1970s |
| Goldman, Emma | handful of writings on anarchism and pacifism |
| Halsey, Olga | labor legislation investigator on public health nursing, ca. 1916 |
| Ippolito, Donna | historical pamphlet on 1909 New York garment workers strike |
| Johnson, Olive | on women and socialism, ca. 1920 |
| Jones, Claudia | economic and labor analysis of African-American women's exploitation, ca. late 1940s, later reprinted by the C.P. USA |
| Jordan, Joan | feminist look at protective labor legislation, ca. 1970 |
| Kaplan, Temma | historical essay on International Women's Day, from Feminist Studies (1985) |
| Kelley, Florence | several pamphlets on exploitation of child and women's labor |
| Klaus, Ida | teacher unionization in the 1970s |
| Koken, Mary | Pennsylvania silk workers' strike, ca. 1931 |
| Leach, Ruth M. | corporate view of women's employment, from a female V.P. of IBM |
| LeGrande, Linda H. | government labor report on women and unions, ca. 1978 |
| Long, Priscilla | biographical work on Mother Jones |
| McAfee, Kathy | (with co-author) second-wave feminist analysis of women's social and economic exploitation |
| Mainardi, Pat | second-wave feminist analysis of housework |
| Martin, Lawrence | public school teachers and McCarthyism |
| Myerson, Michael | critical history of the ILGWU |
| Newman, Pauline | early history of Philadelphia WTUL |
| Odencrantz, Louise C. | "placement work" for women in NY, ca. 1915 |
| O'Hare, Kate Richards | handful of writing on labor issues, early twentieth-century |
| Perkins, Frances | on Labor ca. 1965 |
| Reynolds, Bertha C. | on social work in the 1930s and amid McCarthyism |
| Robins, Margaret Dreier | the WTUL and education in the 1910s |
| Roche, Josephine | social work and mine labor management, ca. late 1920s |
| Scheier, Paula | biographical view of Clara Lemlich |
| Shaw, Elizabeth Ross | poetry on garment production, ca. 1920 |
| Smith, Ethel M. | the WTUL and "Equal Rights", ca. mid-1924s |
| Smith, Hilda W. | workers education in the 1930s and poetry published in the 1970s |
| Sugarman, Tracy | artist's illustrations of garment work and the ILGWU, ca. 1958 |
| Turner, Gurley | reprint of 1982/1983 Sightlines article on working women and film, coauthored with Kathleen Weir |
| Ware, Caroline | consumerism in workers' education, ca. 1930s |
| Watson, Elizabeth C. | on tenement homework, ca. 1911 |
| Wedel, Cynthia | women, employment, and the National Council of Churches of Christ, ca. late 1950s |
| Wertheimer, Barbara | handful of writings from the scholar, activist, and labor educator of recent decades |
| Wolfson, Theresa | white-collar workers in the 1930s and 1950s |
| Wortis, Rose | the state of the ILGWU in the late 1940s |
| Biographical Files | |
|---|---|
| These files contain various biographical information (periodical features, etc.) on figures of historical significance, well-known or not. Below are some of the better-known names in and around US women's labor history with Biographical Files. | |
| File Names | |
| Addams, Jane | Lemlich, Clara |
| Anderson, Mary | Marcy, Mary E. |
| Bellanca, Dorothy Jacobs | Newman, Pauline |
| Bloor, Ella Reeve | O'Reilley, Leonora |
| Day, Dorothy | Robins, Margaret Dreier |
| Dreier, Mary E. | Silkwood, Karen |
| Ferry, Elinor | Stokes, Rose Pastor |
| Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley | Tax, Meredith |
| Healey, Dorothy | Van Kleeck, Mary |
| Hillman, Bessie | Vorse, Mary Heaton |
| Hillquit, Nina | Wald, Lillian |
| Hutchins, Grace | Wolfgang, Myra |
| Lange, Dorothea | Wolfson, Theresa |
| General Files | |
|---|---|
| These are, as the category title suggests, subject-oriented files that variously contain a wide range of sources. Below are some of the broader, more substantial files related to U.S. women and labor, and some smaller ones on more specific topics. | |
| File Names | Notes on Contents |
| Beauty Services - Employment | legislative material, ca. 1939 |
| Canneries | includes New State investigations of women's employment conditions from the early 1930s |
| Clerical Work | includes government material from late 1970s on clerical work and sex discrimination |
| Comparable Worth | many clippings from the 1980s from academic, governmental, and popular publications |
| Equal Pay For Equal Worth | Department of Labor material, ca. 1933, 1947, 1950 |
| Equal Rights Amendment | flyers and legislative materials |
| Health Services - Women | includes small amount of material on beauticians and occupational health |
| Hospital Workers | several items from late 1960s/early 1970s on strikes and other labor issues in New York and other cities |
| Household Workers | NY State legislative material and examples of organizing literature |
| International Women's Day | flyers and histories from the 1970s re: historical working women's commemoration founded in 1908 |
| Laundry Workers/Laundry Industry | material on legislation, organizing workers, and conditions in industry |
| Night Work | Department of Labor material on night work for women |
| Paterson, NJ, Silk & Textile Workers' strikes | several files, ca. early 20th century |
| Silkwood, Karen - Murder Case | material on the occupational safety activist and fatal victim of plutonium poisoning in 1974 |
| Sweatshops | handful of misc. items from early to mid-20th century on conditions in garment work |
| Textile Workers and Strikes | several folders with slightly varying titles, ca. early 20th century |
| Woman - Suffrage | includes some labor-related materials |
| Women | largely documents from 1970s feminist movement - includes tracts on women's unpaid housework |
| Women in Industry | small amount of material from 1930s and late 1960s, 1970s |
| Women's Liberation | several substantial folders, some with specific years from the 1970s |
| Working Women | misc. handful of US and international publications |
| Working Women 1970s | several items re: organizations such as '9-to-5' and legislative issues |
| Organization Files |
|---|
| These files generally contain publications and other documents from a wide variety of organizations in and around the labor movement and the Left. The following are some that are variously related to topics in women's labor history: |
| File Names |
| Affiliated School for Workers [bulk from 1930 to 1939] |
| African-American Teachers Association [from 1960s] |
| Amoskeag Textile Club [from 1917-?] |
| Association for Union Democracy - Women's Project [from 1986-?] |
| Brookwood Labor College [circa 1924-1939] |
| Bryn Mawr Summer School for Women Workers in Industry [from 1924-1974] |
| Center for United Labor Action [includes early 1970s report on working women, incorporating personal narratives] |
| Chicago Trade Union College [material from 1924-?] |
| Chicago Trades Union Label League [from early 1900s] |
| Citizens' Emergency Committee in Behalf of Striking Ladies' Tailors and Custom Dressmakers of the 5th Ave. Shops [circa 1930] |
| City Action Committee Against the High Cost of Living [from mid-1930s] |
| Coal Employment Project and Coal Mining Women's Support Team [from late 1980s-?] |
| Coalition of Grass Roots Women [from 1970-?] |
| Coalition of Labor Union Women - Hispanic Committee (NY, NY) |
| Committee to Aid in the Defense of Bell Workers (Buffalo, NY) [circa 1949-?] |
| Congress of American Women [from 1945-1950] |
| [Consumers Cooperative Societies and Consumers' Leagues — several files for national, state, local groups] |
| Employment Research Associates [includes pamphlet on women's employment and military spending] |
| Institute for New Communications [includes recent feminist analyses of women and labor issues] |
| International Federation of Working Women (Chicago, Ill.) [from early 1920s] |
| ILGWU Cooperative Houses and Mutual Redevelopment Houses, Inc. [circa 1962-1972] |
| League of Women Shoppers, Inc. [from 1935-1940] |
| Library Workers for Peace |
| National Commission on Working Women [from 1984-?] |
| National Conference on Public Service Employment (1973) |
| National Consumers' League [circa 1916-1965] |
| National Education Association of the United States |
| National Garment Label Council [from 1935-?] |
| National Organization for Women [from 1964-] |
| National Women's Trade Union League of America [from 1909-1947] |
| New York Coordinating Council for Working Men and Women [from 1970s-?] |
| New York League of Women Shoppers [from 1938-1939] |
| New York Trade Union Women's Conference [from mid-1970s] |
| New York Women's Trade Union League [from 1955-, continues WTUL of NY file below] |
| Radical Women (Seattle, Wash.)[from 1968-?] |
| Red Sun Press [includes late 1970s material on women workers organizing abortion clinics] |
| Socialist Party, Women's Department [one of many dozens of SP files] |
| Socialist-Feminist Conference, 1975 |
| Sojourner Truth Organization [includes mid-1970 radical analyses of race and gender and organizing working-class women] |
| Southern Summer School for Women Workers in Industry [from 1932-1937] |
| Substitutes United for Better Schools (S.U.B.S.) [Chicago, late 1970s-?] |
| Summer School for Women Workers in Industry (Pomona, N.Y.) [from 1929-1935] |
| Union Minorities and Women Leadership Training Project [from 1979-?] |
| Union for Radical Political Economics [includes materials on its Women's Work Project, circa 1970s] |
| Union W.A.G.E. [from 1970s-?] |
| United Council of Working Women [from 1929-?] |
| Vineyard Shore School for Women Workers in Industry [from 1927-1931] |
| Wages for Housework [New York and Toronto, 1970s-?] |
| White Collar Workshops [from circa 1935 to 1960 on Summer School for Office Workers, NY, NY] |
| Women Employed (aka Women Employed Institute) [from 1973-1986] |
| Women Library Workers [from 1975-1980] |
| Women Office Workers [from 1973-1984] |
| Women United for Action [from 1973-1974] |
| Women's Occupation Health Resource Center [from 1983-?] |
| Women's Trade Union League of New York [from 1913-1956, continued by NYWTUL file above] |
| Women's Work Project [from 1970s-?] |
| Working Women, National Association of Office Workers [from 1979-?] |
| Working Women's Institute [New York, 1978-?] |
| Working Women's Society, New York City [circa 1890s-?] |
| Women for Racial and Economic Equality [1982-?] |
| Pamphlet Files | |
|---|---|
| These files are typically a small number of issues (or even a single edition) of a serial. All such serials included in this guide are located in the Periodicals section. Below are a few examples of the other common material in the Pamphlet Files, organization publications under fifty pages in length. | |
| File Names | Notes on Contents |
| CIO Publications | a few items on women included among the many pamphlets in these files |
| ILGWU Educational Series | a few pamphlets from 1920s |
| NOMA Bulletin | 1947 booklet, "Group Bargaining Activities Among White-Collar Workers" |
| Women's Trade Union League of Chicago leaflets | a few publications from circa 1909 |
| Women in Industry Series | Publications from the National Consumers League, circa 1915 |
| Radical Pamphlet Literature from the Tamiment Library |
|---|
| Radical Pamphlet Literature is a microfilmed collection of over 8,500 pamphlets, leaflets, etc., mostly from 1900 to 1945, but spanning 1817 to 1970 (Glen Rock, NJ: Microfilming Corporation of America, 1974). These items are listed alphabetically in a published guide to the RPL Collection available in the Tamiment/Wagner reference area, and many are included as well in the card catalog under authors/titles and subjects. Below are some of the various historical writings on US women and labor that this collection includes, which range from leaflets of a few pages to texts of well over fifty pages. |
| Authors, Titles, and/or Additional Notes |
| Abbott, Edith, and Sophonisba P. Breckinridge. The Wage-Earning Woman and the State: A Reply to Miss Minnie Bronson. Boston, Mass: Boston Equal Suffrage Association for Good Government, n.d. |
| Barton, Ann. Mother Bloor. New York: Workers Library Pub., 1935. |
| Bowen, Louise de Koven. The Department Store Girl. Chicago: Juvenile Protection Association of Chicago, 1911. |
| Carter, Jean, and Hilda W. Smith. Education and the Worker-Student. A Book About Workers' Education based Upon the Experiences of Teachers and Students. New York: Affiliated Schools for Workers, Inc., 1934. |
| Conger-Kaneko, Josephine. Work Among Women. Girard, Kansas: Progressive Woman Pub. Co., n.d. |
| Davidge, Clara Sidney. Working-Girls' Clubs. N.p., n.d. (Scribner's 1894). |
| Dunne, William. Gastonia - Citadel of the Class Struggle in the New South. New York: Published for the National Textile Workers Union, n.d. |
| Filley, Jane, and Theresa Mitchell. Consider the Laundry Workers. 2nd print. New York: League of Women Shoppers, 1940. |
| Flynn, Elizabeth Gurley. [Several publications on various topics.] |
| Goldmark, Josephine C. Handbook of Laws Regulating Women's Hours of Labor and a Standard Law Embodying the Best Provisions of the Most Effective Statutes Now in Force. New York: National Consumers League, n.d. |
| Goldmark, Pauline, and George A. Hall. Preliminary Report on Employment of Women and Children in Mercantile Establishments. Reprint of Appendix IX to Second Report of New York State Factory Investigating Commission, submitted to Legislature, Jan. 15, 1931. Albany: J.V. Lyon, 1913. |
| Gordon, Evelyn B. Weaving the Future. Foreword by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. New York: Workers Library Pub., 1937. [re: Textile Workers Organizing Committee] |
| Gordon, Louis. The White Collar Workers Organize. New York: United Office and Professional Workers of America, CIO, n.d. |
| Gosling, Edith. "I Make Dresses." [n.p.] 1935. [on garment factory work] |
| Lapin, Eva. Mothers in Overalls. New York: Workers Library Pub., 1943. |
| Lilienthal, Meta. From Fireside to Factory. New York: Rand School of Social Science, 1916. |
| Lowe, Caroline A. The Teacher and Socialism. Chicago: Socialist Party, n.d. |
| _____. The Wage-Earning Woman and the Ballot. Chicago: Socialist Party, n.d. |
| Mackler, Gretchen, David Friedman, et al. Crisis in the Schools: Teachers and the Community. New York: Independent Socialists Clubs of America, n.d. |
| Malkiel, Theresa Serber. To the Union Man's Wife. Chicago: Socialist Party, n.d. |
| _____. To the Working Woman. Chicago: Socialist Party, n.d. |
| Mitchell, Theresa. Consider the Woolworth Workers. New York: New York League of Women Shoppers, 1940. |
| Montgomery, Louise. The American Girl in the Stockyards District. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1913. |
| Roche, Josephine. "The Consumers' Stake in Labor Progress." Broadcast over National Broadcasting Co., December 8, 1939. New York: National Consumers League, n.d. |
| Smith, Hilda. "A Summer of Workers' Education." Address at Temple University, Philadelphia, Penn., May 10, 1938. |
| Starr, Mark, and Helen Norton. The Worker as a Consumer. Katonah, NY: Brookwood Labor College, n.d. [mimeo] |
| Stern, Meta L. Class and Sex. Chicago: National Socialist Women's Committee, n.d. |
| _____. To Wives of Toilers. Chicago: Women's National Committee, Socialist Party, n.d. |
| _____. Votes for Working Women. Chicago: Socialist Party, n.d. |
| Whitney, Frances R. What Girls Live On - And How. A Study of Expenditures of a Sample group of Girls Employed in Cincinnati in 1929. Cincinnati: Consumers' League of Cincinnati, 1930. |
| Trade Union Files |
|---|
| These files include various sources on a very wide range of labor organizations, as the file names below should suggest. For larger international unions, such as the ILGWU or UAW, there are typically several files organized by locals, committees, etc. [noted here by an asterisk (*)]. PLEASE NOTE: Constitutions and contracts/bargaining materials are filed separately. |
| File Names |
| Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America* |
| American Federation of Hosiery Workers |
| American Federation of Government Workers |
| American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees* |
| American Federation of Teachers* |
| American Federation of Television and Radio Artists |
| American Guild of Musical Artists |
| American Nurses' Association |
| American Postal Workers Union* |
| Bakery & Confectionary Workers* |
| Barbers and Beauty Culturists Union of America |
| Barbers, Beauticians and Allied Industries Association |
| Bookkeepers, Stenographers and Accountants Union |
| California State Federation of Labor - Women's Conference, May 1973 |
| Candy and Confectionary Union, Local 50 |
| Chefs, Cooks, Pastry Cooks & Assistants Union, Local 89 |
| Chicago Strike, Clothing Workers, 1910 |
| Chicago Teachers Union |
| Cigarmakers' International Union of America* |
| Coalition of Labor Union Women |
| Coalition of Telecommunication Workers Unions |
| Communications Workers of America* |
| Council of White-Collar and Professional Unions |
| Delicatessen and Restaurant Countermen Union, Local 60 |
| District 65* |
| District 65, Women's Committee, 1974- |
| Domestic Workers Union |
| Federation of Women High School Teachers, Chicago |
| Fur Department, Needle Trades Workers Independent Union |
| Fur Workers Union of the American Federation of Labor |
| Government and Civic Employees Organizing Committee |
| Government Employees' Council |
| High School Teachers Association, New York City |
| Hotel and Club Employees Union* |
| Hotel & Restaurant Workers Union* |
| International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers* |
| International Ladies Garment Workers Union* |
| International Fur Workers* |
| International Fur and Leather Workers* |
| International Ladies' Handbag, Luggage, Belt and Novelty Workers Union |
| International Leather Goods, Plastics and Novelty Workers |
| International Union of Doll and Toy Workers of the US and Canada |
| International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers |
| Laundry Workers Union, Local 66 |
| Library Employees' Union of Greater New York |
| Millinery Workers Union |
| National Federation of Federal Employees |
| National Federation of Post Office Clerks |
| National Federation of Telephone Workers |
| National Textile Workers Union |
| National Writers' Union |
| Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union |
| New York Musicians' Union |
| New York State Nurses Association |
| New York State Public Employees Federation |
| Newspaper Guild |
| 9 to 5, National Association of Working Women |
| Office Employees' International Union* |
| Pattern Makers' League of North America |
| Professional Household Workers Union |
| Professional Public Health Nurses Association |
| Retail Clerks International Union* |
| Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union* |
| Screen Actors Guild |
| Screen Office and Professional Employees Guild, Local 109 |
| Secondary School Teachers' Association of New York |
| Service Employees International Union* |
| Shirt, Waist and Laundry Workers' International Union |
| Social Service Employees Union |
| Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers |
| State, County and Municipal Workers of America* |
| Teaching Assistance Association (University of Wisconsin, Madison) |
| Technical, Editorial and Office Assistants Union, Local 20055, AFL (Washington, NJ) |
| Telephone Employees' Union |
| Telephone Workers Organizing Committee |
| Textile Workers Organizing Committee |
| Textile Workers Union of America |
| Tobacco Workers International Union |
| Transport Workers Union of America* |
| Union Label League of New Jersey |
| United Auto Workers* |
| United Brotherhood of Telephone Workers, Inc. (NFTW) |
| United Building Service and Domestic Workers Association of Brooklyn |
| United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers of North America |
| United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America* |
| United Federal Workers of America |
| United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 |
| United Food and Commercial Workers |
| United Garment Workers of America |
| United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers of America* |
| United Office and Professional Workers of America* |
| United Public Workers of America |
| United Retail and Warehouse Employees Union |
| United Shoe Workers of America |
| United Textile Workers of America |
| WPA Teachers Union, Local 453 |
| Writers Guild of America |
| Writers and Professional Workers' Union of Greater Boston |
| US Government Documents |
|---|
| These are generally government reports and other publications concerning economic and employment issues, organized by various chronological and subject files for federal departments. (Please note that material in these and the State and Municipal Documents files may also be cataloged and available in the Tamiment stacks.) |
| File Names |
| US Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| US Commission on Civil Rights |
| US Department of Agriculture |
| US Department of Commerce |
| US Department of Defense |
| US Department of Labor (including file for Women's Bureau) |
| US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |
| US National Labor Relations Board |
| US National Recovery Administration |
| US Office of Economic Opportunity |
| US Works Progress Administration |
| State Government Documents |
|---|
| These files include historical reports and publications from various states' offices charged with economic and labor concerns, such as Departments of Labor, employment and industrial relations commissions, and some anti-discrimination task forces. New York State agencies are disproportionately represented in these files. |
| Municipal Government Documents |
|---|
| These files offer a small amount of material from labor-related and other miscelleneous municipal offices in various cities (for example, the New York City Board of Higher Education). |