Association for Union Democracy: Women's Project Records
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Abstract
The Association for Union Democracy: Women's Project Records describe the activities and work of the Women's Project from its creation in 1985 into the early 2000s. These files include printed ephemera, newsletters and circulars, correspondence, serial publications, court cases, and organizational reports. The collection contains both records created and collected by the Women's Project that correspond to its work and mission as an advocate for women in unions and nontraditional trades, as part of the larger organization Association for Union Democracy. NOTE: This collection is stored offsite, and advance notice is required for use.
Historical/Biographical Note
The Women's Project is a national advocacy project, created and funded by the Association for Union Democracy (AUD). The AUD was founded in 1969 as a permanent organization to help protect the democratic rights of unionists and considers itself a national, pro-labor, non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the principles and practices of democratic trade unionism in the North American labor movement. The organization created a national network of unionists, civil libertarians, labor educators, workers rights attorneys, law professors, and others who share the same goal. In 1985 AUD created the Women's Project, directed by Susan Jennik, to offer guidance and assistance to women unionists on utilizing their rights in unions and under the law to enable them to campaign effectively for equal rights in their unions and on the job.
The AUD Women's Project developed a network of women's groups from around the country and held its first conference titled "Women in Unions," in November of 1986. In the years since, the Women's Project has held numerous conferences, workshops, and seminars on issues of harassment, union rights, and women in nontraditional trades. AUD's monthly publication, Union Democracy Review, provides a forum for women unionists to publicize their work and recommend resources and exchange information about issues experienced by women in unions and in the workplace. In the early 1990s, the Women's Project published Manual for Survival for Women in Nontraditional Trades, which was then revised in 2000. Also in 2000 the Women's Project, then under the direction of Jane LaTour, launched "Operation Punchlist," to focus public attention on the barriers still facing women in nontraditional jobs.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically. The collection is organized into three series.
Missing Title
- Series I. Association for Union Democracy, 1979-2002
- Series II. The Women's Project, 1971-2002
- Series III. Subject and Organization Files, 1974-2004
Scope and Content Note
The Association for Union Democracy: Women's Project Records describe the activities and work of the Women's Project from its creation in 1985 into the early 2000s. These files include printed ephemera, newsletters and circulars, correspondence, serial publications, court cases, and organizational reports. The collection contains records created and collected by the Women's Project that correspond to its work and mission as an advocate for women in unions and nontraditional trades.
The collection is divided into the following three series: Series I: Association for Union Democracy, 1979-2002; Series II: The Women's Project, 1971-2002; and Series III: Subject and Organization Files, 1974-2002. The first series is comprised of records created by the Association for Union Democracy and kept by the Women's Project. These files include printed ephemera, newsletters and circulars, and organizational reports. The series also contains administrative documents, such as correspondence from the Association for Union Democracy as well as notes and agendas from the organization's Board of Directors meetings.
Series II contains meeting minutes, correspondence, circulars, printed ephemera, and resources created and collected by the Women's Project. These records describe activities conducted by the project, such as workshops and conferences, as well as events attended. The Project's "Intake," or complaints and questions, are notable as they describe the concerns and issues surrounding women and unions in the 1990s and early 2000s. The activities and published materials created by the Women's Project focus on issues of sexual discrimination and harassment at work and within trade unions.
Series III contains resources collected by the Women's Project on particular subjects and organizations related to the Project's mission. Most of the materials are printed ephemera and publications but they also include academic papers, newspaper clippings, public hearings, and court cases. Records from legal cases include important cases, such as Lois Robinson v. Jacksonville Shipyards and New York City hearings on discrimination in the construction industry. The project compiled materials from organizations all over the United States, but the majority of the records document organizations and government activities in the New York City metropolitan area. The series also includes printed materials on some minority groups, such as lesbian, African-American, and Latino-American tradeswomen.
NOTE: This collection is stored offsite, and advance notice is required for use.
Subjects
Organizations
People
Conditions Governing Access
Mateirals are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection, created by the Association for Union Democracy was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Carl Biers (executive director), on behalf of the Association for Union Democracy, 2003. The accession number associated with this gift is 2003.025.
An additional gift was donated by Jane Latour at an unknown date. The accession number associated with this gift is 2018.058.
Appraisal
In April 2022, portions of Box 1, Folder 7 "Board of Directors Meetings, 1991-2002" were deaccessioned after reference staff located personal identifying information in some documents.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processing and arrangement decisions made prior to 2022 were not recorded and are unknown.
In April 2021, the Curator for Tamiment-Wagner Collections deaccessioned materials containing personal identifying information from Box 1, Folder 7.
