Teamsters’ $2 Million Gift Brings Labor
History Archives to GW
Archives Will Provide Unprecedented View into
U.S. Labor History
WASHINGTON (July 26, 2007) – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters made a $2 million gift to The George Washington University to expand resources for the study of U.S. labor history. The Teamsters’ archives will be on permanent loan to the University’s Gelman Library, and the gift will support an endowed archivist position.
The archivist will catalog the collection and acquire additional labor documents – making public never-before-seen records, letters, and photographs, providing researchers and labor history professionals access to historic labor documents. The Teamsters’ archives are among the nation's preeminent collections of primary labor movement documents.
"GW is honored to have the responsibility of managing the Teamsters’ archives and ensuring that the records are available to students, scholars, journalists, and the public,” said Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, GW president emeritus. “The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has a century-long tradition of supporting the rights of workers. Millions of men and women in America have benefited from their commitment to improving conditions, pay, and benefits." Trachtenberg accepted the gift at a July 25 luncheon.
Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa said, "This
important agreement now ensures that future generations of Teamsters
have access to the real story of how workers joined together as Teamsters
to build unprecedented power for working men and women in the United
States. I am proud that the true history of the International Brotherhood
of Teamsters will live on in our nation’s capital at The George
Washington University."
The archives, which have not been appraised, contain presidential papers
from James R. Hoffa and James P. Hoffa, autographed political cartoons
from the early 20th century, and several hundred photographs and memos
from the labor and civil rights movements, including a photo of Jimmy
Hoffa with Martin Luther King, Jr., and telegrams from President Franklin
D. Roosevelt. They also contain a wire recorder, circa 1930s, reported
to be one of the few remaining in the world.
GW plans to use this gift to launch a collection of valuable historic
materials from all aspects of U.S. labor history that will inform labor
studies in history, law, political science, business, and other academic
disciplines. In growing this special collection, the University will
remain intellectually neutral, providing researchers with a wealth of
information previously unavailable to the public.
“GW is most appreciative of the financial and intellectual contribution from the Teamsters,” said Laurel Price Jones, Vice President for Advancement. “The gift brings a new dimension to the intellectual resources at the University. We are pleased to accept this outstanding contribution.”
Gelman Library's Special Collections Department includes more than 25,000 linear feet of archives, books, images, manuscripts, maps, microforms, directories, theses, dissertations, faculty publications, periodicals, and ephemera. The University houses the archives from PNC (Riggs) Bank and of journalist Jack Anderson, among others.