Frank W. McCulloch
papers, 1931-1988, bulk 1931-1948
Descriptive
Inventory for the Collection at Chicago History Museum, Research Center
By Mindy C. Pugh and Carroll Mickey, 1991;
rev. 2009
Please
address questions to:
Chicago
History Museum, Research Center
1601
North Clark Street
Chicago,
IL 60614-6038
Web-site:
http://www.chicagohistory.org
©
Copyright 2009, Chicago Historical Society
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Frank W. McCulloch papers [manuscript], 1931-1988, bulk 1931-1948
Main
entry: McCulloch, Frank W., 1905-1996.
Inclusive
dates: 1931-1988, bulk 1931-1948
Size:
7 linear ft. (14 boxes).
1 sound recording.
Restriction: For
listening purposes, it is necessary to use a copy, not the original (and to
have a listening copy made if one is not available).
Provenance
statement: Gift of Frank McCulloch (1989.0342).
Terms governing use: Copyright may be retained by the creators
of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law,
unless otherwise noted.
Please cite this collection as: Frank W. McCulloch papers (Chicago History
Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific
item.
This
descriptive inventory includes:
Biographical/historical
note,
Summary
description of the collection,
Description
of some material related to the collection,
List of
online catalog headings about the collection,
Arrangement
of the collection,
Detailed
description of archival series in the collection,
List of
contents of the collection.
Biographical/historical
note:
Frank McCulloch, a leader in the field of
labor relations, was born in Evanston, Illinois, on September 30, 1905, the son
of Frank H. McCulloch, a well-known Chicago lawyer, and Catherine Waugh
McCulloch, also an attorney and a leading local and national spokesperson for
women's rights. McCulloch obtained his B.A. from Williams College in 1926,
graduated from Harvard Law School in 1929, and practiced law from 1930 to 1935.
In the early 1930s McCulloch joined in several efforts to promote relief efforts
for the unemployed, and quickly rose to a position of leadership in this area. He
was one of the founding members of the Chicago Workers' Committee on
Unemployment (CWC) in 1931 and served as the group's treasurer for several
years before becoming chairman in 1934.
By 1935, McCulloch also had became chairman of the Illinois Workers' Alliance of Cook
County (IWA of Cook County). In that year he was elected to the executive board
of the statewide IWA. These organizations were composed primarily of unemployed
people (who were either on relief or employed by the Works Progress
Administration) who lobbied through committee action, meetings, parades, and
demonstrations in Springfield, Illinois, and Washington, D.C., for the
establishment of jobs programs and relief budgets for the masses of unemployed
workers. Socialists and liberals were prominent in the CWC, which was regarded
as a more open and democratic organization than the Communist-dominated unemployed
councils.
McCulloch also was appointed Industrial
Relations Secretary for the Council for Social Action (CSA) of the General
Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the United States in
1935, a position he held until 1946. For the purpose of writing reports for the
CSA publication, Social Action,
McCulloch travelled to observe major labor actions of the late 1930s, including
the General Motors sit-down strike in Michigan of 1936-1937 and the Maytag
Company strike in Iowa in 1938.
An accomplished public speaker, McCulloch
also travelled around the country to address numerous groups on industrial and
economic topics and urge greater church involvement in promoting economic
justice. In 1938 McCulloch was nominated for U.S. Senator by the Labor Party of
Illinois, but a challenge to the validity of the party's petitions kept him off
the November ballot. McCulloch blamed operatives of the "Horner-Kelly-Nash"
Democratic organization for the challenge, and this episode marred an otherwise
cordial relationship that McCulloch and his family maintained with Governor
Horner.
The Council for Social Action and the
Chicago Congregational Union jointly founded the James Mullenbach Industrial
Institute and appointed McCulloch as its director in 1940. As the Institute's board
of directors was composed of Protestant churchmen, the group established a
Cooperating Council to bring together various other social elements (Jewish,
employer, labor, social work, university) to aid in the stated goal of studying
and promoting just and peaceful management-labor relations and lessening the
depersonalizing aspects of industrialization.
During World War II, McCulloch served on
the regional panel of the National War Labor Board, and immediately following
the war he served at Roosevelt College (later Roosevelt University, Chicago) as
director of its Labor Education Division. From 1949 to 1961 he served as an
assistant to U.S. Senator Paul Douglas (D-Ill.), and then served as Chairman of
the National Labor Relations Board from 1961 to 1970. After 1970 he served on
various committees connected with labor relations issues, and from 1971 to 1976
was a professor in the Law School at the University of Virginia.
McCulloch married Edith F. Leverton in 1937,
and they had two sons: William Holt McCulloch and Frank H. McCulloch. McCulloch
relocated from the Chicago area to Washington, D.C., upon the election of Paul
Douglas to the U.S. Senate in 1948 and lived in the east thereafter, eventually
settling in Charlottesville, Virginia. He died on July 9, 1996.
Summary
description of the collection:
Correspondence, notes, articles, reports,
minutes, newsletters, and other papers of McCulloch about his activities in
Chicago on behalf of unemployment relief in the 1930s and labor education in
the 1940s. Except for a few miscellaneous items, the collection does not extend
beyond late 1948, when McCulloch accepted a staff appointment with Senator-elect
Paul Douglas (Democrat; Illinois). Large portions of the collection pertain to
the Council for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches and
the James Mullenbach Industrial Institute (Chicago) and reflect McCulloch's
basic Christian humanism in his advocacy for worker-oriented educational
programs and labor/management dialogues. Specific topics include the 1937 Republic
Steel strike; the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters drive for recognition by
the Pullman Car Company; the 1936-1937 General Motors sit-down strike; the 1938
Maytag Company strike; the World War II-era labor dispute at Montgomery Ward;
and National War Labor Board reports on disputes at International Harvester,
Albert Pick Company, and the Western News Company, 1943-1944.
Includes sound recording of an interview of
Lea Taylor, head resident of the Chicago Commons settlement house, and a short
biography of her.
Description of some material related to the
collection:
Related
manuscript collections at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include
collections from people and organizations with which McCulloch worked, such as
the Paul H. Douglas papers and the Independent Voters of Illinois records.
List of online catalog headings about the
collection:
The
following headings for this collection were placed in the online catalog.
Subjects:
McCulloch,
Frank W., 1905-1996--Archives.
Mullenbach,
James, 1870-1935.
Horner,
Henry, 1878-1940.
Taylor,
Lea Demarest, 1883-1975--Interviews.
Albert
Pick Corporation.
Brotherhood
of Sleeping Car Porters.
Chicago
Workers' Committee on Unemployment.
Chicago
Workers' Security Federation.
General
Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the United States. Council
for Social Action.
General
Council of the Congregational Christian Churches of the United States. Council
for Social Action.
Illinois
Workers' Alliance.
Independent
Voters of Illinois.
International
Harvester Company.
James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute (Chicago, Ill.)
Labor
Party of Chicago and Cook County (Illinois)
Maytag
Company--Strike, 1938.
Montgomery
Ward.
Roosevelt
College of Chicago. Labor Education Division.
Union
for Democratic Action.
United
States. National War Labor Board (1942-1945)
Western
News Company.
Workers
Alliance of America.
Workers'
Security Federation of the U.S.A.
Church
and education--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Church
and labor--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Communism--United
States--20th century.
Department
stores--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Depressions--1929--United
States.
General
Motors Corporation Sit-Down Strike, 1936-1937
Industrial
relations--United States--20th century.
Labor-management
committees--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Lawyers--Illinois--Chicago--20th
century.
Progressivism
(United States politics)
Public
welfare--Illinois--20th century.
Republic
Steel Corporation Strike, Chicago, Ill., 1937.
Socialism--Illinois--Chicago--20th
century.
Socialism,
Christian--Illinois--Chicago--20th century.
Strikes
and lockouts--United States--20th century.
Working
class--Education--Illinois--Chicago.
Unemployment--Illinois--Chicago--20th
century.
World
War, 1939-1945--Illinois--Chicago.
Chicago
(Ill.)--Economic conditions--20th century.
Chicago
(Ill.)--Social conditions--20th century.
Form/genre:
Articles.
Audiotapes.
Correspondence.
Clippings.
Minutes.
Newsletters.
Speeches.
Added
entries:
Horner,
Henry, 1878-1940.
Taylor,
Lea Demarest, 1883-1975, interviewee.
Chicago
Workers' Committee on Unemployment.
Chicago
Workers' Security Federation.
General
Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches of the United States. Council
for Social Action.
General
Council of the Congregational Christian Churches of the United States. Council
for Social Action.
Illinois
Workers' Alliance.
Independent
Voters of Illinois.
James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute (Chicago, Ill.)
Labor
Party of Chicago and Cook County (Illinois)
Roosevelt
College of Chicago. Labor Education Division.
Union
for Democratic Action.
United
States. National War Labor Board (1942-1945)
Workers
Alliance of America.
Workers'
Security Federation of the U.S.A.
United
States--Illinois--Cook County--Chicago.
Arrangement
of the collection:
The papers are divided into three series:
Series 1. Personal files, 1935-1948 (box
1-3)
Series 2. Organizing the unemployed,
1931-1988 (bulk 1931-1941) (box 4-7)
Series 3. Files on church and educational
programs for labor, 1934-1948 (box 7-14)
Detailed description of archival series in
the collection:
Series 1.
Personal files, 1935-1948 (box 1-3)
This series is anchored in the 1936-1946
run of letters that McCulloch exchanged with not only family members and close
associates but also with individuals involved in a wide variety of church-based
activities. Topics include workers' education projects in Chicago and
nationwide, McCulloch's donations to the United Auto Workers' strike fund in
1937, and his desire that Congress act promptly on labor-related issues. Notes
for McCulloch's speeches, along with correspondence generated in connection
with those speeches, is also included in this series.
Series
2. Organizing the unemployed, 1931-1988 (bulk 1931-1941) (box 4-7)
This series illustrates McCulloch's efforts
on behalf of adequate unemployment relief during the Great Depression of 1929-1930s, and contains many papers from his involvement with
the Chicago Workers' Committee on Unemployment, the Illinois Workers' Alliance
of Cook County, the Workers Alliance of America, and the Labor Party of Chicago
and Cook County. McCulloch's correspondence in this series is not with
unemployed workers but instead largely with fellow organizers, such as Simon
Trojar of the Illinois Workers' Alliance of Cook County and David Lasser of the
Workers Alliance of America, regarding travel plans and logistical arrangements
for various meetings and marches. Some correspondence with Congressmen and
state legislators also is present in which McCulloch urges them to support
various pieces of legislation or to make appearances at events he was
organizing. The series includes new clippings and correspondence that describe
McCulloch's arrest on November 13, 1935, for leading a group of pickets in
front of Chicago's City Hall.
In a note which accompanied the donation of
these papers to the Chicago Historical Society in 1989, McCulloch stated that
these "files are the culled remainders after a disposition about 30 years
ago of much more voluminous records of the unemployed organizations and the
Illinois Labor Party."
Series
3. Files on church and educational programs for labor, 1934-1948 (box 7-14)
This series includes the bulk of
McCulloch's Chicago papers pertaining to church-based efforts on behalf of
labor. McCulloch used his positions as Industrial Relations Secretary of the Council
of Social Action of the Congregational-Christian Church (from 1935) and as
Director of the James Mullenbach Industrial Institute (from 1940) to study
labor disputes (including the struggle of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
Porters for recognition by the Pullman Car Company; the 1936-1937 General
Motors sit-down strike; the 1938 Maytag Company strike) and produce
reports/analyses which were then published in the Council of Social Action's Social Action magazine (copies of which
are included in this series).
Papers are included that pertain to various
church-based educational institutes which promoted labor issues. This series also
contains reports on three labor-management disputes (International Harvester,
Albert Pick Company, and the Western News Company) which came before McCulloch
during his year of service (1943-1944) on the Chicago regional panel of the National
War Labor Board
This series contains correspondence between
McCulloch and officials of the new Roosevelt College (later Roosevelt
University in Chicago) regarding his appointment as head of the Labor Education
Division (1946-1949), along with copies of his annual reports to the college president, and working papers for two courses in his
division.
Also during
the 1940s McCulloch worked for the Union for Democratic Action and the
Independent Voters of Illinois, movements which sought to rally progressive
elements in various political parties on behalf of the war effort, reform
politics, and economic justice. This series contains committee minutes,
bulletins, correspondence and news clippings of these groups.
List of
contents of the collection:
Series
1. Personal files, 1935-1948 (box 1-3)
Box 1
1 Personal
correspondence,1936-1938
2 Personal
correspondence,1940-1941
3 Personal
correspondence,1942
4 Personal
correspondence,1943
5 Personal
correspondence,1944-1946
6 Writings,
1935-1942
7 Writings,
1945-1946
8-9 Speech
notes: miscellaneous, 1937-1941
Box 2
1-2 Speech
notes: miscellaneous, 1942-1947
3 Speech
notes: democracy and the church, 1936-1944
4 Speech
notes: international relations, 1945
5 Speech
notes: labor and defense, 1941-1945
6 Speech
notes: post-war economic issues, 1944-1946
7 Speech
notes: race relations, 1941-1944
8 Speech
notes: unemployment and relief, 1936-1941
9 Speech
notes: 1948 election
10 Speech
outlines, 1941-1947
Box 3
1 Speaking
engagement correspondence,1936-1937
2 Speaking
engagement correspondence,1946
3 Speaking
engagement correspondence,1947
4 Speaking
engagement correspondence,1948
5 Farewell
messages and reception for McCulloch, 1948
6 Photographs
Series
2. Organizing the unemployed, 1931-1988 (bulk 1931-1941) (box 4-7)
Box 4
1 Chicago
Workers' Committee on Unemployment: organizing material, 1931-1935
2 Chicago
Workers' Committee on Unemployment: account book, 1931-1933
3 Chicago
Workers' Committee on Unemployment: public hearings and leaflets, 1933-1935
4 Chicago
Workers' Committee on Unemployment: correspondence, 1933-1936
5 Chicago
Workers' Committee on Unemployment: newspaper, The New Frontier, 1932
6 Chicago
Workers' Security Federation, 1939
7 Illinois
Workers' Alliance, 1934-1938
8 Illinois
Workers' Alliance, 1939-1940
9 Illinois
Workers' Alliance: newspaper, The Illinois Worker, 1935
Box 4
10 Illinois
Workers' Alliance of Cook County: organizing material, 1935-1936
11 Illinois
Workers' Alliance of Cook County: correspondence, 1935-1936
12 Illinois
Workers' Alliance of Cook County: correspondence, 1937-1938
Box 5
1 Illinois
Workers' Alliance of Cook County: correspondence, 1937-1938
2 Arrest
of McCulloch: proceedings, 1935-1936
3 Arrest
of McCulloch: news clippings
4 Activities,
1935-1938
5 Illinois
Workers' Security Federation: organization, 1939-1940
6 Illinois
Workers' Security Federation: proceedings and bulletins, 1939-1941
7 Illinois
Workers' Security Federation: Advisory Board minutes, 1940-1941
8 Illinois
Workers' Security Federation: correspondence, 1939-1940
9 Illinois
Workers' Security Federation: correspondence, 1940-1941
10 Illinois
Workers' Security Federation: Southern district, 1938-1939
11 Labor
Party of Chicago and Cook County: constitution, news clippings, correspondence,
1937-1938
Box 6
1 Relief
crisis miscellany, 1938-1939
2 Social
Welfare Committee, City Club of Chicago, 1941
3 Taylor,
Lea Demarest: biography, 1969 (sound interview with Lea D. Taylor in box 16)
4 Workers
Alliance of America: proceedings and reports, 1935-1938
5 Workers
Alliance of America: correspondence, 1935-1938
6 Workers
Alliance of America: Illinois break with Communist control of national organization,
1937-1939
7 Newspaper,
"Work": 1938-1939
8 Newspaper,
"Work": 1939-1940
9 Newspaper,
"Work": 1940
10 Workers'
Security Federation of the U.S.A.: constitution, proceedings, bulletins, 1939-1941
11 Workers'
Security Federation of the U.S.A.: correspondence re. David Lasser, 1940-1941
12 Beth
Schulman correspondence with McCulloch re. her thesis "'The workers are finding
a voice: "The Chicago Worker's Committee and the Relief Struggles of
1932": 1986-1987
Box 7
1 "Organizing
the Unemployed: Chicago, 1929-1933," article reviewed by McCulloch on
behalf of Chicago History, 1979
Series
3. Files on church and educational programs for labor, 1934-1948 (box 7-14)
Box 7 continued
2 Brotherhood
of Sleeping Car Porters, 1935-1943
3 Chicago
Committee on Workers' Summer Schools, 1942
4 Chicago
Council Against Racial and Religious Discrimination, 1944
5-6 Chicago
Theological Seminary, 1942-1945
7 Church
and labor pamphlets: 1935-1937
8 Church
and labor pamphlets: 1940-1946
9 Undated;
McCulloch reading notes
10 McCulloch
reading notes, 1930s-1940s
11 Citizens
Committee on Industrial Relations, 1937-1940
Box 8
1 Commission
on the Church and Industry, 1941-1944
2 Commonwealth
Edison franchise, 1948
Council for Social Action of the
Congregational and Christian Churches:
3 Council
for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches: organization,
1934
4 General
Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches, 1934
5 Council
for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches: corres.: re.
McCulloch's election to the Council for Social Action, 1934
6 Council
for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches: corres.: 1934-1935
7 Council
for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches: corres.: 1937-1939
8 Council
for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches: corres.: re.
trip to Europe, 1936
9 Council
for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches: notes on trip to
Europe, 1936
10 Council
for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches: minutes &
membership lists, 1937
11 Council
for Social Action of the Congregational and Christian Churches: General Motors
strike, 1936-1937
12 Institutes
on Economic Problems, 1937
13 Miscellaneous
programs, 1937-1946
14 Maytag
strike, 1938
Box 9
1 Social Action magazine, 1935-1948
2 Evanston
Town Meeting, 1937-1939
3 Fair
Employment Practices Council of Metropolitan Chicago, 1941-1942
4 Illinois
Workers Security Federation, 1939-1942
5 Independent
Voters of Illinois: memoranda, news clippings, 1944
6 Independent
Voters of Illinois: memoranda, correspondence, 1945-1946
7 Independent
Voters of Illinois: North Shore Committee, 1945-1946
8 Independent
Voters of Illinois: constitution, by-laws, 1947 election materials
9 Independent
Voters of Illinois: 1948 election materials
10 Independent
Voters of Illinois: manual of information, 1948
Box 10
1 Americans
for Democratic Action, 1946-1948
2 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: biography & 1935 memorial meeting
3 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: James Mullenbach writings, 1920s-1930s
4 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: organizational material, 1940
5 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: minutes and reports, 1940-1941
6 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: minutes and reports, 1942-1946
7 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: charter and by-laws, 1942-1945
8 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: corres.: Internal Revenue Service, 1940-1950
9 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: corres.: re. publications, 1940-1946
10 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: corres.: Speaker's Bureau, 1941-1946
11 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: news clippings, 1940-1942
12 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: account book, 1940-1946
13 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: tax returns, 1940-1946
14 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: programs: Labor Institutes, 1940-1942
Box 11
1 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: programs: Three Day Forum on Democracy, 1941
2 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: programs: Co-sponsored with American Labor
Education Service, 1944-1945
3 James
Mullenbach Industrial Institute: programs: "An Historical Sketch," by
John N. Noble, with comments by McCulloch, 1962
4 Lynching,
1935
5 Memorial
Day incident (Republic Steel), 1937: correspondence
6-7 Memorial
Day incident (Republic Steel), 1937: news clippings
8 Memorial
Day incident (Republic Steel), 1937: statements
9 Midwest
Institute of International Relations, 1936-1939
10 Midwest
Workers' Education Conference: 1942-1945
Box 12
1 Midwest
Workers' Education Conference: 1946-1947
2 Montgomery
Ward Co.: correspondence, 1942-1944; shareholders meeting, 1943
3-4 Montgomery
Ward Co.: shareholders meeting, 1944
5 Montgomery
Ward Co.: news clippings on shareholders meeting, 1944
6 Montgomery
Ward Co.: government seizure, 1944-1945
7 Montgomery
Ward Co.: response to government seizure, 1944
8 Montgomery
Ward Co.: Citizens Committee on Industrial Relations report, 1944
Box 13
1 Montgomery
Ward Co.: statement by governmental officials, 1944-1945
2-3 Montgomery
Ward Co.: shareholders meeting, 1945-1946
4 National
Labor Relations Act, 1941
Box 13
5 National
War Labor Board: 1943-1944
6 National
War Labor Board: International Harvester case reports, 1944
7 National
War Labor Board: Albert Pick Company case reports, 1944
8 National
War Labor Board: Western News Company case reports, 1944
9 Roosevelt
College, Labor Education Division: McCulloch appointments, 1946-1948
10 Roosevelt
College, Labor Education Division: director's reports, 1946-1948
Box 14
1 Roosevelt
College, Labor Education Division: workshop, "Psychology in Union
Administration and Collective Bargaining," 1948
2 Roosevelt
College, Labor Education Division: course, "Group Discussion Leadership,"
1948
3-4 School
for Workers, University of Wisconsin, 1941-1946
5 Sharecropper
situation, 1935
6 Spanish
Refugee Relief Campaign, 1940
7 Steel
industry conditions, 1936-1937
8 Union
for Democratic Action: organizing material, 1942
9 Union
for Democratic Action: memoranda, correspondence, 1941-1946
10 "The
People vs. the Chicago Tribune," 1942
11 News
clippings, 1940-1948
12-13 Miscellaneous
labor references
Box 15 Unprocessed.
Box 16 (0MM.222)
Sound reel of Lea D. Taylor autobiography
in 1968.