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Guide to the Papers of Isaac A. Hourwich (1860-1924) 1882-1924 RG 587

Processed by David A. Wolfson. The microfilm was prepared by Cecile E. Kuznitz with the assistance of a grant from the S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation. Additional processing by Rachel S. Harrison as part of the Leon Levy Archival Processing Initiative, made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org
URL: http://www.yivo.org

©2011 YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. All rights reserved.

Electronic finding aid was encoded in EAD 2002 by Rachel S. Harrison in July 2011. EAD finding aid customized in ARCHON in 2012. Description is in English.

Collection Overview

Title: Guide to the Papers of Isaac A. Hourwich (1860-1924) 1882-1924 RG 587

ID: RG 587 FA

Extent: 5.0 Linear Feet

Arrangement:

The collection was originally processed by David A. Wolfson in 1971. The microfilm was prepared by Cecile E. Kuznitz with the assistance of a grant from the S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation in 1990. Additional processing was completed in July 2011.

 

The materials in this collection are generally arranged topically by series. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically by correspondent according to the Latin alphabet, including materials that are written using either Hebrew or Cyrillic letters, which have been transliterated and integrated within the Latin-alphabet materials. Personal names of correspondents have been transliterated, journal titles and organization names have been transliterated and translated, and the titles of speeches and writings have been transliterated and translated and are in quotation marks. Yiddish names have been transliterated according to YIVO standards except when the individual is known in English by another spelling. Additionally, if the name appeared in Latin letters anywhere within the folder, that spelling was used rather than a standard transliteration. The languages of materials that are not in English are in parentheses following the listing of the material. The page numbers sometimes refer to the number of sheets and sometimes, for double-sided documents, to the number of sides. The collection is on two sets of microfilm. Folders 1-133 are on 11 reels numbered MK 501, while folder 134 is only on 3 reels of microfilm numbered MK 407, and does not exist physically in the boxes. Folders 127 and 128, clippings of Hourwich’s memoirs and obituaries and clippings about him after his death, were originally microfilmed as one reel numbered MK 351, however they also are represented in MK 501. The papers are divided into 6 series.

Languages: English, Russian, Yiddish, German, French, Italian

Abstract

This collection contains documents relating to Isaac A. Hourwich’s role as an economist, publicist, statistician, lawyer, author, and authority on immigration, as well as his involvement with the labor movement and the formation of the American Jewish Congress. There are reports, minutes of meetings, memoranda, clippings and correspondence, and manuscripts and articles about Jewish labor, Socialism, Russia, Marxism, immigration, and other subjects. These materials demonstrate Hourwich’s important role in American labor, immigration theory, and political and economic theory.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

The Papers of Isaac A. Hourwich consist of manuscripts, printed materials, reports, minutes and records of meetings, legal documents, financial records, pamphlets, memoranda, clippings, and correspondence relating primarily to Hourwich’s intellectual and organizational involvement in the labor movement, including his extensive participation in arbitration proceedings. There are also materials relating to the labor movement and labor laws in Russia, on Socialist theory and the Jewish Labor Bund. Materials on the Jewish labor movement in the U.S., particularly the garment workers industry, during the era of the Protocol of Peace include documents of the Independent Jacket Makers Union of New York and Federated Hebrew Trade Unions of Greater New York, minutes of meetings of the Board of Grievances of the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Industry, minutes and reports of various arbitration proceedings, and materials relating to the episodes known as the “Hourwich Affair” and “Moishe Rubin’s Rebellion.”

There is correspondence with Abraham Cahan, Judah L. Magnes, Zalman Reisen, and Isaac Sturner, articles by Hourwich on Socialism, Capitalism, Jewish rights, and Zionism, Hourwich’s unfinished memoirs, a bibliography on index cards of Hourwich’s works compiled by A.S. Kravetz, and documents on the organization of the American Jewish Congress, among them much statistical data on the Jewish population of the United around the time of World War I. The manuscripts and articles in the collection represent a cross-section of Hourwich’s writings on Russia, Socialism, Marxism, the labor movement, immigration, and American government and economics. There are also a large number of clippings covering many of Hourwich’s activities and interests.

The collection dates from 1882-1924 and is in 12 manuscript boxes, measuring 6 linear feet. There are also three reels of microfilm of materials not physically represented in the collection, which have a different microfilm number.

Historical Note

Biographical Note Isaac A. Hourwich was born April 27, 1860 in Vilna to a middle-class maskilic family. His father, who worked in a bank and knew several European languages, made sure to give his two children a modern secular education. Hourwich graduated in 1877 from the classical gymnasium at Minsk, and later studied medicine and mathematics. As a student, he became interested in nihilistic propaganda. His activities with a revolutionary Socialist circle in St. Petersburg led to his arrest and imprisonment in 1879 on the charges of hostility to the government and of aiding to establish a secret press. He was sent to Siberia as a "dangerous character," from 1881-1886. While in prison, he studied the settlement of Russian peasants in Siberia, and wrote a book in Russian, The Peasant Immigration to Siberia , which was published in 1888. After his release, he studied law at the Imperial University in St. Petersburg. He earned his legal degree from Demidoff Lyceum of Jurisprudence in Yaroslavl, Russia and was admitted to the Russian bar in 1887. He then practiced law in Minsk and continued his involvement in radical political movements. He helped to found the first secret Socialist circles among the Jewish workers in tsarist Russia, along with his wife Yelena (Kushelevsky) Hourwich and his sister Jhenya Hourwich, who later translated Marx’s Das Kapital into Russian. In 1890, Hourwich fled Russia, leaving behind his first wife Yelena (Kushelevsky) Hourwich and four children, Nicholas Hourwich (1882-1934), who was later involved in the founding of the Communist Party, Maria (Hourwich) Kravitz (1883-), Rosa Hourwich (ca.1884-) , and Vera (Hourwich) Semmens (1890-1976), although Hourwich’s parents continued to support his family. He first went to Paris but he had to leave there as well, at which point he immigrated to the United States. He divorced his first wife and married again, to Louise Elizabeth "Lisa" (Joffe) Hourwich (1866-1947). Lisa Hourwich had taught school in Russia, and, after immigrating to the United States with her family, attended law school, eventually passing the Illinois bar, although she never practiced as a lawyer. They had five children, Iskander "Sasha" Hourwich (1895-1968), Rebecca Hourwich Reyher (1897-1987), who was a prominent suffragist, Olga "Dicky" Hourwich (1902-1977), George Kennan Hourwich (1904-1978), and Ena (Hourwich) Kunzer (1906-1989). In New York, Hourwich joined the Russian Workers Society for Self-Education, later the Russian Social Democratic Society, which was made up mostly of Jewish immigrants from Minsk. The Society helped to finance the Group for Liberation of Labor (1883-1903), which Georgi Plekhanov, Pavel Axelrod and Lev Deutsch formed in Geneva, Switzerland for the dissemination of Marxist ideas in Russian. From 1891-1892 he was a fellow at Columbia University where he earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1893. His thesis was published under the title The Economics of the Russian Village and a Russian translation was published in Moscow in 1896. He then taught statistics at the University of Chicago from 1892-1893, after which he returned to New York City, where he practiced law while also contributing to Marxist legal magazines in Russia. In 1897-1898, after the creation of the Social Democratic Party by Eugene V. Debs, Hourwich founded the first party branch in New York City with Meyer London. He also edited a Russian Socialist newspaper, Progress , from 1901-1904. Hourwich moved to Washington, D.C. in 1900, where he worked for the United States government for several years, first as a translator at the Bureau of the Mint in 1900-1902, then at the Census Bureau in 1902-1906 and in 1909-1913 as a statistician and expert on mining. He was a statistician for the New York Public Service Commission, 1908-1909. During this period he developed his knowledge of American politics and economics which he used in his writings in the English and Yiddish press. He briefly wrote for the Forward after it began publication in 1897, even though he did not then know much Yiddish and had to learn it as he went along. For his articles in the Forward and other Yiddish periodicals he used the pseudonyms “Marxist” and “Yitzhok Isaac ben Arye Tzvi Halevi” so as not to bring attention to the fact that a government employee was writing for radical newspapers. His articles about American politics and economic institutions, particularly for the Tog (Day), were important in popularizing Socialism and were often the main source for explaining American economics and politics to a Yiddish-speaking audience in the United States. In addition to various essays in the Yiddish press, Hourwich published: "The Persecutions of the Jews," in The Forum in August 1901, "Russian Dissenters," in The Arena in May 1903 and "Religious Sects in Russia," in The International Quarterly in October 1903, to name only a few. In the wake of the October 1905 revolution, Tsar Nicholas II declared amnesty for political prisoners and Hourwich took advantage of this to return to Russia where he ran for a seat in the second Duma in Minsk in 1906. He was the nominee of a new Democratic People’s Party. The Jewish Socialist parties resented his intrusion and his non-Socialist campaign, particularly the Bund, which was running its own candidate. He was elected and would most likely have gained the seat in the Duma but the senate in St. Petersburg annulled his election and his name was taken off the final list of candidates. When the Duma was dissolved in June 1907 Hourwich returned to the United States and his government job. He also continued to write for various English magazines. Hourwich was an expert on immigration, and his book Immigration and Labor was published in 1912. In this work, he defends unrestricted immigration by arguing that the influx of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe was beneficial to the American economy. This argument was based upon economic figures and was the first defense of open immigration based on economic, rather than humanitarian, reasons. Hourwich was active in the garment workers union at the time the agreement known as the “Protocol of Peace” was in effect. Engineered by Louis D. Brandeis following the cloakmakers’ strike of 1910, the Protocol was a system for resolving conflicts between workers and manufacturers in the garment industry without resorting to arbitration. This system was proving difficult to implement when Hourwich was appointed Chief Clerk of the Cloak and Skirt Makers’ Union in early 1913. He was in favor of reforming the Protocol, including a change from conciliation to arbitration, exactly what Brandeis had been against when drafting the Protocol. Hourwich’s position earned him the enmity of other union leaders, of his old friend, Meyer London, and also of Brandeis, who had represented the garment employers in Boston against the union during the 1910 strike. In addition, the heads of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, Abraham Rosenberg and John Dyche, vehemently opposed Hourwich for asserting the power of the local union against its parent organization and were concerned that his actions would lead to another strike. The officers of the ILGWU tried unsuccessfully to force Hourwich out, although the majority of garment workers supported him for his populist views, despite his lack of trade union experience. In November 1913, the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers’ Association refused to negotiate with Hourwich as the union representative and demanded his resignation. Although the heads of the union were united in their dislike of Hourwich, they supported him in resisting the manufacturers’ pressure. However, in early 1914 when the manufacturers threatened to break off the Protocol and a strike appeared imminent, Hourwich stepped down rather than compromise, despite the protests of many rank-and-file union members. The so-called “Hourwich Affair” showed the weakness of the Protocol as a means of settling disputes and hastened its eventual reform. It also revealed the various power struggles taking place between the International and the local unions, as well as between the union leadership and the mass of garment workers. Hourwich was an early critic of the totalitarian tendencies of the Bolshevik government. Nevertheless, he maintained some sympathy for the Marxist cause and served as legal advisor to the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Ludwig C.K. Martens. He was also connected with the weekly magazine, Friends of Soviet Russia , published by the Soviet Agency, although he never wrote in support of the Bolsheviks. A visit to the Soviet Union in 1922 disillusioned Hourwich, however, and he returned firmly opposed to the Soviet regime. Despite his commitment to Socialism, Hourwich did not strictly adhere to party doctrine and often crossed political boundaries in his allegiances. For example, in 1912 he supported Theodore Roosevelt and ran for Congress on the ticket of Roosevelt’s Progressive Party, an unthinkable act for a Jewish radical, although he seems to have been unconcerned with any criticism this raised. He was involved with the Socialist Democratic Party but did not join the Socialist Party of America, despite its Marxist program. He wrote for various Yiddish newspapers of every political affiliation, including the Socialist Jewish Daily Forward , the anarchist Fraye Arbeter Shtimme (Free Workers Voice), where he published his unfinished memoirs Zikhroynes fun an Apikoyres (Memoirs of a Heretic), the Warheit (Truth), the Tog (Day), and the Tsukunft (Future). His non-ideological approach led some to label him a political opportunist. He was an ardent supporter of President Wilson and his advocacy of the New Freedom and social reform until Wilson’s 1916 appointment of Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Hourwich was still holding a grudge against Brandeis for his involvement in the “Hourwich Affair.” In his later years Hourwich became active in the Zionist movement, and in 1917 he helped to organize the American Jewish Congress. Hourwich’s books in Yiddish include Mooted Questions of Socialism (1917), a Yiddish translation of Marx’s Das Kapital (1919), and a four-volume edition of his collected works (1917-1919). Hourwich died of pneumonia on July 9, 1924.   Isaac A. Hourwich was born April 27, 1860 in Vilna to a middle-class maskilic family. His father, who worked in a bank and knew several European languages, made sure to give his two children a modern secular education. Hourwich graduated in 1877 from the classical gymnasium at Minsk, and later studied medicine and mathematics. As a student, he became interested in nihilistic propaganda. His activities with a revolutionary Socialist circle in St. Petersburg led to his arrest and imprisonment in 1879 on the charges of hostility to the government and of aiding to establish a secret press. He was sent to Siberia as a "dangerous character," from 1881-1886. While in prison, he studied the settlement of Russian peasants in Siberia, and wrote a book in Russian, The Peasant Immigration to Siberia , which was published in 1888. After his release, he studied law at the Imperial University in St. Petersburg. He earned his legal degree from Demidoff Lyceum of Jurisprudence in Yaroslavl, Russia and was admitted to the Russian bar in 1887. He then practiced law in Minsk and continued his involvement in radical political movements. He helped to found the first secret Socialist circles among the Jewish workers in tsarist Russia, along with his wife Yelena (Kushelevsky) Hourwich and his sister Jhenya Hourwich, who later translated Marx’s Das Kapital into Russian.

In 1890, Hourwich fled Russia, leaving behind his first wife Yelena (Kushelevsky) Hourwich and four children, Nicholas Hourwich (1882-1934), who was later involved in the founding of the Communist Party, Maria (Hourwich) Kravitz (1883-), Rosa Hourwich (ca.1884-) , and Vera (Hourwich) Semmens (1890-1976), although Hourwich’s parents continued to support his family. He first went to Paris but he had to leave there as well, at which point he immigrated to the United States. He divorced his first wife and married again, to Louise Elizabeth "Lisa" (Joffe) Hourwich (1866-1947). Lisa Hourwich had taught school in Russia, and, after immigrating to the United States with her family, attended law school, eventually passing the Illinois bar, although she never practiced as a lawyer. They had five children, Iskander "Sasha" Hourwich (1895-1968), Rebecca Hourwich Reyher (1897-1987), who was a prominent suffragist, Olga "Dicky" Hourwich (1902-1977), George Kennan Hourwich (1904-1978), and Ena (Hourwich) Kunzer (1906-1989).

In New York, Hourwich joined the Russian Workers Society for Self-Education, later the Russian Social Democratic Society, which was made up mostly of Jewish immigrants from Minsk. The Society helped to finance the Group for Liberation of Labor (1883-1903), which Georgi Plekhanov, Pavel Axelrod and Lev Deutsch formed in Geneva, Switzerland for the dissemination of Marxist ideas in Russian. From 1891-1892 he was a fellow at Columbia University where he earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1893. His thesis was published under the title The Economics of the Russian Village and a Russian translation was published in Moscow in 1896. He then taught statistics at the University of Chicago from 1892-1893, after which he returned to New York City, where he practiced law while also contributing to Marxist legal magazines in Russia. In 1897-1898, after the creation of the Social Democratic Party by Eugene V. Debs, Hourwich founded the first party branch in New York City with Meyer London. He also edited a Russian Socialist newspaper, Progress , from 1901-1904.

Hourwich moved to Washington, D.C. in 1900, where he worked for the United States government for several years, first as a translator at the Bureau of the Mint in 1900-1902, then at the Census Bureau in 1902-1906 and in 1909-1913 as a statistician and expert on mining. He was a statistician for the New York Public Service Commission, 1908-1909. During this period he developed his knowledge of American politics and economics which he used in his writings in the English and Yiddish press. He briefly wrote for the Forward after it began publication in 1897, even though he did not then know much Yiddish and had to learn it as he went along. For his articles in the Forward and other Yiddish periodicals he used the pseudonyms “Marxist” and “Yitzhok Isaac ben Arye Tzvi Halevi” so as not to bring attention to the fact that a government employee was writing for radical newspapers. His articles about American politics and economic institutions, particularly for the Tog (Day), were important in popularizing Socialism and were often the main source for explaining American economics and politics to a Yiddish-speaking audience in the United States. In addition to various essays in the Yiddish press, Hourwich published: "The Persecutions of the Jews," in The Forum in August 1901, "Russian Dissenters," in The Arena in May 1903 and "Religious Sects in Russia," in The International Quarterly in October 1903, to name only a few.

In the wake of the October 1905 revolution, Tsar Nicholas II declared amnesty for political prisoners and Hourwich took advantage of this to return to Russia where he ran for a seat in the second Duma in Minsk in 1906. He was the nominee of a new Democratic People’s Party. The Jewish Socialist parties resented his intrusion and his non-Socialist campaign, particularly the Bund, which was running its own candidate. He was elected and would most likely have gained the seat in the Duma but the senate in St. Petersburg annulled his election and his name was taken off the final list of candidates. When the Duma was dissolved in June 1907 Hourwich returned to the United States and his government job. He also continued to write for various English magazines. Hourwich was an expert on immigration, and his book Immigration and Labor was published in 1912. In this work, he defends unrestricted immigration by arguing that the influx of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe was beneficial to the American economy. This argument was based upon economic figures and was the first defense of open immigration based on economic, rather than humanitarian, reasons.

Hourwich was active in the garment workers union at the time the agreement known as the “Protocol of Peace” was in effect. Engineered by Louis D. Brandeis following the cloakmakers’ strike of 1910, the Protocol was a system for resolving conflicts between workers and manufacturers in the garment industry without resorting to arbitration. This system was proving difficult to implement when Hourwich was appointed Chief Clerk of the Cloak and Skirt Makers’ Union in early 1913. He was in favor of reforming the Protocol, including a change from conciliation to arbitration, exactly what Brandeis had been against when drafting the Protocol. Hourwich’s position earned him the enmity of other union leaders, of his old friend, Meyer London, and also of Brandeis, who had represented the garment employers in Boston against the union during the 1910 strike. In addition, the heads of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union, Abraham Rosenberg and John Dyche, vehemently opposed Hourwich for asserting the power of the local union against its parent organization and were concerned that his actions would lead to another strike. The officers of the ILGWU tried unsuccessfully to force Hourwich out, although the majority of garment workers supported him for his populist views, despite his lack of trade union experience.

In November 1913, the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers’ Association refused to negotiate with Hourwich as the union representative and demanded his resignation. Although the heads of the union were united in their dislike of Hourwich, they supported him in resisting the manufacturers’ pressure. However, in early 1914 when the manufacturers threatened to break off the Protocol and a strike appeared imminent, Hourwich stepped down rather than compromise, despite the protests of many rank-and-file union members. The so-called “Hourwich Affair” showed the weakness of the Protocol as a means of settling disputes and hastened its eventual reform. It also revealed the various power struggles taking place between the International and the local unions, as well as between the union leadership and the mass of garment workers.

Hourwich was an early critic of the totalitarian tendencies of the Bolshevik government. Nevertheless, he maintained some sympathy for the Marxist cause and served as legal advisor to the Soviet ambassador to the United States, Ludwig C.K. Martens. He was also connected with the weekly magazine, Friends of Soviet Russia , published by the Soviet Agency, although he never wrote in support of the Bolsheviks. A visit to the Soviet Union in 1922 disillusioned Hourwich, however, and he returned firmly opposed to the Soviet regime.

Despite his commitment to Socialism, Hourwich did not strictly adhere to party doctrine and often crossed political boundaries in his allegiances. For example, in 1912 he supported Theodore Roosevelt and ran for Congress on the ticket of Roosevelt’s Progressive Party, an unthinkable act for a Jewish radical, although he seems to have been unconcerned with any criticism this raised. He was involved with the Socialist Democratic Party but did not join the Socialist Party of America, despite its Marxist program. He wrote for various Yiddish newspapers of every political affiliation, including the Socialist Jewish Daily Forward , the anarchist Fraye Arbeter Shtimme (Free Workers Voice), where he published his unfinished memoirs Zikhroynes fun an Apikoyres (Memoirs of a Heretic), the Warheit (Truth), the Tog (Day), and the Tsukunft (Future). His non-ideological approach led some to label him a political opportunist. He was an ardent supporter of President Wilson and his advocacy of the New Freedom and social reform until Wilson’s 1916 appointment of Louis D. Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Hourwich was still holding a grudge against Brandeis for his involvement in the “Hourwich Affair.”

In his later years Hourwich became active in the Zionist movement, and in 1917 he helped to organize the American Jewish Congress. Hourwich’s books in Yiddish include Mooted Questions of Socialism (1917), a Yiddish translation of Marx’s Das Kapital (1919), and a four-volume edition of his collected works (1917-1919). Hourwich died of pneumonia on July 9, 1924.

Subject/Index Terms

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions: Permission to use the collection must be obtained from the YIVO Archivist.

Use Restrictions:

Permission to publish part or parts of the collection must be obtained from the YIVO Archives. For more information, contact:

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011

email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Acquisition Method: Mrs. Rebecca Reyher, Hourwich’s daughter, donated the papers to YIVO in July 1969. Mrs. Reyher gave those of her father’s papers dealing with immigration to Harvard University.

Separated Materials: There is no information about materials that are associated by provenance to the described materials that have been physically separated or removed.

Original/Copies Note: This collection is on two sets of microfilm. MK 501 is 11 reels and contains the contents of folders 1-133, while MK 407 is 3 reels and contains what is called folder 134, which is not physically represented in the collection.

Related Materials: The YIVO Library has a copy of Profiles of Eleven by Melech Epstein, in which Hourwich is one of the profiles. There are also several books and other writings by Hourwich. The American Jewish Historical Society Archives have American Jewish Congress records I-77, and there are also American Jewish Congress materials in other collections at AJHS and YIVO. In addition, the YIVO Archives have the Bund Archives RG 1400, as well as materials about unions, Socialism, Communism, and labor.

Preferred Citation: Published citations should take the following form:Identification of item, date (if known); Papers of Isaac A. Hourwich; RG 587; folder number; YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.


Box and Folder Listing


Browse by Series:

Series 1: Series I: Russia and the Labor Movement, 1882-1924,
Series 2: Series II: Jewish Labor Movement, 1897-1919,
Series 3: Series III: American Jewish Congress, 1915-1919,
Series 4: Series IV: Correspondence, 1891-1924,
Series 5: Series V: Miscellaneous Materials, 1899-1924, undated,
Series 6: Series VI: Manuscripts, Clippings and Microfilms, 1897-1924,
All

Series II: Jewish Labor Movement
1897-1919

This series consists of papers in English and Yiddish. It includes minutes of meetings and hearings, reports, legal documents, correspondence, clippings, magazine articles, and pamphlets. These materials relate to the Jewish labor movement, particularly in the garment workers industry, and comprise the most important series in the collection. Perhaps most significant are documents about the “Hourwich Affair” and the crisis in the Protocol of Peace it precipitated. Among these is correspondence between Hourwich and union officials, including the Manufacturers’ Association’s demand for Hourwich’s resignation and his letter of resignation itself. Other correspondence includes copies of letters Hourwich sent to Meyer London during a power struggle between the two men. There are also legal documents and correspondence relating to several conflicts which served as tests of the Protocol machinery, namely the cases of B. Schnall, Jaffe and Katz, and Levay and Friedberg. This series includes reports of hearings on the Protocol held by the U.S. Commission on Industrial Relations, the first case considered by this body created to investigate labor unrest.

In addition, the series contains material from the Cloak Operators’ Union Local 1, which Hourwich served as legal advisor. Of particular note are documents relating to a conflict between the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union and the local union known as “Moishe Rubin’s Rebellion.” In 1916-1917, the pro-Hourwich leadership of Local 1 defied its parent body in an attempt to show its independence, and in turn had its charter revoked by the International. Materials in the series include papers from disputes between the local and union members, financial records of the union, pamphlets, and clippings.

Folders: 33
Folder 26: Official documents
1897-1899, 1914

- papers of incorporation of the Independent Childrens' Jacket Makers Union of New York, 1897

- papers of incorporation of the Federated Hebrew Trade Unions of Greater New York, 1897

- contract and promisory notes of the United Hebrew Brotherhood of Cloakmakers Local 1, 1898-1899

- letter of Jacob Shinbrot (Yiddish), incomplete, 1914

- reel 2, frame 622

Folder 27: Minutes of the Session of the Joint Board of the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York
1913

- February 1, 1913, typed, 59 pgs.

- reel 2, frame 655

Folder 28: Minutes of the Board of Grievances
1913

- Cloak, Suit and Skirt Industry, January 27, 1913, typed, 26 pgs.

- Stenographic minutes of the Joint Board of the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York and the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association, July 8, 1913, 2 pgs. (missing)

- reel 2, frame 716

Folder 29: Complaints before the Board of Grievances
1913

- May 15, 1913

- Operator No. 3 against S. Marcus, 18 pgs.

- Presser Gordon against Jaffe and Katz, 16 pgs.

- In the matter of the dispute between Jaffe and Katz and the Employees of the Cloth Operating Department, 13 pgs.

- reel 2, frame 744

Folder 30: Arbitration Proceedings between the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York and the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association
1913

- August 3-6, 1913, 2 volumes, typed, 1500 pgs., volume I

- reel 3, frame 1

Folder 31: Arbitration Proceedings between the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York and the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association
1913

- same as above, volume II

- reel 4, frame 1

Folder 32: Report of a special meeting of the Board of Grievances
1913

- August 13, 1913, typed, 87 pgs.

- reel 4, frame 791

Folder 33: Report on Board of Grievances matters and recommendations
1913

- Exhibit E, September 10, 1913

- reel 5, frame 1

Folder 34: Minutes of the Board of Grievances
1913

- In the matter of B. Schnall, September 5, 1913, typed, 73 pgs.

- reel 5, frame 17

Folder 35: Regular Meeting of the Board of Grievances
1913

- report on the Schnall Case, September 3, 1913, typed, 106 pgs.

- decision in the Schnall Case. October 1, 1913, typed, 2 pgs.

- letter of Hourwich to Meyer London, 1913

- reel 5, frame 92

Folder 36: Regular Meeting of the Board of Grievances
1913

- same as above, second copy

- not microfilmed

Folder 37: Cloak and Suit Arbitration
1913

- October 4, 1913, 12 pgs.

- reel 5, frame 201

Folder 38: Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Arbitrators with representatives of the Shirt and Cloak Makers' Unions of New York and with the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers' Association
1913

- October 12-13, 1913, 392 pgs.

- reel 5, frame 214

Folder 39: Hourwich and Abraham Bisno
1913-1914

- minutes of the meeting of the Court of Honor, convened to consider charges against Hourwich by Bisno, March 7, 1914, 16 pgs.

- 2 letters of Hourwich to Bisno, June 14 and July 21, 1913

- reel 5, frame 608

Folder 40: Materials relating to the garment workers' unions
1912-1914

- especially the Joint Board of the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Union, including materials on the "Hourwich Affair"

- correspondence, memoranda, resolutions, manuscripts pages, and an article (English, Yiddish)

- reel 5, frame 636

Folder 41: Materials from cases brought before the Board of Grievances
1913-1914

- complaint against Jaffe and Katz

- complaint against Levay and Friedberg

- reel 5, frame 706

Folder 42: Statistics on lockouts and stoppages of work
1913

- materials from an inquiry undertaken by the Board of Arbitration on wages earned by workers in the garment industry

- reel 5, frame 778

Folder 43: Correspondence
1912-1913

- regarding Hourwich's appointment as Chief Clerk of the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Union, 1912

- regarding Hourwich's conflict with Meyer London, 1913

- regarding Hourwich's reappointment for a second term as Chief Clerk, 1913

- reel 6, frame 1

Folder 44: Correspondence
1913-1914

- regarding the Manufacturers' Association's demand for Hourwich's resignation, including Hourwich's resignation itself

- reel 6, frame 20

Folder 45: United States Commission on Industrial Relations
1914

- telegram from Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, Commissioner, to Hourwich

- discussion on the question of differences between the manufacturers and workers in the Cloak, Suit, Waist Industry, January 15-17, 1914, stenographic report, typed, 3 volumes, 506 pgs.

- reel 6, frame 36"

Folder 46: Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Arbitrators
1914

- selected by the representatives of the Cloak and Skirt Makers' Unions of New York, and the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Manufacturers' Protective Association, January 18, 23, and 24, 1914, stenographic report, typed, 2 volumes, 87 pgs.

- reel 6, frame 577

Folder 47: Board of Arbitration
1914

- memorandum presented to the Board of Arbitration pertaining to wage increases, typed, 31 pgs.

- loose pages from minutes of arbitration proceedings

- letter on pricemaking from Williams, Impartial Chairman to Hillman and Lezinsky, Chief Clerks of the Cloakmakers' Protocol

- letter from the union committee appointed to the Arbitration Board, to the Joint Board

- reel 6, frame 666

Folder 48: Council of Conciliation in the Cloak, Suit, and Skirt Industry
1915

- report and recommendations, July 23, 1915, typed, 6 pgs.

- reel 6, frame 717

Folder 49: Documents from cases which Hourwich handled in his legal practice
1915

- Hill Coal Company vs. Bernet Shapiro

- Kosto vs. Robinson

- Phillips vs. Rosenthal-Romagnoli Company

- Raines vs. Levy

- Sedeis vs. Goldschmidt

- Simberg VS. Simberg

- Tulchiner vs. Malcolm

- Bercovici vs. Delaware and Lackawana Railroad Company

- notes on the definition of a lockout

- reel 6, frame 725

Folder 50: Controversy between Cloak Operators' Union Local 1 and the ILGWU
1915-1918

- terms of settlement of the controversy, correspondence, briefs, pamphlets, clippings (English, Yiddish)

- reel 6, frame 741

Folder 51: Legal cases involving Local 1
1917-1919

- briefs, summonses and correspondence

- Israel Kanowitz and William Rosen vs. Local 1 and the ILGWU, 1917

- Local 1 vs. Perez Kottler et. al., 1919

- Joseph B. DeYoung vs. Local 1, 1917-1919

- Abraham Mintz vs. Local 1, 1918

- reel 7, frame 1

Folder 52: Financial matters of Local 1
1917-1919

- financial transactions, audit, bonds, mortgages on personal property

- reel 7, frame 53

Folder 53: Miscellaneous materials relating to Local 1
1897, 1917-1919

- manuscript pages, depositions, two drafts of a manuscript, "Di Zitsung fun der Unterzukhungs Komite vegn di Elekshuns far di Ekzekutiv Bord fun Local Eyns" (The Meeting of the Inquiry Committee aboul the Election for the Executive Board of Local 1), typed, 7 and 8 pgs., (English, Yiddish)

- reel 7, frame 117

Folder 54: Fur Workers' unions
1917

- minutes of the conference between the firm of A. Hollander and Son, Newark, N.J. and the Fur Dressers, Fur Workers and Dyers Union, Local 54, 1917, typed

- agreement between A. Hollander and Son and Local 54 of the International Fur Workers Union

- agreement between the Associated Fur Manufacturers and the International Fur Workers Union of the U.S.A. and Canada, March, 1917

- typed correspondence and handwritten notes pertaining to the above, 63 pgs.

- reel 7, frame 179

Folder 55: Constitution of the ILGWU and by-laws for local unions
1917

- printed booklet with Hourwich's name printed on cover (English, Yiddish), 127 pgs.

- reel 7, frame 250

Folder 56: Cloak Operators' Union, Local 1
1917

- 4 statements by a certified public accountant for an audit of the local, typed, 23 pgs.

- reel 7, frame 317

Folder 57: Newspaper clippings
1913-1915

- pertaining to the needle trades and in particular to Hourwich's resignation as Chief Clerk

- clippings from:

- The New York Times

- The New York Globe

- The World

- The Survey

- The Evening Post

- The New York Call

- The Daily People

- Il Proletario

- The Ladies' Garment Cutter

- Women's Wear

- The Commercial Advertiser

- The American Hebrew

- The Journal

- The DaiIy Trade Record

(English, Italian, Russian)

- reel 7, frame 342

Folder 58: Articles
1913-1915

- articles about the Protocol of Peace by Hourwich in The New Review, June 15 and July 15, 1915

- articles by Ab. Baroff and Isadore Epstein in The Ladies' Garment Worker, June 1913

- issues of The Ladies' Garment Worker, July and October, 1913 and January and March, 1914

- reel 7, frame 417


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Series 1: Series I: Russia and the Labor Movement, 1882-1924,
Series 2: Series II: Jewish Labor Movement, 1897-1919,
Series 3: Series III: American Jewish Congress, 1915-1919,
Series 4: Series IV: Correspondence, 1891-1924,
Series 5: Series V: Miscellaneous Materials, 1899-1924, undated,
Series 6: Series VI: Manuscripts, Clippings and Microfilms, 1897-1924,
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