Summary
Abstract
Clinton S. Golden (1888-1961), of Solebury, Pennsylvania, was a labor leader, educator, theorist, and vice president of the United Steelworkers of America. Personal and family correspondence, published and unpublished writings, reports, speeches, clippings, booklets, pamphlets, and collective bargaining agreements.
Dates
- Creation: 1858-1961
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1933-1961
Extent
15 Linear Feet
Background
Biographical / Historical
Clinton Strong Golden was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania on November 16, 1888. When his father died in 1900, Golden went to work in an iron mine and thus his formal education was ended. He apprenticed as a machinist, but later worked several years as a railroad fireman and became active in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers. He was a full-time representative for the International Association of Machinists, 1919-1930. He served on the board of directors of Brookwood Labor College, 1919-1922, and as its field representative and business manager. He helped found the Conference for Progressive Labor Action to promote industrial unionization. Golden was an Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America organizer during 1933. He served as senior mediator with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry in 1934. In 1935 he was appointed as regional director for the National Labor Relations Board and prepared the unfair labor charge that culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court's historic Jones and Laughlin decision. He was appointed director of the important Northeastern region of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC) in 1936. Clinton S. Golden was the only major SWOC leader who had not been affiliated with the United Mine Workers of America, but was close to SWOC chairman Philip A. Murray and directed SWOC during Murray's illness in 1941. At the founding convention of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) in 1942, he was influential in the creation of an international executive board of regionally elected members. Golden was elected by the convention as an assistant to the international president (later vice-president). He served as vice-chairman of both the War Production Board and the War Manpower Commission during World War II. Golden was one of the few labor intellectuals with real influence in the trade union movement. He believed that unions should play a greater role in socio-economic affairs and tried to persuade management and organized labor that unions should share responsibility for maximizing productivity and participate in the distribution of profits. In 1946 he resigned as USWA vice-president. He was named chief labor advisor to the U.S. Mission to Aid Greece in 1947 and served as a consultant on European labor to the Economic Cooperation Administration. He was appointed executive director of the Harvard University trade union program and continued to lecture at Harvard and at many labor education institutes until his retirement in 1959. Golden coauthored The Dynamics of Industrial Democracy (1942), and numerous articles. He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1961.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of personal and family correspondence, published and unpublished writings, reports, speeches, clippings, booklets, pamphlets, and collective bargaining agreements. Includes memoranda and correspondence pertaining to steel cases before the National Labor Relations Board and other papers relating to: the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers of America, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, the United Steelworkers of America, the steel industry and trade, the American Federation of Labor, and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Typescript affidavits and evidence compiled for the Jones and Laughlin Steel Case document steel management's unfair labor practices and steel labor conditions in Aliquippa, Pa. during the depression. The collection also contains correspondence, business reports, and other papers documenting Golden's activities with the American Mission for Aid to Greece, including the period in which it was part of the Economic Cooperation Administration. There are also reports of the Economic Stabilization Agency. Principal correspondents include: Philip Murray, Heber Blankenhorn, Harold J. Ruttenberg, and Joseph Scanlon.
Physical Location
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Penn State University Libraries catalog via the link above. Archival collections may be housed in offsite storage. For materials stored offsite, please allow 2-3 business days for retrieval.
Processing Information
Processed by Special Collections staff.
Margaret Oldham moved diaries and daybooks in Box 15 from being horizontally stacked to standing upright and added a cardboard buffer to stop the items from moving around on August 3, 2023.
Subjects
- Collective bargaining Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Daybooks Subject Source: Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms
- Diaries Subject Source: Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms
- Labor disputes Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Labor unions Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Speeches, address, etc. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Steel industry and trade Subject Source: Local sources
- Steelworkers Organizing Committee (U.S.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Using These Materials
Repository Details
Part of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library Repository
104 Paterno Library
Penn State University
University Park 16802 USA
(814) 865-1793
spcollections@psu.edu
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Photocopies of original materials may be made available for research purposes at the discretion of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library. Photocopies or reproductions of original materials may be subject to fees as outlined by the Pennsylvania State University Libraries reproduction policies.
Copyright is retained by the creators of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. Patrons seeking advice on the availability of unpublished materials for publication should consult relevant copyright law and laws of libel.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Clinton S. Golden papers, 01565, Eberly Family Special Collections Library, Pennsylvania State University.
- Title
- Guide to the Clinton S. Golden papers
- Status
- Published
- Author
- Prepared by Special Collections Library faculty/staff
- Date
- 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2023: Lexy deGraffenreid updated standardized notes to current standard, October 2023