The Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University is pleased to announce the opening of three collections that pertain to the American Federation of Teachers historical collections.
Albert Shanker Collection
This collection is over 15 linear feet of manuscript materials. The bulk of the collection contains notes, essays, tests and other higher education materials saved by Shanker during his years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, and Columbia University, 1947-1956. The collection also contains correspondence and materials from when he taught in the New York City school system in the 1950s, which include assignments to students and correspondence with school administrators. There is some information on his union activity 1959-1975. Writings by Shanker and transcript interviews with Shanker for various oral history projects are also available. The collection has newspaper clippings from 1964-1975, the bulk of these clippings deal with the UFT strikes in 1967, 1968 and 1975. The collection also contains hundreds of photographs documenting his life.
Ann Filardo Collection
Ann Filardo was in the leadership positions for both the Teachers Action Caucus, a rank and file caucus of the United Federation of Teachers and for the United Action Caucus, a rank and file caucus of the American Federation of Teachers. The collection is 2 linear feet dating from 1969-1993.
The collection contains information related to Ocean Hill – Brownsville, UFT elections, paraprofessionals and issues with the New York City Fiscal crisis in 1975. There is national issues with the AFT that deal with bringing back the secret ballot at conventions and AFT’s stance on international issues, particularly in Central America.
AFT Presidents Office: 1960-1974 Collection Part II
These papers represent the presidency of David Selden, 1968-1974 during a tremendous grow as well as philosophical change in the AFT. Part II has information about this growth internally and externally, the social issues of the day and how it effected teachers and their growing union. There is great amount of information on organizing non-public school; the merger talks with the NEA and the teacher unity caucus during the early 1970s; and freedom of speech issues for teachers. Part II also has more information about busing and desegregation, the battles between the AFT and AFSCME and the issue of the Vietnam war. The collection is 5 linear feet dating from 1967-1974.
Finding guides will be posted online in the near future. If you are interested in receiving a pdf version of the guides please contact AFT archivist, Dan Golodner, email: [mailto]ad6292@wayne.edu[/mailto]