Texas AFL-CIO Records
1969 - 1990
4.6 linear ft.
Accession Number: 96-35
Collection Number: AR394
Prepared by Mary Catherine Monroe/Jan Hart
May, 1997
CITATION: Texas AFL-CIO Records, AR394, Box number, Folder number, Special Collections Division, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.
The Texas State AFL-CIO resulted from the merger of the Texas Federation of Labor and the Texas State CIO Council on July 29, 1957. The Texas Federation of Labor dated from 1900, and the State CIO from 1937. Their merger followed that of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, who had joined in 1955 to form the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
In November 1963, the Texas State AFL-CIO changed its name to the Texas AFL-CIO. Apparently this was done informally, as no evidence of formal action appears in the records that were examined (executive board minutes and attachments). When the meeting of November 23, 1963, began, the organization was calling itself the former name. By the time the minutes were written, its name was the Texas AFL-CIO.
The Texas AFL-CIO is an organization of organizations, including city and area central labor councils and local AFL-CIO unions and auxiliaries. It is the policy-making, educational, and legislative organization of AFL-CIO labor in Texas. It does not negotiate collective bargaining contracts for its members, but it does speak for all Texas AFL-CIO labor in the Texas Legislature and the United States Congress.
The Texas AFL-CIO is one of fifty state central bodies affiliated with the AFL-CIO. In addition to state central bodies, the AFL-CIO has national and international unions, local central bodies, directly-affiliated local unions, and trade and industrial departments.
The Texas Committee on Political Education (Texas COPE) is the political arm of the Texas AFL-CIO. It consists of the officers and members of the Executive Board of the Texas AFL-CIO, the State COPE Director, and the State Community Services/Volunteers Director.
Texas COPE’s responsibilities include "get-out-the-vote" campaigns, candidate recruitment, political education of union members and families, endorsements in both primary and general elections, solicitation of voluntary contributions, and statewide voter identification programs. The organization also prepares recommendations to the State AFL-CIO convention after studying recommendations from local central bodies.
Texas COPE is a state-level organization of the Committee on Political Education (COPE), a committee of the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO has COPE organizations on the national, regional, state, and local levels. The regional organizations, or areas, coordinate work between the national and state COPE’s.
The predecessor organizations of the AFL-CIO, the AFL and the CIO, had similar political organizations. The AFL’s was Labor’s League for Political Education (LLPE), and the CIO’s was the Political Action Committee (PAC).
Funding for COPE comes from voluntary contributions from AFL-CIO members and their friends. State and federal laws prohibit using union dues to make direct contributions to candidates.
The Texas AFL-CIO officers who figure most prominently in this collection are identified below.
Top of Page Table of Contents Series Description Container List Series I Series II
Sources:
Top of Page Table of Contents Series Description Container List Series I Series II
Series I. Executive Board and Committee on Political Education (COPE) Meeting Records, 1969-1990. 2.9 linear ft. (7 document boxes, 80 folders).
Arranged chronologically by date of meeting. Material includes minutes, agendas, committee chairmen’s reports, constitutions, correspondence, financial information, political campaign materials, and records relating to Texas AFL-CIO Executive Board meetings, Texas AFL-CIO conventions, and Texas COPE Board Meetings and conventions.
Series II. Officers’ Records, 1975-1990. 1.7 linear ft. (4 document boxes, 45 folders).
Arranged chronologically according to the Texas AFL-CIO presidential term with some reverse chronological order by month at the folder level. Material includes correspondence, minutes, agendas, financial information, itinerary and activity reports, committee records, and convention information of the Texas AFL-CIO and Texas COPE.
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The records for this Texas AFL-CIO collection consist of materials from December 1969 through January 1990. Contained in eleven legal-size document boxes, materials include minutes, agendas, correspondence, financial information, constitutions, committee reports, itinerary and activity reports, and political campaign items.
The collection is divided into two series: Executive Board and Committee on Political Education (COPE) Meeting Records, and Officers’ Records. The first series contains materials from the Texas AFL-CIO Executive Board meetings and conventions and the Texas COPE Board meetings and conventions. The materials appear to be official meeting notebooks containing minutes, agendas, committee reports, and other information relating to the operation of the Texas AFL-CIO and its Executive Board.
The second series contains materials identified as belonging to Texas AFL-CIO Presidents Harry Hubbard (Subseries A) and Joe Gunn (Subseries B). Materials include correspondence, Executive Board meeting booklets, COPE records, and itinerary and activity reports. The files for Harry Hubbard are from 1980-1982 and 1989. The notebooks for Harry Hubbard are from 1980-1982. The 1980 and 1982 files are limited. There are no Hubbard records between 1983 and 1989, and 1989 is the only year for Hubbard correspondence. Joe Gunn’s reading files (correspondence) cover the years 1979-1981 and 1986-1990. The itinerary and activity reports are dated February 1979-July 1985, but they are in reverse chronological order.
The original chronological order of approximately half of the collection was maintained. It appears that copies of official meeting notebooks were kept in large loose-leaf binders divided into years and that these were removed into folders before the material was transferred. These earlier materials are fairly consistent in content. Agendas and minutes were usually at the front of the folder, and supporting documentation was arranged by exhibit number. The chronological arrangement was maintained, although material from each meeting was placed in a separate folder.
The second half of the collection was much less organized even though it, too, was generally chronological in arrangement. These materials appear to be officers’ and staff files of similar or identical nature to the official meeting notebooks. This "second set" of records (through 1985) was integrated into the chronological order of the Executive Board and Texas COPE records. In some cases, gaps were filled. In other cases, duplicates were maintained if a person’s writing appeared on the records. Duplicate records were discarded if there were no distinguishing marks. From 1986-1990, the "second set" of records is the only existing set. The researcher will be able to note the difference in the organization which existed in the earlier files but not in the more recent files.
Finally, meeting notebooks which were clearly identified as belonging to either Harry Hubbard or Joe Gunn were removed to the separate series of officers’ records which also included correspondence.
In addition to duplicates, other items removed were cards (29) indicating approval or disapproval of a proposed 1975 registration fee increase; convention registration cards (64); a brochure on the U.S. Office of Education’s "Commissioner’s National Conference on Career Education," November 7-10, 1976; and a soft-bound book entitled Federal Home Loan Bank Board Application, Section IV, Part (7), Supporting Information, Vol. II, Appendix C & D, by James R. Vinson.
Researchers interested in a factual accounting of the activities and general financial status of the Texas AFL-CIO for the dates herein will find these records helpful. While not a complete or thorough examination, these records also reveal the Texas AFL-CIO’s role in the political scene in Texas during the years covered.
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The Texas AFL-CIO Records were received on June 7, 1996, from Virginia Camarillo, Texas AFL-CIO Office, 1106 Lavaca, Austin, Texas, 78711. Dr. George Green of The University of Texas at Arlington negotiated the donation of these records. The Special Collections Division of the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries is the official repository for Texas AFL-CIO records. This collection is part of a continuing series of donations, which began in 1970.
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Permission to publish material from the Texas AFL-CIO Records must be obtained from the Special Collections Division, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries.
Top of Page Table of Contents Series Description Container List Series I Series II
See also: The six Texas AFL-CIO collections already housed in the Special Collections Division, which is the official repository for the Texas AFL-CIO. These collections are as follows: Collection 110, Series 1-5, 8, and 10. Series 1-5 are Executive Board minutes, which include dates which overlap with the dates covered in AR 394. Series 8 includes COPE records, 1954-1972, and Series 10 includes Texas AFL-CIO convention materials, 1957-1975. Collection 110 comprises 320 document boxes.
Collection 256 (3 document boxes) includes correspondence, bills, articles, statements, notes, newsletters, books, pamphlets, news clippings, reports, voting records, and yearbooks from 1951-1973. Collection 275 includes materials of the Texas AFL-CIO between 1968 and 1973. Boxes 10-13 include tapes of the Executive Board meetings from 1969-1971; Texas AFL-CIO COPE Convention, 1970; COPE Administrative Committee meeting, 1970; and Texas AFL-CIO Convention, 1971.
Collection 276 includes materials from the Texas AFL-CIO between 1956 and 1972. Series D is records from the Texas AFL-CIO office. Box 3, folder 7 is information from COPE, 1956-1962, including a constitution and by-laws.
Collection 277 includes Texas AFL-CIO materials, 1960-1961 and 1964-1973. The finding aid does not, however, indicate that records of the Executive Board or COPE are present. Collection 278, Series 2, 3, and 8 include related Texas AFL-CIO materials; Series 2 has COPE and related political information, 1957 and 1963-1972. These records include COPE convention materials, Executive Board meetings, committee meetings, minutes, correspondence, voting records, and tape recordings. Series 3 includes reports, correspondence, photographs, programs, resolutions, constitutions, notes, minutes, tape recordings, and newspaper clippings relating to Texas AFL-CIO conventions in 1957 and 1965-1971. Series 8 is General Office Files from 1943-1973. They include Executive Board and COPE records and information on Texas AFL-CIO officials H.S. "Hank" Brown and Roy R. Evans.
It is obvious that materials in these collections duplicate, supplement, or fill in gaps which exist in AR 394. A researcher endeavoring to have a complete picture of the Texas AFL-CIO Executive Board and COPE meetings will want to check all of them.
The researcher should also consult the theses and dissertations with Texas AFL-CIO and labor-related titles which are part of the library holdings. When searching for records in the PULSe system, the researcher will want to access both the Texas Labor Archives and the Texas Political History Collection for further references.
Top of Page Table of Contents Series Description Container List Series I Series II
Container list
Series I. Executive Board
and Committee on Political Education (COPE) Meeting Records, 1969-1990
Unless otherwise noted, material in boxes 1-7 consists of minutes, agendas, committee
chairmen’s reports, constitutions, correspondence, financial information, political
campaign materials, and other records.
Box 1
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 2
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 3
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 4
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 5
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 6
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 7
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Top of Page Table of Contents Series Description Container List Series I Series II
Series II. Texas AFL-CIO
Officers’ Records, 1975-1990
Unless otherwise noted, material in boxes 8-11 consists of correspondence, minutes,
agendas, financial information, itinerary and activity reports, committee records, and
convention information of the Texas AFL-CIO and Texas COPE.
Subseries A. Harry Hubbard Records, 1975-1982; 1989
Box 8
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Subseries B. Joe Gunn Records,
1979-1990
Arrangement note: Folders 8-14 through 11-6 are reading files (i.e. correspondence). These
were in chronological order by year and reverse chronological order by month when they
were received. This order was maintained.
Box 8
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 9
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 10
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
Box 11
Folder Title, Dates, and Description
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Table of Contents Series Description Container
List Series I Series II
Finding Aids List Special
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