Chicago Teachers' Federation records

Descriptive Summary

Title: Chicago Teachers' Federation records
Dates: 1864-1968,
Predominant Dates: bulk 1898-1968
Creator: Chicago Teachers' Federation, Chicago Federation of Labor and Industrial Union Council, National Education Association of the United States, American Federation of Teachers
Size: 39 linear ft.
Size: 2 microfilm reels :
neg. ;(Partial copy of Haley autobiography).

35 mm.
Size: 1 microfilm reel :
pos. ;(Partial copy of Haley autobiography, Reel 2 only).

35 mm.
Language: Material is in English unless otherwise noted.

Scope and Content

Correspondence, minutes of meetings 1898-1966 (incomplete 1906-1920), reports, excerpts of court transcripts, newsclippings, pamphlets, speeches, and other office files, primarily on subjects of interest to teachers. Includes material on the Federation's relationship with organized labor and its membership in the Chicago Federation of Labor (1902-1917); salaries, pensions, tenure protection, educational theory and practice, classroom conditions, discipline problems, double shifts for students, the junior high school system, personnel and policies of the Chicago Board of Education, school legislation, tax matters. Collection also includes materials from local, state, and national teachers' organizations, particularly the National Education Association and the Chicago Teachers Union. Correspondents include Margaret A. Haley, CTF business representative; Catherine Goggin, CTF financial secretary; Frances Dorney M. Kenney, CTF business representative; and Ella Flagg Young, Chicago educator.

Includes several versions of an unpublished autobiography by Margaret A. Haley, who served as principal spokesman of the CTF, 1900-1939. The microfilm of fragments of the autobiography lacks many segments and probably does not contain the last version. A version was published in 1982, edited by Robert L. Reid, as Battleground : the autobiography of Margaret A. Haley.

The bulk of correspondence by Federation officers Margaret Haley, Catherine Goggin, and Frances Kenney has not survived. Financial information pertaining to the organization is limited mostly to fund raising matters and mimeographed appeals for dues payments. There are few membership records in the collection.

Conditions for Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Contact the archives for more information on licensing and permissions for use and reproduction.

Preferred Citation

A common citation for archives is as follows: Item, Folder number and/or title, Box number, Collection title, ID number, Repository name, location.

Custodial History

Gift of the Chicago Teachers' Federation (M1969.0011).

Related Material

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include a CTF scrapbook donated by the Chicago Teachers Union and the Chicago Teachers Union records.

Descriptive inventory available online.

Contents

Collection Access