The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Barkin, Solomon, 1907-

Solomon Barkin Papers

1930-1988
11 linear feet
Call no.: FS 100

Born in 1902, Solomon Barkin was an economist, education director for the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA ), and from 1968 to 1978 a professor at the University of Massachusetts and research associate at the Labor Center.

The bulk of the Barkin collection, over 10.5 linear feet, consists of bound notebooks containing speeches, typescripts, and printed versions of articles, book reviews, congressional testimony, forewords, and introductions — nearly 600 in all — written by Barkin. One box (0.5 linear foot) contains correspondence, bibliographies, tributes and awards, and a biography. Generally, the collection illustrates Barkin’s life as both a union organizer and an economist. His writings reflect his attempts to create “a system of trade union economics” as a counterpoise to standard “enterprise economics,” as well as his belief that labor should not be viewed as a commodity.

Biographical Note

Solomon Barkin was born in New York City in 1902. He received his bachelor’s degree from the College of the City of New York (CCNY) in 1928, and went on to receive his master’s degree in economics from Columbia University the following year. He was an instructor at CCNY from 1928 to 1931. Among the posts he held in the 1930s were the Assistant Director of Research for the New York State Commission on Old Age Security, and the Assistant Director of the Labor Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration. From 1937 to 1963, Barkin served as Director of Research for the Textile Workers Organizing Committee (TWOC), and its successor, the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA). In 1963, Barkin left to become deputy to the director and head of the Social Affairs Division, Manpower and Social Affairs Directorate, of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in Paris. He returned to the United States in 1968, to join the faculty of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as Professor of Economics and Research Associate of the Labor Center. He retired in 1978.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Biographical and bibliographical materials, including clippings, news releases, and photographs; correspondence, and published and unpublished writings, which comprise the bulk of the collection. Publications authored by Barkin cover the period 1930 to 1988, and include lectures, pamphlets, booklets, articles, reports, reprints, and transcripts of hearings. Also included, individually, are typewritten manuscripts, edited works, bound reports and proceedings, and one audiotape.

Papers are organized into three series, and arranged chronologically within each series, including Biographical/Bibliographical, Correspondence (1936, 1966-1988), and Publications (1930-1988).

An item listing for Barkin’s published and unpublished writings can be found in the Appendix.

Organized into three series, arranged chronologically within each series.


Information on Use
Terms of Access and Use
Restrictions on access:

The collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

Cite as: Solomon Barkin Papers (FS 100). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

History of the Collection

Acquired from Solomon Barkin.

Processing Information

Processed by SCUA staff.


Additional Information

Sponsor
Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Language
English and
French

Bibliography

An item listing for Barkin’s published and unpublished writings can be found in the Appendix.


Contents List
Series 1. Bibliographical and Biographical
Series 2. Correspondence
1936, 1966-1988
Series 3. Publications
1930-1988
Note:

See Appendix for item list of materials in bound notebooks.

Bound Notebook
1930-1944
Box 2
Old Age Security: Report of New York Commission
1930
Box 2
The Older Worker in Industry: -Joint Legislative Committee on Unemployment, State of New York
1933
Box 2
Labor Advisory Board, Bulletins on Labor Problems
1933-1935
Box 2
Wages and Hours in American Industry: NRS Source Material, Volumes I and II of III
1936
Box 3
Bound Notebook
1936-1937
Box 3
“Collective Bargaining and Section 7(b) of NIRP in Problems of Organized Labor, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume 184,
March 1936
Box 3
The Labor Program Under the NIRA: Development, Contents, Operation, and Effect
1937
Box 4
Textile Workers’ Organizing Committee, Weekly Newsletter for Regional Directors
1937-1938
Box 4
Vocational-Technical Training for Industrial Occupations: Report of the Consulting-Committee on Vocational-Technical Training Appointed by the US Commissioner of Education
1944
Box 4
Statement of TWUA re Cotton-Rayon Industry to the National War Labor Board
1944
Box 5
Towards Fairer Federal Labor Standards
1948
Box 5
Bound Notebooks
1945-1949
Box 6
Bound Notebooks
1950-1951
Box 7
Bound Notebooks
1952-1953
Box 8
Bound Notebooks
1954-1955
Box 9
Bound Notebooks
1956-1957
Box 10
Bound Notebooks
1958
Box 11
Report on Naugatuck Economic Zone
1958
Box 11
Bound Notebooks
1959
Box 12
Bound Notebooks
1960
Box 13
Bound Notebooks
1961
Box 14
Clippings about the Decline of the Labor Movement
1961-1962
Box 15
“The Changing Workforce: Labor’s Problems” in American Enterprise: The Next Ten Years, Martin R. Gainsbrugh, ed.
Box 15
Reappraisal of Business Taxation Symposium, Tax Institute
1962
Box 15
Current Needs in Research Relevant to the Interests of the US Textile Industry, National Academy of Sciences
1962
Box 15
Bound Notebooks
1962
Box 16
Bound Notebooks
1963-1964
Box 17
Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Meeting, Industrial Research Association
December 28 and 29, 1964
Box 17
The Crisis in the American Trade-Union Movement, The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science, November
1963
Box 17
Automation und technischer Fortschritt in Deutschland und den USA
1963
Box 17
Additional materials
1963-1964
Box 17
Bound Notebook
1965
Box 17A
Bound Notebook
1966
Box 18
Management and Growth, Proceedings 14th CIOS International Management Congress, Rotterdam
1966
Box 18
Industrial Society and Rehabilitation–Problems and Solutions, ISRD, Proceedings of the Tenth World Congress, Wiesbaden
1966
Box 18
Employment Problems of Automation and Advanced Technology: An International Perspective, Proceedings of a Conference held at Geneva by the International Inst. for Labour Studies, 1964, ed. Jack Stieber, Macmillan and St. Martins Press
1966
Box 18
Additional materials
1966
Box 18
Various publications
1967
Box 19
Various publications
1968-1969
Box 20
Various publications
1970-1973
Box 21
Various publications
1974-1977
Box 22
Various publications
1978-1988
Box 23

Subjects

Labor unions--MassachusettsTextile Workers Union of AmericaUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Labor Relations and Research Center

Contributors

Barkin, Solomon, 1907-