Solomon Barkin Papers
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.
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.
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and bibliographical materials, including clippings, news releases, and photographs; correspondence, and published and unpublished writings, which comprise the bulk of the collection.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.
This collection is organized into three series:
Organized into three series, arranged chronologically within each series.
The collection is open for research.
Cite as: Solomon Barkin Papers (FS 100). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Acquired from Solomon Barkin.
Processed by SCUA staff.
French
An item listing for Barkin’s published and unpublished writings can be found in the Appendix.
Series 1. Bibliographical and Biographical
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Series 2. Correspondence
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1936, 1966-1988
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Series 3. Publications
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1930-1988
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Note:
See Appendix for item list of materials in bound notebooks. |
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Bound Notebook
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1930-1944
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Box 2
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Old Age Security: Report of New York Commission
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1930
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Box 2
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The Older Worker in Industry: -Joint Legislative Committee on Unemployment, State of New York
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1933
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Box 2
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Labor Advisory Board, Bulletins on Labor Problems
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1933-1935
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Box 2
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Wages and Hours in American Industry: NRS Source Material, Volumes I and II of III
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1936
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Box 3
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Bound Notebook
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1936-1937
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Box 3
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“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,
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March 1936
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Box 3
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The Labor Program Under the NIRA: Development, Contents, Operation, and Effect
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1937
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Box 4
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Textile Workers’ Organizing Committee, Weekly Newsletter for Regional Directors
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1937-1938
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Box 4
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Vocational-Technical Training for Industrial Occupations: Report of the Consulting-Committee on Vocational-Technical Training Appointed by the US Commissioner of Education
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1944
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Box 4
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Statement of TWUA re Cotton-Rayon Industry to the National War Labor Board
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1944
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Box 5
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Towards Fairer Federal Labor Standards
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1948
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Box 5
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Bound Notebooks
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1945-1949
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Box 6
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Bound Notebooks
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1950-1951
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Box 7
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Bound Notebooks
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1952-1953
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Box 8
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Bound Notebooks
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1954-1955
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Box 9
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Bound Notebooks
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1956-1957
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Box 10
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Bound Notebooks
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1958
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Box 11
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Report on Naugatuck Economic Zone
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1958
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Box 11
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Bound Notebooks
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1959
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Box 12
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Bound Notebooks
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1960
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Box 13
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Bound Notebooks
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1961
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Box 14
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Clippings about the Decline of the Labor Movement
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1961-1962
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Box 15
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“The Changing Workforce: Labor’s Problems” in American Enterprise: The Next Ten Years, Martin R. Gainsbrugh, ed.
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Box 15
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Reappraisal of Business Taxation Symposium, Tax Institute
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1962
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Box 15
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Current Needs in Research Relevant to the Interests of the US Textile Industry, National Academy of Sciences
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1962
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Box 15
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Bound Notebooks
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1962
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Box 16
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Bound Notebooks
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1963-1964
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Box 17
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Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Meeting, Industrial Research Association
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December 28 and 29, 1964
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Box 17
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The Crisis in the American Trade-Union Movement, The Annals of The American Academy of Political and Social Science, November
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1963
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Box 17
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Automation und technischer Fortschritt in Deutschland und den USA
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1963
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Box 17
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Additional materials
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1963-1964
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Box 17
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Bound Notebook
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1965
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Box 17A
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Bound Notebook
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1966
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Box 18
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Management and Growth, Proceedings 14th CIOS International Management Congress, Rotterdam
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1966
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Box 18
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Industrial Society and Rehabilitation–Problems and Solutions, ISRD, Proceedings of the Tenth World Congress, Wiesbaden
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1966
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Box 18
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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
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1966
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Box 18
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Additional materials
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1966
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Box 18
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Various publications
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1967
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Box 19
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Various publications
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1968-1969
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Box 20
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Various publications
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1970-1973
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Box 21
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Various publications
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1974-1977
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Box 22
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Various publications
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1978-1988
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Box 23
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