At over 2,500 linear feet, the ILGWU records are the most extensive and heavily used collection at the Kheel Center, the official repository of the ILGWU since 1987. This site presents highlights from the union's rich history and archives.

The ILGWU was formed on June 3, 1900, by eleven delegates representing local unions from the major garment centers in New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Newark. These local unions' memberships numbered about two thousand workers and were comprised primarily of Jewish immigrants, many of them socialist, who had recently arrived in the ...

International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) is formed. At the founding convention, there were eleven delegates from New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Newark, representing roughly 2000 members.

History of the ILGWU Early Struggles. The ILGWU was an important force in organized labor. However, it faced serious challenges in expanding and even maintaining membership numbers and union funds, in part because of many manufacturers' hostile attitudes.

The Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA) and the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA) were formed in 1914 and 1939, respectively, and joined together in 1976 to become the largest union representing workers in the textile and men's garment industry.

History of the ILGWU Social Unionism. Throughout its history, and especially as it grew, the union did not limit itself to "bread and butter" issues. It also developed several elements of "social unionism," including arts and education, health care, housing, and recreation. Local unions of the ILGWU established education departments as early as ...

Though the International Cloakmaker's Union (1892) did call for a union label at its initial convention nothing ever came of it, as the group was only in existence a short time. When ILGWU founders met on June 3, 1900 and named their union, they immediately adopted a label for it.

This site includes selected information on the history of the ILGWU. You will find original documents, oral histories, films, and photographs. A selective bibliography includes books, articles, and dissertations about the ILGWU, histories of the union written by ILGWU staff and members, and congressional testimony by the ILGWU.

This selective bibliography includes books, dissertations, theses, and articles about the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, as well as union histories and Congressional testimony by the members, staff, and officers of the ILGWU.

Beginning with the first transfer of records in 1987 until the ILGWU's merger with the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) in 1995, the ILGWU regularly sent its non-active records to the Kheel Center, resulting in a substantial and varied body of material.