Title: American Federation of Teachers. Local 716: Records
Inclusive Dates: 1942-1968

Creator:

• American Federation of Teachers. Local 716 (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

Call Number: Mss 48

Quantity: 1.2 c.f. (3 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of AFT Local 716, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, including correspondence, minutes, treasurer's reports, clippings, speeches, reports on morale, salary, and working conditions, and other related materials.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00048

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The Cedar Rapids Federation of Teachers was organized on April 28, 1942, at a meeting held in the Cedar Rapids Young Women's Christian Association building. The CRFT received a charter from the American Federation of Teachers and formally became Local 716 of the AFT on May 18, 1969.

The objectives of the Cedar Rapids Federation of Teachers as defined in the union's constitution are: 1) To bring the teachers of the Cedar Rapids public schools into relations of mutual assistance and cooperation, 2) To obtain for them all the rights to which they are entitled, including the securing of legislative action, 3) To raise the standards of the teaching profession by securing conditions essential to the best professional service, and 4) To promote such a democratization of the schools as will enable them to equip their pupils to take their places in the industrial, social and political life of the community.

Local 716 has been an active participant in the pursuit of the above delineated objectives for the past quarter century. The papers of CRFT, especially the correspondence and minutes, provide more than ample documentation of the union's fight for economic and social justice, not only for its members but for the Cedar Rapids community as a whole.

The CRFT papers include correspondence, minutes, treasurer's reports, membership lists, resolutions and policy statements, copies of AFT and CRFT constitutions, newspaper clippings, committee reports, speeches by CRFT officials and miscellany.

The correspondence, 1943-1968, is arranged chronologically by day. Although incomplete and often routine, the correspondence does reflect both internal and external union activities.

The minutes, 1942-1967, provide the most comprehensive record of CRFT activities.

Both the newsletters and the newspaper clippings document the CRFT's “public face.” The newsletter, originally entitled the AF of T News subsequently became the AFT Newsletter, then The Federation News and Views, and currently is entitled The Craftsman. There is a fairly complete run from 1957 to 1966. The newsletters have been removed from the collection and deposited in the SHSW library.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Cedar Rapids Federation of Teachers, April, 1967 and August, 1968.

Processing Information

Processed by Patrick Quinn, May 27, 1969.

	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	1943-1954
Box   1 Folder   2	1955-1968
	Minutes
Box   1 Folder   3	1942, April - 1949, Jan.
Box   1 Folder   4	1949, Jan. - 1952, April
Box   1 Folder   5	1952, May - 1958, May
Box   2 Folder   1	1958, Sept. - 1967, July
Box   2 Folder   2	AFT and CRFT Constitutions, 1946-1958
	Treasurer's Reports
Box   2 Folder   3	1943-1955
Box   2 Folder   4	1956-1966
Box   2 Folder   5	Membership lists, 1947-1966
	AFT
Box   3 Folder   1	Conventions, 1950, Aug. - 1968, Aug.
Box   3 Folder   2	Miscellaneous publications, 1951, June - 1968, Sept., undated
Box   3 Folder   3	Monthly financial statements, 1949-1953
Box   3 Folder   4	Building representatives, 1953-1966, undated
Box   3 Folder   5	Iowa Federation of Teachers - miscellaneous, 1963, April -1964, May
Box   3 Folder   6	Miscellaneous material, 1943, May - 1968, Oct., undated
Box   3 Folder   7	Newspaper clippings, 1943, Dec. - 1967, May, undated
Box   3 Folder   8	Resolutions and policy statements, 1948, Oct. - 1967, undated
Box   3 Folder   9	Salary and working conditions, 1951, Jan. - 1966, Oct., undated
Box   3 Folder   10	Speeches by CRFT officials, 1951-1965, undated
Box   3 Folder   11	Teacher morale reports, 1959, March - June, undated