In 1904, Professor Richard T. Ely of the University of Wisconsin School of Economics and Sociology established the American Bureau of Industrial Research to collect source materials relevant to the study of the labor movement in the United States. During the next few years, the Bureau amassed an impressive collection of documents and presented the materials to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin Library for preservation and research.
As part of the search for labor resources, in the summer of 1906 James B. Andrews, field representative for the Bureau, talked with Frank Bohn, national secretary of the Socialist Labor Party, about acquiring the official records of the party. Later that year, the National Executive Committee of the Socialist Labor Party voted to give the records of the party's national office to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and to solicit the records of the party's state committees and local sections for inclusion in the gift. In 1907, the party presented to the Society the papers that comprise the initial portion of this collection.
The Party continued to add materials in subsequent years.
