Guide to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the UE Records, 1940-2002 UE.9.5
- Repository
- ULS Archives & Special Collections
- Title
- Federal Bureau of Investigation on the UE Records
- Creator
- United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
- Collection Number
- UE.9.5
- Extent
- 60 Linear Feet (48 boxes)
- Date
- 1940-2002
- Abstract
- This collection contains Federal Bureau of Investigation records obtained by the late Marshall Perlin on behalf of the Samuel Gruber Education Project through the Freedom of Information Act. These files contain information gathered by the federal government from 1940-1985 as part of an investigation into purported communist infiltration of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). The collection is divided into three series, which shed light both on the government's investigation of the UE and its leaders and active members and on the efforts of the Samuel Gruber Education Project to obtain these documents. The collection consists of reports, correspondence, notes, court exhibits and reference materials such as meeting minutes, convention/conference materials, transcripts, newspaper clippings, and publications.
- Language
- English .
- Publisher
- ULS Archives & Special Collections
- Address
- University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
History
During the 1980s, Samuel Gruber, a former attorney for the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), provided the union with the financial support to file a Freedom of Information Act request. In this request, the union sought the release of all declassified files pertaining to the UE and its leadership. Another former UE legal counsel, Marshall Perlin, managed this request. After several appeals, the UE finally won its request and acquired copies of the federal government's files on the union and its members. The union soon discovered that much of the released information was redacted so heavily that the files were often unintelligible. This caused Perlin to once again appeal to the courts. In 1998, the Samuel Gruber Education Project donated approximately 35 cubic feet of released information contained in 90,000 pages of FBI files on the union to the University of Pittsburgh archives. In 1999 the group donated additional information to the archives. Other materials were sent directly to the archives by the government agencies as the copying was completed.
Scope and Content Notes:
This collection contains information gathered by United States government agencies as part of the federal investigation into the purported Communist infiltration of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). This collection contains reports, correspondence, reference materials and court exhibits. Researchers should be aware that the collection is still significantly redacted to nominally protect the identity of informants and third party individuals.
Arrangement
Files in the first two series were maintained in their original numerical sections.
Series 9.5.1. Investigative Files on the UE
Series 9.5.2. Individual Files
Series 9.5.3. Court Case Files
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Acquisition Information
Gift of the Samuel Gruber Education Project in 1998 and 1999.
Preferred Citation
Federal Bureau of Investigation on the UE Records, 1940-2002, UE.9.5, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
Previous Citation
Federal Bureau of Investigation on the UE Records, 1940-2002, UE.9.5, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Records of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE), 1940-1985, UE/Lab 1998:46, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Jaimie George in 2005. The collection was rearranged and the finding aid was written by Zachary L. Brodt in October 2007.
Copyright
The University of Pittsburgh holds the property rights to the material in this collection, but the copyright may still be held by the original creator/author. Researchers are therefore advised to follow the regulations set forth in the U.S. Copyright Code when publishing, quoting, or reproducing material from this collection without the consent of the creator/author or that go beyond what is allowed by fair use.
Related Material
Workers Alliance of America Records, 1935-1998, AIS.2007.03, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
Subjects
- United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
- United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation
- United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America -- History
- Barry, Walter
- Carey, James B.
- Davis, David
- DeMaio, Ernest
- Jandreau, Leonard
- Dunham, Roger
- Emspak, Julius
- Fitzgerald, Albert J.
- Gruber, Samuel
- Hupman, Ernest
- Hupman, Pearl
- Markland, Lemuel
- Nelson, John
- Nixon, Russ
- Quinn, Thomas J.
- Riskin, Benjamin
- Rivers, Charles
- Scribner, David
- Scribner, Sylvia
- Sentner, William
- Struck, Arthur
- Young, Ruth
- Matles, James J.
- United States
- Communism -- United States
- Labor unions and communism -- United States
- Electric industry workers -- Labor unions -- United States -- History
- Labor unions -- Organizing -- United States
- Labor
- Government