Source: http://archives.lib.cua.edu/findingaid/powderly.cfm
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 15:44:09+00:00

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Abstract: The papers of Terence Vincent Powderly aptly demonstrate his mark on American labor and immigration history. They consist largely of his official correspondence as General Master Workman of the Knights of Labor, 1879-1893, as well as his tenure as an official for both the Immigration and Labor departments, 1898-1924, and Mayor of Scranton, 1878-1884. In addition, there are photographs, memorabilia, personal correspondence, and legal and financial records.
Terence Vincent Powderly was the eloquent though flawed personification of the American Labor movement during the late 19th century, specifically during his tenure, 1879-1893, as head of the fledgling Knights of Labor union that became the largest organization of American workers in the 19th century. He was a major celebrity who captured national attention. He was also a dedicated public servant, on both the local and federal levels, with three terms as a progressive mayor of Scranton, 1878-1884, and a reform minded career in Washington, D.C., as a bureaucrat with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration, 1897-1902 and 1906-1921, as well as the U.S. Department of Labor, 1921-1924. He was also a strong supporter of Irish nationalism, serving as a member of Clan Na Gael, a secret society committed to Irish independence, and the Irish Land League, a political organization that sought to abolish Irish landlordism in favor of tenant farmers.
Terence Vincent Powderly, a child of the Anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania, was born 22 January 1849 in the industrial community of Carbondale to Irish immigrants Terence and Madge (Walsh) Powderly. According to his son, Terence Sr. had said "Let us leave this damn country and go to America where a man may own himself and a gun too, if he wants to." The newly wedded couple left County Meath in 1827, landed in Montreal, and lived a few years in Ogdensburg, New York, where Terence Sr. worked on a farm. In 1829, the family relocated to Carbondale, where the elder Powderly worked as a coal miner. He was successful enough to open his own mine in 1845, though it went under by 1858, when he was forced to secure employment as a mechanic with the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.
With seven brothers and four sisters young Terence had scant opportunity for more than a rudimentary education. He was employed at age 13 as a switchman for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. He then apprenticed for three years, 1866-1869, as a machinist to James Dickson, a master mechanic who had in turn apprenticed under the Englishman, George Stephenson, the inventor of the steam locomotive and thus the modern railroad. After completing his apprenticeship, Powderly was out of work temporarily, though he was then employed for the next four years in the machine shops of the Pennsylvania Coal Company and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Powderly later stated that the strike and subsequent mine fire in Avondale, Pennsylvania, in September 1869, that killed 110 coal miners, were major influences in his life. Resolved to do what he could to help his fellow workers, he joined the International Union of Machinists and Blacksmiths in 1871. He also read widely and impressed people with both his writing and speaking abilities. As a result, he was elected both local president and corresponding secretary of this union in 1872.
His union activities and the Depression of 1873 left him jobless and blacklisted as a union agitator. Over the next two years, he was repeatedly unemployed and traveled throughout the Midwest and Canada searching for work. He was often separated from his extended family and wife, Hannah (nee Dever), who he had married in 1872, and became depressed. He finally returned to employment in Scranton in 1875, but had his wages cut the next year, and in 1877 was discharged once more, never to work as a machinist again. He was also involved in a personal tragedy in 1875 when his wife, who he refers to in his diary as "my little darling," almost died when she delivered their only known child, a daughter who passed a few days later. Her grieving father "took the baby to the grave yard…and buried it."
Powderly had joined the Scranton, Local Assembly #88 of the Order of the Knights of Labor in 1876 while he was still employed as a machinist, though he had actually been sworn in to the Knights while in Philadelphia in 1874. He organized them into an assembly in Scranton and became their leader with the title of Master Workman. Rising steadily, he became Corresponding Secretary of District Assembly No. 5 in 1877, and assumed the national leadership as Grand (later General) Master Workman in 1879. The Knights came into national prominence during Powderly's tenure, peaking in national membership and influence in 1886 with nearly 700,000 predominantly Catholic members. He was popular as people greeted him with cheers when he traveled, wrote songs and poetry about him, and even named their children after him. Unfortunately, he also came under increasing assault from various political, economic, and religious interests. His grand and idealistic rhetoric and devotion to workers' rights were often belied by his instinctive caution and desire to avoid open conflict.
The Knights soon went into decline. They were linked to a bombing in Chicago during a workers rally in that city's Haymarket Square and the abortive Southwest Railroad Strike of 1886 caused greater division and resentment against Powderly since he had called off the strike. Finally, the founding of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) by Samuel Gompers, also in 1886, lured workers away so that by 1889 membership had dropped to 120,000. Thereafter, the Knights were beset with a divisive power struggle resulting in Powderly's removal in 1893 and eventual succession by his protégé and betrayer, John William Hayes. Perhaps Powderly's greatest achievement, greatly aided by Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore, was to bring about reconciliation in 1888 between the labor movement and the Roman Catholic Church that had hitherto distrusted and disapproved of labor organizations due to their secretive and ritualistic activities. This action, which included recognition by the Vatican, resulted in a virtual alliance between the Church and the American labor movement that lasted well into the next century.
In addition to his labor connections, Powderly was active in local Pennsylvania politics. In the 1876 U.S. presidential election, he supported the Greenback ticket, a largely agrarian reaction following the economic depression of 1873 in opposition to federal government's currency policies. In the wake of the massive railroad strikes of 1877, political activism surged through the labor movement resulting in the organization of a Labor Party that partnered with the Greenbacks to make Powderly Mayor of Scranton. During his three term tenure of 1878 to 1884 he progressively worked to transform Scranton, which had been incorporated as a borough in 1856 and only chartered as a city in 1866, into a model and modern municipality. He did this by advancing and largely accomplishing an agenda that included, among other things, the establishment of a board of health and a municipal sewage system as well as signing a bill reforming the city's tax structure. He also worked for paved roads and legislation against adulterated foods and for a meat inspector.
After being forced from the Knights in 1893 he was unable to find employment as his former labor connection led to him being viewed as a potential troublemaker in the workplace. Some advised him to go into the saloon business but instead he studied law. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1894 and eventually argued before both the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court of the United States. Unfortunately, he became convinced that the administration of justice was hindered by bias and technicalities. He also returned to politics, and having previously been soured on third party infighting and electoral prospects, become a member of the Central Republican Club of Scranton. Shortly thereafter, in the contentious presidential election of 1896, he advanced his own ambitions by avidly campaigning for the successful Republican ticket of William McKinley of Ohio and Garrett Hobart of New Jersey.
In 1897, the newly inaugurated President William McKinley appointed Powderly as Commissioner General of Immigration, a significant office under the U.S. Treasury Department. After a lengthy Senate confirmation battle, Powderly assumed his position March 1898 and for most of his tenure reported to Lyman Gage (1836-1927), a sound conservative businessman, as well as also serving briefly under the former Governor of Iowa, Leslie M. Shaw (1848-1932). As Commissioner-General of Immigration, Powderly created a commission to investigate conditions at Ellis Island that resulted in charges of corruption and nearly a dozen firings. Unfortunately for Powderly, his benefactor, William McKinley, was assassinated in September 1901 and succeeded by the brilliant and energetic Theodore Roosevelt of New York. The new president terminated Powderly from office on July 2, 1902. This action resulted from the slanderous efforts of some of those previously fired at Ellis Island, headed by Edward F. McSweeney, former Assistant Commissioner of Immigration of the Port of New York. They managed to convince Roosevelt that Powderly was himself corrupt and had actively conspired with Roosevelt's political enemy Thomas Platt. Powderly, however, did not go down without a fight and waged a vigorous campaign to exonerate himself before both the new President and the nation at large.
Following an investigation, Roosevelt realized that accusations against Powderly were baseless and reinstated him in 1906 as a Special Immigration Inspector. This position made Powderly a special representative of the Department of Commerce and Labor with the charge to study the causes of emigration from Europe to America. He traveled to Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. His report advocated that U.S. Immigration agents should be sent to Europe to select prospective immigrants before they left their homes, travel with them on the ships bringing them over, and immigrants be more evenly distributed throughout the country once they were here. Powderly next served, 1907-1921, as Chief of the Immigration bureau's Division of Information. Until 1913, a period that ran from the latter part of the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt through that of Republican William Howard Taft, the Division of Information was part of the Immigration and Naturalization Bureau of the Department of Commerce and Labor. The bureau was headed until 1908 by Frank Sargent, the Vermonter who had replaced Powderly in 1902, and then by the Illinois born former International Longshoreman's Association President Daniel Keefe, 1909-1913. The Commerce and Labor secretaries were first, 1906-1909, the German-Jewish born Oscar Straus and then, 1909-1913, the Texas born founder of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Charles Nagel.
The advent of the Democratic administration of Woodrow Wilson following the contentious election of 1912 saw the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization divided into separate bureaus of Immigration and Naturalization, with both placed in the new Department of Labor. For the next eight years, Powderly reported to Commissioner-General Anthony Camenetti (1854-1923), a former lawyer and Congressman from California who argued that Asian immigration, particularly from China and Japan, was a menace that should be formally ended by Congress. Powderly also had occasion to work with Camenetti's boss, William B. Wilson (1870-1934), the Scottish born first Secretary of Labor, who had been a member of the Knights of Labor and also a founding member of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). Wilson went on to be a Congressional Representative from Pennsylvania, 1907-1913, where he sponsored an investigation of mining safety conditions and helped organize the Federal Bureau of Mines in 1910. He also promoted the eight-hour workday for public employees, anti-injunction legislation, the establishment of the Children's Bureau, and the creation of the Department of Labor, which he headed, 1913-1921. His work there involved developing agencies for industrial mediation and forming the United States Employment Service to handle work issues during World War I, 1917-1918.
During these years Powderly was also able to keep in close contact with important leaders of the labor movement. He was especially close to Mary 'Mother' Harris Jones (ca. 1836-1930), the Irish born rabble rouser and 'Miner's Angel' who was an active participant in the front line's of the American labor movement for nearly sixty years. Affiliated with both the Knights of Labor and the UMWA, she also led the famous Children Textile Workers March from Philadelphia to Teddy Roosevelt's home in Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York in 1902. She was often photographed with Powderly and was his frequent houseguest (he also paid many of her bills). Another labor comrade of Powderly's was John B. White (1870-1934), Illinois born coal miner and progressive president of the UMWA from 1911 to 1917. It was during his presidency that the Colorado Coal Strike of 1913-1914, including the infamous Ludlow Massacre, which also involved 'Mother' Jones, occurred. He secured UMWA approval of a ban on the employment of children under 16, old age pensions, and workmen's compensation. He is also notable for appointing John L. Lewis as the UMWA's chief statistician, a launching point for Lewis historic tenure as UMWA President from 1920 to 1960.
Powderly's final position, 1921-1924, was as Commissioner of Conciliation of the U.S. Labor Department under James J. Davis (1873-1947), 'The Iron Puddler' and 'Puddler Jim,' the Welsh born steel worker from Pittsburgh who served as U.S. Secretary of Labor, 1921-1930, under Republican presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, before going on to serve as a senator from Pennsylvania. Davis was notable for establishing the U.S. Border Patrol and proposing immigration quotas. Powderly died in Washington, DC, on 24 June 1924. American labor historians have dismissed Powderly and the Knights as relics of the utopian traditions of the antebellum years which were unsuited to the economic realities of the Gilded Age, especially in comparison with the rival American Federation of Labor (AFL) with its more apolitical craft unionism. Powderly was charged with being sensitive, vain, naïve, and a "windbag" according to mid twentieth century historian Norman Ware. Recent studies of the Knights, especially by Craig Phelan, have transformed the view of them into that of an authentic working-class organization with a convincing critique of industrial capitalism. This has helped make the case that Powderly was a worthy if somewhat flawed hero who articulated the collective progressive vision of the working masses in the face of the inhumanity of the industrial capitalist system. In 1999, Powderly was honored as an inductee into the United States Department of Labor's Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C., joining figures such as rival Samuel Gompers, friend Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, and fellow Pennsylvanian labor leader Philip Murray. A fair and comprehensive biography encompassing his full career, especially his later years, is still awaited.
Powderly was often photographed, or had photographs given to him, throughout his long life and varied career, and over 300 of these, dated from about 1865 to 1922, survive as part of his collection of papers at The American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives of The Catholic University of America (CUA) in northeast Washington. Additionally, by the turn of the twentieth century, Powderly himself had become an avid and skilled photographer, with several thousand taken by him, dating from about 1902 to 1921 and including over 900 relating to Washington, D.C., also preserved as part of his aforementioned collection. Overall, the photographs are a rich archival resource documenting one man's turbulent journey through a tumultuous period in American history.
The papers of Terence Vincent Powderly document his impact on American history and consist largely of his official correspondence as General Master Workman of the Knights of Labor, 1879-1893, as well as his tenure as an official for both the Immigration and Labor departments, 1897-1924, and Mayor of Scranton, 1878-1884. In addition, there is personal correspondence, photographs, memorabilia, legal and financial records. The bulk of the collection was microfilmed in 1975 and organized into eight series as follows: Knights of Labor, 1864-1924; Immigration and Labor, 1883-1938; Black Diamond Anthracite Coal Company, 1889-1916; Personal Papers, 1869-1937; Printed Matter, 1882-1898; Miscellaneous Files, 1886-1937; Scrapbooks, 1873-1904; and Photographs, ca. 1865-1916. The microfilm edition of the Powderly papers is available in many libraries and the Guide to the Microfilm Edition (1975), edited by John A. Turcheneske and incorporating the work of Jonathan Garlock, is particularly valuable in its content listing of the microfilm reels. Staff at the American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives of The Catholic University of America (CUA) prepared a corresponding box list, with both listings incorporated below. The non-microfilmed material is generally a parallel and more extraneous assemblage that roughly reflects the structure imposed on the bulk of the papers, but including two additional series: Series 9, Mayor of Scranton Administrative Records, 1872(1877-1883)1916 and, Series 10, Memorabilia and Artifacts, undated. This finding aid is presented not as a finished product but as an effort to make the collection more accessible even though a complete folder listing is not yet available.
Series 1, Knights of Labor, 1864-1924, is divided into five parts consisting of correspondence, constitutions, business records, proceedings, and printed material. Subseries 1.1, Correspondence, 1864-1924, is filed chronologically with both incoming letters and 69 volumes of letterpress copy books of outgoing letters. This correspondence is a window into the activities of the Knights in regard to such issues as education, the eight-hour workday, and strikes. In addition, there is information on conflicts and other difficulties like Powderly's view on the role of trade unions and especially the 1893 power struggle which resulted in his resignation. Subseries 1.2, Constitutions and Bylaws, ca. 1870-1900, has printed and incomplete constitutions, including revisions, for the local and district assemblies, filed chronologically by assembly number, as well as the General Assembly, filed chronologically. Subseries 1.3, Business Records, 1876(1876-1893)1915, has microfilmed material including minutes of Local Assembly 222 of Scranton, 1876-1880, and expense accounts, 1888-1892. Material not microfilmed consists of cash books, check books, journal, ledgers, and receipts. Subseries 1.4, Proceedings, 1876-1892, has incomplete and mostly printed proceedings of various assemblies. Those microfilmed cover 1883-1890 for the local, 1877-1890 for the district, 1885-1894 for the state assemblies, and 1878-1902 for the General Assembly. The non-microfilmed miscellaneous items cover 1877 to 1895. Subseries 1.5, 1880-1896, n.d., has general material, 1880-1887; loose issues of the Journal of United Labor, 1880-1889, with the years 1880-1883 on microfilm, and loose issues, not microfilmed here, of the Journal of the Knights of Labor, 1889-1906; printed ritual books, n.d., used in meetings and ceremonies; clipping scrapbooks, 1886-1897, covering news of Powderly and the order; clippings from newspapers and printed leaflets, brochures and form letters, 1877-1897; and additional clippings, 1880-1900, not microfilmed, as well as membership lists and directories, 1877-1890; copies of articles, speeches, and statements of Powderly, 1882-1903; and articles, speeches, and statements of others, 1881-1895. There is both a box listing and a corresponding microfilm reel listing where relevant as well as a partial index of correspondents available for the letters received, Boxes 1-90, that can be searched upon requests being made to the Archives staff at archives@mail.lib.cua.edu.
Series 2, Immigration and Labor, 1883-1938, contains primarily correspondence, illustrating Powderly's capacity as Commissioner-General of Immigration, Chief of the Information Division of the Bureau of Immigration, and as Commissioner of Conciliation for the Department of Labor. Subseries 2.1, Immigration Bureau, Department of the Treasury, 1897(1897-1907)1938, Boxes 121-160, is the meat of this series and has, unlike most other portions of the collection, been substantially re-sorted and re-filed, with a folder list created. There are thousands of letters to and from Powderly, of both personal and professional nature. He corresponded frequently with U.S. senators, including future vice president Charles Fairbanks, and with other government officials, particularly his own subordinates, as well as with many family members, including his brother Joseph, an immigrant inspector in Texas until his death in 1902. There are also hundreds of letters from other politicians and labor activists concerned with endorsing or opposing Powderly's appointment in 1897 and 1898. Most of the letters to Powderly are handwritten, although some are typed, with Powderly's responses generally typed, presumably by either his personal secretary or his chief government clerk with the majority contained in bound letterpress copy books although some exist as loose carbon copies. Subseries 2.2, Immigration Bureau, Information Division, Department of Commerce and Labor, 1883(1900-1922)1931, Boxes 161-168, follows Powderly's later career in government. Included are letters of recommendation, official and private correspondence, reports, and statistics. Subseries 2.3, Immigration and Labor, 1884(1887-1915)1922, Boxes 222-223, contains material not microfilmed, including annual reports of the Commissioner-General of Immigration, a portion of a 1906 travel diary to Europe, an 1888 Congressional investigation report, immigration laws and regulations, immigration pamphlets, news clippings opposing Powderly's 1897 appointment, and news clippings on various issues such as Chinese immigration.
Series 3, Black Diamond Anthracite Coal Company, 1889(1901-1909)1916, has correspondence, reports, and circulars. This company was organized in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in 1902 and dissolved in 1909. Powderly was elected president in 1902 and did much promotional work for the company, including writing an undated advertising pamphlet titled Coal and a Coal Mine: A Wonderful Coal Property in the Heart of the Great Anthracite Coal Fields of Pennsylvania. He resigned in 1905 after the company encountered economic difficulties and he had begun to suspect their business practices. This series has two divisions. The first has correspondence, 1901-1916, with one part being alphabetical by last name of the sender and the other is unorganized. The second has reports and circulars,1889-1903, that include the minutes of the company's organizational meeting, by-laws, first annual report, a prospectus, and the aforementioned advertising pamphlet by Powderly.
Series 4, Personal Papers, 1866-1937, has general correspondence and notes; various softbound notebooks, calendars, and account books; legal correspondence to and from clients as well as other lawyers; and mostly undated drafts and final copies of addresses, poems, and memorandums that were microfilmed. The non microfilmed portion contain legal documents from before Powderly was a lawyer, going back to 1866, as well as his files and papers from his legal career in Scranton, PA, and Washington, DC, 1893-1912. In addition, there are financial records, both personal and business related, including account books, ledgers, receipts, and bills that involve banking, mining, and real estate. There are also European travel notes on index cards dated 1906 and 1910, calling cards, address books, memberships, and the correspondence and text for the manuscript autobiography "The Path I Trod.".
Series 5, Printed Material, ca. 1870-1937, has select pamphlets relating to the Knights of Labor, including Powderly's speeches and reports on the meetings of local and district assemblies that were microfilmed. The non microfilmed material, including oversized items in Map Case 3, has chronological, topical, and miscellaneous newspaper clippings, with some full issues, as well as general, labor, political, religious, and Irish pamphlets. In addition there are some miscellaneous scrapbooks.
Series 6: Miscellaneous Files, 1886-1937, has microfilmed material consisting of five folders. The first has a transcript of a talk between a Mr. Sinexon and Powderly about their early labor activities. The second and third contain some undated Powderly speeches and poems. The fourth has some miscellaneous Powderly correspondence, including personal and with officials of the Catholic Church. The fifth has both correspondence and clippings regarding the Knights of Labor and the Catholic Church. The non microfilmed material is a two box hodgepodge. In addition, there are 25 oversized documents, 1 map, and 6 drawings/sketches/prints stored in Map Case 3.
Series 7, Scrapbooks, 1873-1904, is a selection of clippings scrapbooks, arranged chronologically with some overlap, relating specifically to Powderly, the Knights of Labor, and Immigration issues. There are gaps for some years such as 1880, 1893-1895, 1897, and 1899.
Series 8, Photographs, n.d., has two parts, with photos taken by Powderly and photos given to or collected by him. The first has a file cabinet and boxes of information sheets and contact prints encompassing the thousands of photographic images produced ca. 1902-1921 by Powderly. They were originally glass and nitrate based negatives and glass lantern slides that were converted, with the support of a NEH grant, to safety film in 1980. Reference prints were made and a card index created to give ready access. Overall, the photographic collection consists of bound information sheets, bound uncut prints, cut prints, and a subject catalog file. Powderly kept nitrate and glass negatives in a collection of envelopes, on which he generally noted the dates of the pictures, their subjects, the type of camera and shutter-speed he used, and other information. Archives staff numbered each of these, which produced a system of accession numbers. The first four digits refer to envelopes whose one, two, or three final numbers refer to the specific photographs within the envelopes. The uncut prints (4" x 5") are arranged usually four to a page in a series of albums and appear more or less in order of accession number. The second set of prints, cut to stand independently in a file, reflect the geographical order in which Powdery himself arranged his envelopes. Cumulative color-coded guide cards, each bearing a range of accession numbers, divide the cut-print files. The subject catalog is an interpretive ordering intended to complement Powderly's geographic order with the following categories: Animals, Buildings, Immigrants, Indians, Landscapes, Photographic Studies, Portraits, Public Ceremonies, Statues and Monuments, Street Scenes, Transportation, and Travels and Tourism. Included are large print copies used in a 1977 exhibit on Ellis Island. The second part consists of numerous photos given to or collected by Powderly during his long career. A selection of 32 numbered photographs were microfilmed as part of this project in 1975 while, in 2002, over 300 were digitized and created as an on-line digital collection sponsored by the Washington Research Libraries Consortium (WRLC). A small collection of lantern slides received in 2009 were removed and set up as the Powderly Lantren Slide Collection in 2016. In addition, there are miscellaneous, duplicate, and unprocessed photographs as well.
Series 9, Mayor of Scranton,1872(1877-1883)1916. A variety of items related to Powderly's tenure as a progressive mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania, including a bail docket (1879-1880), docket of municipal records (1878-1879), annual report (1879), cash book (1877-1878), district voter list (ca. 1880), a Scranton Centennial printed journal (1916), oversized scrapbooks (1876-1879), and some undated postcards.
Series 10, Memorabilia and Artifacts, n.d. Several miscellaneous items, including books inscribed to him or otherwise part of his personal library. There are also engraved wood blocks with Powderly's image or name.
Series 11, Miscellaneous and Oversized, in boxes 265-271. Photographs, glass slides, documents, and books received in 2009 from Powderly relatives the Corby Family.
After Powderly's death in 1924, his papers remained with his second wife, Emma Fickenscher, who later transferred them to her sister Daisy who survived her. In a legal document signed September 9, 1939, Daisy transferred all rights to Terence's niece, Mary Powderly. Through the influence of Catholic University professors, Rev. William J. Kerby and Msgr. Francis J. Haas, Miss Powderly donated the papers to CUA on November 7, 1941. In 1943, the Powderly Papers were transferred to Mullen Library and were subject to certain restrictions imposed by Miss Powderly that are no longer in effect.
In 1948, Mullen Library transferred the papers to the newly created Department of Archives and Manuscripts. In 1975, Mrs. Robert Corbey donated a Powderly photograph album, and, in 1981, the AFL-CIO donated a bound volume of Knights proceedings. In 2009, additional photographic items and memorabilia were received from the Corbey family.
In 1952, 1958, and 1963, various parts of the papers, including letter press copy books and Knights of Labor proceedings, were microfilmed on campus. These microfilming projects were generally undertaken piece-meal in response to researcher requests. In 1968, CUA Archivist, Moreau B.C. Chambers, initiated a formal grant proposal to the National Historical Publications Commission (NHPC) to microfilm both the Powderly and John W. Hayes Papers, since both men were central to the Knights of Labor. In 1969, when NHPC rejected this grant proposal, citing lack of funds, CUA began to contact other organizations, such as the AFL-CIO. In 1972 and 1973, Professor Jonathan Garlock of the University of Rochester, who had used the papers extensively for his own research, developed a revamped microfilming and indexing proposal. In a letter dated 18 May 1973, Lloyd Wagner, Director of Libraries, informed Dr. Garlock that CUA had decided to pursue its own plans for indexing and microfilming the Powderly papers. In 1974, work was undertaken and funded by the Microfilming Corporation of America. The editor of the project was John A. Turcheneske, Jr. and his printed Guide to the Microfilm Edition incorporated text and research of Dr. Garlock. Restrictions on access were apparently lifted by Mary Powderly in the 1950s and this was confirmed in 1970 by Powderly's great nieces, Mrs. Ruth Ziebart and Mrs. Robert Corbey.
Until the 1990s the microfilm guide was used, so much as possible, as the primary means of accessing the Powderly papers. This was cumbersome at best, so efforts to process the papers and prepare a more formal archival finding aid were begun by William John Shepherd under the direction of Archivist Anthony Zito (retired 1994). Incorporating the work of Mr. Turcheneske and Dr. Garlock, Mr. Shepherd continued these efforts as time permitted, with the help of several student assistants including Mary Beth Fraser, Marcella Fredrikkson, Andrew Kauffman, Jennifer Learned, Jason Mayernick, Chris Rounds. Benjamin Justesen, a practicum student, was especially invaluable for his work on the first subseries of Series 2. Andrew Sherlock, a volunteer, also did valuable work with the remaining files of Series 2 as well as those for series 3 and 4. The initial version of the finding aid was completed in September 2007 with EAD markup undertaken by Mr. Shepherd with the assistance of W. Jordan Patty, completed in September 2007. Revised and expanded to include the work of Mr. Justesen in 2009 and that of Mr. Sherlock in 2011. Additional processing by Katherine Santa Ana in 2016 and EAD markup by Mr. Shepherd in 2016. Minor revisions in 2018 by Mr. Shepherd.
In 2016 a collection of lantern slides, about 6 linear feet, were removed for special processing and housing, and set up as a separate collection.
Also housed at Catholic University are the Powderly Lantern Slide Collection, the Mother Jones Collection, The John Hayes Papers, and the John Mitchell Papers. Online digitized material includes The Terence Vincent Powderly Photographic Prints Digital Collection, Terence Vincent Powderly and Ellis Island, 1897-1901, and Terence Vincent Powderly Photographic Collections at ACUA.
Beaty, James Harold. Life and Speaking of Terence Powderly. Ph.D. Dissertation, Florida State University, 1967.
Brexel, Bernadette. The Knights of Labor and the Haymarket Riot: The Fight for an Eight-Hour Workday (America's Industrial Society in the Nineteenth Century). Rosen Publishing Group, 2004.
Brown, Henry Vincent. The Catholic Church and the Knights of Labor. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1949.
Falzone, Vincent J. Terence V. Powderly: Middle Class Reformer. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1978.
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Oestreicher, Richard. 'Terence V. Powderly, the Knights of Labor, and Artisanal Republicanism,' Labor Leaders in America. Dubofsy, Melvin and Van Tine, Warren (eds.). Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987, pp. 30-61.
Phelan, Craig Phelan. Grand Master Workman: Terence Powderly and the Knights of Labor. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2000.
Powderly, Terence V. The Path I Trod: The Autobiography of Terence V. Powderly. New York: Columbia University Press, 1940.
Powderly, Terence V. Thirty Years of Labor, 1859-1889. Columbus, Ohio: Excelsior Publishing House, 1889.
Santa Ana, Katherine. 'A Labor of Love - Lantern Slides of T. V. Powderly,' The Archivist's Nook, September 29, 2016.
Shepherd, William John, and Corrigan, Mary Beth. 'Becoming a Capital City: The Photographs of Terence Vincent Powderly,' Washington History (No. 2: 2012), pp. 116-135.
Shepherd, William John. 'Catholic University's Gilded Age and Progressive Era Labor Collections,' Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies (85:3), Summer 2018, pp. 406-414.
Shepherd, William John. 'Digital Rebirth - Labor Collections at Catholic University,' The Archivist's Nook, January 25, 2018.
Shepherd, William John. 'Speaking Labor to Power - W. B. Wilson,' The Archivist's Nook, May 1, 2018.
Shepherd, William John. 'Terence Powderly: Labor Leader, Civil Servant, Photographer,' Potomac Catholic Heritage (24), Summer 2012, pp. 19-23.
Shepherd, William John. 'The Photographs of Terence V. Powderly,' Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies (81:4), Autumn 2014, pp. 412-431.
Shepherd, William John. 'Terence Vincent Powderly,' The Columbia Guide to Irish American History. Timothy Meagher. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005, pp. 297-298.
Shepherd, William John. 'T. V. Powderly - Labor's American Idol,' The Archivist's Nook, January 21, 2016.
Turcheneske, John A. , Jr. (Ed.) Terence Vincent Powderly Papers, 1864-1937 and John William Hayes, 1880-1921, The Knights of Labor: A Guide to the Microfilm Edition. Glen Rock, NJ: Microfilming Corporation of America, 1975.
Voss, Kim. The Making of American Exceptionalism: The Knights of Labor and Class Formation in the Nineteenth Century. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1993.
Walker, Samuel Emlen. Terence V. Powderly, 'Labor Mayor,': Workingmen's Politics in Scranton, Pennsylvania, 1870-1884. Ph.D. Dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1973.
Walker, Samuel Emlen. 'Terence V. Powderly, Machinist: 1866-1877,' Labor History, (19: 2), Spring 1978, pp. 165-184.
Ware, Norman J. The Labor Movement in the United States, 1860-1895: A Study in Democracy. New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1929.
Weir, Robert E. 'A Fragile Alliance: Henry George and the Knights of Labor,' American Journal of Economics and Sociology, (56:4), 1997, pp. 421-439.
Weir, Robert E. Behind Labor's Veil: The Culture of the Knights of Labor. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996.
Weir, Robert E. Knights Unhorsed: Internal Conflict in a Gilded Age Social Movement. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2001.
The Knights of Labor series material on microfilm is divided into five sub-series consisting of correspondence, constitutions, business records, proceedings, and printed mater. The bulk of this is correspondence divided between letters received and letterpress copy books of outgoing letters. The Guide to the Microfilm Edition (1975), edited by John A. Turcheneske, has a content listing of the microfilm reels, while, more recently, Catholic University Archives staff created a corresponding box list, with both listings incorporated below into this finding aid. There is also a partial index of correspondents available for the letters received, Boxes 1-90, which can be searched upon requests being made to the Archives staff at archives@mail.lib.cua.edu. The non-microfilmed material is generally parallel and more extraneous.
Copies of the Journal for the year 1887-1896, that were not microfilmed, are located in oversize boxes 260-263. They are fragile and cannot be photocopied nor scanned.
117 68 Printed Ritual Books of the Knights of Labor, n.d.
The Immigration and Labor series reflects Powderly's role as a federal official, 1897-1924, and is divided into three sub-series, with the first two containing material microfilmed in 1975 and the first also having an individual folder listing. Included is official correspondence, both loose and bound in letterpress copy books, personal correspondence, letters of recommendation, annual and other reports, a travel diary, miscellaneous items, and various printed materials including pamphlets and news clippings.
5 Immigration Correspondence, Letters of congratulation/protest, 1897, Letters of protest/Recommendation, A-Z, Part 1, n.d.
6 Immigration Correspondence, Letters of congratulation/protest, 1897, Letters of protest/Recommendation, A-Z, Part 2, n.d.
7 Immigration Correspondence, Letters of congratulation/protest, 1902, Letters of protest/Recommendation, n.d.
8 Immigration Correspondence, Letters of congratulation/protest, 1902, Letters of protest/Recommendation, n.d.
122 1 General/Official Correspondence, Aa-Alexander n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Alf-Az n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Ba-Baz, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Bea-Bez, n.d.
9 General/Official Correspondence, Beaumont, Ralph, Canada, Inspector, 1900-1903?
123 1 General/Official Correspondence, Bi-Biz, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Bl-Bol, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Bom-Boz, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Bra-Braz, n.d.
9 General/Official Correspondence, Bre-Bry, n.d.
11 General/Official Correspondence, Bu-Burdick, n.d.
12 General/Official Correspondence, Burke (all), n.d.
13 General/Official Correspondence, Burns-Bz, n.d.
124 1 General/Official Correspondence, Ca-Can, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Cain, James, Pension papers, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Cap-Cat, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Cav-Ch, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Chandler, Sen. W. E., n.d.
9 General/Official Correspondence, Ci-Cla, n.d.
10 General/Official Correspondence, Cle-Cog, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Connors-Coo, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Cop-Coz, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Cowley, C. O'C., Letters and Exhibits for Hearing, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Cr-Cz, n.d.
126 1 General/Official Correspondence, Dal-Dar, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Dau-Daz, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Dea-Del, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Dem-Dez, n.d.
9 General/Official Correspondence, Di-Di n.d.
127 1 General/Official Correspondence, Doa-Doo n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Dor-Doz, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Dr-Dz, n.d.
128 1 General/Official Correspondence, Ea-El, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Eiler, Madge, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Em-Ez, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Fa-Fh, n.d.
129 1 General/Official Correspondence, Fi-Fit, n.d.
10 General/Official Correspondence, Fl-Fo, n.d.
11 General/Official Correspondence, Fr-Fu, n.d.
130 1 General/Official Correspondence, Ga-Gaz, n.d.
131 1 General/Official Correspondence, Ge-Go, n.d.
3 General/Official Correspondence, Gr-Griffin, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Griffith-Gz, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Ha-Han, n.d.
10 General/Official Correspondence, Har-Has, n.d.
11 General/Official Correspondence, Hat-Haz, n.d.
132 1 General/Official Correspondence, Hea-Hem, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Healy, David, Inspector, 1897-1899, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Hen-Hep, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Henninghausen, Percy C., Inspector, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Her-Holland, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Holland, James J. and Maude W. (Daughter), 1897-1901, n.d.
9 General/Official Correspondence, Holman-Hoz, n.d.
10 General/Official Correspondence, Hu-Hz, n.d.
11 General/Official Correspondence, Hustis, F. D., Inspector, n.d.
133 1 General/Official Correspondence, Ia-Iz, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Ja-Je, n.d.
3 General/Official Correspondence, Ji-Jones, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Jordan-Jz, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Ka-Kem, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Ken-Ky, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Kerby, William J., The Catholic University of America, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, La-Lav, n.d.
9 General/Official Correspondence, Laird, Peter B., n.d.
10 General/Official Correspondence, Larned, Frank H., n.d.
134 1 General/Official Correspondence, Law-Lawson, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Lea-Led, n.d.
135 1 General/Official Correspondence, Lee (Miscellaneous), n.d.
136 1 General/Official Correspondence, Lef-Lew, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Li- Li, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Lo-Ly, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Ma-McCurdy, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, McD-McF, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, McG-McG, n.d.
9 General/Official Correspondence, McH-McK, n.d.
10 General/Official Correspondence, McKinley, William, March-1897- 1898, 1900, n.d.
137 1 General/Official Correspondence, McL-McS, n.d.
3 General/Official Correspondence, MacNair, William, 1901-1902, n.d.
138 1 General/Official Correspondence, Mad-Mar, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Mas-Mez, n.d.
3 General/Official Correspondence, Mi-Moo, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Milholland, John E., 1897-1902, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Mor-Moy, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Mu-Mz, n.d.
139 1 General/Official Correspondence, Na-Nz, n.d.
3 General/Official Correspondence, Oa-Oz, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, O'B-O'K, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, O'L-O'T, n.d.
141 1 General/Official Correspondence, Pa-Paz, n.d.
3 General/Official Correspondence, Pe-Pez, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Ph-Pl, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Po-Pu, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Qa-Qz, n.d.
9 General/Official Correspondence, Quay, Sen. Matthew S., Pennsylvania, n.d.
10 General/Official Correspondence, Quigley, Thomas J., n.d.
142 1 General/Official Correspondence, Ra-Ree, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Ratchford, M. D., n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Ref-Ri, n.d.
143 1 General/Official Correspondence, Roa-Roa, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Rob-Roo, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Ros-Rz, n.d.
144 1 General/Official Correspondence, Sa-Sc, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Sackett, William E., n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Saxton, Herbert, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Se-Si, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Sherman, Augustus F., n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Sk-Sl, n.d.
145 1 General/Official Correspondence, Sma-Smz, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Sn-Sp, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Sr-Ste, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Sti-Str, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Stillwell, S. B., n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Stu-Sz, n.d.
146 1 General/Official Correspondence, Ta-Thi, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Tho-Tho, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Thr-Tz, n.d.
147 1 General/Official Correspondence, Ua-Uz, n.d.
2 General/Official Correspondence, Va-Ve, n.d.
3 General/Official Correspondence, Vi-Vz, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Wa-Wal, n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, Wan-Waz, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Warner, William, n.d.
4 General/Official Correspondence, Waudby, William S., n.d.
5 General/Official Correspondence, We-Wh, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Wia-Williams, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Wilm-Win, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Wo-Wz, n.d.
151 1 General/Official Correspondence, X-Y-Z, n.d.
6 General/Official Correspondence, Miscellaneous, n.d.
7 General/Official Correspondence, Miscellaneous, n.d.
8 General/Official Correspondence, Miscellaneous, n.d.
152 1 Private Correspondence, Aa-Az, n.d.
2 Private Correspondence, Ba-Be, n.d.
3 Private Correspondence, Bi-Bz, n.d.
4 Private Correspondence, Ca-Ce, n.d.
5 Private Correspondence, Ch-Cz, n.d.
7 Private Correspondence, Da-De, n.d.
8 Private Correspondence, Dever Family, n.d.
9 Private Correspondence, Di-Dz, n.d.
153 1 Private Correspondence, Ea-Ez, n.d.
2 Private Correspondence, Fa-Fz, n.d.
6 Private Correspondence, Fickensher, Emma (secretary, second wife), n.d.
7 Private Correspondence, Ga-Go, n.d.
10 Private Correspondence, Gr-Gz, n.d.
154 1 Private Correspondence, Ha-Hz, n.d.
2 Private Correspondence, Ia-Iz, n.d.
4 Private Correspondence, Ja-Jz, n.d.
5 Private Correspondence, Ka-Kz, n.d.
6 Private Correspondence, La-Lz, n.d.
7 Private Correspondence, Ma-Me, n.d.
9 Private Correspondence, Mi-Mz, n.d.
155 1 Private Correspondence, Na-Nz, n.d.
2 Private Correspondence, Oa-Oz, n.d.
3 Private Correspondence, Pa-Pz, n.d.
5 Private Correspondence, Ra-Rz, n.d.
6 Private Correspondence, Sa-Sl, n.d.
7 Private Correspondence, Sm-Sz, n.d.
8 Private Correspondence, T-U-V, n.d.
9 Private Correspondence, Wa-We, n.d.
10 Private Correspondence, Wh-Wz-Y-Z, n.d.
11 Private Correspondence, Miscellaneous, n.d.
161-168 80-83 The order of the files no longer reflects the order of the microfilm items.
11 Cases and Reports, n.d.
19 Correspondence: Miscellaneous, 1899, 1906-1924, n.d.
4 Information for Immigrants, 1914, n.d.
165 1 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (1), n.d.
2 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (2), n.d.
3 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (3), n.d.
4 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (4), n.d.
5 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (5), n.d.
6 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (6), n.d.
7 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (7), n.d.
8 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (8), n.d.
9 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (9), n.d.
10 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (10), n.d.
11 Laws, Memoranda, Speeches, etc. (11), n.d.
6 Map of Petworth, D.C., n.d.
9 Miscellaneous Letters, Reports, etc (1), n.d.
10 Miscellaneous Letters, Reports, etc (2), n.d.
11 Miscellaneous Notes, 1906, n.d.
2 Poems and Prayers, 1909, n.d.
7 Pamphlets re: Exclusion of the Chinese, 1906-1915, n.d.
10 Various Pamphlets, 1903-1910, 1922, n.d.
The Black Diamond Anthracite Coal Company, was organized, with Powderly as President, in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in 1902 and dissolved in 1909. This series has correspondence for 1902-1909, as well as reports and circulars for 1889-1903 that include the minutes of the company's organizational meeting, by-laws, first annual report, a prospectus, and an advertising pamphlet by Powderly.
169-170 84 The order of the files no longer reflects the order of the microfilm items.
169 1 Clippings and Articles, 1902, 1905, n.d.
19 Correspondence: C, 1906, n.d.
22 Correspondence: E, September 1905-1906, n.d.
24 Correspondence: G, 1902-1906, n.d.
170 1 Correspondence: L, 1902-1906, n.d.
5 Correspondence: O, 1902-1905, 1915, n.d.
19 Correspondence: Miscellaneous (2), n.d.
20 Maps and Photographs, 1904, n.d.
24 Various Pamphlets, 1889, 1905, n.d.
The microfilmed section has general correspondence and notes, notebooks, calendars, account books, legal correspondence, and mostly undated drafts and copies of addresses, poems, and memorandums. Materials not microfilmed contain legal documents from before Powderly was a lawyer as well as files and papers from his legal career in Scranton and Washington, 1893-1912. There are also financial records, including account books, ledgers, receipts, and bills as well as European travel notes dated 1906 and 1910, calling cards, address books, memberships, and the correspondence and text for Powderly's manuscript autobiography.
171-178 85-90 The order of the files no longer reflects the order of the microfilm items.
2 Articles, Speeches, Etc. (1), n.d.
3 Articles, Speeches, Etc. (2), n.d.
4 Articles, Speeches, Etc. (3), n.d.
5 Articles, Speeches, Etc. (4), n.d.
6 Articles, Speeches, Etc. (5), n.d.
7 Articles, Speeches, Etc. (6), n.d.
8 Articles, Speeches, Etc. (7), n.d.
9 Articles, Speeches, Etc. (8), n.d.
10 Articles, Speeches, Etc. (9), n.d.
5 Legal Correspondence: Miscellaneous, 1883-1884, 1895, n.d.
7 Memoranda and Reports, 1880, 1885, 1896, n.d.
9 Miscellaneous Notes (1), n.d.
10 Miscellaneous Notes (2), n.d.
177 1 Miscellaneous Notes (3), n.d.
2 Miscellaneous Notes (4), n.d.
3 Miscellaneous Notes (5), n.d.
4 Miscellaneous Notes (6), n.d.
5 Miscellaneous Notes (7), n.d.
6 Miscellaneous Notes (8), n.d.
The microfilmed material has Knights of Labor pamphlets, including Powderly's speeches and reports on meetings of local and district assemblies. The non microfilmed material, including oversized items, has various newspaper clippings, as well as general, labor, political, and religious pamphlets. In addition there are miscellaneous scrapbooks.
Map case Miscellaneous Newsprint Publications, 1905-1937, n.d.
The microfilmed material consists of five folders, with the first having a transcript of a talk between a Mr. Sinexon and Powderly, the second and third containing undated Powderly speeches and poems, the fourth with miscellaneous Powderly correspondence, and the fifth with correspondence and clippings regarding the Knights of Labor and the Catholic Church. There are 25 oversized documents, 1 map, and 6 drawings/sketches/prints stored in an oversize map case drawer.
A selection of clippings scrapbooks, arranged chronologically with some overlap, relating specifically to Powderly, the Knights of Labor, and Immigration issues, with gaps for some years.
The first part of this series has a file cabinet and boxes of information sheets and contact prints encompassing the thousands of photographic images produced ca. 1902-1921 by Powderly. They were originally glass and nitrate based negatives and glass lantern slides that were converted, with the support of a NEH grant, to safety film with reference prints and a card index. Included are large print copies used in a 1977 exhibit on Ellis Island. The second part consists of numerous photos given to or collected by Powderly during his long career in labor and government. A selection of 32 numbered photographs were microfilmed as part of this project in the 1970s while, more recently, over 300 of these were digitized and created for The Terence Vincent Powderly Photographic Prints Digital Collection sponsored by the Washington Research Libraries Consortium (WRLC). In addition, there are miscellaneous, duplicate, and unprocessed photographs as well.
FC 1 Photographs by TVP, n.d.
242-243 Photographs: Information Sheets, Contact Prints by TVP, n.d.
252-253 Photographs by TVP, 1977 Ellis Island Exhibit, n.d.
No Box 94 Photographs collected by TVP, n.d.
244-249 Photographs collected by TVP, 2002 Digital Collection, n.d.
250-251, 254 Photographs collected by TVP, Miscellaneous Duplicates and Unprocessed, n.d.
Map case Photographs collected by TVP, Misc, n.d.
A variety of items related to Powderly's tenure as mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania, including a bail docket (1879-1880), docket of municipal records (1878-1879), annual report (1879), cash book (1877-1878), district voter list (ca. 1880), a Scranton Centennial printed journal (1916), oversized scrapbooks, and some undated postcards.
Miscellaneous items, including inscribed books as well as engraved wood blocks with Powderly's image or name.
241, 255-259 Memorabilia and Artifacts, n.d.
Miscellaneous and oversized documents, photographs, glass lantern slides, and books received from Powderly relatives the Corbey family in 2009. See also Powderly Lantern Slide Collection removed and set up separately in 2016.
Photograph of Cardinal James Gibbons, n.d.
Photograph of an unknown man with one hand tucked into his coat, n.d.
267 Album of sixty three (63) 6" x 3" photographs of Rock Creek Park, Washington D.C. , n.d.
Album of various sized general and family photographs, n.d.
Two albums containing sixty-eight (68) cabinet sized photographs of the Powderly family, n.d.
One book, a salesman's dummy of "Thirty Years of Labor" by T.V. Powderly, n.d.
One book "Observation of the Diseases of the Army" by Sir John Pringle, n.d.
One book "Life of Jesus" with leather binding, n.d.
Oversize photograph of Powderly family, n.d.
Framed photograph of William Taft inscribed to Powderly, n.d.
Framed oval portrait of Abraham Lincoln, n.d.
Portrait of Warren G. Harding inscribed to Ruth Powderly (nurse), n.d.
Portraits of Florence Harding inscribed to Ruth Powderly (nurse), n.d.
Two oversize portraits of Powderly, n.d.
Photograph of Powderly family (same as large, oversize photo), n.d.
Matte missing the photo but inscribed to Powderly from a Rear Admiral [name illegible], n.d.
Signed photograph of Charles W. Fairbanks, n.d.
Series 10: Memorabilia, Artifacts, and Antique Books n.d.
Series 11: Miscellaneous and Oversized (Corby Deposit), 1896-1923, n.d.

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