Scope and Content Note
The records of the National Consumers' League span the years 1882-2003, with the bulk of the material dated 1920-1990. Although at one time various city and state leagues were chartered across the country, these records pertain primarily to the national organization. The collection is organized into twelve series: Organization File; Office File; Projects and Programs File; Speech, Article, and Book File; Legal File; Scrapbooks; Printed Matter; Miscellany; Addition I; Addition II; Addition III; and Addition IV.
The National Consumers' League was founded in 1899 as a social reform movement concerned with the conditions under which goods were manufactured and distributed. Unlike later consumer organizations that focused upon product testing and selection among competing items, the league insisted that consumers should use their buying power to promote broad social reform. To that end, it developed a comprehensive legislative program on both the state and federal level to secure statutes regulating wages and hours, guaranteeing healthy working conditions, and prohibiting child labor. It sought to ensure public health through measures such as the Pure Food and Drug Act, and it was an early advocate of social security legislation. The league promoted the creation of administrative agencies to enforce protective legislation and played a major role in defending reform measures in court. These topics and others are covered in both the Organization File and Office File. Related subjects in the Projects and Programs File are under specific headings such as child labor, the Equal Rights Amendment, the Fair Labor Standards Act, migratory labor, minimum wages, social security, and wages and hours.
With the exception of a few years for which there are no records, the Organizations File contains a complete record of the official proceedings of the league from 1899 to 1972. Minutes, reports, speeches, correspondence, and memoranda give insight into the workings of the organization and reflect the development of twentieth-century social thought.
For the period prior to 1932, the records reflect the major role played by the league's first general secretary, Florence Kelley. League general secretaries - a position later re-named executive director - had the dual function of carrying out league policy and coordinating the activities of the chartered leagues. Their correspondence is located in the general correspondence section of the Office File. Among the many citizens with whom Florence Kelley or later executive directors corresponded are Grace Abbott, Mary Anderson, Newton Diehl Baker, Elizabeth Brandeis Rauschenbush, Eveline M. Burns, John R. Commons, Mabel Cory Costigan, Molly Dewson, Paul H. Douglas, Josephine Goldmark, Pauline Goldmark, Eleanor M. Hadley, Alice Hamilton, Dorothy Smith McAllister, Esther Peterson, Frances Perkins, Jeanette Rankin, Josephine A. Roche, John A. Ryan, John G. Winant, Edwin E. Witte, Florence Wyckoff, and Susanna P. Zwemer.
The national organization's records also contain material generated by various state and local leagues. The chartered leagues' material relates local activities to the parent organization and reflects state and local projects. Correspondence of local leaders is located in the general correspondence section of the Office File. Records of the chartered leagues dated prior to 1966 appear as discrete headings in the Office File, but materials generated after that date are interfiled with the general correspondence. Annual reports of the various chartered leagues are located in the Printed Matter series.
The Legal File, which includes briefs of legal cases bearing on league work, is closely related to projects included in the Projects and Programs File. Material relating to the life and work of Florence Kelley can be found in both the Speech, Article, and Book File and in the Miscellany series.
Between 1951 and 1970 the league worked closely with the National Council on Agricultural Life and Labor to extend protective legislation to migratory labor. Records for this organization are located in the Miscellany series and include correspondence, memoranda, reports, printed matter, and committee material.
Susanna P. Zwemer, New Jersey league president and later board chair of the national league between 1958 and 1961, and Clement E. Vose originally processed portions of these records and prepared item-indexes to several series. These indexes, located in the Miscellany series, should be consulted for material dated prior to 1958.
Addition I (Series I), Addition II (Series J), Addition III (Series K), and Addition IV (Series L) are subsequent additions to the records. Addition I, covering the years 1956-1973, consists chiefly of administrative records. Also included in Addition I are files for two state leagues, New Jersey and Ohio. Addition II, covering the years 1905 to 1982, consists of correspondence and chronological files, speeches, statements, league publications and other printed matter. Of particular interest is the chronological file containing a complete set of outgoing correspondence of the league's general secretary/executive director, 1960-1972. Also of interest are reports on league activities that were issued annually, 1967-1976, giving an overview of the league's work. Addition III, covering the years 1951-1986, includes records of the National Consumers Committee for Research and Education, such as minutes of meetings, correspondence, and project and publication files. Also in Addition III are transcripts of interviews for the production of the publication Consumer Activists: They Made a Difference.
Addition IV spans the years 1900-2003. It documents the work of the National Consumers' League predominately from the 1960s through the 1990s on the topics of child labor, consumer education, credit card fraud, health care and drug costs, medication, privacy, telemarketing fraud, and other topics regarding workers' rights and consumer protections. It is arranged into an Organization File, an Office File, a Projects and Programs File, and a Publications and Press file. The Organization File primarily contains materials relating to the activities and decisions made at the top level of management in the national league, including files relating to the board of directors, executive committee, financial matters, and affiliate organizations. The Office File documents the general advocacy work and public activities of the league, including its testimonies before the United States Congress. The Projects and Programs File documents the various named programs participated in or managed by the league, particularly the Child Labor Coalition. The Publications and Press file contains material pertaining to the publicity and media relationships of the league, including copies of league publications such as brochures, newsletters, pamphlets, manuals, and reports.