C Davis, James Adam (1905-1988), Papers, 1937-1975 3666 23.5 linear feet This collection is available at The State Historical Society of Missouri. If you would like more information, please contact us at [email protected]. INTRODUCTION Papers of a state labor leader. State CIO Industrial Union Council, State Labor Council, Political Action Committee, Missouri Valley Authority, Governor's Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation, United Labor Committee of Missouri, State Environmental Improvement Authority and Executive Review Committee materials. Personal records. DONOR INFORMATION The papers were donated to the University of Missouri by James A. Davis on 11 May 1978 (Accession No. 4160). An addition was made on 15 November 1982 by George V. Boyle (Accession No. 4471). BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH James Adam Davis was born in Mokane, Missouri, August 25, 1905, one of seven children of Barnabas Caroll Davis, a farmer, and Harriet A. Jones Davis. Davis was a member of the United Automobile Workers and served as their international representative; United Steelworkers of America; Advisory Council on Human Rights; Governmental Affairs Program Advisory Council, School of Business and Public Administration, University of Missouri-Columbia; Missouri Manpower Advisory Committee (Mid-Continent Regional); Missouri Trade Mission to Europe, 1964; first Missouri Atomic Energy Commission; Mid-Continent Advisory Council under the auspices of the State Department, 1967; Governor' s Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation; State Environmental Improvement Authority; and board of directors of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare . He also served as secretary-treasurer of the CIO Industrial Union Council and the AFL-CIO State Council for over twenty-five years, secretary for the national CIO's Missouri Valley Authority Committee and secretary-treasurer for the State Industrial Union Council's Missouri Valley Authority Committee. Indian lore was a hobby for Davis and he was also a gun collector. Letters related to guns and invoices and receipts for guns are in this collection. James A. Davis died on February 8, 1988. He was survived by one daughter, Jane Carol Downs, ten grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. A daughter, LaVone K. Rolf, preceded him in death. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The bulk of this collection consists of Missouri State Industrial Union Council Materials (1938-1955): affiliation records, convention proceedings, correspondence, financial records, legislative reports, executive board and committee minutes, and miscellaneous items. Political Action Committee correspondence, financial records, and related items are included. C3666 Davis, James Adam (1905-1988), Papers, 1937-1975 Page 2 Other materials include Missouri State Federation of Labor and State Council merger materials; national AFL and CIO merger items; Missouri State Labor Council correspondence and financial records (1956-1975); Missouri Valley Authority correspondence, minutes, resolutions, reports, financial statements, maps and miscellany; Governor' s Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation (1949-1952) transcripts, minutes, and miscellany; State Environmental Improvement Authority (1972-1975) correspondence, minutes, plans and specifications for pollution control projects, reports and miscellany; University of Missouri Extension Division labor education programs (1968-1975) correspondence and related materials; Christy-for-Mayor items (1971); Executive Review Committee items (1972); United Labor Committee of Missouri minutes, financial reports and miscellany (1973-1974); personal records; and photographs. Letters, memoranda and related materials from national CIO officials are interspersed throughout the collection. The Davis collection exemplifies the growth of the labor movement in Missouri from the formation of the CIO Industrial Union Council in 1938 through the 1956 mergers of the state and national AFL and CIO, and from the mergers through 1975. Examples of political and legislative clout of state and local labor councils and leaders, as well as of the national CIO, are numerous. The role of labor in World War II and postwar America is described. Increased labor representation on government boards is evident. Other items of interest are the Missouri Valley Authority materials. Plans and specifications for Missouri pollution control projects, including the Callaway nuclear power plant, are with the State Environmental Improvement Authority materials. There is a copy of a dissertation on the Gould strikes and materials on racial discrimination and right to work. Descriptions of the American Red Cross in China, working conditions on the Burma Road, the Flying Tigers in World War II, European and British trade unions, labor relations in Korea, violent incidents in labor history, and strikes are given in speeches before the Council conventions. Cancelled checks and check stubs have been retained because of the excellent picture they offer of individual labor unions' growth through dues payments, political contributions, and the financial record of the Council and its committees. Several separate accounts were held by the Council and the Political Action Committee. FOLDER LIST f. 1-19 Applications for certificates of affiliation with the MSIUC. Receipts. Labor agreements. Constitutions and bylaws of various locals. Affiliation forms include name and address of local; names of unions with which members are affiliated; titles, names and addresses of principle union officers; names of employing companies; number of paid members; chief services; and place and date of meetings f. 20-149 Council convention proceedings, 1939-1955, including convention calls; reading of fraternal greetings and letters; tributes; nomination and election of officers; committee appointments, reports, and discussions; officers' reports; speeches; resolutions; financial statements; lists of C3666 Davis, James Adam (1905-1988), Papers, 1937-1975 Page 3 new affiliates and delegates; and political endorsements. f. 20 First annual convention. Summary includes resolutions denouncing anti-labor policies of various companies, imprisonment of miners in Illinois, and Kansas City law enforcement officials; and supporting strikes, the union label; New Deal policies, repeal of neutrality law, public housing, farmer• labor unity, relief for Washington County, and labor hours for women. Committee reports. Committee and labor credentials lists and Constitution. f. 21-31 Third annual convention. Reports and discussions on state labor legislation, union legislative committees, union label, defense housing and unemployment, AFL and CIO jurisdictional disputes, formation of United Construction Workers organizing committee, federal workers' wages, trade apprenticeships, and other topics. Description of anti-labor incidents, CIO's fair candidate in Moberly. Speeches by Charles S. Garrison, U .S .Labor Department officials, Norman Smith of United Auto Workers, Governor Forrest C. Donnell, R.J .Thomas, and William Sentner. f. 32-39 Fourth annual convention. Emphasis on war-time economy, war effort and labor, war production and industry, war relief, and civil defense. Legislative report and discussion on defeating Congressmen Dewey Short, M.T .Bennett and Walter Ploeser. Description of St. Louis and Kansas City scrap salvage problems; conciliation services. Reports and discussion on minimum wage law for laundry employees at Jefferson Barracks, Sikeston lynching, discrimination against Negroes, and other topics. Speeches by Governor Forrest C. Donnell, Hugh Stephens, Frank Dunn, Arnold Griffith, A .Robert Ginsburg, John Brophy and others. f.40-50 Fifth annual convention. Emphasis on war production, war relief, war labor boards, racial discrimination, trade union unity, Texas labor problems, political action committees, labor legislation. Reports and discussion of police brutality in St. Louis; repeal of Chinese Exclusion Act and position of AFL; repeal of Smith-Connally Act; affiliation problems of Local 31, Kansas City; removal of Attorney General Francis Biddle; Kelly postal embezzlement charges; union label . Speeches by Harry Clark; Governor Forrest C. Donnell; H. Lional Elvin, labor adviser to British Ministry of Information; Albert Evans on American Red Cross, describing conditions in China and Burma; William Sentner on Kansas City War Labor Board , labor unions in England. f. 51 Verbatim transcript of debate on May 3 and 4 pertaining to File 10, Section I “right of employees to join, organize, remain members of any labor organization, and bargain collectively,” Missouri AFL president, Reuben T. Wood, participated. f. 52-63 Seventh annual convention. Emphasis on postwar employment and economy, political action, Missouri Valley Authority, and C3666 Davis, James Adam (1905-1988), Papers, 1937-1975 Page 4 discrimination. Table of con• tents with list of resolutions by topic. Speeches of John C. Arrington, Office of Price Administration; James Dorn, U.S. Employment Service; Leo Perlis, National Community Services; Walter King, U.S. Labor Department; others. f.53 Program in the form of resolutions for a Missouri State CIO Political Action Committee, and a state financial committee on political action. f. 64-72 Eighth annual convention. Emphasis on political action, legislation, civil rights. Table of contents with resolutions listed by topic. Speeches of Walter King, U.S. Labor Department; CIO's John Brophy, Vernon Price, Carl McPeak; Bill White. Reports and discussion on strikers and per