Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Guide to the Ira Cross: California labor notes, 1815-1960
BANC MSS C-R 12
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Collection Title: Ira Cross: California Labor Notes,
Date (inclusive): 1815-1960
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-R 12
Creator:
Cross, Ira B. (Ira Brown), b. 1880
Extent:
Number of containers: 5 cartons, 3 boxes, 8 oversize folders
Linear feet: 8
Repository: The
Bancroft Library.
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Consists of notes and research materials which were gathered by Ira B. Cross and his research assistants primarily for his
book, History of the labor movement in California. Contains the original typescript from 1909-1932, including manuscript corrections,
illustrations, and all footnotes as they were written by Cross, only a fraction of which were retained in the published edition.
Research notes contain correspondence, including exchanges with various labor organizers and their families, most notably Astaroth and Burnette Haskell, Frank Roney, and Paul Scharrenberg, along with fan mail and critical analyses of the book by Cross' colleagues. Also contains biographical sketches, including testimonies, clippings, and interviews taken by Cross or his assistants.
Research notes on the history of labor include sections with references to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the U.S. Commission on Migratory Labor, as well as sections on the Building Trades Council of San Francisco, The Federated Trades Council of San Francisco, and the Maritime Trades Council of San Francisco. A card file of newspaper citations arranged by subject and scattered issues of labor newspapers (on microfilm) and clippings includes a variety of California publications and materials from several western states and Canada.
Research notes contain correspondence, including exchanges with various labor organizers and their families, most notably Astaroth and Burnette Haskell, Frank Roney, and Paul Scharrenberg, along with fan mail and critical analyses of the book by Cross' colleagues. Also contains biographical sketches, including testimonies, clippings, and interviews taken by Cross or his assistants.
Research notes on the history of labor include sections with references to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the U.S. Commission on Migratory Labor, as well as sections on the Building Trades Council of San Francisco, The Federated Trades Council of San Francisco, and the Maritime Trades Council of San Francisco. A card file of newspaper citations arranged by subject and scattered issues of labor newspapers (on microfilm) and clippings includes a variety of California publications and materials from several western states and Canada.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
[Identification of item], Ira Cross: California labor notes, BANC MSS C-R 12, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
-
Title: Haskell family papers, 1878-1951Identifier/Call Number: (BANC MSS C-B 364)
-
Title: International Workmen's Association recordsIdentifier/Call Number: (BANC MSS C-A 306)
-
Title: Knights of Labor recordsIdentifier/Call Number: (BANC MSS C-A 305)
-
Title: Frank Roney papers, 1870-1925Identifier/Call Number: (BANC MSS C-B 366)
-
Title: Paul Scharrenberg papers, 1893-1960Identifier/Call Number: (BANC MSS C-B 906)
- Printed materials, mainly constitutions of labor unions, have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library.
- Photographs have been transferred to Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library.
Ira Cross, California Labor Notes, 1815-1960, were given to The Bancroft Library by Ira B. Cross in 1933, with additions made
from 1951 to 1953. The manuscript of his book, History of the Labor Movement in California, was given to The Bancroft Library
by Paul Schuster Taylor in 1962.
Funding for processing provided in part by a Library Services and Construction Act (LSCA), Title III: Networking, Preservation
and Statewide Resource-sharing grant 1994-1996.
Ira B. Cross was born December 1, 1880, in Decatur, Illinois, the son of a working man. Due to the influence of a high school
teacher, he decided to go to college, and earned his own way through the University of Wisconsin. He graduated with honors
in economics, receiving his A.B. in 1905, and completing his M.A. in the same field in 1906. While he was a student there,
he joined the Socialist Party and served as assistant secretary of the National Convention of the Socialist Party in Chicago
in 1904.
In 1906, Cross went to Stanford as an instructor in economics while working for his Ph.D., which he received in 1909. His
thesis, History of the Labor Movement in California, was enlarged and published by the University of California Press in 1935.
While still an instructor at Stanford, Cross became Secretary of the California Industrial Accident Commission and was a special
agent for the United States Immigration Commission during 1914-1915.
In spite of his reputation for radical views, Professor Cross was called to the University of California by Benjamin Ide Wheeler
in 1914 and taught there until his retirement in 1951. He helped start the Berkeley Police School which has produced a model
police force, famous throughout the country. Professor Cross taught courses in labor management during World War I and was
also involved in arbitration and strike-settling activities. He was chairman of the Department of Economics during 1919-1920
and 1923-1924.
Ira B. Cross served as vice-president of the American Economic Association in 1925-1926, president of the Pacific Coast Economic
Association in 1928, and member of the board of regents of the American Institute of Banking from 1935 to 1960. The University
of Wisconsin gave him the LL.D. degree in 1951, and in 1957, he received the LL.D. from the University of California. In 1964,
The Ira B. Cross Room was dedicated in Barrows Hall at the University of California, Berkeley.
California Labor Notes consists of notes and research materials dating from 1815 to 1960, which were gathered by Ira B. Cross
and his research assistants to complete his book, A History of the Labor Movement in California. Also includes the original
typescript from 1909-1932, including handwritten corrections, illustrations, and all footnotes as they were written by Cross;
the published edition retained only a fraction of the original notations and illustrations.
Research notes contain correspondence, including exchanges with various labor organizers and their families, most notably
Astaroth and Burnette Haskell, Frank Roney, and Paul Scharrenberg, along with fan mail and critical analyses of the book by
colleagues. Also contains biographical sketches, comprised of a variety of sources, including testimonies, clippings, and
interviews taken by Cross or his assistants.
Research notes focusing on the history of labor include sections with references to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the U.S.
Commission on Migratory Labor, as well as sections dedicated to the Building Trades Council of San Francisco, The Federated
Trades Council of San Francisco, and the Maritime Trades Council of San Francisco.
Finally, the card file is rich with newspaper citations, arranged by subject, while clippings and labor newspapers (on microfilm)
include a variety of California publications and material from several western states and Canada.