Dates

• Majority of material found within 1940 - 1999

Extent

44 boxes Linear Feet (The son of Russian immigrants, Eli Rock (1915-2000) was born in Rochester, New York. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester in 1937 and a degree from Yale Law School in 1940. He practiced law briefly before moving to Washington, DC, and joined the War Labor Board. He was the regional director of disputes for the board from 1942-1944, then entered the American Field Service and was an ambulance driver in France. He remained in Europe to work for the American Joint Distribution Committee from 1945-1947, first in Paris and then as directors of the Berlin Office. In 1947-1948, he served in the New York office working on cases involving heirless Jewish property. Eli Rock was a labor arbitrator who once served as labor-relations advisor for the City of Philadelphia. He was an adviser to Mayors Joseph Clark and Richardson Dilworth, serving from 1952-1960. In his role as the city’s labor consultant and later as an arbitrator, Eli Rock took part in many high-profile disputes including the 1956 wildcat strike by the Transport Workers Union against Philadelphia Transportation Co., the forerunner to SEPTA. Eli Rock’s work for the City of Philadelphia ended with the election of Mayor James Tate. He later served as an arbitrator in strikes by employees of SEPTA and the Philadelphia Gas Works, both in 1971. The Eli Rock Collection contains personal correspondence, bills and receipts, arbitration correspondence, arbitration decisions and awards, books, and other sundry items from 1940-1999. The Eli Rock Collection is housed in 28 archival boxes arranged in four series. Series have been designated for office files, arbitration decisions, books, and artifacts. This collection contains personal correspondence, bills and receipts, arbitration correspondence, arbitration decisions and awards, books, and other sundry items. The bulk of the collection contains American Arbitration Association decisions spanning a 40-year period, significant correspondence and some decisions regarding the Philadelphia area garment industry, Mack Truck and Lukens Steel awards round out the arbitration decision series and constitutes the most extensive and important part of the collection. Series List: Series 1 Office Files; Series 2-3 Arbitration Decisions; and Series 4 Rolodex Files.)

Language of Materials

English