Dates

• Majority of material found within 1911 - 1996

Extent

50 boxes Linear Feet (Sylvester Garrett (December 15, 1911-January 11, 1996) played a prominent role throughout the entire post-Wagner Act period of labor relations in the United States. From 1951 to 1979, he was the chairman of the Iron Ore Industry Board of Arbitration that oversaw labor relations between U.S. Steel Corporation and the United Steelworkers of America. Sylvester Garrett was a law professor and pioneer labor mediator, who helped shape the landscape of industrial relations in the United States. During World War II, President Roosevelt named Garrett as the chair of the Regional War Labor Board. He was the chief arbitrator between the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the nation’s steel producers for 28 years. He served as an arbitrator for labor disputes from 1950 to 1995, but it was during his tenure in the steel industry, from 1951 to 1979, that marked the height of his influence on labor policy. Sylvester Garrett was the son of Sylvester Sharpless Garrett (August 7, 1877-August 18, 1967) and his wife Mary Ann Thompson Garrett (February 2, 1885-1968). Sylvester Garrett and his siblings including sisters Agnes Iviagh Garrett Leamy (1905-1985) and Helen T. Garrett (1910-1972) and brothers Dr. William Garrett and Daniel Garrett were born in Elkins Park, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Sylvester Garrett attended Swarthmore College, where he met his future wife, Molly Alexander Yard (July 6, 1912-September 21, 2005). They graduated from Swarthmore in 1933 and were married in 1938. Molly Yard was an activist and she served as the President of the National Organization for Women. A 1936 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Garrett taught labor law at the Stanford University School of Law, the University of Pittsburgh, and in the Department of Employment and Labor Relations (ELR was formerly called Industrial and Labor Relations) at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). Prior to his retirement, Sylvester Garrett served a two year appointment as Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Graduate Department of Industrial and Labor Relations at IUP from 1987 to 1989. The Sylvester Garrett Collection dates from 1936-1996, and it contains correspondence, labor arbitration case files, bound arbitration decisions, scrapbooks, photographs, and lecture notes. After teaching at IUP, Sylvester Garrett was encouraged to donate his arbitration papers to the IUP Libraries as part of the Labor Arbitration Archives, which also includes the papers of Eli Rock (Manuscript Group 126), Myron Joseph (Manuscript Group 100), Gabriel Alexander (Manuscript Group 61), and Donald McPherson (Manuscript Group 166). The collection is divided into the following series and addenda: Series I: Office Files Series II: Steel Arbitration Files Series III: Postal Arbitration Files Series IV: Airline Arbitration Files Series V: Greyhound Arbitration Files Series VI: Elevator Industry Arbitration Files Series VII: Arbitration Files for the Electrical, Telephone, Telegraph Communications Workers of America Series VIII: Arbitration for the Hotel, Restaurant and Bartenders’ Union Series IX: National Academy of Arbitrators Series X: Foreign Service Grievance Board Addenda 1: Series I: Decisions-Board of Arbitration (Bound) Series II Decisions-Loose Leaf Binders Series III: Miscellaneous Books Series IV: Office Files Series V: Arbitration Cases Addenda 2: Series I: Correspondence Series II: Arbitration Series III: Interviews Addenda 3: Series I: Awards Series II: Issued Cases Series III: National Arbitrators of America Meetings Series IV: Speeches, Oral Histories, Publications & Miscellaneous Series V: Arbitration Review Board Decisions Series VI: Miscellaneous Awards and Correspondence by Name Series VII: Additional Arbitration Review Board Decisions Series VIII: Agreements and Contracts Series IX: Garrett Working Files and Preparation for Arbitration Series X: General Office Files Series XI: Arbitration Awards Series XII: Awards Notes & Preparation Series XIII: United Steel Workers of America Publications Series XIV: Decisions, Board of Arbitration, Volumes – US Steel (USS) Series XV: Scrapbooks)

Language of Materials

English