Jobs With Justice

A quarter-century of labor history will be preserved and available to researchers all over the world, thanks to Jobs With Justice's recent donation to the ILR School's Kheel Center for Labor Management Documentation and Archives.

The nonprofit workers' advocacy organization will donate 55 boxes of archival materials from its 25-year history.

The collection will arrive at the Kheel Center this month and will likely grow in the future. It includes a wide variety of formats: office files including correspondence, minutes, and reports; publications; oral history interviews; multimedia items; and other material JWJ generated in the course of its activities.

"We're honored to have so much of our organizational history in Cornell's archives. It's a testament to years of cooperation and collaboration on the front lines of the fight for economic justice and a voice for all working people," said Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs With Justice. “I hope this collection serves as a resource for scholars and organizers, and as a catalyst for the next 25 years of conversation about labor in this country."

JWJ's archives will join the Kheel Center's world-class collections relating to industrial and labor relations, including rare and one-of-a-kind records of unions, government agencies, advocacy groups and labor scholars.

Kheel Director Cheryl Beredo said, "We are thrilled to serve as the archives for Jobs With Justice. I think we all have a lot to learn about organizing and movement-building from JWJ's first 25 years and moving forward, too. It is a great honor to make this collection available to the general public, and to help preserve the history of such an important organization."

Beredo added that she anticipates faculty members will find the collection relevant to their research and teaching, including professors affiliated with ILR's Worker Institute and scholars of labor and working-class history, immigration and other topics.

ILR Assistant Professor Verónica Martínez-Matsuda said, "Cornell couldn't be more fortunate in having acquired the archives of Jobs With Justice. In its 25-year history, JWJ has stood at the forefront of the labor movement."

"The wealth of material available in this archive will no doubt inspire many students for years to come. I look forward to developing a research seminar that examines the collection more closely. It's very exciting!"

Find more online about the Kheel Center, Jobs With Justice and Cornell University Library.