Summary Information

Title: William Benjamin Rubin Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1908-1950

Creator:

• Rubin, William Benjamin, 1873-1959

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss P; File 1913 January 21 Oversize; PH 1234; PH 1968

Quantity: 8.3 c.f. (21 archives boxes and 1 oversize folder) and 14 photographs (2 folders)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

See the catalog label for information on possible additional materials and shelf locations.

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Rubin, a Milwaukee attorney, author, and lecturer, prominent in the labor movement and in Democratic politics, consisting of correspondence with labor and political leaders and Rubin's articles and speeches. Rubin served as counsel in the 1919 strikes by the steelworkers, seamen, and members of Actor's Equity; aided in the 1929 drafting of the first law to prohibit blacklisting of employees by employers; represented the Wisconsin Cooperative Milk Pool in the milk strikes of the 1930's; and was mediator in the J.I. Case Company labor troubles in 1937. For twenty-five years he was also chief counsel for the American Federation of Labor, and traveled widely in Europe and the United States on behalf of the AFL and its member unions. In politics he campaigned nationally in 1918 for President Wooddefitem Wilson and in 1924 for the La Follette-Wheeler ticket; took part in political efforts of Democratic affairs in Wisconsin, but was unsuccessful in bids for the nomination for governor and for appointment as a federal judge. Rubin's most intimate correspondent appears to have been John P. Frey of the Metal Trades department of the American Federation of Labor. Other correspondents include Samuel Gompers and William Green, W. A. Appleton (secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions of London, England), F. Ryan Duffy, William T. Evjue, James A. Farley, John L. Lewis, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Henry A. Wallace. Ten letterbooks, 1917-1918, contain copies of outgoing letters from Rubin and his associates in his Milwaukee law firm, which conducted a general law practice involving varied civil and criminal cases. Certificates and photographs are also included.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil0000p

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