The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections The University of Toledo

Finding Aid

Timothy J. McCormick Papers, 1940-1964

MSS-010

Size: 2 linear feet

Provenance: Timothy J. McCormick donated his papers to the University of Toledo Libraries apparently in 1967. There are no restrictions on the use of this collection. Access: Open

Access: Open

Collection Summary: Materials document the consolidation of labor unions after World War II, especially in the realm of railroads. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence among railroad labor organizers and publications of labor organizations (e.g. the Consolidation Committee of Enginemen's Consolidator and the United Railroad Operating Crafts' UROC Facts) with which McCormick was involved.

Subjects: labor

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns. Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code. The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by: Paul Gifford, 1986

Reformatted by: Arjun Sabharwal, June 2009, last updated: April, 2014

Introduction

The papers of Timothy J. McCormick, dating from 1940 to 1964, reflect the concerns of a Toledo locomotive engineer and labor organizer. McCormick's strong interest was in the consolidation of the various railroad brotherhoods into a single industrial union. McCormick's papers are a useful source for the study of the postwar labor-union amalgamation movement. They also contribute to the study of progressive labor activity in Toledo. The materials in this collection consist primarily of correspondence with other rail road labor organizers and publications of labor organizations with which McCormick was involved.

Biographical Sketch

1907	born in Toledo, Ohio
1924	hired as fireman on New York Central Railroad
1928	joined Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen
1930	furloughed from this job
1930-1937	member of Socialist Party; local organizer for the Toledo Industrial Union Council; business agent, United Truck Operators Union; field representative, Congress of Industrial Organizations
1937	recalled to work on New York Central Railroad
1941	promoted to locomotive engineer, NYCRR
1943-1947	Local Chairman, Lodge #2, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen
1944-1946	President, Toledo Area Council of Railroad Workers
1946	member, Board of Trustees, General Grievance Committee of the New York Central Lines, Western Division
1947	under pseudonym "Adam Fireman," a member of Executive and Editorial Committees, Consolidation Committee of Enginemen
1948	Chairman, Committee on Public Relations, Consolidation Committee of Enginemen
1949	expelled from Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen
1951-1955	active organizer and member of United Railroad Operating Crafts
1956-1959	Local Chairman, Division 457, Brotherhood of Locomotive Enginemen
1964	Vice-Chairman, Toledo Civil Liberties Union

 

Scope and Content Note

Practically all the items in the Timothy J. McCormick Papers pertain to railroad labor union activity. As an officer in the Toledo "lodge" of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and in the Toledo division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Enginemen, McCormick participated in the leadership of long-established unions. His principal activity, as reflected by his papers, however, was as a leading organizer of ran k-and-file movements within those unions. Those movements demanded the consolidation of all railroad unions, heretofore organized on a craft basis, into a single industrial union.

The strength of the papers lies in the correspondence and other material generated by leaders of two successive consolidation organizations: the Consolidation Committee of Enginemen (1946-50) and the United Railroad Operating Crafts (1951-56 and later). McCormick routinely received copies of official internal correspondence. He also was careful in retaining duplicate copies of outgoing correspondence. Prominent correspondents include organizers and officers of those consolidation movements: Bert H. Nelson, Russell R. Walker, and the prolific Trotskyist Charles R. Hedlund, among others.

Other material contains useful information. The CCE's organ Consolidator and the UROC's UROC Facts reflect organizing aims and public policies of those organizations. There are a number of posters and flyers, many produced in Toledo.

Although this collection is a valuable source for information on consolidation movements within the railroad unions, researchers in other labor topics will probably find little use for it. McCormick's papers have served as a primary source for two studies, which the user of these papers would be well advised to consult:

George R. Horton and H. Ellsworth Steele, "The Unity Issue among Railroad Engineers and Firemen," Industrial and Labor Relations Review 10 (October 1956): 48-69. (Offprint of this article can be found in the McCormick Papers.)

Anne Skalski, "A Rank and File Challenge to the Leadership of the Enginemen's Brotherhoods: The Rise and Fall of the Consolidation Committee of Enginemen, 1946-1949." (M. A. thesis, Department of History, University of Toledo, 1971)

 

Folder List

Box	Folder
1		Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen
	1	Lodge #2, Toledo -Correspondence, 1943-49
	2	General Grievance Committee, New York Central Lines West -General, 1946-51
	3	Convention, 1947
	4	Trial against McCormick, Carman, and Rasmussen, 1949
		Toledo Area Council of Railroad Workers
	5	Minutes and constitution, 1943-46
	6	General, 1944-46, 1959
		Consolidation Committee of Enginemen
	7	National Board. Minutes, 1947-48
		Correspondence
	8	1946
	9	jan . -Apr. 1947
	10	May-Dec. 1947
	11	Jan.-Mar. 1948
	12	Apr. -Dec. 1948
	13	1949
	14	Financial reports
	15	Toledo Area District. General, 1948
		United Railroad Operating Crafts
	16	Minutes of various divisions, 1953-54
	17	Correspondence from J. A. Ford
		Correspondence
	18	1951
	19	1952
	20	1953 (2)
	21
	22	1954
	23	1955
	24	1956
	25	Legal cases
	26	Local 101, Toledo
2		Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
	1	Trials
	2	Division #457. General, 1956-59
	3	Progressive Caucus of Enginemen, 1958-59
	4	Joint Strike Committee, New York Central West, 1962-64
		Personal
	5	Correspondence, 1940-65
	6	Locomotive engineer's certificate
	7	Articles by T. J. McCormick
		Court briefs
	8	Brandon vs. New York Central Railroad
	9	General
	10	Miscellaneous
	11	Matthew Brandon -correspondence
	12	Photographs
	13	Cartoons
	14	Articles written for the Consolidator by T. J. McCormick, 1946-48
		The Consolidator
	15	Aug. 1946-0ct. 29, 1947
	16	Nov. 13, 1947-May 18, 1950
	17	Consolidation News
		United Railroad Operating Crafts
		Various publications
		UROC Facts
	18	Sept. 14, 1951-Mar. 15, 1953
	19	Apr. 1, 1953-Mar. 5, 1958
	20	Local News
	21	The Beacon 1955
	22	Publications of various rail road labor organizations
	23	Posters and flyers
	24	Pamphlets (2)
	25