Guide to Federal Records

Records of the National Labor Relations Board [NLRB]


(RECORD GROUP 25)
1933-79

OVERVIEW OF RECORDS LOCATIONS

Table of Contents

  • 25.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY
  • 25.2 HEADQUARTERS RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR BOARD 1933-35
  • 25.3 RECORDS OF THE FIRST NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 1933-36
  • 25.4 REGIONAL RECORDS OF THE NLB AND THE 1ST NLRB 1933-38
  • 25.5 RECORDS OF THE SECOND NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD 1934-79
  • 25.5.1 General records
  • 25.5.2 Records of the Legal Division
  • 25.5.3 Records of the Administrative Division
  • 25.5.4 Records of other administrative units
  • 25.5.5 Case files
  • 25.6 RECORDS RELATING TO THE SMITH COMMITTEE INVESTIGATION OF THE NLRB 1934-41
  • 25.6.1 Records of the General Counsel
  • 25.6.2 Records of the Assistant General Counsel
  • 25.6.3 Other records
  • 25.7 MOTION PICTURES (GENERAL)

25.1 ADMINISTRATIVE HISTORY

Established: As an independent agency by the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act (49 Stat. 195), July 5, 1935.

Predecessor Agencies:

  • National Labor Board (NLB, 1933-34)
  • National Labor Relations Board (1st NLRB, 1934-35)
Functions: Pursuant to the Wagner Act, as amended by the Labor- Management Relations (Taft-Hartley) Act (61 Stat. 136), June 23, 1947, and the Labor- Management Reporting and Disclosure (Landrum-Griffin) Act (73 Stat. 519), September 14, 1959, protects the right of certain private sector employees to organize and designate representatives for collective bargaining, determines appropriate bargaining units, conducts representation elections, and enforces prohibitions against specified employer and union unfair labor practices. Under the War Labor Disputes (Smith-Connally) Act (57 Stat. 163), June 25, 1943, conducted representation elections in war industries.

Related Records: Record copies of publications of the National Labor Relations Board in RG 287, Publications of the U.S. Government. Records of the National Recovery Administration, RG 9.
General Records of the Department of Justice, RG 60. Records of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, RG 100. General Records of the Department of Labor, RG 174. Records of the National War Labor Board (World War II), RG 202.
Records of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, RG 280.

Subject Access Terms: New Deal agency.

Note: The 1st NLRB, in continuing cases and enforcing decisions of the NLB, often changed the numbers of NLB case files to conform to its own filing system. The use of indexes, case files, transcripts, exhibits, and correspondence files of both boards may be necessary to locate all records relating to a particular labor dispute.

Top of Page

25.2 HEADQUARTERS RECORDS OF THE NATIONAL LABOR BOARD
1933-35

History: NLB established as an independent agency by a Presidential directive (press release), August 5, 1933, to adjust industrial disputes arising from the interpretation and application of the President's Reemployment Agreement or any approved code of fair competition under the National Industrial Recovery Act. Operated through regional boards. Superseded by the 1st NLRB, June 19, 1934.

Textual Records: Case files, with briefs, exhibits, transcripts of hearings, and indexes, 1933-35. Correspondence and related records concerning such matters as NLB and regional board cases and complaints, 1933-35. Original signed decisions of the NLB, 1933-34. Records of the NLB Chairman, technical advisor, general counsel, and executive director and executive officer, 1933-34. Monthly statistical summaries of regional board cases, January- July 1934.

Finding Aids: NLB, Decisions (1934).

Subject Access Terms: Leiserson, William; Wagner, Sen. Robert.

Top of Page

25.3 RECORDS OF THE FIRST NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
1933-36

History: 1st NLRB established as an independent agency by EO 6763, June 29, 1934, pursuant to a joint resolution (48 Stat. 1183), June 19, 1934. Continued functions of predecessor NLB, including enforcing collective-bargaining requirements, settling labor disputes, and conducting representation elections. Operated through regional boards. Functionally abolished by the Supreme Court decision invalidating the National Industrial Recovery Act, May 27, 1935.

Textual Records: Case files, with briefs, transcripts of hearings, exhibits, and indexes, 1933-35. Records relating to administrative procedures and board decisions, mediators and examiners, unfair labor practice complaints, headquarters and regional board cases, and regional board operations, 1933-36. Records of the Chairman of the 1st NLRB relating to organization and personnel of regional boards; of board members concerning the organization and functions of regional boards and industrial relations boards created under National Recovery Administration codes; and of the director of research and staff members of the Research Department concerning election studies conducted by boards during labor disputes, 1934-35.

Subject Access Terms: Biddle, Francis; Frankfurter, Estelle; Garrison, Lloyd K.; Millis, Harry A.

Top of Page

25.4 REGIONAL RECORDS OF THE NLB AND THE 1ST NLRB
1933-38

History: NLB operated through regional labor boards, which handled cases in the field. The 1st NLRB absorbed in large measure the regional office structure of its predecessor, consolidating certain offices and establishing new ones. The following table expresses the relationship between the two sets of field offices:

NLB regional labor boardsDistrict officesLocation
BostonDistrict 1(Boston)
New YorkDistrict 2(New York)
BuffaloDistrict 3(Buffalo)
PhiladelphiaDistrict 4(Philadelphia)
Pittsburgh   Pittsburgh branch
 District 5(Baltimore)
AtlantaDistrict 6(Atlanta)
New OrleansDistrict 7(New Orleans)
ClevelandDistrict 8(Cleveland)
subboard at Toledo Toledo branch
Detroit Detroit branch
 District 9(Cincinnati)
ChicagoDistrict 10(Chicago)
Indianapolis Indianapolis branch
Milwaukee branch
MinneapolisDistrict 11(Minneapolis)
St. LouisDistrict 12(St. Louis)
Kansas City Kansas City branch
 District 13(Fort Worth)
 District 14(Denver)
Los AngelesDistrict 15(Los Angeles)
San FranciscoDistrict 16(San Francisco)
SeattleDistrict 17(Seattle)
Newarkabolished, split between Districts 2 and 4
San Antonioabolished, split between Districts 7 and 13

Records, as late as 1938, of regional boards established by the 2d NLRB are found among records of some regional boards of the NLB and the 1st NLRB.

Textual Records: Case files, with docket books and indexes, 1933- 38. General subject files, 1933-38, with correspondence indexes. Minutes of meetings, 1935-38. Records of NLB regional board in Boston, and NLRB District 1, 1933-37, including correspondence, minutes of meetings, news clippings, and press releases (in Boston). Records of NLB regional boards in Buffalo, New York, and Newark, and NLRB District 2, 1934-37, including correspondence, issuances, memorandums, reports, and statistical data (in New York). Records of NLB regional boards in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, and NLRB Districts 4 and 5, 1933-37, including correspondence, minutes of meetings, press releases, and reports (in Philadelphia). Records of NLB regional board in Atlanta and NLRB District 6, 1933-37, including correspondence, reports, newspaper clippings, and transcripts of board hearings (in Atlanta). Records of NLB regional boards in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Toledo, and NLRB Districts 8, 9, 10, and 11, 1933-38, including administrative and case files, bulletins, correspondence, memorandums, opinions, telegrams, and weekly reports (in Chicago). Records of NLB regional boards in Kansas City and St. Louis and NLRB Districts 12 and 17, 1933-40, including subject correspondence files and case files (in Kansas City). Records of NLB regional boards in Fort Worth, New Orleans, and San Antonio and NLRB Districts 7 and 14, 1933-35, including case files and transcripts (in Fort Worth). Records of NLB regional board in Denver and NLRB District 14, 1935-37, including bulletins, correspondence, memorandums, press clippings, and reports (in Denver). Records of the NLB regional board in Los Angeles and NLRB Districts 15 and 21, 1934-35, including case files, correspondence, issuances, memorandums, reports, and statistical data (in Los Angeles). Records of NLB regional board in San Francisco and NLRB Districts 16 and 20, 1933-37, including correspondence, decisions, issuances, memorandums, and reports (in San Francisco). Records of NLB regional board in Seattle and NLRB Districts 17 and 19 (Portland, OR), 1933-35, including correspondence, docket sheets, general correspondence, minutes, and weekly reports (in Seattle).

Top of Page

25.5 RECORDS OF THE SECOND NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD
1934-79

Top of Page

25.5.1 General records

Textual Records: Board minutes, 1934-71. Board agendas, 1949-69. Program correspondence files, 1934-79. Congressional and White House correspondence of former chairmen, 1954-74, and former general counsels, 1947-69. Speeches of former NLRB chairmen, board members, and general counsels, 1934-74. Committee management files of former chairmen, 1934-73, and former Solicitors, 1961-72. Records relating to NLRB involvement in the Industrial Security Program, 1947-59. Briefs of NLRB decisions, 1935-61 (550 ft.), with index. Microfilm copy of briefs of NLRB decisions, 1935-61 (969 rolls), and microfilm copy of index (1 roll). Records relating to the commemoration of the 25 millionth employee to vote in a NLRB representation election, 1966-67.

Top of Page

25.5.2 Records of the Legal Division

Textual Records: Correspondence, case reports, and transcripts of meetings of the legal staff in the Office of General Counsel, 1935-44. Litigation Section records, comprising the senior litigation attorney's files and records relating to NLRB cases in federal court litigations, 1935-42. Review Section files, 1935- 39. Records of the Regional Advice Branch, Division of Advice, 1960-70, including advisory opinions.

Top of Page

25.5.3 Records of the Administrative Division

Textual Records: Correspondence, memorandums, and reports relating to budget and finance, 1933-68. Records relating to procedures of the Files and Mails Section (later the Files and Dockets Section), 1938-41. Administrative bulletins, 1960-79. NLRB election reports, 1961-87.

Top of Page

25.5.4 Records of other administrative units

Textual Records: Records of the Office of the Secretary, including reports and correspondence about regional offices, cases, and personnel, 1935-40. Press releases of the Division of Information, 1935-42, 1947-70. Records of Board Member Edwin S. Smith, who served on a special committee to investigate the firing of a Federal Power Commission employee for union activity, 1936.

Top of Page

25.5.5 Case files

Textual Records: Headquarters and regional case records, 1935-59 (6,199 ft.), including cases brought under the Wagner Act, 1935- 48, and the Taft-Hartley Act, 1947-64; strike-vote cases brought under the War Labor Disputes Act, 1943-45; union authorization cases that were closed after formal action or appealed to the Board, 1947-51; and union-shop deauthorization cases, 1947-59.

Motion Pictures (15 reels): Ford Automobiles, 1938, submitted by the Ford Motor Company as Exhibit 4 to NLRB Case C-1054 (Regional Case XIII-C-386), Ford Motor Company and United Auto Workers, showing the manufacture of 1938 model automobiles in Ford's Terrence Avenue Plant, Chicago, IL. (1 reel). Polling location scenes at a New York Shipping Association election, December 22-23, 1953, Exhibit 2 of NLRB Taft-Hartley Case 2-rm-556 (5 reels). Strike activities at Pratt and Whitney, United Aircraft Division, exhibit in NLRB Case 1-CA3355, and Giddings and Lewis, Inc., exhibit in NLRB Case 30-CA-3950, April 21, 1966 through May 11, 1968 (9 reels).

Finding Aids: NLRB, Decisions and Orders (issued annually since 1936).

Top of Page

25.6 RECORDS RELATING TO THE SMITH COMMITTEE INVESTIGATION OF THE NLRB
1934-41

History: The Smith Committee, formally the House of Representatives Special Committee to Investigate the National Labor Relations Board, was established by House resolution 258, June 20, 1939, to investigate the administration of the Wagner Act by the NLRB.

Top of Page

25.6.1 Records of the General Counsel

Textual Records: Correspondence, general files, and reports on the investigation, 1939-41. Questionnaires containing information about union activities and membership of NLRB personnel and transcripts of Smith Committee hearings on exhibits received into evidence, 1940. Minutes of NLRB executive meetings, 1936-39. Testimony concerning amendments to the Wagner Act presented before hearings of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, 1939. News clippings about the Wagner Act and the NLRB, 1937-39. Lists of and documents from NLRB files taken by the Smith Committee, correspondence with the Attorney General's Committee on Administrative Procedures, and the latter committee's monograph on the NLRB, 1939-40.

Top of Page

25.6.2 Records of the Assistant General Counsel

Textual Records: Regional directors' reports about the effects of NLRB decisions on labor relations, excerpts from speeches and articles prepared as exhibits, and lists of and receipts for NLRB case files and other records that were sent to the Smith Committee, 1939-40. Exhibits prepared for the NLRB Chairman's testimony before the Smith Committee, 1940. Miscellaneous transcripts of Smith Committee proceedings, news clippings, and information regarding cases in litigation, 1934-40.

Top of Page

25.6.3 Other records

Textual Records: Records of attorneys assisting the general counsel, 1938-40. Reports and other records about NLRB cases prepared by the chief economist of the Technical Service Division and by the Case Statistics Section, 1939-40.

Top of Page

25.7 MOTION PICTURES (GENERAL)

SEE UNDER 25.5.5.


Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.

Ordering information

This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.


Top of Page

Guide to Federal Records >

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration
1-86-NARA-NARA or 1-866-272-6272