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Personnel Management

Archives Organization File, #5583.

The Archives Organization File includes a large sample of the Fortune 500 corporations, in the form of company histories, employee news­letters, employee benefit plans, personnel practice manuals, performance appraisal forms, affirmative action policies, training brochures, job descriptions, and career development programs as well as national trade association documents and recruitment material. Materials are organized by company name in alphabetical order, but a subject/name index exists for a good portion of the collection.

E. Wight Bakke papers, 1932-1971. #5522 and #5960, 55 linear ft.

E. Wight Bakke was born in Onawa, Iowa, to Harriet Frances (Wight) and Oscar Christian Bakke, a shoe merchant in Onawa. Bakke attended Northwestern University where he received a BA in Philosophy in 1926. He continued in the Yale Divinity School from 1926 to 1929 and during that time was also a pastor of the Park Methodist Episcopal Church. His graduate study in social sciences was also conducted at Yale University, and from 1931-1932 he was the Sterling Fellow at Yale, receiving his Ph.D. in 1932. In 1964 he received an honorary LL. D. from Northwestern University.

Bakke taught sociology at Yale from 1932-1934, and was an assistant professor of economics from 1934-1938. He served the Institute of Human Relations as Director of Unemployment Studies from 1934-1939, and was promoted to Professor of Economics in 1938 and appointed the Sterling Professor of Economics in 1940. Bakke was the Director of Graduate Studies in Economics at Yale from 1940-1950. From 1944 until the late 1950’s he directed Yale’s Labor and Management Center. The Center was devised with a nine-member policy committee made up of three representatives of Yale, three from labor, and three from management to develop a balanced approach and avoid an “ivory tower” view of labor relations.

Bakke was often called upon to advise governmental commissions and scholarly organizations on labor and management issues. He was Fulbright professor in Denmark in 1953, the principal consulting social economist for the Social Security Board from 1936-1939, and a consultant to the Department of Labor, Navy Department. He directed the National Bureau of Economic Research, and was the Chairman of the Appeals Committee of the National War Labor Board. He was a member of several Presidential Emergency Boards and the National Manpower Policy Task Force.

The papers include correspondence, manuscripts, pamphlets, reviews, sermons, lectures, and minutes and reports written by or about E. Wight Bakke, primarily during his years as professor at Yale University. Among the topics covered in this collection are: the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, including correspondence on the founding of the school; manuscripts, reviews, and correspondence of or about Bakke’s many publications; the Yale Labor and Management Center; reports on the graduate education of women at Yale; Bakke’s teaching materials; articles by Bakke on industrial relations, management, manpower policy, organizational behavior, and student movements; and minutes and reports from task forces, professional boards, and committees, including the National Manpower Policy Task Force and the New York State Public Employment Relations Board (PERB).

Goff Caples transcripts of speeches, 1950-1968. #5250, .5 linear ft.

William Goff Caples, an attorney, worked as manager of industrial relations at Inland Steel Company (1946-1950), as president and director of Inland Steel Container Company (subsidiary of Inland Steel Company) (1950-1953), returning to Inland Steel Company as vice president in 1953.

Caples also served as president of the Chicago Board of Education, and of the United Charities of Chicago. His professional interests have been in collective bargaining, personnel administration, and industrial sociology.

Consists chiefly of copies of speeches made by Caples (few originals, few reprints) before workingmen’s associations, management conferences, civic and social groups, and educational institutes in his capacity as an Inland Steel Company executive.

The speeches deal with employee benefits plans, employment security, collective bargaining, industrial management, economic education, women workers, training, staffing and minority workers, frustration, pensions, labor and materials security, social problems, race relations, social change, middle management, social security, automation, collectivism, union mergers, recruitment, management development, management policy, education and opportunity, industrial relations and public opinion, female education, labor education, the iron and steel industry, labor-management cooperation, union policy, labor legislation, technological changes, executive ability, prejudice, equal employment opportunity, job choice, management responsibility, education policy, unemployment, industrial economics, personnel management, discrimination in employment, older workers, retirement, on-the-job training, and human, industrial, and public relations. Arranged in chronological order.

Columbia Conserve Company. Employee Council Minutes, 1932-1933. #5232, 1 linear ft.

The Columbia Conserve Company is primarily of interest as a pioneer in experiments in industrial democracy. The Columbia Conserve Company, canners of soups and catsups, was owned and managed since 1902 by members of the Hapgood family. In 1917, William Hapgood (president) introduced a plan of industrial democracy, whereby the firm operated under a system of “substitution of salaries for wages; profit sharing; and a provision for increasing and ultimately complete control of the concern by those directly engaged in production rather than by absentee stockholders”.

Records consist chiefly of the minutes (1932-1933) of the Employee Council of the Columbia Conserve Co. of Indianapolis, Ind. In addition to minutes, this collection includes a brochure describing the Columbia Conserve Company’s products and organization; and a pamphlet by Norman Hapgood entitled “The Columbia Conserve and the Committee of Four” (1922).

John H. Cornehlsen Papers, #5730. 59 linear ft.

Professor of psychology, consultant in human resources president of Cornehlsen & Associates, expert in executive selection and appraisal, career development and counseling, personnel selection and guidance.

The records include psychological testing of middle management in the mid-1950s. Materials consist of correspondence, test forms, individual case files, sample tests, and corporate files.

Dearborn Conference Group Records, 1951-1971. #5569, 1.6 linear ft.

The Dearborn Conference Group is an organization of directors of Industrial Relations Research Departments in several large U.S. corporations. The Dearborn Group includes representatives from major corporations in the automotive, chemical, food processing, paper manufacturing, petroleum, petrochemical, steel, telecommunications and textile industries as well as corporate officers with similar responsibilities representing major utilities, the retail trade and an insurance carrier. Their objectives in meeting as a group are the furtherance of industrial relations research methodology, information exchange about industrial relations experiences, and the promotion of industrial relations research. Compilation of materials regarding the biannual Dearborn Conference Meetings, including agenda, minutes, reports, correspondence, memoranda, notes and summaries.

The Dearborn Conference Group’s records consist of files relating to its biannual meetings, 1951-1971 (4 bound volumes), research files (6 bound volumes) arranged in alphabetical order by corporate name, and correspondence between Conference Group participants on the Group’s activities (4 volumes).

The meeting files consist of agenda, minutes, reports, summaries of accomplishments, and supporting correspondence. Research activities regarding particular aspects of labor-management relations and personnel management, including methods of predicting and measuring leadership abilities, techniques for the management and development of employees, performance appraisal, and the evaluation of future trends in personnel management, especially union activities and trends in benefits, are discussed both at the meeting and in subsequent correspondence.

The corporate research project files contain outlines and reports of then current industrial relations projects with supporting documentation. Included are studies on compensation (wages and hours), benefit plans, internal management planning, employee selection, employee development, employee testing, safety education and programs, labor-management relations, and trends in collective bargaining, among other issues.

Emerson, Harrington Papers, 1873-1931. #5166, 5 linear ft.

A pioneer in industrial engineering and management and organizational theory, Emerson was an active promoter and popularizer of the ideas of scientific management and efficiency to a mass audience. He established a modestly successful consulting business as an “efficiency engineer,” authored books on industrial efficiency. The papers include business correspondence, speeches, writings, the Emerson Engineers Company files, and studies and reports.

Feiss, Richard A. Papers, 1910-1953, #5614, 3 linear ft.

Businessman, scientific management theorist and industrial consultant. Consist primarily of notes and articles on work standardization and personnel policies, and routine business materials used in industrial organizations practicing scientific management principles.

The collection reflects Feiss’ work and theories on worker welfare and personal relationships, as influenced by Frederick W. Taylor’s scientific management principles.

Arranged in four series: Ser. 1. Professional papers, 1918-1942, bulk 1918-1927; Ser. 2. Publications, 1915-1943, bulk 1915-1928; Ser. 3. Joseph & Feiss Company files, 1910-1953, bulk 1910-1925; Ser. 4. R.A. Feiss Company, inc. files, ca. 1928.

Hall, Keppele Files, 1894-1926, #5607, 1 linear ft.

Keppele Hall was an engineer, contractor, management theorist, superintendent of planning for Joseph & Feiss Company, and member of the National Board of Labor Managers. As a management consultant, he oversaw the implementation of management systems according to the principles enunciated by proponents of scientific management.

Professional papers consist primarily of fragmentary examples of work measurement and job analysis materials used in various manufacturing companies. The documents reflect Hall’s effort to apply scientific management principles to practical activities.

Work measurement materials include tags, job instructions, data and miscellaneous notes and diagrams for the Tabor Mfg. Company (1912-1919), the Clinton Wire Cloth Company (1917), Lamson and Sessions Company (1926), and Strouse Brothers Inc. (1920); a contract for the Keppele Hall Contracting Company, Dayton, Ohio (1894-1913); and drafts and copies of the Articles of Federation of the National Industrial Federation of Clothing Manufacturers (1919). The papers also reflect Hall’s association with Frederick Taylor’s colleagues, Richard A. Feiss and Sanford E. Thompson. Arranged by form of document.

Hay, Edward N. Papers, 1913-1957, #5227, 7.5 linear ft.

Edward Northrup Hay was a management consultant, engineer, and personnel director; publisher and editor of the PERSONNEL Journal; and founder and president of Hay and Associates, a management consultant firm. Hay also developed executive aptitude tests which he marketed through the Aptitude Test Service.

Consists of personal and family documents; materials relating to organizations with which Hay was professionally involved; and reference files concerning employee rating and testing.

The reference files include subject files, largely on job evaluation, merit or performance rating; test files, including test documentation and sample tests; and a file of Hay’s writings. Job evaluation files include materials on evaluation in banks, including a guide chart designed by Hay re the profile method of job evaluation (1957); data on the organization of a job description writing project by Hay; and his manual of procedures for the installation of salary and wage management through job evaluation. Companies referred to in these files include F.W. Dodge Corporation, California Texas Oil Company, Vickers Inc., Sacco-Lowell Shops, General Electric Company, General Motors Corporation, Granite Trust Company, Irving Trust Company, Philadelphia Gas Works Company, and Pennsylvania Company for Banking and Trusts. Additionally, statistics and studies on measuring job evaluation reliability, on job comparison, and on executive development.

The materials on performance appraisal include the LOMA merit rating scales (1950); a publication of Alfred Cardall on the compa-ratio (control of salary expense); and numerous other articles and reports.

The file of materials on testing includes an Activity Vector Analysis Study (1953-1954) with psychological evaluation sheets (a study to determine how well the activity vector analysis measures personality characteristics); a supervisory test study (preliminary report on group validation) for the American Gas Association; materials on Briggs-Myers Type Indicator (personality testing); materials on clerical research (1940-1952); manuscript notes from a conference on personnel measurement (1951) by the employee relations department of Standard Oil Company; manuscript by Hay (with drafts and charts) “Critique on Clerical Testing”; manuscript technical section on prediction from selected cutting scores, selecting multiple cutoff scores to predict job performance; estimated vs. actual IQ materials, including data sheets, manuscript notes on validity of judgments in an interview and notes on the relationship between actual and estimated IQ; manuscript on test validity and test reliability in a clerical population (with drafts), test scales, tables for adjusted profiles (men, women), and study reliability.

Test materials on measurement include manuscripts on absolute measurement, on the theory of scales of measurement, and a case study (1952) in testing supervisors; evaluation procedures for the Milwaukee Plan of Aptitude Testing; a manuscript by Hay entitled “Clerical Testing: Comparative Validities”; C-D hand correlation charts, predictions of clerical success in a life insurance company (1951); monthly report (1955) on test sales; correspondence of Hay (1951) with John B. Harker (research assistant, First National Bank of Boston) regarding test norms; materials on statistical methods, and papers on work-sampling, reliability of self-rating, statistical sampling, and learning curves; testing validity materials (1949-1950); a manuscript (1948) on the effect of the use of a “warm-up” test; and a paper on selection of multiple cutting scores from the Wherry Test Selection Method. Tests collected by Hay (1935-1952) include test forms, examiner’s manuals and interpretations of data for a variety of intelligence, personality, skill, and occupation-related tests.

Francis A. O’Donnell Papers, ca. 1950-1986. #5774, 7 linear ft.

A practicing lawyer, government official, management consultant and corporate executive, Francis O’Donnell provided leadership in Industrial Relations and Personnel departments in a number of major firms and government agencies. The papers include speeches and lectures on labor-management relations, collective bargaining, and arbitration delivered at a number of academic institutions and conferences.

Sanford E. Thompson Papers, 1888-1949, # 5615, 8.4 linear ft.

Sanford E. Thompson, engineer and management consultant, applied Frederick W. Taylor’s principles of scientific management to various construction and manufacturing problems, in an effort to develop accurate methods of management planning.

Consist of documentation of his work in developing procedures for job design, work measurement, and operations planning. The papers include routine job measurement forms; charts; notes and reports; correspondence with management theorists, including Frederick W. Taylor and Frank Gilbreth; and publications and reports by Thompson. Papers of Frederick W. Taylor, contained in the Thompson papers, pertain generally to Taylor’s and Thompson’s collaborative efforts in the building trades (1892-1915).

Arranged in five series: Ser. 1. Professional papers, 1888-1949; Ser. 2. Correspondence, 1892-1949; Ser. 3. Publications, 1925-1946, bulk 1925-1940; Ser. 4. Thompson & Lichtner Company files, 1906-1947; Ser. 5. Frederick W. Taylor files, 1892-1915.

Charles Wrege. Research materials on the history of management, 1899-1978, #5618, #6014, and #6054, 4 linear ft.

As the historian of the Academy of Management and a scholar, Dr. Wrege gathered numerous materials on the history of management, including Gilbreth research files; the Hawthorne experiments and the debate surrounding them; the illumination tests at Hawthorne, 1924-1927; correspondence with people at Hawthorne; Hawthorne data on Western Electric, Mica splitting and Bank wiring; Taylor – Thompson letters, William C. Whitney papers and Taylor data: Shoveling Steel Motor Co., Manufacturing Investment Co., Simonds Rolling Machine Co. Patent Suit 1897.