John G. Ramsay papers

The papers, 1928-1979, of John Gates Ramsay include labor-related and personal files. The Papers are composed of six series of files: Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), 1939-1955; American Federation of Labor-CIO (AFL-CIO), 1955-1967, 1979; Community Relations Departments, CIO, AFL CIO, and United Steelworkers of America (USWA), 1936-1964, 1974; various international unions, 1937-1969, 1977; the National Religion and Labor Council of America (NRLCA), 1942-1971, 1978; and personal papers, 1928-1979. Each series is predominantly correspondence, with related newspaper clippings, programs, leaflets, reports, minutes, or financial documents attached. The Community Relations Departments series also contains a large sub-series identified by subject.

The bulk of the Papers concern Ramsay's community relations work for the CIO during its "Operation Dixie" organizing campaign in the South from 1946 to 1953. Ramsay's unique emphasis was to develop contacts with religious leaders and groups that might be useful in the labor organizing drives. His usual technique was to establish "Religion and Labor Fellowship" groups in localities where labor organizing efforts were being mounted. Lucy Randolph Mason, who was on the CIO staff as a Public Relations Representative in the South, assisted Ramsay in establishing many of these discussion groups. Prominent among Ramsay's correspondents are CIO President Philip Murray and other top CIO officers, notably John Riffe; USWA presidents Philip Murray, David McDonald, and I.W. Abel; Lucy R. Mason; Witherspoon Dodge, Clair Cook, and Willard Uphaus of the National religion and Labor Council of America, and Jesse Beder, Cameron Hall, and others of the National Council of Churches. the Community relations series contains extensive correspondence arranged chronologically and by state (thirty-four states are represented).

The Papers also reflect Ramsay's long and deep involvement with religious groups other than those with which he was related through his work. Most notably he functioned in many committees of the National Council of Churches and in several bodies of the United Presbyterian Church, including the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (CEMR), Presbyterian Men, and the Laymen's Movement. In conjunction with the CEMR, Ramsay in 1965 organized a program known as "Vacation With A Purpose," which recruited senior members of the USWA to use their long sabbaticals to visit industrial plants in Mexico and speak with religious leaders and laymen about the welfare of industrial workers in that country. Also in 1965, Ramsay spent three months in South Korea setting up the structure for grass roots "Committees for Industrial Evangelism." Another strong interest of Ramsay's that is reflected in the Papers is "Moral Re-Armament," an evangelistic movement that grew out of the "Oxford Group" in England in the mid-1930's. Moral Re-armament referred to the belief that an economic recovery in the Western democracies and the achievement of world peace would have to be preceded by a moral and spiritual awakening.

The Papers are completed by extensive series of photographs, periodicals, and pamphlets.