Emory F. Via papers

Collection

Identifier: L1989-34

Staff Only
Not requestable

Scope and Content of the Papers

Via was a labor educator whose work encompassed time with the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia in the late 1940s to his professorship at the University of Oregon's Labor Education Department in the 1970s. These papers chronicle Via's scholarly pursuit of his master's and doctoral degrees, both in political science, 1956 and 1964, respectively, from the University of Chicago.

Dates

Creation: 1936-1987

Creator

Via, Emory F. (Emory Franklin), 1925-2003 (Person)

Restrictions on Access

Collection is open for research use.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Georgia State University is the owner of the physical collection and makes reproductions available for research, subject to the copyright law of the United States and item condition. Georgia State University may or may not own the rights to materials in the collection. It is the researcher's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and obtain permission from the copyright holder before publication, reproduction, or display of the materials beyond what is reasonable under copyright law. Researchers may quote selections from the collection under the fair use provision of copyright law.

Oversized materials stored off-site. Allow at least 2 working days for retrieval.

Chronology of Emory F. Via

Quoted information from "Application for H.A. Millis Fellowship, University of Chicago"

Chronology of Emory F. Via

January 11, 1925
: b. Lynchburg, Virginia; f. Bernard Starr Via, Sr., b. August 4, 1881, Albermale County, Virginia; m. Gladys Armen Harkins, b. December 18, 1895, Richmond, Virginia
June 1942
: Graduated Covington, Virginia, High School
June 1942 - October 1942
: Shopping Guide, Covington, Virginia, advertising solicitor
October 1942 - December 1942
: "Vacation, odd jobs," Covington, Virginia
January 1943 - June 1943
: Student, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
June 1943 - August 1943
: Private, U. S. Army, Camp Lee and Fort Eustis, Virginia
October 1943 - March 1946
: Student, "Part time jobs at Emory: bus boy, Assistant to Director of Religious Life, checker for athletic department, dormitory proctor"
1946
: B.A., Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
April 1946 - August 1946
: "Salesman, self-employed, Charlottsville, Virginia"
September 1946 - June 1947
: University of Virginia Law School, Charlottsville, Virginia
June 1947 - October 1947
: Paper Converters, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; machine operator
October 1947 - June 1948
: Pendle Hill, Wallingford, Pennsylvania; Fellow in Labor Education
June 1948 - June 1949
: Labor Education Project, School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Instructor
June 1949 - September 1949
: Goodyear Rubber Company, Sacramento, California; warehouseman
September 1949 - June 1950
: Georgia Workers Education Service, Atlanta, Georgia, Field Program Leader; Atlanta Labor Education Association, Atlanta, Georgia, Executive Secretary (volunteer)
June 1950 - September 1950
: Instructor, "Church in the Small Industrial Community", Theology School, Emory University
September 1950 - January 1951
: Atlanta Labor Education Association (ALEA), Executive Secretary; "odd jobs in group leading"
January 1951 - March 1951
: Forrest Park High School, Clayton County, Georgia, Social Science Teacher ("substitute for a full grading period"); Executive Secretary, ALEA
March 30, 1951
: Married Margaret Vaughan Johnson, b. June 20, 1926, Chattanooga, Tennessee
March 1951 - October 1952
: Atlanta Labor Education Association, Atlanta, Georgia, Executive Secretary, "full time and with pay"
July 1951 - August 1951
: Research Assistant, Southern Regional Council, Atlanta, Georgia
June 1952 - August 1952
: Project Director, Interns-in-Industry, American Friends Service Committee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin"
1952 - 1954
: Field Program Director Labor Education Division, Roosevelt University, Chicago, Illinois
August 13, 1954
: Son, b. David Morgan Via
1956
: M.A., Political Science, University of Chicago
1956 - 1958
: Labor Consultant, Southern Regional Council, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia
1958 - 1966
: Associate Professor, Labor Education, School for Workers, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
1964
: Ph.D., Political Science, University of Chicago
1965 - 1967
: Director, Labor Program, Southern Regional Council, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia ("on leave from University of Wisconsin")
1967 - 1968
: Professor, Labor Education, School for Workers, The University of Wisconsin
1968 - 1972
: Director, Resources Development Center, and Director of Labor Program, Southern Regional Council, Inc. (SRC)
1972 - 1974
: Program Officer and Coordinator of Education Task Force, SRC
1974
: Program Officer and Coordinator of SRC's work with the Technical Committee on Human Resources of the Southern Growth Policies Board
1975 - 1976
: Program Officer and Director of Research Team, SRC and other SRC employment
1976 - 1978
: Georgia State University, Economics Department, Labor Studies Program
1978 - 1988
: University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Department
1984 - 1985
: President, University and College Labor Education Association
2003
: Via dies

Extent

10.5 Linear Feet (in 24 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract:

Emory Franklin Via (1925-2003), was a labor educator, human rights activist, and labor consultant for the Southern Regional Council. His papers, 1936-1987, include correspondence, surveys and reports, newsclippings, printed materials, and biographical material on Via. The bulk of the correspondence is with groups related to the labor movement, other officers of the Southern Regional Council, and the Koinonia Farm, a cooperative farm in Southern Georgia. The surveys contain information on black membership in Southern labor unions, and while Via conducted surveys in every Southern state, not all surveys are complete. The reports deal with civil rights, the Koinonia Farm, and the Southern Union Staff Training Seminar.

Arrangement

The papers are arranged into seven series:

Series I: Correspondence and Files, 1936, 1949, 1952-1977
Series II: Southern Regional Council, 1941, 1944, 1957-1978
Series III: Subject Files, 1939, 1945-1978, 1987
Series IV: Surveys of Union Racial Composition, undated
Series V: Reports and Other Printed Material, 1953-1968
Series VI: Labor Education Program, 1978
Series VII: Audiovisual Materials, 1950-1978

Off-Site Storage

Oversized materials stored off-site. Allow at least 2 working days for retrieval.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Emory Via in 1978 (L1978-17) and 1989 (L1989-34), June 14, 1978 (G1978-11).

Separated Materials

During processing, materials were separated to other Southern Labor Archives Collections. For pamphlets, see the Southern Labor Archives Pamphlet Collection finding aid (note that this collection has been weeded over time). For constitutions, consult Special Collections for access.

Separated to Southern Labor Archives Constitutions Collection

International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, 1918

Separated to Southern Labor Archives Pamphlets Collection

Filed under these headings: Adult Education, Aging, AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE), Apprenticeship, Black Workers, Civil Rights, Cold War, Community Relations, Construction Industry, Discrimination, Education, Employment,Equal Employment, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Grievance Procedures, Hispanics, Industrialization, Integration, International Affairs, Job Evaluation, Labor Education, Labor History, International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), Manpower, Mississippi, Unionism, Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott [text by Martin Luther King], Organizing, Picketing, Political Action, Political Education Handbooks, Poverty, Race Relations, Recruitment and Training Programs, School Desegregation, School for Workers - University of Wisconsin, Religion and Labor, Shop Steward Manuals, Southern Radicalism, Southern Regional Council, Tennessee, American Federation of Teachers - Workers Education Local 189, Textile Industry, Union Democracy, Union Directories, Union Handbooks, Union Membership, Union Principles, University and College Labor Education Association, Voter Registration, Voting, Welfare, Work

Processing Information

Donations from Via in 1978 and 1989 (L1978-17 and L1989-34) were originally processed separately. Processed by Brent Bender, Robert Dinwiddie, Peter Roberts, and Anne Tilden at the file level, November 1997. G1978-11 processed by Robert Dinwiddie at the file level, October 18, 1979. All three finding aids were combined into one collection guide.