Descriptive Summary
Creator(s)
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Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not be available on Pearl or in their entirety.
Biographical Note / Administrative History
In April 1910, a plan to start "a center of aggressive religious work among the working-men of New York City, under the name of Labor Temple" was read in the meeting of the Home Missions Committee of the Presbytery of New York. The Reverend Charles Stelzle of the Board of Home Missions had drawn up the plan, hoping to establish a common ground where working men and churchmen could meet as equals, to show working men the interest the church felt in their welfare, and to foster mutual understanding and cooperation between labor and the Church. Stelzle's idea was to use an empty church at the corner of 14th Street and Second Avenue, to gather there all workers and churchmen who wished to meet, and to hold open fora, lecture series and classes dealing with social issues. Though care would be taken to express the Christian viewpoint, Stelzle wanted Labor Temple to be a place in which all ideas could be heard. The Presbytery of New York approved the plan, and Stelzle was appointed the director of Labor Temple.
At first there was no formal church organization. In 1915, after petitioning by the men and women who came to the Temple, the American International Church (Presbyterian) was organized. Will Durant directed the Labor Temple School, which was formed early in the Temple's history and continued through the 1930s.
In 1943, the Board of National Missions' Unit of City and Industrial Work took over the responsibility for running Labor Temple. The Rev. Lawrence Hosie was appointed director. The Temple continued in its role as a community center, a meeting place for striking worker's unions, a club for children and adults, and a source of relief for the indigent.
Collection Overview
The bulk of Record Group 14 dates from 1938-1940, comprising minutes, correspondence, reports and financial records. There is a section of material from the late 1950s and a few items from the Temple's beginnings. The collection is arranged chronologically.
Alternative Formats
To browse this collection's digitized content visit Pearl.
Materials marked "Digital" in the Collection Inventory may not have been digitized in their entirety.
Administrative Information
Record Group 301.7 contains some early correspondence, reports and historical material on Labor Temple in its Series 2, records of the Department of City, Immigrant and Industrial Work.
A collection of Labor Temple records dating from 1900-1913 is available on microfilm.
Catalog Headings
Collection Inventory
| Box | Folder | Description | Alternative Formats |
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1 | 1 | Finding Aid to Record Group 14 | |
| 2 | "Correspondence Relative to the Conduct of the Labor Temple" (A pamphlet) | |
| 3 | A Study and Recommendation, including a survey of Labor Temple, 1940 | |
| 4 | Policy--General Outline of the Work and Organization of the Labor Temple | Digital |
| 5 | Articles and Newspaper Clippings | |
| 6 | Historical Background--Proposals, Minutes & Financial Reports, 1908-19 | |
| 7 | Correspondence, 1920-30 | |
| 8 | Correspondence and Financial Reports, 1931-35 | |
| 9 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, 1936-37 | |
| 10 | Correspondence, September, 1937 | |
| 11 | Correspondence and Minutes, October, 1937 | |
| 12 | Correspondence, November, 1937 | |
| 13 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, December 1937 | |
| 14 | Correspondence and Financial Reports, January 1938 | |
| 15 | Correspondence and Financial Reports, February 1938 | |
| 16 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, March 1938 | |
| 17 | Correspondence, April, 1938 | |
| 18 | Correspondence, Financial Reports, Minutes, May-June 1938 | |
| 19 | Correspondence, July-August 1938 | |
| 20 | Correspondence, September 1938 | |
| 21 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, October 1938 | |
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2 | 1 | Correspondence and Minutes, November 1938 | |
| 2 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, December 1938 | |
| 3 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, January 1939 | |
| 4 | Correspondence and Financial Reports, February 1939 | |
| 5 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, March 1939 | |
| 6 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, April 1939 | |
| 7 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, May-June 1939 | |
| 8 | Correspondence, July-August 1939 | |
| 9 | Correspondence, September 1939 | |
| 10 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, October 1939 | |
| 11 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, November 1939 | |
| 12 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, December 1939 | |
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3 | 1 | Correspondence and Minutes, January 1940 | |
| 2 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, February 1940 | |
| 3 | Correspondence and Minutes, March 1940 | |
| 4 | Correspondence and Minutes, April 1940 | |
| 5 | Correspondence, May 1940 | |
| 6 | Correspondence and Financial Reports, June-Dec 1940 | |
| 7 | Correspondence and Financial Reports, 1941 | |
| 8 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, Jan- April 1942 | |
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3 | 9 | Correspondence and Financial Reports, May-Dec 1942 | |
| 10 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, 1943-49 | |
| 11 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, 1950-56 | |
| 12-13 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes, 1957 | |
| 14 | Correspondence, Financial Reports and Minutes; English Classes, 1958-66 | |
| 15 | Miscellaneous; Undated correspondence | |
| 16 | Confidential Report--Broome St. Tabernacle, 2nd Spanish Evangelical Church and Labor Temple, 1957 | |
| 17 | East End Temple | |
| 18 | Executive Committee Meetings, 1952-55 |