THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND AT COLLEGE PARK LIBRARIES.

Several international unions which have national offices in the greater Washington, D.C. area have sought assistance from the University of Maryland at College Park, the state's land grant institution, in preserving their archival records. A combination of developments also contributed significantly to the creation of a labor archives program at College Park, the formal establishment of what is now called the Historical Manuscripts and Archives Department in 1972 and the commencement of the Samuel Gompers Papers Project at the University campus in 1973. The first major archival collection to arrive at College Park was the records of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America (IUMSWA) in 1967. The archives located at College Park provide in-depth documentation on the origins of the union, its contact with civilian and military agencies during World War II, labor and race relations during the war, and the union's efforts to combat the decline of the shipbuilding industry during the late 1940s and 1950s.