University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archives Department.

Friedrick, Jacob F., 1892-1978.

Papers, 1931-1968.

Milwaukee Manuscript Collection CT and Milwaukee Tape 1

1.6 cubic ft. (4 archives boxes) + 3 reel-to-reel tapes

ABSTRACT: Correspondence, legal documents, news clippings, photographs, and speeches (largely dating 1940-1968) concerning Friedrick's career as a socialist labor and civic leader. Of special interest are materials on the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin Advisory Committee on Workmen's Compensation (1953-1961).

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: There are no access restrictions on the materials, and the collection is open to all members of the public in accordance with state law. However, the researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).

SCOPE AND CONTENT: The Jacob F. Friedrick Papers comprise correspondence, speeches, clippings, minutes and other meeting and conference materials, resolutions, photographs, tape recordings, legal documents, and other items. Dating primarily between 1940 and 1968, the Papers are organized in seven series: Correspondence, General Public Statements, Labor Affairs, Civic Affairs, Certificates and Biographical Clippings, Photographs, and Tape Recordings. There is little personal information about Friedrick in these Papers; their subject matter is almost entirely concerned with his public career as a labor and civic leader.

The first series, Correspondence, is divided into General Correspondence, 1949-1968, and Congratulatory Correspondence classified by the occasions that prompted it. Several letters in the General Correspondence are of special interest: a December 27, 1956, letter from Friedrick to George Meany which pertains to a request to preserve the jurisdiction of the building trades crafts in Milwaukee; sharp exchanges in 1956 between Friedrick and Elliot N. Walstead, a candidate for the U. S. Senate, concerning the AFL's support of Henry Maier in the primary; and a November 12, 1953, letter from a Marquette University professor that prompted Friedrick to write a critique of a student's paper which illustrates his knowledge of economics. Represented in the Congratulatory Correspondence are several important individuals including C. A. Elvehjem, William Green, Fred H. Harrington, Hubert H. Humphrey, Warren P. Knowles, Henry Maier, George Meany, Gaylord Nelson, Selig Perlman, William Proxmire, Henry Reuse, W. Willard Wirtz, Edwin E. Witte, and Clement J. Zablocki. Additional correspondence may be found in the labor and civic affairs files when it pertains to the specific subjects included there.

The second series, General Public Statements, 1939-1968, are an important biographical source because they exhibit Friedrick's philosophy on a wide range of subjects. The newspaper articles, eulogies, commencement and Labor Day speeches, radio addresses and interviews, statements, and resolutions relate to many topics: the reasons for labor organization, the value of education, improving the community, human rights, standards of living, labor legislation, the closed shop, on-the-job training, Jane Addams, Selig Perlman, and John R. Commons. A few public statements also have been filed in the labor and civic affairs files when pertaining to the specific subjects there.

The next two series, Labor Affairs and Civic Affairs, are very similar, both containing a variety of materials concerning organizations and events with which Friedrick was involved. Of special interest are the materials on the Advisory Commission on Workmen's Compensation in the Labor Affairs files. The bills, minutes of meetings, and speeches there primarily concern hearing loss and reflect Friedrick's interest in the field. In Civic Affairs, the papers concerning the Greater Milwaukee Committee, We-Milwaukee, and the Governor's conferences of 1960 and 1965 especially illustrate Friedrick's thinking on many urban and social problems including traffic, pollution, unemployment, ghetto living, and inadequate schools.

The other three series--Certificates and Biographical Clippings, Photographs, and Tape Recordings--are self-explanatory. Included in the Photographs are images of Friedrick, George Meany, Walter Reuther, and William Green at various national and regional labor conventions; photos pertaining to the 1957 and 1958 trips to the Berlin Trade Fairs; and one picture, autographed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, showing him and Friedrick shaking hands, probably at the White House Conference on Education. The Tape Recordings are of a 1955 testimonial dinner for Friedrick and a 1966 radio interview with him.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: The life of Jacob Frank Friedrick suggests the typical Horatio Alger story: the poor immigrant boy with limited education grows up to become an important labor, civic and educational leader in his community and state. Jacob was born to Frank and Barbara (Wolf) Friedrick in Perjanios, Hungary (now Periam, Rumania), on January 31, 1892. His family immigrated to the United States and in 1904 he joined them in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, he finished only the eighth grade and then spent a year and a half learning the machinist's trade at what became the Boys' Technical High School. Though this was the end of his formal schooling, he continued to read widely throughout his life, concentrating especially on economics. This interest was bolstered by later friendships with John R. Commons, Selig Perlman, and Edwin E. Witte, professors of economics at the University of Wisconsin.

After completing his machinist's apprenticeship in 1909, Friedrick worked in Omaha, Nebraska, and Indianapolis, Indiana, before returning to Milwaukee where he joined his first labor union, Lodge 66 of the International Association of Machinists (AFL). Almost immediately he became an active unionist. He was elected president of his local in 1917 and 1918 and most sources credit him with bringing about the first reduced work week in the Milwaukee metal trades--from 55 to 44 hours. His activities also brought him troubles. The day following the end of World War I, he was fired for his participation in a one-day walkout in a successful effort to make an employer abide by the overtime rules of the War Labor Conference Board. The next year, Friedrick was again fired because his name was published in a list of union delegates to a Chicago protest meeting in behalf of Tom Mooney, a militant unionist who was jailed because of his alleged part in a 1916 San Francisco bombing. Friedrick persisted in his union activities however, becoming business representative of Machinists District Lodge 10, Milwaukee, a position he held until 1929.

At the same time, Friedrick became prominent in other activities related to unions and labor welfare. In 1920, he helped to establish the Milwaukee Labor College, a night school for workers which was the forerunner of the University of Wisconsin School for Workers at Madison, established in 1925. He also worked with John R. Commons in preparing an unemployment compensation bill which was introduced in the 1921 Wisconsin legislature. Not passed until 1931, this was still the first law of its kind in the nation. Friedrick was appointed to the first Industrial Commission Advisory Committee on Unemployment Compensation, a post he held until the mid-1960s.

Having joined the Socialist Party in 1918, Friedrick quit his job with Machinists District Lodge 10 in 1929 and joined the Milwaukee Ledger, the Socialist Party newspaper in Milwaukee. He was employed there as labor and city hall reporter until 1935 when he left both the newspaper and the Party. He joined the Farmer-Labor-Progressive Federation, and returned to the labor movement as general organizer for the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council. Friedrick's later positions in the labor movement included AFL Regional Director, with headquarters in Milwaukee, 1945-1952; secretary-treasurer of the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council, 1952-1959; and president of the Milwaukee County Labor Council (AFL-CIO), 1959- . His other labor activities included appointments as a U. S. representative to the Berlin Trade Fairs in both 1957 and 1958, and as labor arbitrator in a 1960-1961 seniority dispute between the Wisconsin Electric Power Company and the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 317.

Besides these full-time labor activities, Friedrick had become very active in local and statewide civic affairs. In the early 1950s, he was a member of the following: the policy committee of Milwaukee County's five major taxing units, Governor Kohler's Education Advisory Committee to handle state participation in the GI Bill for Korean War veterans, the board of directors of the Community Welfare Council and the United Hospital Fund Drive, and the Milwaukee Common Council's special committee to study health insurance plans for city employees. His activities continued to mount in the early 1960s. In 1959-1960, he was a member of the Continuing Revenue Survey Commission. In 1960, he took part in Governor Gaylord Nelson's Conference on Resource and Industrial Development. That same year, he was appointed by Nelson to a nine-year term on the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents--the first labor leader so honored; and he served as president of the Board from 1962 to 1964.

In 1961, he became a member of the Wisconsin Coordinating Commission on Higher Education and in 1965, participated in the White House Conference on Education as well as in Governor Warren Knowles' Conference on Economic Development. Also in the early 1960s, he was a prominent member of four Milwaukee civic betterment groups: one supporting area vocational schools; the Greater Milwaukee Committee, a group dedicated to civic betterment and reform; We-Milwaukee, a group of white business and labor leaders and Negro leaders who strove to develop equal employment standards through out the city; and the board of directors of United Community Services of Greater Milwaukee.

Friedrick married the former Agnes Piechowiak on June 21, 1914. They had three children, Maxine (Mrs. Philip LaPorte), Frederick, and Frank.

(The above biography was primarily written by Douglas Clanin, a U.W. Library School student in the summer of 1969. He cited four major sources of information: Who's Who in America, Vol. 33 (1964-1965), p. 695; John D. Pomfert, "'Jake' Friedrick of the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council" in Jack Barbash (ed.), Unions and Union Leadership: Their Human Meaning (New York, 1959), pp. 63-66; Robert L. Dishon, "Friedrick's Career: Labor Lamplighter," Milwaukee Sentinel, May 14, 1965; and Robert L. Lewin, "J. F. Friedrick: A Dropout of 1908 Leads UW Regents," Chicago Daily News, December 7, 1963.)

COLLECTION CITATION: This collection should be cited as:

Friedrick, Jacob F., 1892-1978. Papers, 1931-1968. Milwaukee Manuscript Collection CT. Wisconsin Historical Society. Milwaukee Area Research Center. UWM Libraries. University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.

RELATED COLLECTIONS:

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. District 10. Records, 1903-1943. (Milwaukee Micro Collection 48)

Randall, Clifford A. Papers, 1951-1966. ( Milwaukee Manuscript Collection 159)

United Community Services of Greater Milwaukee. Records, 1903-1969. (Milwaukee Manuscript Collection BG)

Vertical File.

ACQUISITION: Presented by Jacob F. Friedrick of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 3, 1965, and April 24, 1969 (accession numbers M65-411, and M69-128).

PROCESSING: Processed by KB-FGH's 1969 class on November 10, 1970.

MARC RECORD SEARCH TERMS: The following terms were used in the online bibliographic MARC record to this collection:

Labor leaders--Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Milwaukee (Wis.)--History--Sources.
Socialists--Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Trade-unions--Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Workers' compensation--Wisconsin--Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION CT MILWAUKEE TAPE 1	BOX	FOLDER
Certificates and Biographical Clippings, 1936-1968	3	11
Civic Affairs, Farm Leadership Training Project, 1966	3	1
Civic Affairs, Friedrick vs. Story, 1965-1968	3	2
Civic Affairs, Governor's Conference on Economic Development, 1965	3	3
Civic Affairs, Governor's Conference on Resource and Industrial Development, 1960	3	4
Civic Affairs, Greater Milwaukee Committee for Community Development, 1962-1968	3	5
Civic Affairs, Guidance of Students toward Technical Vocations, 1961-1962	3	6
Civic Affairs, Milwaukee Medical Center, 1937-1938	3	7
Civic Affairs, Milwaukee Vocational School, 1966-1968	3	8
Civic Affairs, Miscellaneous Conference Materials, 1955, 1960	3	9
Civic Affairs, We-Milwaukee, 1963-1968	3	10
Correspondence, Board of Regents, 1960, 1962	1	4
Correspondence, General Correspondence, 1949-1960	1	1
Correspondence, General Correspondence, 1961-1968	1	2
Correspondence, Honorary Doctor of Laws, 1955	1	3
Correspondence, Testimonial Dinners, 1955, 1960, 1968	1	5
General Public Statements, 1939-1959	2	1
General Public Statements, 1960-1968, undated	2	2
Labor Affairs, Advisory Committee on Workmen's Compensation, 1953-1961	2	3
Labor Affairs, Arbitration Documents, Wisconsin Electric Power vs. Operating Engineers Local 317, 1959-1961	2	4
Labor Affairs, Berlin Trade Fairs, 1957-1958	2	5
Labor Affairs, Cigar Makers No. 25, 1960	2	6
Labor Affairs, Kohler Strike, 1955-1956	2	7
Labor Affairs, Miscellaneous Minutes and Resolutions, 1954-1966, undated	2	12
Labor Affairs, Social Security Rally, 1967	2	8
Labor Affairs, Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Convention, 1960-1966	2	9
Labor Affairs, Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Convention, Merger Banquet, 1958	2	10
Labor Affairs, Wisconsin State Federation of Labor Conventions, 1931, 1932, 1942	2	11
Photographs, 1955-1958, undated	4	1
Tape Recordings, Jacob Friedrick Testimonial Dinner, 1955 [Milwaukee Tape 1, reel 1]
Tape Recordings, Jacob Friedrick Testimonial Dinner, Edited Version, 1955 [Milwaukee Tape 1, reel 2]
Tape Recordings, Radio Interview with Friedrick on "Sound of Ideas," 1966 [Milwaukee Tape 1, reel 3]