Heber Blankenhorn was born in Orville, Ohio on March 26, 1884. Blankenhorn received an A.B. from the College of Wooster in 1905 and A.M. from Columbia University in 1910. He worked as a reporter and assistant city editor for the New York Evening Sun from 1900-1914. In 1919 he became the co-director for the Bureau of Industrial Research. Blankenhorn then went on to become a foreign correspondent with the international staff of Labor. He also worked as an assistant to Senator Robert F. Wagner and as industrial economist to chairman and the 1st and 2nd National Labor Boards. In his later career Blankenhorn directed the United Auto Workers (UAW) investigation into the attempted murders of Victor and Walter Reuther and he returned to the staff of Labor. Also during this time he married Ann Washington Crafton in 1936 and authored two books, Adventures in Propaganda (Boston, 1919) and The Strike for Union (New York, 1923). Blankenhorn died January 1, 1956 in Alexandria, Virginia.
This collection includes correspondence, memoranda, interviews, testimony, background data produced by the Commission of Inquiry of the Interchurch World Movement of North American Steel Strike of 1919, and copies of sub-committee reports used as a basis for its Report on the Steel Strike (New York: Harcourt, 1920) and Public Opinion and the Steel Strike (New York: Harcourt 1921). Blankenhorn's writings are of particular importance because of their addition to our understanding of the Steel Strike of 1919-1920 and the Somerset Coal Strike of 1922-1923 and their significance to the Western Pennsylvania region. The bulk of the material covers the period 1919-1922.
No restrictions.
The collection was a gift of Mrs. Heber Blankenhorn (Ann Blankenhorn) September 9, 1966.
Heber Blankenhorn Papers, 1919-1937, AIS.1966.15, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh
Heber Blankenhorn Papers, 1919-1937, AIS.1966.15, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
This collection was processed by Archives Service Center Staff in 1971.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
This series contains the typed carbon copies of interviews and testimony secured by the Commission of Inquiry of the Interchurch World Movement. The interviews served the basis for the Report on the Steel Strike of 1919 (New York, 1920) and Public Opinion and the Steel Strike, Supplementary Reports of the Investigators (New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1921). Examination of the carbon copies with the published documents shows editorial deletions and additions.
This series contains a chronological outline of the strike, correspondence relating to coal contracts, miners resolution on the strike, memorandum of a miners delegation to New York, an unpublished manuscript relating to the strike, published articles, and newspaper clippings. Subjects include Consolidation Coal Company, Berwind-White Coal Company, James Mark, Vice-President of District #2 of the United Mine Workers, and E. J. Berwind.
This series contains the manuscripts of articles that were published by Heber Blankenhorn relating to his work in the labor industry.
This series contains the published writings of Heber Blankenhorn based on the Somerset Coal Strike of 1922-1923.
This series contains a reprinted publication by Robert W. Bruere.