Featured Collection: Industrial Areas Foundation Records
Saul Alinsky began his community organizing work in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood in the late 1930s. He believed that social justice could be achieved by ordinary people through democratic means and argued that controversy was necessary in affecting social change. In August of 1940, with financial assistance from Marshall Field III, Alinsky founded the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) to serve as an umbrella organization for the community groups he was developing across the United States. After his death in 1972, the IAF developed a training institute to teach potential organizers in larger numbers. The modern IAF, a nonpartisan and not-for-profit organization has refined Alinsky’s vision and has created a complex network of broad-based organizations across the United States.
This collection documents the activities of the Industrial Areas Foundation. The records date from 1952 to 2004 and include correspondence, campaign materials, organizers' field reports, newspaper clippings, organizational publications, annual reports, and training materials. The materials prior to 1968 reflect the IAF under Saul Alinsky, while the materials produced since 1973 reflect the modern IAF under Ed Chambers. The materials generated between 1968 and 1973 reflect the transitional period when the training institute originated and IAF activities became more institutionalized.
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