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Archives at Cornell

Ileen Devault's Worker Institute of ILR Cornell papers

 Collection
Identifier: /4372

Scope and Contents

Ileen Devault's Worker Institute of ILR Cornell papers document Ileen Devault’s professional activity in various leadership roles at Worker Institute, spanning 2012 to 2021. Administrative, operational, research, and outreach files from the Worker Institute primarily document the Institute's activities during Ileen Devault’s leadership as research director beginning in 2016, as well as her service on the Institute’s executive committee (2012) and her role as co-chair of the Equity at Work initiative. The collection includes program administrative and program activity records, such as monthly calendars, meeting agendas and minutes of various committees and working groups; Ileen Devault's handwritten notes; notes on restricted and general gifts, financial reports, budgets, and financial planning records; internal and external correspondence; executive summaries, policy analysis and reports – drafts and final versions; proposals on projects and supporting documentation; outreach initiatives, including newsletters, brochures, articles and communication plans. The collection also reflects human resources-related activity, including hiring process information, personnel evaluation forms, staff position descriptions, leave and benefits records, related financial information, and grant proposals, reports and budgets. Apart from the administrative and operational files, as well as the outreach material of the Institute’s activities, the collection emphasizes the Institution’s extensive studies and policy reports on workers serving the digital industry who obtain their work on digital platforms, performing their services on an as needed basis, defining this category of workers as “On Demand Platform Workers”. Reports also examine the impact of climate change on work equity, misclassification and labor standards, the gig economy, labor models, and workers’ rights. The collection has three Series.

Dates

  • 2012-2021

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

Conditions Governing Access

Boxes 1 to 3 are restricted to the permission of the office of origin.

Biographical / Historical

Professor Ileen DeVault of Cornell ILR’s Labor Relations, Law, and History Department has taught classes on labor and working-class history since 1986. Professor DeVault earned a PhD in history from Yale University; a master’s degree in history from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor's in women’s studies from the University of California at Berkeley. Her research focuses on interactions among gender, family, workplace, and community in US history, examining the many manifestations of "family" and their impact on different groups of workers between 1880 and 1930, as well as today. She is the author of two books, "Sons and Daughters of Labor" and "United Apart: Gender and the Rise of Craft Unionism”, along with numerous articles. DeVault has served as academic director of ILR’s Worker Institute since 2016 and the Worker Institute’s executive committee since 2012. She also co-chairs the Equity at Work initiative. She has chaired the Union Days planning committee and previously chaired the ILR’s Labor Relations, Law and History Department. She is a core faculty member of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program and a member of the graduate fields of ILR, History, FGSS, and LGBT Studies. She received the Cornell Class of 2017 Faculty Award and ILR’s 2010 MacIntyre Award for Exemplary Teaching, among other honors.

Extent

5 cubic feet.

Abstract

Ileen Devault's Worker Institute of ILR Cornell papers document the administrative, operational, research, and outreach files of Ileen Devault, as Worker Institute Research Director, her service on the Institute’s executive committee, and her role as co-chair of the Equity at Work initiative, from 2012 to 2021.

Arrangement

The arrangement prioritizes the dates supplied by the creator in the folder titles, even when the documents inside a folder span a broader range, preserving the original chronological structure of meetings and activities. When folders do not include creator-assigned dates, the arrangement is chronologically based on the documents' date range.

Title
Ileen Devault's Worker Institute of ILR Cornell papers
Status
Completed
Author
Compiled by Kheel Center Staff
Date
September 2026
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives Repository

Contact:
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