AFT Archive Opens Collection of Shanker Papers.

The article presents information on the official record of Albert Shanker's historic tenure as the president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Boxes of the materials, housed at the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University in Detroit, measure 105 linear feet. Dan Golodner, the AFT archivist at Wayne State, said the collection covers three main topics: education reform, teacher unionism, and international affairs. Shanker, the son of Russian immigrants, grew up in New York City and graduated from Stuyvesant High School. In the 1960s, Shanker helped build New York City's United Federation of Teachers and gain bargaining rights for teachers there. Next year, Golodner said, the library will open its collection of Shanker's personal papers, including a copy of his unfinished dissertation and his collection of Boy Scout materials.