The Academy of Management Archives
The founding of AOM’s ArchivesThe Academy of Management has maintained its historical archives as part of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives of the Martin P. Catherwood Library at Cornell University Library in Ithaca, New York since 1977. The Kheel Center is the largest archive in the country that documents both labor and management with a physical library housed in the ILR School (originally the School for Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell), the pre-eminent academic institution for that domain. The archives consist of two parts: material related to the development of management, and material related to the Academy of Management itself, with documents dating back to AOM’s founding in 1936. In 1976, AOM Board of Governors appointed an archives committee, comprised of Claude S. George (University of North Carolina), Ralph M. Stogdill (Ohio State University), Charles D. Wrege (Rutgers University), and Arthur G. Bedeian (Chair; Auburn University), to explore establishing a permanent archival home. Following a December 1977 site visit, the Archives Committee recommended that AOM enter into an agreement with the Kheel Center to house AOM historical records. The necessary contractual arrangements to do so were concluded when AOM President Bill Wolf reached an agreement with Cornell’s Library Director and Archivist, Richard Strassberg. In 1978, Art Bedeian followed Julius C. G. Seidel as AOM’s second Historian and Archivist. He was succeeded in 1980 by Chuck Wrege. Regina A. Greenwood (Nova University) was named the Academy’s co-historian/archivist in 2015. The agreement saw AOM assist in building a retrospective, curated collection of management history documents at Cornell, while providing a much-needed repository for AOM records in return. |
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What’s in the Archives?In addition to the items transferred from the first archive location, the collection was built on Chuck Wrege's personal anthology of hundreds of documents. The archives today include original AOM papers, photos, and many materials collected and curated through the years. Some standout material includes the Harrington Emerson Papers, the Sanford Thompson Papers, and a collection of original Frederick W. Taylor Documents. The History of Management Theory Collection at the Kheel Center consists of the compilation of early papers, documents, manuscripts and correspondence from the inception of management theory at the turn of the twentieth century by
many American authors, engineers and theorists. Also included in the Kheel Center’s management collections are files from Fortune 500 companies detailing company histories, employee newsletters, company manuals, and more. Members interested in more contemporary materials from the AOM can also take advantage of the digital archives library—containing hundreds of AOM journals, periodicals, articles, full texts, repositories, manuscripts, books, and collections. |
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Accessing AOM’s ArchivesThe Kheel Center archives are available online and the digital library guide is a great resource. Scholars interested in visiting the archives in person should contact the Kheel Center’s Research Archivist, Steven Calco. Several collections on microfilm can be accessed remotely via Zoom. These collections include copies of Academy of Management publications, Charles D. Wrege Research Materials, Morris L. Cooke "Industrial Management" Monograph, Frank Papers Gilbreth, Hawthorne Studies Records, National Civic Federation Howell-Barkley Bill Correspondence, Donald M. Landay "Union-Management Controls in the Men's Tailored Clothing Industry" Ph.D. Thesis, and James L. McHale Records.
Members can schedule an appointment to view these microfilm materials
here. | Charles D. "Chuck" Wrege |
Contributing to the AOM ArchivesFor members wanting to submit to AOM’s archives, including Divisions and Interest Groups that wish to preserve their five-year reports, historical lists of DIG officers, and photographs from meetings and events, please contact AOM Historian Regina Greenwood. | |
Additional Resources |  |
