UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

Interview #702
TRIPP, L. REED

TRIPP, L. Reed (1913- )
Professor of Economics; Director, Industrial Relations Research Center
At UW: 1949-1964

Interviewed: 1987	
Interviewer: Amy Fried
Length: 1 hour, 16 minutes

Career background; Industrial Relations Research Center; Degree program; Budgets; Research funds; Industrial Relations Research Institute (IRRI); Decline of trade unions.

Interview Session (July 22, 1987)

00:00:55	L. Reed Tripp taught collective bargaining when he came to UW in 1949 to work with Perlman, Young, and Brandeis in the field of institutional economics.  His interest in this field grew from his work with George W. Taylor at Pennsylvania and his experience working in labor relations during World War II.

00:04:00	Robben Fleming had established an industrial relations program.  LRT goes on to talk about dividing teaching responsibilities.

00:05:47	The Industrial Relations Research Center was a coordinating group of professors from the Law School, School for Workers, as well as other campus departments.  The Center was not involved in conferences of union representatives.  LRT thought of his role as coordinating interdisciplinary research among different departments.

00:09:29	He talks about succeeding Ed Young as director of the IRRC.

00:11:43	The economics and commerce departments were located in Sterling Hall, as was the John R. Commons Labor Library.  The Center was founded in this library.

00:15:40	He talks about the role of the IRRC after he became director in 1954.  The IRRC avoided direct involvement in either labor or management conferences for political reasons.  Rather, the Center worked toward establishing degree programs for students.

00:22:22	LRT continues to talk about founding a degree program in 1956.

00:27:49	He talks about the voluntary nature of the IRRC in its early days.

00:30:16	The sociology department resisted the hire of a faculty member in industrial relations.

00:31:54	The IRRC never thought of establishing an undergraduate program because it focused on professional training.

00:34:26	The objective of the graduate program was a research degree with an applied dimension--that is, the creation of the profession of industrial relations to be used by government, labor, and business.  

00:44:28	The recruitment of faculty for the IRRC relied on persuasion.

00:46:33	L. Reed Tripp discusses the ad hoc role of the Industrial Relations Research Center in hiring faculty and granting tenure.  The lack of formal involvement in these matters, as well as in budgets and educational plans, influenced LRT to accept another job at Lehigh University.

00:50:11	The IRRC drew its funds from several research assistantships provided by the university’s budget.

00:53:33	He talks about his interest in disputes in the steel industry.

00:58:05	The IRRC changed its name in 1965 to the Industrial Relations Research Institute (IRRI) in order to incorporate the Center for Vocational Education.

01:02:37	He mentions a volume on American labor history written by IRRC faculty.

01:03:58	LRT talks about the IRRC’s research funds.

01:06:25	He cites the importance of Robben Fleming and Ed Young in founding the IRRC.

01:09:01	LRT assesses the impact of the decline of trade unionism upon industrial relations programs.  Despite this decline, he thinks there is abiding value in the interdisciplinarity of industrial relations research.

01:13:31	He talks about the Industrial Relations Research Association and its local Wisconsin chapter.

01:14:28	LRT offers some closing comments on his career at UW.

01:16:08	End of side.  End of tape.  End of interview.

END