Fonds consists of: case files containing correspondence and related material on cases handled by J.L. Cohen, and pertaining to labour-management issues, 1927-1949; miscellaneous documents on a variety of subjects including collective bargaining and publicly-funded medical care, n.d., 1923-1951; scrapbooks covering labour issues including the Ontario textile inquiry of 1937 Sarnia sitdown strike, and Cohen's participation on the National War Labour Board, ca. 1929-1945; Canadian Seamen's Union bulletins and newspapers, 1936-1939; and photographs.
Fonds also consists of photographs which document an unidentified Great Lakes ore carrier ca. 1945; picket signs at National Steel Car Strike, Hamilton, Ont., 1941; union organizers Viljo Rosval and John Voutilainen, ca. 1927-1928; NFB photo of National War Labour Board members, Feb. 1943; and portraits of J.L Cohen, labour and civil rights lawyer.
Cohen, Jacob Lawrence, 1898-1950 : Jacob L. Cohen was born in Manchester England and immigrated to Canada in 1908. He was a prominent labour and civil rights lawyer during the 1930's and 1940's serving as legal counsel for many of the new industrial unions, including the All Canadian Congress of Labour and the Workers Unity League. He defended many left-wing leaders and organizations during the Depression, and those interned during World II. Cohen campaigned continuously for progressive legislation, and in 1943 left the National War Labour Board, after serving only six months, in protest against the Federal Government's policy on wages and collective bargaining. In 1946 he was disbarred on an assault conviction but was re-admitted to the Bar in 1950. He died suddenly four months later.
