Blogs

It’s hard to explain to people just how extensive (over 2,500 collections) and varied the archival holdings of the Reuther Library are. When someone asks, we first respond with the “Big Ones, ” such as the UAW, the American Federation of Teachers, the Wayne State University Archives. There are important medium-sized collections too, among them Focus Hope, the United Farm Workers and the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW). Then there are the very small collections that are sometimes overlooked, hidden like small pebbles in a jar filled with big stones. These often contain fascinating materials that complement the Reuther’s more prominent collections.

One of these is the A.G. and Marie Mezerik Papers.  read more »

This September 26th, please join us for a screening of “Latino Americans, 500 Years of History,” Documentary Episode 5: Prejudice and Pride (1965-1980). Representatives from Wayne State University's Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies will join attendees in a dialogue on the episode’s themes of work and citizenship. The group will also address the role archives can play in a community’s history and the role of community in determining materials that are preserved. The event, hosted at the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation (1211 Trumbull Avenue, Detroit, Michigan), will explore the connection between the film's use of archival materials and the importance of archives in documenting a movement for future research.  read more »

Trish Kahle, a doctoral student in the history department at the University of Chicago, will present an overview of her current research at a brown-bag lecture at noon on Thursday, September 10, in the Reuther Conference Room of the Walter P. Reuther Library.

Her presentation, entitled, "Jobs, Lives, and Land: Energy, Environmentalism, and Union Democracy in the Appalachian Coalfields," examines the Miners for Democracy, arguably the most successful union democracy movement of the 1960s and 1970s.  read more »

This article was originally written by Kris Kniffen, a student in the Wayne State University School of Library and Information Science, in early 2015.

Jimmy Hoffa was a prominent labor leader in the 1950s and 60s, serving as the General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters between 1958 and 1971. In spite of significant contributions to the union’s cause, however - such as the development of the first national agreement for teamsters’ rates in 1964 - it is not Hoffa’s history in the unions that earned him the widespread name recognition that he still possesses today. Instead, the Hoffa name is infamous for its connections to organized crime, and for Hoffa’s mysterious disappearance on July 30, 1975.  read more »