ljones's blog

In Memoriam
Philip Parker Mason
April 27, 1927-May 6, 2021

The Walter P. Reuther Library regrets to share the sad news that its founding Director, Dr. Philip Parker Mason, has passed. He was 94. In addition to serving as the Reuther’s founding Director, a position he first occupied in 1958, his contributions to the larger archival profession and as a historian with an extensive publication record, consultancies, and teaching portfolio, reflects a depth and variety that is not often found in the academic community. Many of Mason’s accomplishments are outlined in an oral history where he was the subject. Conducted by Dr. Louis Jones, this forthcoming resource will be available for review at Wayne State University’s Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs.  read more »

The Walter P. Reuther Library seeks the interviewees (or heirs thereof) in our “Black Workers in the Labor Movement Oral History Project” in order to make transcripts available to our researchers online. As a resource that has been widely used in the past, we are confident that online access will spur a greater level of research.  read more »

By Alexandra Penn, Taylor Gibson, and Louis Jones

Wayne State University’s Walter P. Reuther Library, in partnership with the Wayne State University student chapter of the Society of American Archivists, is pleased to present an online version of the Michigan Black History Bibliography (MBHB), which originally existed as a card file. The online version of the card file contains hundreds of bibliographic references to sources illuminating the history of African Americans in Michigan up until the early 1970s.  read more »

The Walter P. Reuther Library wants to hear from our community about your experiences during COVID-19.

We acknowledge that our community has been hit hard by the virus: Black Detroiters face higher mortality rates than the US average, workers represented by our partner unions have lost jobs or confront risks as essential workers.  read more »