Blogs

Paul Clemens, Assistant to the Dean of Wayne State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has just published a book, Punching Out: One Year in a Closing Auto Plant. The book focuses on the Budd Company, which at different times in its 94-year history built steel train cars  read more »

The Walter P. Reuther Library is pleased to announce the appointment of Casey Westerman as the new University Archivist. He will be in charge of the archival records of Wayne State University here at the Reuther. Casey is originally from Kankakee, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for his Bachelors in History and Philosophy of Science and his Masters in Library Science. He also recently achieved  read more »

The North American International Auto Show, previously called the Detroit Auto Show, began in December 1907 when the Detroit Area Dealer Association (DADA) held the event in Detroit’s Riverview Park with 17 exhibitors. The Show grew from a regional event to one of the world’s most important automobile expositions.  read more »

Tired of reductions in pay and jobs, increased workloads, and harassment of United Automobile Workers organizers, on December 30, 1936 automotive workers in the General Motors Fisher Number One Plant in Flint, Michigan sat down on the job. For the next 44 days workers refused to work or leave the Fisher One and Two plants, and later Chevrolet Number 4. Michigan Governor Frank Murphy refused to order the strikers out, so GM attempted to expel them by shutting off the plants’ heat and electricity and by preventing food deliveries.  read more »