Blogs

“We didn’t come here to swap recipes!” Those words, uttered by Myra Wolfgang during the first Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) convention in 1974 set the tone for an agenda aimed at increasing women’s involvement and influence in labor unions. Coming on the heels of landmark legislation such as the Equal Pay Act (1963), the Civil Rights Act (1964), and the Equal Employment Opportunities Act (1972), the formation of CLUW institutionalized the long-held ambitions of individual female union members to participate more fully in the labor movement.  read more »

Dr. Winifred Fraser passed away on February 29, 2012, at the age of 88. Fraser was a professor and dean at Wayne State University for 30 years, and was married to former United Automobile Workers President Doug Fraser for over 40 years.

A native Detroiter, Dr. Fraser rose from modest beginnings, working as a drill press operator and bookkeeper before earning a B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit.  read more »

The Reuther Library celebrates Women’s History Month with a look at some of the significant collections housed in the library that deal with the role of women in the urban landscape in Southeast Michigan.

Edith L. Christenson held positions in the Women’s Trade Union League, the Chorus Equity Association, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Public Affairs. The papers of Ms. Christenson document her work as a YMCA canteen worker during World War I and her involvement in the labor and cooperative movements and as an advocate for adult education. Of particular interest is a scrapbook documenting her travels around the world in 1925.  read more »

In honor of Black History Month, we highlight the Dale Rich Collection.

Over fifteen years ago, Mr. Dale Rich, professional photographer, longtime newspaperman, and historian, came to the Reuther Library to research African Americans and labor. As I, Access Archivist Carrolyn Davis, began working with him, he soon showed me hundreds of photographs he had taken over the years of the 2006 Detroit Public School Teachers Strike, of organizing groups supporting the teachers, of himself reenacting a black Civil War solider at the Elmwood Cemetery, and of the Detroit Labor Day Parade, especially the trucks driven by the Teamsters.  read more »