Blogs

In May 1995, collective bargaining negotiations began normally between the jointly operated Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News and the six unions representing the workforce at The Detroit Newspapers (DNA), Teamsters Local 372, Detroit Mailers Local 2040, Newspaper Guild Local 22, Graphic Communication International Union Locals 13N and 289M, and the Detroit Typographical Union Local 18. Negotiations broke down two months later when the DNA tried to back out of the joint bargaining format with the six unions that had been in place since 1989. In protest, approximately 2,500 employees of the DNA walked out to strike on July 13, 1995. Robert Musial, a striking newspaper worker, gathered the material in this collection to document the strike from his perspective.  read more »

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 Reuther Library is pleased to announce the opening of the Avern L. Cohn Papers, now accessible to researchers and the public. The materials in this collection represent the scope of Judge Avern Cohn’s professional life and his wide-ranging interests and activities, from history to family matters and philanthropy to leisure travel. The papers include correspondence, opinions and orders, speeches and writings, scrapbooks, files on a large array of topics and some audio-visual materials.  read more »

A lesser-known, and maybe surprising, source for historians and researchers looking at 20th-century race relations in Detroit are the Jewish Community Council Records, part of the Jewish Community Archives at the Reuther Library.

This large collection documents grassroots discussions and actions in Detroit’s Jewish community and the wider urban community particularly from the 1940s to the 1970s.  read more »