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Due to building repairs, the Reuther Library Reading Room will be closed on Wednesday, Nov. 29. Please feel free to contact us via email at reutherreference@wayne.edu for your research needs, and stay warm!

Reuther Library is now accepting applications for the 2024 Albert Shanker Fellowship for Research in Education and the 2024 Sam Fishman Travel Grant.

Albert Shanker Fellows can win up to $600 for travel to the Reuther for research using the AFT and other education-related collections. The deadline for applications from advanced graduate students and faculty are due December 23, 2023.

Sam Fishman Travel Grant awardees can win up to $1,000 for travel to the Reuther for research related to labor history. The deadline for applications is January 5, 2024.

For more information and application forms, see https://reuther.wayne.edu/opportunity

The Reuther Library is proud to announce a lecture from visiting scholar André Odendaal, vice-chancellor's writer-in-residence and honorary professor in History and Heritage Studies at the University of the Western Cape. This event will take place at noon on Thursday, Nov. 15, in the Reuther Conference Room of the Walter P. Reuther Library. Refreshments will be provided.

Odendaal will share insights into his remarkable journey in preserving and telling the story of the South African freedom struggle. He played a pivotal role in launching the Mayibuye Archives at the University of the Western Cape in 1997, dedicated to capturing and preserving the rich history of the struggle for freedom. He also served as the founding director of the Robben Island Museum, which holds historical significance as South Africa's first national heritage institution and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Odendaal is the author of "Dear President Comrade: Oliver Tambo and the Foundations of South Africa's Constitution" and has had a distinguished career as a first-class cricketer. Learn more about Odendall's accomplishments at AndreOdendaal.info.

Note: This text includes language that is outdated and may be offensive. Titles of events and writings are included in their original language circa 1963.

A little-known collection in the Wayne State University Archives documents an event that took place at the university in 1963, 60 years ago this year, but commemorating a historic event 100 years before that. The year-long observance — the centennial of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation — was marked by celebrations, lectures, symposia, performances, and the granting of honorary degrees. The small collection of the Wayne State University Emancipation Centennial Committee, which resides at the Walter P. Reuther Library, contains a wealth of correspondence, texts of speeches, and academic papers.  read more »