Blogs

For the first time in over a generation, the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs will change the normal business hours in its reading room. Long-time reference archivist William LeFevre confirmed the decision at a recent staff meeting. According to William, the decision to change is primarily based on two factors.  read more »

Apart from Old Main, which has stood at the corner of Warren and Cass since 1896, the University Seal is the oldest surviving visual symbol of Wayne State University. Like Old Main, the seal predates Wayne by some years.  read more »

April 4, 2012 marks the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. King had traveled to Memphis in the spring of 1968 to lend his support to striking sanitation workers, members of AFSCME Local 1733. We're pleased to announce the launch of a new web exhibit, created in conjunction with the Wayne State University Library System, explaining the events of that spring. Please visit the exhibit and share widely: (http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/iamaman/).

Johanna Russ was the Archivist for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) from 2008 until 2013.

“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 »