Subject focus

Harnessing Engineering Womanpower in the Cold War

teller — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:56:55 -0400

In 1955, in the midst of the Cold War, the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau hosted a Conference on the Effective Use of Womanpower. The Department of Labor was worried that the United States was producing too few engineers and scientists as compared to the number produced in the U.S.S.R., and found that the recruitment and training of women in science and engineering fields could help to alleviate the disparity. read more »

In Memoriam: Pete Seeger, 1919-2014

cwesterman — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 08:05:44 -0500

The folksinger and activist Pete Seeger died Monday, January 27, 2014 at the age of 94, bringing to an end a career that lasted from the Great Depression to the twenty-first century. His lifelong engagement with culture and politics, and his deep commitment to the labor movement, brought him into continual contact with the rank and file of unionized American workers. In 1939, when Seeger was 20 years old, he worked in the Library of Congress Archive of American Folk Song as an assistant to the musicologist Alan Lomax, and it seems fitting that this onetime archivist is so well represented in the archives and manuscripts of the Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs. No fewer than twelve collections in the Reuther Library collections include correspondence, recordings, or other first-hand evidence of his career. read more »

Subject Focus: African American History at the Reuther Library

wlefevre — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:19:12 -0500

The Reuther Library celebrates African American History Month with a look at some of the significant collections housed in the library that deal with African American history.

A gem from Rosa Parks’s collection is a set of her hand written notes from her time at the Highlander Folk School in 1955, shortly before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These notes showcase her read more »

Subject Focus: Armistice Day and Veterans Day

teller — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:20:42 -0400

Although the First World War did not officially end until the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, combat between the Allied nations and Germany ended on November 11, 1918, when an armistice was called for the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. read more »

Subject Focus: D-Day for Wayne State Football

cdavis — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:55:13 -0500

On Saturday, December 17, 2011, the Warriors, Wayne State University’s football team, were defeated by Pittsburg State 35 to 21 in their first national NCAA Division 2 final. It was Wayne State's first championship game in the program's 94-year history. This performance is all the more impressive when thinking back to the summer of 1981, when University President Thomas Bonner considered ending the football program and focusing instead on basketball and other sports. read more »

Subject Focus: History of Labor Day in Detroit

kchinery — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:07:28 -0400

Few cities are more closely tied to the labor movement than Detroit. From the outset, Labor Day in Detroit was about worker demonstration, which typically took the form of a parade. The city's first Labor Day celebration was held on August 16, 1884 in Recreation Park and attracted 50,000 spectators. The earliest Labor Day image in the Reuther's collections shows Randolph Street in downtown Detroit circa 1890s (pictured below). read more »

Subject focus: Jewish Detroit Experience

wlefevre — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:52:44 -0400

The Reuther Library celebrates the Jewish holiday of Passover with a look at some of the significant collections housed in the library that deal with the Jewish experience in Metropolitan Detroit.

As the repository for the Jewish Community Archives (JCA), the Reuther Library has a wealth of information on the Jewish community in Detroit and surrounding environs. The JCA holdings include, but are not limited to, the papers of: read more »

Subject Focus: Merrill-Palmer Institute

drice — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 10:40:52 -0400

With the 2013-2014 school year in full swing, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the American educational system and, in particular, how it all begins – preschool. As the topic of high quality preschool becomes increasingly relevant in the 21st century, it is important to note that it is not a new concept. The Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute (MPSI), an active research center on Wayne State University's campus, was a pioneer in addressing these early formative years of a child's education. read more »

Subject Focus: Merrill-Palmer Summer Camp

drice — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 00:00:00 -0400

With the school year now upon us, the Reuther Library presents a look back at summers past as recorded in the Merrill-Palmer collections. As Edna Noble White, first director of the Merrill-Palmer Institute, once said, "The children of a nation are its greatest potential asset." This belief was reflected in the Institute's main role, which was the understanding and interpretation of the individual from birth to adulthood. read more »

Subject Focus: NAACP

jruss — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:58:47 -0400

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was formed in early 1909. It held its first convention in May of that year. This May, 102 years later, we showcase collections related to the history of this vital civil rights organization.

The Reuther holds the papers of NAACP founding member Mary White Ovington. Her papers reflect the development of the organization and the civil rights movement generally. Also documenting the growth of the national organization are the papers of NAACP stenographer Carrie Burton Overton, civil rights leader Rosa Parks, and NAACP historian Charles F. Kellogg. read more »

Subject Focus: Poverty and Charity in Turn-of-the-Century Detroit

teller — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:39:53 -0500

In the late 19th century Detroit’s industrial base and burgeoning prosperity quickly attracted immigrants from across the country and around the world, increasing the city’s population six-fold between 1860 and 1900. While the strong and industrious were able to find steady work, the city proved to be harsh to ill or injured laborers, the elderly and widowed, and others for whom life had not been kind. Numerous public and private social service organizations and charities formed to serve the needs of the growing number of Detroit residents living in poverty. read more »

Subject Focus: Remembering the Flint Sit-Down

teller — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:52:57 -0500

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 »

Subject Focus: The Windsor-Detroit Funnel: Prohibition in Detroit

teller — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 10:32:35 -0500

December 5th is Repeal Day, celebrating the end of Prohibition in the United States in 1933.

The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed in 1919, prohibiting the sale, consumption, and manufacturing of alcoholic beverages. The National Prohibition Act (also known as the Volstead Act), defined what constituted an illegal alcoholic beverage read more »

Subject Focus: WDET in the UAW Years

teller — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 00:00:00 -0400

Metro Detroiters recognize radio station WDET 101.9 FM as Wayne State University’s local voice for National Public Radio. Prior to 1952, however, WDET served as the local voice for labor. Unhappy with the critical representation of the labor movement in newspapers and on the radio, in 1944 the United Automobile Workers filed applications with the Federal Communications Commission to run independent radio stations in six markets with strong labor ties: the UAW’s hometown of Detroit; Flint, Michigan; Cleveland, Ohio; Los Angeles; Chicago; and Newark, New Jersey. read more »

Subject Focus: Women in Labor Unions

drice — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:44:25 -0400

“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 »

Subject Focus: Women's History at the Reuther Library

wlefevre — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:40:00 -0500

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 »

Subject focus: Women's organizations in the University Archives

cwesterman — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 09:30:00 -0500

In honor of Women's History Month, we present some collections from the University Archives demonstrating the parallel histories of two similarly-named organizations representing two different female communities of Wayne State University: the Faculty Women's Club and the Faculty Wives' Club.

Founded in 1925, the Faculty Wives' Club of the College of the City of Detroit actually predated Wayne University read more »

Women Engineers Moved the Midcentury Motor City

teller — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 16:04:11 -0400

While the number of women in engineering increased dramatically between 1900 and 1950, the actual number of women in engineering was still quite small: approximately 3,000 women, or just two-tenths of one percent of working engineers in the United States. Detroit's automobile industry presented a growing number of opportunities for women in engineering, however, and local papers in the 1950s and 1960s frequently published articles about these female curiosities in what was still very much considered "a man's world." The stories of Society of Women Engineers Detroit Section members provide a fascinating look at the opportunities and challenges faced by midcentury women engineers as they thrived–or not–in the Motor City. read more »

[Podcast] A Fond Farewell with Audiovisual Archivist Mary Wallace

teller — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:49:33 -0500

Reuther Library audiovisual archivist Mary Wallace has worn many hats over the past 27 years, from student page in the Reading Room to interim director and chief weather-spotter and safety monitor. As she prepares to retire in January 2025, Wallace reflects on the changes she’s seen at the Reuther and in the field, shares a few of her favorite collections and reference requests, and retells some of the more entertaining stories of life at the Reuther. read more »