Walter P. Reuther Library

2010: The Reuther Year in Review

jruss — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 10:32:09 -0500

2010 was a big year for the Walter P. Reuther Library. The Reuther's major collection, the Archive of Labor and Urban Affairs (ALUA), turned 50, and the Reuther Library’s building, which houses ALUA and the Wayne State University Archives, was completed 35 years ago in 1975. While celebrating these two milestones, we accomplished many goals. read more »

2016 Sam Fishman Travel Grant Recipients

enordberg — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 12:15:08 -0500

The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University is pleased to announce the awards from the Sam Fishman Travel Grant program for 2016. These annual grants provide up to $1,000 to support travel to the Reuther Library to access archival records related to the American labor movement. The award is named in honor of Sam Fishman, a former UAW and Michigan AFL-CIO leader. read more »

A Tribute to Dr. Philip P. Mason - August 27, 2015

Public Relations Team — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:35:05 -0400

Join the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs to celebrate the achievements of Professor Emeritus Dr. Philip P. Mason and commemorate the Reuther Library's 40th anniversary.

Dr. Philip P. Mason and his former students and colleagues Kathleen Roe, Warner Pflug and Dr. Frank Boles will offer remarks. The Reuther Library will also unveil a portrait of Dr. Mason to be hung on permanent display. read more »

African Americans and the UAW

mosmith — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:53:30 -0500

The Reuther Library celebrates African American History Month with a brief review of the important role that African Americans have played in the formation and growth of the United Automobile Workers of America (UAW), one of the most powerful unions in American history, and the influence of black UAW members within the polity of Detroit. read more »

Announcement: Change to Digital Imaging Policy

kchinery — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 11:21:29 -0400

In response to patron feedback and a review of policies at similar institutions across the country, the Reuther Library made a change to its digital imaging policy for the reproduction of materials in the Reading Room. Patrons may now use a cell phone, tablet, or digital camera for their imaging needs. The Reuther will continue to provide digital cameras on a first come, first served basis.

The $0.25 per image fee has been replaced with a daily imaging fee of $10.00, plus tax. There is no charge to patrons taking fewer than ten images. Patrons are still responsible for recording information about the images they take on the Digital Image Request Sheet regardless of equipment used. Patrons may request publication-quality images of any material from the Reuther Library at its standard fees.

Reuther Library reference policies are listed on our Reading Room page. Please direct questions or comments about the change in policy to Kristen Chinery, Reference Archivist.

Kristen Chinery is the Reference Archivist for the Walter P. Reuther Library.

Announcement: Reuther Library Reading Room Renovation Completed

kchinery — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 10:51:10 -0500

In January 2014 the Reuther received a generous donation, which could be used for any purpose as it was not dedicated to a specific account or project. After careful consideration of how to use the funds, a decision was made to update the Reading Room, the first renovation to the room since the building’s construction in 1975. The donation allowed us to purchase new furniture, to install new carpeting, to repaint the room, and to refurbish the Reading Room's reference desk. read more »

Announcing the Recipients of the 2014 Sam Fishman Travel Grants

mosmith — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 15:00:01 -0500

The Walter P. Reuther Library is very pleased to announce the Sam Fishman Travel Grant Awardees for 2014. Each year, the Fishman Travel Grants provide up to $1000 for travel to the Reuther Library for research into its vast collection of archival records related to American labor movement. The award is named in honor of Sam Fishman, one of Michigan’s great labor leaders. read more »

Cesar Chavez, Walter Reuther, and the United Farm Workers of America Collection

kschmeling — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 13:33:20 -0400

Social movements that disrupt the status quo and go on to change the lives of participants most often coalesce around a powerful leader. In 1962, Cesar Chavez, a former migrant worker and community activist, began the long struggle for farm workers’ rights by organizing the National Farm Workers Association in Delano, California—the forerunner of the UFW. By 1965, after signing up about 1200 members, Chavez was asked to join a grape strike in Delano led by the predominant Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC).

The Walter P. Reuther Library commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike by recounting its near fifty-year relationship with the United Farm Workers to document and preserve its legacy. read more »

Collection Spotlight: Leonard Woodcock Papers

gstrassel — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 16:45:59 -0400

The Walter P. Reuther Library is honored to announce the opening of the The Leonard Woodcock Papers. Leonard Woodcock orchestrated profound accomplishments in a variety of fields, notably as head of the UAW and later as Ambassador to China, making these historical records a valuable resource to a wide range of researchers. read more »

Event Announcement: "Re:Collecting Past Radicals and Rebels: The Resonance of Resistance and the Persistence of Injustice," December 9, 2014

Public Relations Team — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 17:24:29 -0500

NOTE: The public event featuring Fran Shor has been rescheduled to 4:30pm on Tuesday, December 9.

Dr. Francis Shor, of the Wayne State University Department of History, will deliver the presentation "Re:Collecting Past Radicals and Rebels: The Resonance of Resistance and the Persistence of Injustice." This event will take place at 4:30 PM on Tuesday, December 2 in the Reuther Conference Room of the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs. read more »

Event Announcement: Archival Practice Brown Bag Talk "Free Money: Basic Skills of Grant Writing for Archives"

Public Relations Team — Tue, 12 May 2015 17:21:09 -0400

A brown bag presentation series highlighting archival practice continues on May 15 with Reuther Library director Erik Nordberg’s presentation "Free Money: Basic Skills of Grant Writing for Archives." The one-hour session will be held at 12:30 p.m. in the Woodcock Conference Room at the Walter P. Reuther Library. Nordberg has experience both awarding and managing grant-funded archives projects, having served as both executive director of the Michigan Humanities Council and director of the University Archives and Historical Collections at Michigan Technological University.

Open to students, alumni, and interested professionals and educators, future events in this series are scheduled on the last Fridays of the month. Contact Kim Schroeder for more information at 313-577-9783 / ag1797@wayne.edu or Erik Nordberg at 313-577-2013 /

Event Announcement: Dr. Donna Kesselman Speaks on Employment Grey Zones in Automobile Production

Public Relations Team — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 10:32:41 -0400

Dr. Donna Kesselman, Professor, Université Paris-Est Créteil, will provide an update on her current research into the changing interrelationships between labor, management, and government in the automobile industry. This brown-bag presentation will take place at noon on Wednesday, August 5, 2015, in the Reuther Conference Room of the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs. Transformations in employment norms are an integral component of today's globalizing world labor market. Exploring “employment grey zones” provides a critical thought approach to defining these constantly evolving labor-management structures. read more »

Event Announcement: Dr. Michelle Rodino-Colocino Speaks on Photography and Worker Productivity

Public Relations Team — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 16:59:18 -0400

Dr. Michelle Rodino-Colocino, Associate Professor of Media Studies and Women’s Studies at Pennsylvania State University, will provide an overview of her research into the role that media has played in labor-management relations. This brown-bag presentation will take place at noon on Thursday, April 23, 2015, in the Reuther Conference Room of the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs. Her book-length project, Making Media Work: A Cultural History of New Media and Labor Management, explores how new media from film to smart phones has figured in management’s promotion of, and workers' resistance to, so-called “speedup” practices that intensify work for less return. The presentation is free and open to the public. read more »

Event Announcement: Dr. Philip Mason at the Walter P. Reuther Library

Public Relations Team — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:12:52 -0400

Join the staff of the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs for an informal gathering with founding director Dr. Philip Mason at 3:30pm on Tuesday, March 24. Dr. Mason will share personal reflections on the 40th anniversary of the Reuther Library building’s initial construction in 1975. Following Dr. Mason’s remarks, attendees will be invited to visit the Reuther Library’s reading room, which has recently received a significant renovation with the support of an anonymous donor. The event is free and open to the public.

Event Announcement: Sarah Stanford-McIntyre Speaks on Oil, Labor, and Environmental Change

Public Relations Team — Wed, 13 May 2015 16:34:14 -0400

The Reuther Library is proud to announce an upcoming brown-bag lecture presented by Sarah Stanford-McIntyre, a doctoral candidate at the College of William and Mary. This event will take place at noon on Thursday, May 21, in the Reuther Conference Room of the Walter P. Reuther Library. Ms. Stanford-McIntyre will present on her current research in her talk “Working Landscapes: The Labor of West Texas Oil, 1920-1970,” a regional history of oil, labor, and environmental change during the Permian Basin oil boom, including corporate imagery of technology, the mythology of the oil prospector, and the vital role of wage workers across the industry. The presentation is free and open to the public. read more »

Event Announcement: “This Is My Town: The Concert Poster Art of Detroit, 1970s-2000s”

Public Relations Team — Thu, 21 May 2015 15:50:03 -0400

On May 22nd, 2015, the Detroit Sound Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the musical sounds and stories of Detroit, will hold its second annual conference at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. The Michigan Sound Conference will explore the ways that the Mitten State, and the Motor City in particular, have led the world in shaping the contemporary sonic landscape. As a part of the conference, the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs will host the one-day exhibit "This Is My Town: The Concert Poster Art of Detroit, 1970s-2000s." This exhibit presents a selection of posters advertising musical, dramatic, and visual arts events in Detroit from the 1970s to the 200s, drawn from the papers of David Clements. read more »

Farewell and Good Luck to AFSCME Archivist Johanna Russ

cwesterman — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:00:00 -0400

The Walter P. Reuther Library bid a fond farewell last week to Johanna Russ, who served as the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Archivist from June 30, 2008 until September 27, 2013. After five years at the Reuther, Johanna Russ leaves Michigan to become Senior Archival Specialist at the Chicago Public Library. read more »

Finding Archives in the Digital Shelves

aorchard — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 14:45:14 -0500

Until recently the only way to find Reuther collections online was by using Reuther website. While the website still provides the most information about all our 1700+ archival collections, they can now also be found by searching the WSU Library catalog. This new functionality makes our collections more findable, and is particularly useful if you are looking for a variety of material types. For example, if you need both primary sources (e.g., archival materials), and secondary sources (e.g., books), you can do one search using the library catalog that will return results for both types of material. read more »

Gallery Announcement: UFW Posters, 1960s-1980s

Public Relations Team — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 14:30:47 -0400

The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Affairs is proud to showcase a selection of posters from the United Farm Workers collection. These posters represent important campaigns and events from the early history of the UFW. read more »

Guest Post: The Ronald Raven Annual Award, Fall 2014

Public Relations Team — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 10:23:52 -0500

The Ronald Raven Annual Award provides a tuition stipend and semester-long internship in the Wayne State University Archives to three Wayne State University graduate students each year. The details of the award are located on the Reuther Library Scholarships page. Applications for the Winter 2015 semester are due January 2, 2015.

Meghan McGowan was the fifth recipient of the Ronald Raven Annual Award, completing her University Archives internship in December 2014. The following is a summary of the internship in her own words. read more »

Memorial Day Closure

mcourtney — Tue, 24 May 2016 14:22:36 -0400

Please be advised that the Reuther Library will be closed this May 30th for Memorial Day. We'll be open based on our regular schedule the following day, May 31st.

To learn more about service during the war, visit our image galleries related to World War I and World War II.

Publication Announcement: 2013 Reuther Library Newsletter

cwesterman — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 16:32:25 -0400

The 2013 issue of the Walter P. Reuther Library Newsletter is now available. The new issue includes an announcement of the Reuther's acquisition of the Utah Phillips Papers, a letter from Reuther Director Beth Myers, and an overview of our accomplishments in the last year. Download or view the 2013 newsletter, or peruse the complete collection of Reuther newsletters from 1971 to the present day.

Reuther Library Announces Fishman Travel Grants to Visiting Scholars

Public Relations Team — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:06:47 -0400

The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University is pleased to announce the awards from the Sam Fishman Travel Grant program for 2015. These annual grants provide up to $1,000 to support travel to the Reuther Library to access archival records related to the American labor movement. The award is named in honor of Sam Fishman, a former UAW and Michigan AFL-CIO leader. read more »

Reuther Library receives Michigan Humanities Council Grant

mcourtney — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 14:54:24 -0500

The Reuther Library is proud to announce that it has been awarded a Humanities Grant from the Michigan Humanities Council. The grant will support an exhibit of selected materials related to Detroit’s 1967 Civil Unrest, taken from the Reuther's over 40 archival collections on the topic. The exhibit will be installed in the Reuther Library’s atrium in April 2017 and will be accompanied by a web exhibit and document sets for use in K-12 classrooms. Visitors will learn about analyzing archival material and begin to understand the archive as a place that belongs to the community it serves. read more »

The Building that Could Have Been

slebovitz — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 10:52:49 -0400

This blog post is part of a series celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Reuther Library's building.

“We have, at the present time, one large round table which will, at best, handle four researchers,” writes Dr. Philip Mason, founder of the archives at Wayne State University, as he describes the capacity for scholars in Purdy-Kresge to President William Rea Keast. read more »

The Origins of the Reuther Library building

mbanes — Fri, 16 May 2025 15:58:46 -0400

This blog post is part of a series celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Reuther Library's building.

The Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University represents a landmark in the preservation and accessibility of labor history in North America. read more »

The Ronald Raven Annual Award: Devin Erlandson

Public Relations Team — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 00:00:00 -0400

Devin Erlandson was the fourth recipient of the Ronald Raven Annual Award, a scholarship providing a tuition stipend and a semester-long internship in the Wayne State University Archives. At the end of her internship, Devin wrote this summary of her experience.

I first learned about the Ronald Raven Annual Award from Dr. Louis Jones in his archival administration class. read more »

Video: Dr. Francis Shor, "Re:Collecting Past Radicals and Rebels: The Resonance of Resistance and the Persistence of Injustice"

cwesterman — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 13:52:10 -0500

On December 9, 2014, Dr. Fancis Shor of the Wayne State University Department of History delivered the presentation "Re:Collecting Past Radicals and Rebels: The Resonance of Resistance and the Persistence of Injustice" in the Reuther Conference Room of the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs. read more »

Walter P. Reuther Library Wins NHPRC Grant to Process Oral History Collection

Public Relations Team — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 14:53:20 -0400

The Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs is proud to be chosen as the recipient of a grant of $109,152 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). This grant will facilitate the discovery and promotion of 1,660 oral histories of individuals directly involved in the labor, civil rights, and social justice movements, among other important historical developments. read more »

(47183) Model of Reuther Building

mbanes — Fri, 16 May 2025 15:52:27 -0400

3-D Model of one of the many design concepts for the Reuther Library.

Michael O. Smith

cwesterman — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 14:29:51 -0400

Michael O. Smith, former Director of the Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs.

Sarah Stanford-McIntyre

Public Relations Team — Wed, 13 May 2015 16:28:42 -0400

Sarah Stanford-McIntyre, recipient of a 2015 Sam Fishman Travel Grant.

(30799) Louis Jones, Wayne County Council for Arts, History and Humanities Award, Detroit, Michigan, 2013

cwesterman — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 15:53:33 -0500

Louis Jones accepts the Wayne County Council for Arts, History and Humanities Award in October 2013.

(32644) Walter P. Reuther Library Reading Room Panorama, 2015

cwesterman — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 10:28:57 -0500

The Reading Room of the Walter P. Reuther Library, after the completion of its 2014 renovation.

(32645) Walter P. Reuther Library Reading Room Reference Desk

cwesterman — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 10:37:43 -0500

The Reading Room Reference Desk of the Walter P. Reuther Library, after the completion of its 2014 renovation.

Creating that “A-Ha!” Moment: Using Archives and Primary Sources to Inspire Active Learning in the Classroom

teller — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 15:07:09 -0400

Outreach archivist Meghan Courtney discusses the Reuther Library’s efforts to extend primary source instruction beyond history classes to inspire active learning in the classroom and empower students to become part of scholarly conversations. read more »

Podcast: From the Vault: Metalsmith and Professor Phillip Fike and the Wayne State Academic Mace

teller — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 11:56:13 -0400

In anticipation of the upcoming Wayne State University graduation ceremonies, University Art Curator Grace Serra and University Archivist Alison Stankrauff share the history of the university's academic mace, a ceremonial and symbolic object carried during commencement exercises and other important events. read more »

Poorly Described Folders and Human Hair: Processing Report with ALUA Archivist Shae Rafferty

teller — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 09:41:31 -0400

Shae Rafferty, the Reuther Library’s Labor and Urban Affairs Archivist, explains what happens behind the scenes to get donated collections ready for researchers. She discusses how collections are prioritized for processing, or organizing and describing them to make it easier for researchers to find the information they’re looking for. read more »

[Podcast] From Bargaining Table to Diplomatic Table: Leonard Woodcock in China (Part 2)

teller — Wed, 26 May 2021 11:54:28 -0400

After Leonard Woodcock stepped down as president of the UAW in 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter sent him to Beijing as a diplomatic envoy and ultimately as the nation’s first ambassador to the People’s Republic of China. In the second of a two-part interview, his wife Sharon Woodcock talks about Deng Xiaoping's visit to the United States; Leonard Woodcock's work after leaving the State Department, including his work on the Board of Governors of Wayne State University; and his support of the Reuther Library. read more »

[Podcast] It's Been a Year: Reuther Library Director Aliqae Geraci Recalls Her First Year on the Job During a Global Pandemic

teller — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 19:01:33 -0400

Aliqae Geraci explains that she had big plans when she became director of the Reuther Library a year ago, and those plans were immediately scuttled when her first day on the job coincided with the first day Wayne State University’s on-campus operations were suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. read more »

[Podcast] Talking Archives with the Society of Women Engineers

teller — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 07:00:00 -0500

Karen Horting, Executive Director and CEO of the Society of Women Engineers, talks about SWE’s archives at the Reuther Library and shares how the 75-year-old organization leverages its history to advocate for the inclusion of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). read more »