Abstract Ann Francis, a journeyman pipefitter and member of UAW Local 652, worked at the General Motors Oldsmobile plant in the early 1980's. In 1985 she became a technical instructor in the UAW-GM apprentice program and developed programs to recruit and train women and minorities for the skilled trades. From 1989 until her retirement in 1998, she managed a number of different joint union-management programs for the skilled trades at GM's Lansing plant, the most important of which was the Skilled Trades...

Abstract An active member of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 148 (Douglas Aircraft-Long Beach), Bette Murphy was the first woman at Douglas to hold positions of supervisor and manufacturing engineer. Ms. Murphy's papers document the affairs of Local 148 throughout her career.

Abstract In late 1967, Herbert Hill, labor director for the NAACP, visited Wayne State University in Detroit to conduct oral histories with African American men and women on their experiences in the labor movement. Between 1967 and 1970, Hill, with local interviewers Roberta McBride, Jim Keeney, and Norman McRae, completed numerous interviews in Detroit. Hill also visited New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Berkeley for several additional interviews to round out what would become known as the Blacks in...

Abstract Carolyn Forrest began working at JR Winter Company, which she helped organize for the United Auto Workers (UAW). In 1967 Forrest joined the international staff of Region 1E as the first female servicing representative in the UAW and ten years later was appointed an administrative assistant by UAW President Douglas Fraser. In 1993 she was elected an International Vice President. Forest retired from the UAW in 1998.

Abstract A charter member and president of Women's Auxiliary 15, Catherine Gelles served as secretary-treasurer, and later, an international representative, of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Women's Auxiliaries, and vice-president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) National Auxiliaries. Ms. Gelles' papers reflect her work in the labor movement and the history of UAW women's auxiliaries.

Abstract Charles Beckman served as United Auto Workers Local 45 (Fisher Body Plant, Cleveland) President for eighteen consecutive terms. His tenure included the Cleveland plant sit-down strike which served as a catalyst for the historic Flint sit-down strike of 1936-1937. The papers of Mr. Beckman reflect his work with Local 45 and its affiliated organizations and, to a lesser degree, his involvement in political and social issues, including civil rights, anti-fascism and anti-war efforts.

Abstract Dorothy Kraus, wife of Henry Kraus, had a Jewish working class socialist family background. When married to Henry, she helped assist in local Detroit UAW strikes by organizing strike kitchens and leading the Emergency Brigade. Her efforts led to the formation of the UAW Women's Auxiliary.Material in Part I of the Dorothy Kraus Collection relates mainly to the early activities of the UAW Women's Auxiliary, attempts to control the cost of living during the Depression, and to...

Abstract Labor and women’s rights activist Edith Van Horn began her career in the labor movement during World War II, when she left graduate school to join the war effort as an assembly line laborer for Goodyear Aircraft, where she joined United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 856. Ms. Horn later held posts as chief steward of Douglas Aircraft UAW Local 17, chief steward of Chrysler’s Dodge Main Local 3, where she was the first woman to serve on Local 3’s executive board, as a delegate to the UAW...

Abstract Enid Eckstein was a member of the Detroit District of the International Socialists and worked as an inspector at Chrysler’s Lynch Road Assembly plant. Represented by UAW Local 51, she served as a chief steward and on the local’s Community Services, Women’s and Resolutions Committees. In 1973 she helped form the United Coalition, one of many militant, rank-and-file groups that sprang up in Detroit auto plants in the 1970s, on whose slate she ran unsuccessfully for Trustee in 1975 and for...

Abstract A highly active union advocate, Genora Dollinger was a charter member of the Flint Socialist Party and organized Flint Women's Auxiliary #10 and the Women's Emergency Brigade, which played a crucial role in the success of the Flint Sit-down Strike of 1937. Her husband, Sole Dollinger was an organizer for the Socialist Workers Party. The papers of Genora and Sol Dollinger relate largely to Ms. Dollinger's involvement in the Flint Sit-down Strike, and to a lesser extent, the Dollinger's...

Abstract In 1974, Susan Hartmann and Lucy Haessler interviewed Irene Young Marinovich, a veteran GM worker and local UAW leader at Detroit auto plants, including the General Motors Ternstedt Plant. Collection consists of the interview recording and transcript about the UAW and conditions for women workers in Detroit-area auto plants during the 1930s and 1940s.

Abstract William "Bill" Bryce and Elaine Crawford interviewed labor activist Irene Young Marinovich for Bryce's documentary on Marinovich's life and work in the UAW,

Abstract Joseph Chrapkiewicz began his union career in 1947 as Chief Steward in the United Automobile Workers Local 78, Kelsey-Hayes, Detroit, after which he held various offices in the local. In the 1970s he also edited the local's newspaper, Union Picket.

Chrapkiewicz's papers pertain to his tenure (and his predecessor, Maurice Terpenning's) on the West Side Local 174 & Local 78 Bargaining Committee, as well as various other committees he served on.

Abstract Ken Morris served as president of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 212 and as director of UAW Region 1B. Mr. Morris was active in community affairs and served in various committees such as the Oakland University Board of Trustees, the Oakland County Mental Health Board, and the National Commission on Unemployment and Compensation. Mr. Morris’ papers relate primarily to his activities as Director of UAW Region 1B, and to a lesser degree, his trusteeship at Oakland University, and reflect his...

Overview Marianna Wells was an active member of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 50 and Local 3 and served as treasurer of the Detroit local of the Socialist Party. Ms. Wells' papers reflect her involvement with the UAW, particularly concerning Local 3, and document the affairs of the Socialist Party. Michael Harrington, Norman Thomas, The Unity Convention, and The Young People's Socialist League are among important subjects addressed in the collection.

Abstract Martin Glaberman was active in the labor movement from 1942-1965, primarily in the UAW. He has written extensively on labor both as managing editor of national labor newspaper in the 1950s and as a freelance writer. He also lectured in sociology and political science at several Detroit colleges. Jessie Glaberman was actively involved in labor and civil rights movements, playing an important role in the women's rights movement in Detroit, particularly at Wayne State University....

Abstract In August 2002, Mike Smith interviewed UAW labor leader and civil rights and women's rights activist Mildred "Millie" Jeffrey at the Walter P. Reuther Library in Detroit. Jeffrey was the UAW’s first female department head and directed, in succession, the Women’s Bureau, Community Relations Department, and Consumer Affairs Department. Collection consists of recordings of two interviews. Jeffrey discusses her childhood in rural Iowa, family, education, entry into the workforce and the labor...

Abstract Mildred Jeffrey worked as an organizer for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, as Educational Director of the Pennsylvania Joint Board of Shirt Workers, as a consultant to the War Labor Board, as Director of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Women’s Bureau, and as Director for UAW Community Relations and Consumer Affairs Departments. Ms. Jeffrey was also active in the Democratic Party and was a founding member and chair of the National Organization of Women’s (NOW) political arm, the...

Abstract President of Auxiliary 233-Local 600, Olga Hrabar was an active participant in early strike activities and the organizational growth of United Auto Workers (UAW) Women's Auxiliaries. Ms. Hrabar's papers reflect the activities of the women's auxiliaries at a local level and document the organizational structure of an individual auxiliary. Correspondents include Coretta Scott King, Emil Mazey, and Leonard Woodcock.

Abstract Subjects include: women’s rights; civil rights; consumer protection; Detroit youth programs

Abstract Subjects include: African-American workers; anti-Semitism; civil rights; community action programs; CIO state councils; race relations; Democratic Party; Detroit Revolutionary Union Movements; employment discrimination; Sunnyhills Housing Cooperative; Ku Klux Klan; Mexican Americans; gender discrimination; women's rights; United Steelworkers of America; sharecroppers; skilled trades; school desegregation

Note: Box 13 is unavailable.

Abstract The Fair Practices and Anti-Discrimination Department was established by Article 25, a constitutional amendment, at the International Convention, March 1946. A Committee of the International Executive Board was appointed to administer the department, and a staff was appointed. Each local union in turn was expected to set up a Fair Practices Committee.

Abstract The records of UAW Local 12 were placed in the Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs in April of 1990 by President Danny Wilson and opened for research in November of 2004. UAW Local 12 evolved out of Federal Labor Union 18384, chartered in 1933 to represent workers at Willys-Overland, Auto-Lite and other auto suppliers in the Toledo area. Richard Gosser, who rose from the ranks at Willys-Overland to become the amalgamated local's president in 1938, founded its summer camp in Onsted, Michigan in...

Abstract Subjects include: General Motors Fisher Body and Chevrolet plants in St. Louis; labor education; women's auxiliary

Abstract Subjects include: United Steelworkers; women workers; auto wage-price policy; 1958 UAW contract negotiations; Kohler strike; UAW conventions; UAW PAC in 1948 election campaigns