Collections : [West Virginia and Regional History Center]

West Virginia and Regional History Center

West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Primary Collecting Areas:
West Virginia and Appalachia History and Culture
Description:
The West Virginia & Regional History Center preserves and provides access to the records that document the history and culture of the state and the central Appalachian region. The Center is part of West Virginia University Libraries.
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Start Over Repository West Virginia and Regional History Center Date range 1966 Subjects Unions. SEE ALSO Labor organization.

Glass Workers' Protective League, Records, 1947/1976 1.25 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 3 in. (3 document cases, 5 in, each)

Glass Workers' Protective League

Minutes, correspondence, speeches, clippings, printed material, press releases, and other items concerning the Glass Workers' Protective League, which began in 1946 as the Four State Glass Workers' Protective League. It included glass workers from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana and was concerned with fighting the importation of cheap foreign glass. The papers deal mainly with the Burke-Hartke Bill, Bottle Bills, and national and international trade matters and include statements of union policy or position in these matters. There are minutes and correspondence, league constitutions, and a history of the Protective League.

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Harrison County Labor Federation Archives, 1958/1969 9.31 Linear Feet 9 ft. 3 3/4 in. (22 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Harrison County Labor Federation

This collection includes correspondence, pictures, pamphlets, periodicals, and minutes of meetings. There is material pertaining to all member unions in the county and to the Committee on Political Education (COPE). Microfilm contains the minutes of the Federation's executive board meetings from 1962 to 1968 and the minutes of COPE meetings from 1958 to 1969.

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Joseph Ozanic, Labor Leader, Papers, 1932/1974 5.1 Linear Feet Summary: 5 ft. 1 in. (7 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 records carton, 15 in. each); (1 framed item, 1 in.)

Ozanic, Joseph
Joe Ozanic went to work in the coal mines of Mt. Olive, joining in 1909, UMW Local 728. After serving briefly in the army during World War I, Ozanic returned to work in the mines at Mt. Olive. In 1932, Ozanic joined the Progressive Mine Workers of America, a rival organization to the United Mine Workers, serving both as president of PMWA District 1 and as national president. During the 1940s, Ozanic was an organizer for the American Federation of Labor. These papers reflect Ozanic's involvement with the Progressive Mine Workers and the American Federation of Labor. Material from his career as a union leader includes correspondence, financial records, speeches, certificates, newspaper clippings, photographs, broadsides, scripts for plays, union convention proceedings, contracts, bylaws, constitutions, and miscellaneous publications. Subjects include the National Labor Relations Board, American labor unions during World War II, the Union Miners' Cemetery at Mt. Olive, Illinois, AFL organizing drives, miners' marches in Illinois, Mother Jones, and John L. Lewis. Among the correspondents are Joe Pecik, John Fancher, and Vivian Pleska. Ozanic's personal papers include family correspondence, receipts, certificates, memorabilia, and photographs. The correspondence includes postcards from Ozanic to his wife and son from various places in the United States and Ozanic's certificate of competency as a coal miner, issued by the Illinois Miners Examining Board in 1917.
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Mason-Jackson Labor Council Papers, 1949/1977 4.2 Linear Feet Summary: 4 ft. 2 in. (10 document cases, 5 in. each)

Mason-Jackson Labor Council
Extensive financial records, constitutions, bylaws, membership records, minutes to meetings, recruitment programs, and elections material circulated by COPE, the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education. Included are inter-union correspondence on strikes, political lobbying efforts, policy statements, and candidate questionnaires which were sent out by COPE.
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M.H. Ross, Collector, Papers, 1930/1974 2 Linear Feet Summary: 2 ft. (1 document case, 5 in.); (4 small flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (5 ledgers, 7 in.)

Ross, M. H.

Broadsides, pamphlets, contracts, publications, ledgers, and letters on union activities and radical movements. Subjects included are mine safety, union organizing, and social justice.

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Paul Nyden, Collector, Five Unpublished Manuscripts Dealing with Coal Mining, Miners, and Unions, 1932/1975 0.77 Linear Feet 9 1/4 in. (1 document case, 5 in.); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (1 reel of microfilm, 1.75 in.)

Nyden, Paul

Five unpublished manuscripts relating to coal mining, miners, and unions, in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
(1) Tom Myerscough, Bloody Hell in Kentucky, circa 1932, a fictionalized account of the National Miners Union strike in Harlan County, Kentucky, in 1931. Myerscough became an organizer and then president of the National Miners Union.
(2) Adam Getto, Autobiography, 1975, an autobiography of his experiences as a union section leader at Bethlehem Steel's Ellsworth Mine in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania.
(3) Miriam Schultz, Bread Upon the Waters, circa 1970, a novel about coal miners in western Pennsylvania.
(4) Miriam Schultz, "Larry Corcoran," circa 1970, a short story about a coal miner in western Pennsylvania.
(5) Tony Sabo, Stripped Naked in Public, circa 1971, an autobiographical account about his life in coal towns in northern West Virginia and his work in the Welfare Rights Organization.
Microfilm contains copies of Autobiography, Stripped Naked in Public, and "Larry Corcoran."

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Pocahontas Operators Association Records, 1941/1973 1.15 Linear Feet 1 document case, 5 in.; 5 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each

Pocahontas Operators Association
The minutes, correspondence, and financial records of the Pocahontas Operators Association and of its successors, the Smokeless Operators Association and the Southern Virginias Operators Association. Topics mentioned are foreign competition, environmental legislation, labor strife and union negotiations, and lobbying efforts in Congress and with state legislatures. Special mention is made of the conditions in the coal industry during World War II, the impact of the Taft-Hartley Act on bargaining for the 1948 contract, and the effects in the coalfields of union dissension in the UMWA over the role of the Tony Boyle administration during the early 1970s.
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United Glass and Ceramic Workers of America Local Union No. 2 (Clarksburg, WV) Papers, 1934/1974 10.6 Linear Feet 10 ft. 6 1/2 in. (24 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 2 1/2 in.); (6 unboxed ledgers, 4 in.)

United Glass and Ceramic Workers of America. Local 2 (Clarksburg, West Virginia)

Financial records, newsletters, minutes, correspondence and inter-factory memos of Clarksburg Union Local No.2. There are also records of grievances, arbitration, and union attendance.

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United Mine Workers of America, Local Union 6046, Archives, 1933/1974 0.8 Linear Feet 10 in. (2 document cases; 5 in.)

United Mine Workers of America. Local Union 6046
Minutes, correspondence, grievance case files, and union campaign material of union locals in the New River field. The correspondence concerns implementation of national bituminous coal mine contracts, local 6046's members' benefits, safety and working conditions in the Lochgelly mine, and state and federal legislation sought by the UMW. The minutes of Local 6046 meetings summarize all matters discussed and acted on, including reports from the local's mine and safety committees, expenses, contributions of money from employed members to sick or unemployed members, adjustment of disputes between miners and management and between the miners themselves. The grievance files reveal official relationships between the local, UMW District 29 and the national headquarters as well as relations with the supervisory personnel of the New River Coal Company.
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United Steel Workers of America, Union Button, 1942/1980 .01 Linear Feet 1 item (1 folder)

United Steelworkers

A metal pin-back button signifying membership in the United Steel Workers of America labor union. The artifact is pinned to its original paper mount. The paper mount is printed with the text "Here is Your Union Button" above the pinned button and "Wear this Badge of Honor Proudly" below. The paper also bears the Allied Label mark, certifying that the button was manufactured by Union affliated workers.

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