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Start Over Date range 1944 Names American Federation of Labor

Joseph Ozanic, Labor Leader, Papers 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.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Parkersburg Central Trades & Labor Council Records 1.7 Linear Feet Summary: 1 ft. 8 in. (4 document cases, 5 in. each)

Parkersburg Central Trades & Labor Council

Minutes, financial records, and miscellaneous historical material of Parkersburg Central Trades and Labor Council (PCTLC), an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the West Virginia State Federation of Labor. The organization, founded in 1910, participated in various political activities and union organization activities and sponsored Labor's League for Political Education (LLPE) and created a women's auxiliary during the 1950s. The council consisted of assorted AFL affiliated unions in the Parkersburg area.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Progressive Mine Workers of America, Archives 16.94 Linear Feet Summary: 16 ft. 11 1/4 in. (35 document cases, 5 in.); (2 ledger books, 2 1/2 in.); (3 bound volumes, 10 in.); (1 oversize folder, 1/4 in.); (2 artifact storage boxes, 3/4 in.); (8 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each)

Progressive Mine Workers of America

Records of the Progressive Mine Workers of America.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Rush Dew Holt (1905-1955) Papers 156.21 Linear Feet 156 ft. 2 1/2 in. (360 document cases, 5 in. each); (1 document case, 4 in.); (14 document cases, 2 1/2 in.); (1 flat storage box, 5 in.); (1 flat storage box, 3 1/2 in.); (2 flat storage boxes, 3 in. each); (3 flat storage boxes, 2 1/2 in. each); (9 flat storage boxes, 1 1/2 in. each); ( 44 photos in photograph filing cabinets) 11.7 Gigabytes 131 TIFF files, 2 PDF files

Holt, Rush Dew, 1905-1955
Papers of Rush Dew Holt, Sr. (1905-1955) relating to his personal and political activities. Types of material include publications, clippings, correspondence, photographs, and ephemera, among others. The collection is divided into six series: Personal and Political Papers (1840-2000 and undated), Artifacts (1939-1952 and undated), Legislative Records (1920-1955 and undated), Constituent Services (1923-1954 and undated), Press and Media Activity (1925-2003 and undated), and Administrative Files (1937-1940).
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

Teamsters Local 175, Scrapbook and Diary 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 3 in. (1 wrapped scrapbook; 1 wrapped diary)

Teamsters Union. Local 175
A scrapbook and personal diary of Volney Andrews, one-time president of Local 175, covering the years 1938-1949. There is material on disputes over the legitimacy of the AFL and the CIO especially as it was reflected in state regional labor councils and jurisdictional struggles in West Virginia between the United Mine Workers of America and the Progressive Mine Workers of America. Also mentioned are political concerns such as elections, congressional investigations of labor and foreign trade bills, state labor legislative proposals and charges of corruption in West Virginia's handling of the WPA. There is mention of the 1940 Charleston construction trades strike and also of that city's segregated neighborhood housing projects as well as material reflecting the predominant racist attitudes of that era. Places mentioned are Bluefield, Charleston, Fairmont, Grafton, Logan, Morgantown, and Wheeling. People mentioned are Van A. Bittner, Tom Cairnes, F.J. Dillon, William Green, Rush D. Holt, John L. Lewis, Joe Ozanic, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Frank W. Snyder.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

West Virginia Labor Federation AFL-CIO Papers 5 Linear Feet Summary: 5 ft. (12 document cases, 5 in. each)

West Virginia Labor Federation, AFL-CIO
Executive council minutes and proceedings, correspondence, newspaper clippings, annual conference information and proceedings, and printed material of the state organization of the American Federation of Labor founded in 1903. Papers include congressional correspondence, 1950-1957; correspondence of President E. A. Carter, 1949-1957; a few papers of H. M. Rogers, 1905-1959, and Frank W. Snyder, 1906-1911; records of the Parkersburg Central Trades and Labor Council, 1924-1942; and a typescript copy of the minutes of the Wheeling Typographical Union.
  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

West Virginia Labor Federation AFL-CIO Records 181.2 Linear Feet 421 document cases, 5 in. each; 3 record cartons, 15 in. each; 1 flat storage box, 5 in.; 1 flat storage box, 3 in.; 3 clamshell boxes, 3 in. each; 2 unboxed ledgers, 1.09 in. each; 3 reels of microfilm, 1.75 in. each; 1 oversized folder, 0.01 in.

West Virginia Labor Federation, AFL-CIO

This collection includes the records of the West Virginia Labor Federation (WVLF), AFL-CIO as a singular organization, established in 1957, and the records of its predecessor organizations prior to their merger, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO).

Series 1 comprises records related to the West Virginia State Labor Federation, AFL's internal operation and initiatives, including presidents' files, secretary-treasurers' files, general office files, Department of Education files, and financial materials.

Series 2 comprises the records related to the West Virginia State Industrial Union Council, CIO's internal operation and initiatives, including executive secretary-treasurers' files, central office mailings, and records of the Political Action Committee.

Series 3 is reflective of the organization's operations and initiatives after the AFL-CIO merger, including files of various presidents, various secretary-treasurers, central office files, convention files, political materials, legislative files, assorted programs, and financial materials.

Series 4 is a 1978 addendum to this collection that includes additional files of the WVFL, AFL-CIO after the merger, largely featuring records of initiatives like the Political Action Committee and Women's Activities Department.

Series 5 is a 1981 addendum including mostly internal materials, like the notebooks of former organization leaders, photo albums, and copies of AFL-CIO publications.

Organizers featured prominently in the collection include Tom Cairnes, E. A. Carter, and Volney Andrews (series 1); Miles Stanley (series 3 and 5); Ben Skeen (series 1 and 3); Glen Armstrong (series 1, 3, and 5); and Pat Sleeth (series 3). WVLF initiatives featured prominently in the collection include the Committee on Political Education (series 3 and 4) and the Women's Activities Department (series 3 and 4), the Appalachian Council (series 3), the Manpower Development and Training Act (series 3), and others. There is a small amount of audiovisual material in this collection in the form of audio recordings created by the WVLF and some photographs that have been digitized for remote access. However, much of this collection is comprised of paper records, ledgers, photographs, printed correspondence, and notebooks.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

West Virginia State Industrial Union Council, CIO, Archives 21.25 Linear Feet 21 ft. 3 in. (51 document cases, 5 in. each)

West Virginia. State Industrial Union Council, CIO

The West Virginia State Industrial Union Council was formed in 1937 as the state labor federation for local unions affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations. In 1958, the WVIUC merged with the State Federation of Labor to form the West Virginia Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. Included in these two accessions are the correspondence, legal papers, reports, and printed materials of the Industrial Union Council's president's office, between 1940 and 1951.

  1. West Virginia and Regional History Center

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