2005-2006 Annual Report

Date: January 1, 2007 

Name of Section/Roundtable: Labor Archives Roundtable

The mission of the Labor Archives Roundtable is to promote communication among archivists 

and institutions concerned with records in the field of labor and develops cooperative strategies 

and guidelines to ensure comprehensive documentation of the labor movement.  

Officers:  

Alan Harris Stein, 2007 Chair  

28 E Jackson Blvd #10 S31 

Chicago, IL 60604 

312/329-6175 

asteinca@earthlink.net 

Vice Chair / Chair Elect 

William Jordan Patty 

Catholic University of America 

American Catholic History 

Research Center and University Archives 

101 Lifecycle Institute 

Washington, DC 20064 

202/319-5065 

fax 202/319-6554 

pattyw [at] cua.edu 

Report from annual meeting: 

Number of attendees: 25-30 

Election results:Chair: Alan H. Stein, Vice Chair: William Jordan Patty 

Summary of meeting activities: SEE ATTACHED REPORT

 (or attach minutes or newsletter accounts) 

Membership list was circulated for corrections and additions.  

Jim Quigel held elections.  Al Stein, Chair-elect, assumed the role of Chair and Jordan 

Patty was unanimously elected Vice-Chair/Chair-elect.   

Stein spoke briefly about laborradio.org and Labor Beat's video archives, but due to time 

the A-V demo was skipped. 

Catholic University Reading Room Tour/ W. Jordan Patty, Catholic University of America 

1) processing the Msgr. George G. Higgins papers,  

2) held a lecture (named in honor of Higgins) on Labor issues 

3) provided a grant for a researcher to use the CIO  records Meeting ended with screening of “Labor’s Troubadour” documentary labor biog about the 

life and career of the late Joe Glazer (The Great Labor Arts Exchange).  

Completed projects/activities 

Labor Archives Retreat - Pam Hackbart-Dean, Southern Illinois University Special Collections 

Pam Hackbart-Dean reported on the success of the retreat. 

Ongoing projects/activities 

"How to Keep Union Records" re-publishing project - Michael Nash, New York University 

Tamiment Library

Labor mergers and archives:  

Barb Morley reported that a small subcommittee group met prior to the LAR meeting and 

that the subcommittee will need to continue plugging away at this issue outside of the SAA 

meetings.  It was suggested that the subcommittee include more LAR members:  Lauren

Kata, Mike Smith, Al Stein, Suzan Alteri and Jordan Patty agreed to be the subcommittee 

and work ongoing on this issue. 

king.   

New projects/activities 

Update Labor Archives Directory  

Walter P. Reuther Library will launch “Walter Reuther Online” to celebrate 100

th

anniversary/birthday of UAW, also, Cesar Chavez Online

Stein proposed panel on "Labor Beat: Chicago film archives and labor media for 2007  

SAA Program with LAR endorsement

A future subcommittee of the LAR may be formed to address the issue of how can  labor 

archives be more or better represented, especially at ICA meetings? The next ICA meeting 

is in Edinburgh, and then the following meeting will be in Australia. 

Diversity initiatives (no formal report)  

Note: Labor history appeals to diverse audiences, one of the keys to diversity initiative is to 

highlight the multicultural collections in labor archives, e.g. Cesar Chavez Online at the 

Walter P. Reuther Library. 

Questions/concerns for Council attention:  

In making Labor archives more visible during this conference we suggest doing an SAA 

newsletter article (or journal article)  about Labor Archives/research in Chicago in light of 

the annual conference and high concentration of labor history organizations and archives 

in the Midwest and Chicago  (e.g. Center for Working Class Studies, Illinois Labor 

History Society, Chicago History Museum). Would like to ask for assistance of Peter 

Gottlieb, liason to LAR in this underta

Supporting correspondence:  

1. Lauren Kata's notes from meeting2.  LAR-endorsed panel  

 ,

3. Correspondence with Chicago Center for Working Class Studies  

1. Lauren’s notes from the LAR meeting, SAA 2006, DC 

Agenda, SAA Labor Archives Roundtable Meeting

Wednesday, August 2, 2006, 5-7pm

Chevy Chase Room, Hilton Conference Hotel

Welcome, Lauren Kata, Georgia State University, Chair

SAA Announcements, various

Introductions - Al Stein, California State University – Fresno, Vice Chair/Chair-Elect 

•  Introductions commenced for the first part of the meeting.  Some items that folks

mentioned:

o  IALHI (International Association of Labor History Institutions)

o  University of Connecticut labor history projects

o  NYU/Tamiment Library is now venturing into archiving union websites and digitizing NY 

labor oral history interviews

o  Southern Illinois University will be collecting union records (mostly LIUNA, which 

represents SIU staff) and will digitize mine workers materials

o  Catholic University of America—Reading Room Tour; processing Msgr. George G. Higgins 

papers; Higgins lecture on Labor issues; provided grant for researcher to use the CIO record

o  ICA (International Council of Archives): efforts on how to make labor archives more visible

o  Walter P. Reuther Library will launch “Walter Reuther Online” to celebrate 100

th

anniversary/birthday of UAW, also, Cesar Chavez Online

o 

Report of LAR Projects/Update on ongoing initiatives, 2005-2006 - Lauren & others  

  *Labor Archives Retreat - Pam Hackbart-Dean, Southern Illinois University Special Collections  

Pam Hackbart-Dean reported on the success of the retreat. 

 *"How to Keep Union Records" re-publishing project - Michael Nash, New York University Tamiment 

Library 

 Michael Nash reported that the group will be meeting during SAA meeting and will be 

submitting drafts by the North American Labor History Conference in October.   Hopefully a first

draft will be ready by the end of the year.  

  * Merger Resolution for Labor Archivists - Barb Morley, Cornell University 

Barb Morley reported that a small subcommittee group met prior to the LAR meeting and 

that the subcommittee will need to continue plugging away at this issue outside of the SAA 

meetings.  It was suggested that the subcommittee include more LAR members:  Lauren Kata

Mike Smith, Al Stein, Suzan Alteri and Jordan Patty agreed to be the subcommittee and work 

ongoing on this issue. 

During this discussion, it was also suggested that a session be proposed for SAA 2007 about the 

merger issue.  Lauren, Al and Jordan will follow up.  A future subcommittee of the LAR may be formed to address the issue of how can labor archives 

be more or better represented, especially at ICA meetings? The next ICA meeting is in Edinburgh, 

and then the following meeting will be in Australia. 

  * SAA Website – Patrizia Sione, Cornell University 

Patrizia Sione, who has been serving as Webmaster since 2002, asked if anyone else would be 

willing to volunteer to take over this responsibility.  No one volunteered, so she will continue in 

this role.

New Business:  *Elections (nominations/volunteers from the floor) — facilitated by past chair 

Jim Quigel held elections.  Al Stein, Chair-elect, assumed the role of Chair and Jordan Patty was 

unanimously elected Vice-Chair/Chair-elect.  

  *ideas for sessions for 2007 SAA Meeting - Al/Lauren takes notes for follow up proposals 

Labor and film/labor media; mergers 

  *preview of next year's LAR program in Chicago  -  “Labor Beat”  (a-v demo)

Al spoke briefly about laborradio.org and Labor Beat, but due to time the A-V demo was skipped. 

  *Distribution of DC Labor History tour and Illinois Labor History Trail Map 

Handouts of local labor spots in DC were distributed. 

  *Catholic University Reading Room Tour — Jordan Patty, Catholic University of America 

Anyone interested in visiting the CUA reading room and learning more about labor collections at 

CUA is welcome to visit Saturday morning.

Special Screening: "Labor's Troubadour" (37 minutes — press release attached) 

Meeting ended with screening of “Labor’s Troubadour.” Documentary biog about the life and 

career of the late Joe Glazer.  

The mission of the Labor Archives Roundtable is to promote communication among archivists 

and institutions concerned with records in the field of labor and develops cooperative strategies 

and guidelines to ensure comprehensive documentation of the labor movement.