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The article presents a collection of papers that respond to an essay that compares the role of political repression in the early American labor movement and European labor movements. One paper questions the severity of political repression in the U.S. during the period in question, 1870 to 1914, and offers additional historical moments that influenced the labor movement in the U.S. Another paper discusses how the essay addresses the issue of American exceptionalism in the early American labor movement. An additional paper argues that the essay utilizes a crude conceptualization of political repression of labor movements and does not allow room for alternative explanations.

The North American Free Trade Agreement's side accord – the 1994 North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation – has been portrayed as providing an ineffective, bureaucratic procedure for dealing with labor complaints about infringements of national labor legislation. This paper reviews two decades of experience. It argues that after an initial period of formal activity, which did indeed expose the accord's severe limitations, a new era of intensified international links at grassroots level commenced. Despite its limitations, the accord initiated positive learning processes and intensified exchanges between the trade union movements in the USA, Canada and Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines the use of song-poetry as a vital element in the labor movement in the period 1865-1895. Karl Reuber is not a name scholars are likely to recall. Reuber earned his livelihood polishing furniture and pianos in Pittsburgh in the decades surrounding the Civil War. Like most working-class Americans, he did not leave behind personal papers or memoirs. He was simply one of the millions of workers who owed their survival to the nation's burgeoning industrial base. However, Reuber also joined those who repeatedly rose in protest against the abuses of the rising capitalist elite from 1865 to 1895 and who sought to check capitalist domination by joining fellow workers in a movement for collective redress. Worker gatherings featured song-poetry as a regular part of their agenda, while labor "bards" engendered considerable followings with skills of composition and declamation. The majority of these bards emerged from the ranks of the nation's burgeoning workforce, iron molders, coal miners, coopers, machinists, printers, shoemakers, bakers, railroad brakemen and engineers. This lore and song certainly deserves study in its own right. However, the greatest value of song-poetry may derive from its examination as cultural artifacts and historical documents.

The article details the preservation or accessioning of labor history records at the University Libraries' department of Special Collections and Archives. The University Libraries' department of Special Collections and Archives has been seeking labor records for its Archives of Public Affairs and Policy since 1986. These growing archives include papers of individuals and records of organizations concerned with New York State public policy issues, especially since 1950. While there are approximately 450 public- and private-sector labor unions and related organizations in this area, the survey has been expanded geographically in recognition of the New York State Department of Labor's broader definition of the "Albany District," which includes the industrial cities of Glens Fails, Gloversville, Hudson, Johnstown, Plattsburgh, and Poughkeepsie. Despite the long history of organized labor in the Capital District, there has been little serious historical scholarship on unionism in the area. The monographs and dissertations that have been produced give insight into reasons for the successes and failures of organized labor and examine unions in a few trades, but much of the labor history of the region remains unknown.

Renowned labor activist and socialist Eugene V. Debs was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he resided throughout his life except for two periods when he was incarcerated for his labor and antiwar activities. After his death, Marguerite Debs Cooper, the sole surviving family member left in Terre Haute came into possession of Eugene's and her father's private papers, including family and other correspondence. In 1962 the Eugene V. Debs Foundation had been founded with the primary goals of historic preservation of the Debs Home and its utilization as a museum open to the public. Many charter members of the Foundation were professors at Indiana State University at Terre Haute, whose campus now surrounds the Debs Home. Having faculty as members of the Foundation helped ensure from the start close and productive ties with Cunningham Memorial Library, where the Debs Collection is now located in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. The initial gift establishing the Debs Collection contained 3800 letters, 6000 speeches, 220 telegrams, 170 typescripts, 60 manuscripts, and 300 other items, including campaign memorabilia and photographs. A gift of particular significance came to the Collection through the efforts of J. Robert Constantine, a member of the university's Department of History, who for many years was Secretary of the Debs Foundation and was instrumental in the inception of the Debs Collection.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has had a long and varied industrial history out of which rose, among other things, the first labor party, U.S. President Zachary Taylor's scientific management, and labor activist William H. Sylvis' brand of modern trade unionism. Indeed, at least one labor historian has suggested that Philadelphia was the headquarters of the trade union movement in the 19th century. During the past year, the Urban Archives of Temple University at Pennsylvania, has been involved in a project to survey and acquire business and labor records relating to the city. As a result, the Archives have added several significant collections to its previous holdings. Perhaps the largest labor collection in the Urban Archives is that of the Upholsterers' International Union (UIU), covering the period from 1937 to 1976. The papers comprise approximately 175 linear feet and, while unprocessed, some sections are available for easy access. In particular, the extensive minutes of the Executive Board are a valuable source, containing the actions and correspondence of the board on every UIU resolution, dating from Sal Hoffman's election as president in 1937.

The Southern Labor Archives at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, was the second labor archive established as a result of the activities of the Association of Southern Labor Historians. This group of historians concerned about the lack of attention paid to the southern working class on the part of labor historians, developed during the 1966 meeting of the Southern Historical Association with the purpose of stimulating study of the southern trade union movement by collecting union records and presenting papers on labor history at meetings concurrent with those of the Southern Historical Association. Dr. George Green of the University of Texas (UT) at Arlington, Texas, returned home from this meeting and began a series of conversations with UT faculty and administrators, as well as Texas labor leaders. These discussions led to the creation in 1967 of the Texas Labor Archives at UT. The Southern Labor Archives is a very young repository. The Archives seeks, however, to become a major regional and national research resource by concentrating its efforts on documenting the development of the labor movement in the South.

The paper presents annual bibliography of articles on American Labor History. Some of the articles on general history are — "Collective Action, Marx's Class Theory, and the Union Movement," by D.E. Booth; "Southern Workers and Social Change: Concepts and prospects," by Michael J. Cassity; "Occupational Classification in the United States Census: 1870-1970," by Margo A. Conk; "Work in a New America," by R.M. Kanter; "Work: A Short and Critical History," by D. Whitsett and K. Lash and "Occupational Folklore and the Folklore of Working," edited by Catherine Swanson and Philip Nusbaum. Some of the articles on American labor movement are — "Racial Discrimination Against Free Blacks in Antebellum Virginia: The Case of Harry Jackson," by Raymond C. Bailey; "House Servants and Field Hands: Fragmentation in the Antebellum Slave Community," by C.W. Harper; "Indentured Servitude: The Philadelphia Market, 1771-1773," by Robert O. Heavner and "A Variety of Panaceas: The 'Social Problem' and Proposed Solutions to It in Mid-Nineteenth Century New York State," by Edward Pessen.

The article presents information on some problems of the new unionism in the U.S. The new unions have made great progress; but they must overcome a number of difficulties if they are to become an important part of the labor movement. It should be stated at the outset that new unions have achieved much in the face of great odds and obstacles. Their successful organizing of many thousands of hitherto unorganized workers is an achievement that will rank high in the permanent records of labor. This paper proposes to deal with some difficulties that they face and some problems that they must overcome if they are to become a permanent part of our economic picture and succeed in bringing the remaining unorganized workers under the banner of unionism. The new unions may be defined as those labor organizations which have been formed since the latest upsurge of unionism beginning with the N.R.A. Some of the new unions have been organized by the American Federation of Labor and have remained in that organization, though the majority have followed what is now the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Problems of the new unions in the American Federation of Labor concern mainly the federal locals.

The Ohio Historical Society, during the period 1975 to 1979, conducted the Ohio Labor History Project. The project was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ohio American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations and also enjoyed the sponsorship of the Ohio Network of American History Research Centers and the Labor Education and Research Service of the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. The purpose of the project was to locate, inventory, acquire, and preserve labor union records and the personal papers of Ohio trade unionists, as well as to conduct oral history interviews. Since 1979, the effort to preserve Ohio's labor heritage has continued as a major component of the Society's Manuscripts Department. In 1980 the Society published a bibliographic guide to the sources identified and collected by the project. This publication, "Guide to Primary Sources in Ohio Labor History," describes 207 collections housed at each of the eight network centers, eighty-seven additional collections in Ohio union offices, eighty oral history interviews, and ninety-five titles of labor-related publications.