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The article presents several news related to various universities in the U.S. Indiana University of Pennsylvania has acquired the United Mine Workers of America District 2 Collection. The collection consists of almost 400 boxes and includes papers associated with the presidencies of John Brophy and James Mark and executive files including presidential correspondence, injunctions and other documents. The Knight Library at the University of Oregon has opened the Records of the International Woodworkers of America to researchers. The records, which span from 1936 to 1987 and till nearly 600 linear feet, consist primarily of correspondence, minutes, proceedings, negotiation files, expired contracts, legal and financial documents and officer and departmental records. In addition to the union's basic activities, such as organizing, negotiations, litigation, and strikes, the collection documents the conflict between the red bloc and white bloc forces in the union during the 1940s and 1950s. Papers from the presidency of Keith Johnson deal with Canadian softwood lumber imports, national health insurance, labor law reform, affirmative action, occupational safety and health and other issues.

The establishment of archival institutions whose primary objective is to collect and preserve the records of labor unions, labor organizations and the personal papers of labor leaders and workers is a relatively recent development in the U.S. and Canada. The National Archives and Record Administration established in 1934 has extensive public records relating to government and labor, as do a number of state archival programs. However, for the most part, up to 1950, collections relating to the labor movement were not given priority by the major archival institutions which concentrated their collecting priorities on the "white male elite" in the U.S. The 1960s witnessed a change in this emphasis, resulting in the establishment of new archival programs devoted to specialized subject areas such as immigration, social welfare, women, minorities, native American Indians, and urban America. Several international unions have established archival programs to preserve their own records, rather than placing them in an archival institution. In addition to new labor archives programs, existing archives have expanded their labor holdings since 1982.

The article lists the labor archives' holdings of the Society of American Archivists, related to the history of the trade union movement in the U.S. Information about the availability of a particular archives' holdings through national data bases is included where repositories have reported processed collections to the Research Libraries Information Network, the On-Line Computer Library Center Inc. or the National Union Catalogue of Manuscript Collections. Anne Rand Memorial Library of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union in San Francisco, California contains a modest book collection of 4,000 volumes. The California Northcoast Labor/Community Archives Project has documents of terminated labor organizations in Northwestern California, the Redwood District Council of Lumber and Sawmill Workers, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. The non-print holdings at Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research include 25 documentary films on labor.

Several international unions which have national offices in the greater Washington, D.C. area have sought assistance from the University of Maryland at College Park, the state's land grant institution, in preserving their archival records. A combination of developments also contributed significantly to the creation of a labor archives program at College Park, the formal establishment of what is now called the Historical Manuscripts and Archives Department in 1972 and the commencement of the Samuel Gompers Papers Project at the University campus in 1973. The first major archival collection to arrive at College Park was the records of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America (IUMSWA) in 1967. The archives located at College Park provide in-depth documentation on the origins of the union, its contact with civilian and military agencies during World War II, labor and race relations during the war, and the union's efforts to combat the decline of the shipbuilding industry during the late 1940s and 1950s.

The article presents information about the UE/Labor Archives (UELA), a division of the Archives of Industrial Society at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The UE/Labor Archives was established in 1975. It is the official repository for the records of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) and its geographic districts in the U.S. It is also the home for dozens of other collections about labor in Western Pennsylvania, including labor union records, corporate employment and personnel files, the records of labor attorneys, labor activists and organizations associated with the labor movement. The UE collection is also the repository for the records of all cur- rent UE districts in the U.S. The records of Districts 2, 6, 7, and 11 are open, and those of District 1 are partially opened. Two closely related collections in the UELA are the papers of Thomas Quinn, a former UE activist and current director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Mediation and Conciliation, and Margaret Darin Stasik, a former UE activist and staff member.

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin's resources on labor and working class history fall into two broad areas: (1) library collections of books, newspapers, pamphlets, and printed proceedings; and (2) archival holdings of unpublished manuscripts, public records, audio, and visual collections. The second of these two areas is the focus of this brief article. No attempt will be made to provide a comprehensive listing of the Society Archives' labor related collections. Such a descriptive listing is already available in the book "A Guide to Labor Papers in the State Historical Society of Wisconsin." Rather this is an introduction to the collection highlighting its strengths in terms of types of collections time periods, and topical areas within the field of labor and working class history. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin is located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. The Archives Division holdings are open to all researchers upon presentation of identification. Some of the labor collections have been microfilmed and may be purchased or borrowed on interlibrary loan.

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 Connecticut Labor Archives at the University of Connecticut Library in Storrs, Connecticut, is the only state-wide program to preserve historically significant records of Connecticut labor unions and individuals. The collecting policy emphasizes local unions and labor leaders within the state. The history of the labor movement in Connecticut had received little scholarly attention prior to 1980. A major reason for this neglect was that few labor records had been collected, preserved, or made available in archival repositories. The preponderance of business records among its early accessions made collection of labor sources essential in order to present a balanced perspective on economic development and industrial relations in Connecticut. The consortium includes the Labor Education Center, the Center for Oral History, and the Historical Manuscripts and Archives Division, which cooperate in sharing information and resources in order to document the work and union organizing experiences of laboring men and women in Connecticut.

The Ozarks Labor Union Archives is a multifaceted collection of primary documentary material from a number of unions in the Ozarks, primarily, at this time, from those organizations near Springfield, Missouri. It is housed in the Library Annex of the Meyer Library at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. Holdings in the Archives consist of 59 collections of primary documentary material from organizations and individuals, most of it in its original form but some microfilmed; a collection of about 150 photographs; memorabilia such as union charters, certificates of affiliation with the State Labor Council, banners, union seals and convention badges; and 18 taped interviews in an oral history project. A number of local organizations and unions have donated extensive holdings relating to their history and operations, including, the Springfield Central Labor Council, Service Employees Local, Laborers Local, Bakers Local, Moving Picture Machine Operators Local, and Garment Workers Local. While the oldest document in the Archives is a membership ledger of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers dated February 1871, most of the early records have been lost. The bulk of the collections date from the late 1930s.