Photographic negatives and prints, 1938-[ca. 1989]. 1940s-1950s (bulk).

ArchivalResource

International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. District 65. Photographic negatives and prints, 1938-[ca. 1989]. 1940s-1950s (bulk).

Photographic negatives and prints, 1938-[ca. 1989]. 1940s-1950s (bulk).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/477248910

The collection is composed of some 30,000 original black and white photonegatives, 3,670 archival duplicate negatives (and 3,670 matching master interpositives), and approximately 25,000 black and white prints. A great strength of the collection is the large portion of the collection shot by the union's Camera Club. The Club functioned as the photo staff for the union's biweekly newspaper--variously titled Union Voice, New Voices, RWDSU Record. The intent of the newspaper and the Camera Club was to document all of the activities of the Union and its members, partly to help build the organization. Because the photo staff was made up of rank and filers like their subjects, they were able to capture intimate views of fellow members: organizing in shops, being harrassed on picket lines, participating in sit-ins, relaxing at home with their families, and dancing at holiday parties, etc. Unlike most labor newpaper photograph collections, which are largely limited to formal shots of the leadership and to important meetings (at least in part because other unions had smaller, less skilled photo staffs), this collection documents the everyday life of the union and its working class members. The depth of the collection (i.e., treatment of the same subject over a considerable period of time) also offers researchers a unique opportunity. For example, shots of membership meetings at a corrugated cardboard manufacturing shop in Brooklyn could be examined over a fifteen year period for information about changing membership and participation. Although the leadership is represented, the photonegatives show the diversity of the membership (including Jewish, black, Irish, Hispanic and women members) and in turn, the importance of the rank and file to this democratic union. The collection provides strong documentation in the following subject areas: political demonstrations (for most left and liberal causes of the time) -- in particular, civil rights actions including the national leaders of the 1960's, shop picket lines, strikes, union and shop meetings, portraits of rank and file workers, interiors of worksites, recreational activities of all kinds including dances and sports competition, and convention coverage. Also included are images of prominent left-wing and liberal politicians, entertainers, and celebrities, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Belafonte, Martin Luther King, Paul Robeson, Vito Marcantonio, and Henry Wallace. Most of the prints are unprocessed (although container lists are available for portions of this part of the collection). The negatives from the Camera Club have been processed and are arranged by individual item number. There is intellectual access to this portion of the collection through a searchable computer database that includes dates, subjects, and caption information for nearly every individual image, and has reports available in chronological order as well as arranged by subject and newspaper features (such as "Inquiring Photographer", "Capsule Biographies", etc.).

50 linear feet.

Churchill County Museum