Labor Legacy Web Site
Explores Western Pennsylvania
PITTSBURGH
The raw materials of UE history in western Pennsylvania are now online.
An extensive and still growing sample of the collections of the UE/Labor Archives including documents, photos and
buttons may be viewed at the Labor Legacy Web Site, www.library.pitt.edu/labor_legacy
(note: all links in this story open in a new window).
The UE Archives at the University of Pittsburgh has expanded to include the papers of a number of Pittsburgh area unions
since its founding in 1975. The Labor Legacy Web Site began three years ago as a special project of the Archives, designed to map the
historical terrain of the labor movement in western Pennsylvania. The national union and District Six are among the labor organizations
whose contributions have made this project a reality.
LABOR WEB SECTIONS
An innovative databank section
contains a web-accessible storehouse of historical information on the officers, organizers and charter dates of western Pennsylvania
unions, including UE locals. Data on existing minute books and union newspapers is also included. At present information is available on
more than 500 local and regional labor organizations.
Scanned document sets
provide researchers and the general public online access. Examples are an original 1927 report of the Bethlehem Steel Coal and Iron Police
from Washington County; original Coroners Inquest Files for those killed in the Battle of Homestead (1892); and a complete, original
photo album of the 1914 strike at Union Switch and Signal.
A chronological section, Labor
Through the Years, assists users in obtaining a sense of the unfolding historical development by making use of scanned materials
from the Archives current collections. Included, for example, are photos from the Great Railroad Strike of 1877; information on Margaret
Darin, a founding member of UE Local 601; the 1946 GE and Westinghouse strikes; and the Cold War attacks on UE.
The Union Profiles section
showcases specific unions and organizations. Information on specific key labor figures or union meeting places and celebratory gatherings
is found in the People, Places, Commemorations
section.
"The UE in Pennsylvania" is a
special feature of the Labor Legacy Web Site and contains extensive documentation.
The Labor Legacy Web Site was constructed by University of Pittsburgh student John Montoya under the direction of
UE Archivist Dr. David L. Rosenberg. For more information, contact Rosenberg at uelab@pitt.edu
or call 412-244-7067.
