Kheel Center Digital Collections Guide: On DigitalCollections@ILR

This section contains miscellaneous digital collections from our DigitalCollections@ILR portal including Marshall (Mike) Westfall Writings, Herrin Massacre investigation proceedings, Globalization and the Workplace, Archived Donor Websites, and Trade Union Publications.

Marshall (Mike) Westfall Writings (1964-1994) - This collection includes articles by retired autoworker, Mike Westfall, from General Motors in Flint, Michigan. Westfall was an activist critic of the auto industry restructuring that led to devastating job losses. The writings originally appeared in a variety of online resources and represent a sampling of his post-retirement thought on issues pertaining to auto workers and the industry including corporate restructuring, worker exploitation, globalization, imports, and retirees.

Trade Union Publications: The Official Journals, Convention Proceedings, and Constitutions of International Unions and Federations, 1850-1941, by Lloyd G. Reynolds and Charles C. Killingsworth – “Trade Union Publications” by Reynolds and Killingsworth is a 3-volume index of major labor union publications. It provides a subject index to the vast literature of the American union movement from its birth to World War II. Volume 1 is a bibliographic essay which offers a brief chronology of the history of each union covered and an authoritative bibliography of its convention proceedings, constitutions, and journal titles. For major unions, substantive critiques of their publications are also offered; these critiques may include commentary on the political point of view of the publication editors or descriptions of internal politics reflected in publications. Volumes 2 and 3 present a subject index to the actual publications of 53 trade unions and federations arranged by industry.

Herrin Massacre investigation proceedings - The so-called Herrin Massacre took place on June 22, 1922, in Herrin, Illinois, during a strike called by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). At the end of a gun battle between strikebreakers, company guards, and striking miners, a group of men who had surrendered to the strikers were assaulted, followed as they were fleeing, and murdered. In the end, nineteen men were dead. UMWA president John Lewis denied responsibility for the attack, and local courts acquitted the miners who had been indicted for the murders. However, the State of Illinois established an investigating committee to ascertain the facts. The proceedings lasted from April 4 to May 19, 1923. Due to degradation and loss of the microfilm copy, only excerpts are available. Each file consists of approximately 100 digitized images of microfilm text.

Archived Donor Web Sites – This collection includes websites created by Kheel Center donors or related to Kheel Center collections, many preserved every 6 months. These websites feature campaigns, essays, reports, photographs, poetry, and videos. They are created by organizations including UNITE HERE; Rochester and Vicinity Labor Council; United Transportation, and the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, Transportation workers; 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East; Sidney Hillman Foundation; Interfaith Worker Justice; Jobs With Justice; National Academy of Arbitrators; and the National Employment Law Project. An additional focus is on websites documenting workers and working conditions in China including China Labor Watch, China Labour Bulletin, Workers’ Poetry Alliance, Peppercorn Tribe Jian Jiao, and Talk About Labor Rights. Some of these sites are in Chinese.

Globalization and the Workplace - This collection documents the effects of globalization on workers and communities particularly in the areas of working conditions, compensation, labor relations, and social movements. Documented organizations include the Clean Clothes Campaign, China Labor Watch, the Fair Labor Association, Anti-Slavery International, the International Labor Rights Forum, Verite, the Worker Rights Consortium, Comite Fronterizo de Obreras, the International Labour Organization, Sweatfree Communities, Sweatshop Watch, plus individuals investigating and documenting workers and employers around the world.