The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
CredoResearch digital collections in Credo

Collecting area: Labor

Communist Party of Massachusetts

Communist Party of Massachusetts Collection

1932-1957
1 box 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 538

A branch of the Communist Party of the United States of America, the Communist Party of Massachusetts enjoyed strong popularity during the 1930s and 1940s, organizing the textile and other manufacturing industries.

This small collection is comprised of a miscellaneous assemblage of fliers, broadsides, and ephemera issued by the Communist Party of Massachusetts and its affiliates from the mid-1930s through the repression of the McCarthy era. Originating mostly from Boston, the items in the collection center on significant themes in Communist thought, including opposition to Fascism and militarism, labor solidarity against capital, and elections. A small number of items relate to Party-approved cultural productions, including plays and gatherings to celebrate Lenin or the Russian Revolution. Many items are associated with Otis A. Hood, a perpetual candidate for public office on the Communist Party ticket who became a target for McCarthy-era repression in the mid-1950s.

Acquired from Eugene Povirk, 2008

Subjects

Antiwar movements--MassachusettsCommunists--MassachusettsElections--MassachusettsWorld War, 1939-1945

Contributors

Communist Party of Massachusetts

Types of material

BroadsidesFliers
Coons, Martha

Martha Coons Collection

1978-1985
1 box 1.08 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1221

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Martha Coons was a political and labor activist in the Boston area. She was a shop steward in the District 65 Clerical Workers Union, which was a subdivision of the United Automobile Workers Union, at Boston University for two years. Prior to and proceeding through that time, from 1979-1983, she was an activist within the Boston chapter of the New America Movement (NAM). The New America Movement was a socialist political advocacy organization with a focus on feminism, racial equality, and environmental rights. This ended with their merger with the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, another somewhat less radical socialist organization.

The Martha Coons Collection provides insight into the two major factors of her activism. The District 65 part of the collection showcases the inner workings of the labor union in the 1980s, as well as provides examples of grievances that were filed during a string of layoffs at Boston University. The New America Movement documents not only provide information about the meetings and ideals of the organization as well as its workings, but also some of the obscure history of the time around the NAM’s merger with the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee, and the Boston chapter’s large role in the opposition of said merger.

Subjects

Labor unions--Massachusetts--BostonSocialism

Contributors

Coons, MarthaInternational Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America. District 65New American Movement (Organization)

Types of material

MemorandumsNotes (documents)Publications (documents)
Deary, Tom

Tom Deary Papers

ca. 1970-2006
9 boxes 12.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 526
Depiction of Tom Deary (right) at meeting of New England Labor News
Tom Deary (right) at meeting of New England Labor News

Tom Deary was an union organizer for the IUE, serving on the executive board of Local 201 at the GE Plant in Lynn, Massachusetts. Involved in the 1969-1970 strike, Deary joined the IUE staff in 1971 and served for 30 years as an organizer, negotiator, and strike leader in the northeast and southern states. Frequently at odds with union careerists, he built a small labor newspaper in the 1980s into one with a regional focus, New England Labor News and Commentary.

The Deary papers include organizer reports, correspondence, IUE election campaign literature, and oral histories and videotapes. Letters, financial records, and business plans document Deary’s establishment of a regional labor newspaper, the New England Labor News and Commentary.

Gift of Marge Deary, June 2007

Subjects

Labor unions--New EnglandLabor unions--Organizing--United States--History--20th centuryLabor unions--United States--Officials and employees--History--20th century

Contributors

Deary, Tom
Fall River Loom Fixers’ Association

Fall River Loom-Fixers' Association Records

1895-1917
2 boxes 1 linear feet
Call no.: MS 003

Members of the Fall River Loom Fixers Association included some of the most skilled workers in the New England textile industry. The association, on behalf of its members, sought to improve poor working conditions, to provide assistance for members affected by pay reductions or layoffs, and to intervene in conflicts between members and management. The union also served a social function, organizing parades, social gatherings, and excursions. In the 1910s it became affiliated with the United Textile Workers for America.

Records of the Loom Fixers Association include executive committee minutes (1900-1901 and 1911-1917), a treasurer’s book (1901-1905), and six dues books (1895-1907).

Subjects

Labor unions--MassachusettsTextile workers--Labor unions--Massachusetts
Fitzpatrick, Ken

Ken Fitzpatrick Collection

ca.1980-2010
3 boxes 3 linear feet
Call no.: MS 773

Ken Fitzpatrick was long time organizer and official of the American Postal Workers Union, serving as President of Local 497 and Secretary and Treasurer for the American Postal Workers Union of Massachusetts before his retirement in about 2010.

The Fitzpatrick collection includes a selection of posters, hats, and ephemera related to the APWU.

Gift of Ken Fitzpatrick, Mar. 2013

Subjects

American Postal Workers UnionLabor unions--MassachusettsPostal workers--Labor unions

Types of material

EphemeraRealia
Fletcher, Bill, Jr.

Bill Fletcher, Jr., Papers

1968-2016
9 boxes 11.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 1212

An activist and advocate for social and racial justice since he was a teenager, Bill Fletcher, Jr., born in New York in 1954, graduated from Harvard, and went to work as a welder in a Massachusetts shipyard. He soon became active in the labor movement, as a worker, an organizer, and a union staff member, and in electoral campaigns. Fletcher became a union staff person in Boston in 1986 with District 65-United Auto Workers.  In 1990, he and his family moved to Washington, D.C. where he held a series of positions with the National Postal Mail Handlers Union, the Service Employees International Union, and the national AFL-CIO. He has also held positions with the George Meany Center for Labor Studies/National Labor College and with TransAfrica Forum, for which he served as president and CEO. Fletcher is author of “They’re Bankrupting Us!” And Twenty Other Myths About Unions; he is coauthor of The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1941 and Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Toward Social Justice. He has also published two murder/mystery novels, The Man Who Fell From the Sky and The Man Who Changed Colors.  He serves on the editorial board of BlackCommentator.com and has contributed to numerous publications. As a writer, scholar, speaker, and activist, as well as an organizational consultant and a mentor, Fletcher continues his advocacy work. He lives with his wife, Candice, in Maryland.

The Bill Fletcher, Jr., Papers document the activities and interests of a lifelong radical and includes speeches, correspondence, material on the Black Radical Congress, and materials from an array of left-wing organizations. In addition to materials directly connected to Fletcher’s work, there are also pamphlets and other publications that he collected.

Gift of Bill Fletcher, Jr.

Subjects

Black Radical CongressLabor movementLabor unionsRaceRacism

Types of material

CorrespondenceDrafts (documents)MemorabiliaPamphletsPeriodicalsSpeechesWritings (documents)
Friedman, Alice H. (Alice Howell)

Alice Howell Friedman Papers

ca. 1967-2014
1 box 1.5 linear feet
Call no.: FS 169

Alice Howell Friedman, a professor in the School of Nursing from 1967 until her retirement in 1984, was a strong advocate for the professionalization of nursing, and an activist for unionization and equitable compensation for nurses. Friedman arrived during a period of rapid growth for the School of Nursing and her push to broaden the educational content of nursing students played a significant role in the further growth and success of the program. This approach is exemplified in the International Experiences program she founded. After retirement, Friedman remained very involved in the field of nursing and, among many significant activities, focused on the history of nursing, becoming a tireless lay-archivist, forming the Nursing Archives at Boston University and developing the School of Nursing collections at UMass Amherst.

The Alice Howell Friedman papers document Friedman’s time as an Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at UMass and her work as a labor activist, including lecture notes, publications, correspondence, clippings, and biographical materials.

Subjects

University of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. School of Nursing
Friedman, Harvey

Harvey Friedman Papers

1922-1992
3.75 linear feet
Call no.: FS 004

Born in June 1922, Harvey Friedman attended Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and enrolled in the Boston University School of Law in 1941. After serving as a non-commissioned officer with an Army medical unit in France from 1942-1946, Friedman returned home to Massachusetts and became a member of the bar in 1948. For the next fifteen years, he was the Assistant New England Director for the Amalgamated Clothing Worker Union, AFL-CIO. After refusing the position several times, Friedman accepted an offer from the University of Massachusetts Amherst to become Assistant Director of the Labor Relations and Research Center in 1965, earning promotion to Director in 1970. During his tenure at UMass, Friedman taught classes in Political Science, Legal Studies, Government, and Education. He retired from UMass in 1990 and passed away in 1992.

The Friedman Papers contain correspondence, newsclippings, and course materials dating from Friedman’s time at UMass. Also included are materials related to unions with which Friedman worked and documentation of his relationship with the American Arbitration Association.

Subjects

University of Massachusetts Amherst--FacultyUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst. Labor Relations and Research Center

Contributors

Friedman, Harvey
Granite Cutters International Association of America

Granite Cutters' International Association of America Records

1877-1978
27 boxes 19.5 linear feet
Call no.: MS 004

Organized in Rockland, Maine in March 1877 as the Granite Cutters’ National Union, the association later adopted its present name in 1905. The trade union clearly had a strong sense of their identity and purpose claiming for itself “the jurisdiction over cutting, carving, dressing, sawing, and setting all granite and hard stone on which granite cutters tools are used,” and further claiming that “no other other trade, craft or calling has any right or jurisdiction over” the these activities.

Records include National Union Committee minutebooks from 1886-1954, monthly circulars, membership registers, and 100 years of the union’s official publication, the Granite Cutters’ Journal.

Subjects

Labor unions--New EnglandStone-cutters--Labor unions

Contributors

Granite Cutters' International Association of America

Types of material

Minute books
Granite Cutters International Association of America. Tool Sharpeners Local 1

GCIAA Tool Sharpeners Local 1 Records

1898-1941
0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 005

The Tool Sharpeners Local 1 of Granite Cutters International Association of America was established in Quincy, Mass., in 1896. The local represented the interests of one of the skilled trades within the Grant Cutters, which claimed for itself “jurisdiction over cutting, carving, dressing, sawing, and setting all granite and hard stone on which granite cutters tools are used,” and further claiming that “no other other trade, craft or calling has any right or jurisdiction over” the these activities.

The minutebooks contain records of membership meetings of the Toolsharpeners Local 1 of the Granite Cutters’ International Association. Spartan documents, these include notice of the election of officers, summaries of business, and occasional brief notes on grievances, communications with other locals, and new and departing members.

Subjects

Labor unions--MassachusettsStone-cutters--Labor unions--Massachusetts

Contributors

Granite Cutters' International Association of America

Types of material

Minute books