Student reports bolster Labor Press Project

Research reports written by students are the heart of a new project making its appearance on the Center for Labor Studies Web site this month. Students in History 450 (“Class and Labor in American History”) wrote the reports that narrate the history of important newspapers and periodicals published by labor unions.

It’s all part of the Labor Press Project. “This will become an important resource for anyone interested in American labor history, Pacific Northwest history, or the story of American journalism,” said History Professor James Gregory, project coordinator.

The project brings together information about the history and ongoing influence of newspapers and periodicals published by unions, labor councils, and radical organizations. “These media have been a critical part of the American labor movement since the early 19th century and an equally critical, if largely unacknowledged, part of the history of American journalism,” Gregory said. “Today more than 100 periodicals serve the labor movement.”

The initial focus of the Labor Press Project is the history of labor media of the Pacific Northwest. The Web site provides a variety of resources including research reports, photographs, cartoons, and facsimile pages from several dozen periodicals including the Seattle Union Record, The Seattle Socialist, The IWW’s Industrial Worker, The Timber Worker, the Washington Teamster, the Philippine-American Chronicle, the Aeromechanic, the Seattle American Postal Workers News, the Third Rail (firefighters), and many others.

The site includes extensive bibliographic guides and an archive of more than 100 online historical photographs of workers and labor events compiled from the Museum of History and Industry’s collection.

Some of the periodicals continue today. There are Web links to many, including SPEEA Newsletter, Puget Sound Energy (IBEW), Voice (SEIU 925), OPEIU Journal, the Mirror (Glaziers 188), 1001 Focus (UFCW), and a link to the Western Labor Communications Association, which carries on the traditions of labor journalism.

The Labor Press Project is the third in a continuing series of Web based resources that the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies has created to explore the labor history of the Pacific Northwest. It joins the Seattle General Strike Project, and the WTO History Project, all of which can be found at the center’s Web site: http://depts.washington.edu/pcls/ >