UAW Archivist
LightNews LightNews
banner
uawarchivist.bsky.social
UAW Archivist
@uawarchivist.bsky.social
3.5K followers 150 following 250 posts
The UAW Archivist at the Walter P. Reuther Library (@reutherlibrary), the UAW's official repository. Open to the public, learn more at http://reuther.wayne.edu. Proud Wayne Academic Union member.
Posts Replies Media Videos
uawarchivist.bsky.social
This 1974 cover of @uaw.org Ammunition made me realize we are at the very end of the best season of the year here in Michigan. Enjoy those remaining fall colors while you got ‘em, folks. From the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.🍂
Cover of Ammunition magazine, with cartoon of tree with leaves and squirrels. Headline is “Autumn.”
November 18, 2025 at 3:26 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
"Space Shuttle: It's Meaning to Labor & the United Auto Workers"
Pamphlet from @uaw.org advocating NASA to develop a reusable space shuttle system and why it should be union-built. From the UAW Aerospace Dept Records at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social. 🚀👩‍🚀
Cover of "Space Shuttle: It's meaning to labor & the United Auto Workers" pamphlet, with early drawing of NASA space shuttle. Made by UAW in conjunction with North American Rockwell Space Division. "Why Space Shuttle Now" graph showing the pros and cons of "if we wait" versus "if we go ahead." From Space Shuttle: It's meaning to labor & the United Auto Workers pamphlet.
November 18, 2025 at 2:43 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Pamphlets on "right-to-work" repeal, social safety net, and raising the min. wage, from America's leading civil rights leaders. Includes MLK, Bayard Rustin, and more. Made by the A. Philip Randolph Institute, 1960s.
From @uaw.org President Walter Reuther's archive at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Pamphlets on "Repeal 14b," "Urge congress to increase and extend unemployment benefits for all workers," and "Extend the minimum wage!' from the A. Philip Randolph Institute. Contents of a pamphlet on "Repeal 14b," co-signed by James Farmer, MLK, A. Philip Randolph, and Roy Wilkins. Pamphlet on A. Philip Randolph Institute, with photo of Randolph.
November 14, 2025 at 4:29 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Agricultural implement workers from @uaw.org Local 1301 on strike. Chicago area, circa 1950s. From the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Picket line of workers from UAW-CIO Local 1301, tractor workers, holding picket signs.
November 11, 2025 at 6:43 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Pamphlet for the Brookwood Labor Players chautauqua program, a traveling show teaching about labor solidarity. Performances included plays, songs, and "novelty numbers" about labor. In fact, many early @uaw.org leaders were Brookwood alum. From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Cover for Brookwood Labor Players promotional pamphlet. Has photo of a play about labor negotiations. Inside of Brookwood Players pamphlet. Has pictures of the group painting their bus, a performance mimicking an assembly line, and a play about a company union.
November 11, 2025 at 2:26 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Bilingual newspaper from @uaw.org Local 51 as the union organized the many Polish immigrant autoworkers who had settled in the Detroit area. 1941. From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
UAW newspaper with articles in both English and Polish. Front page of The Beacon UAW local 51 newspaper. January 1941.
November 5, 2025 at 2:28 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Another reason to support @detcityfc.com? DCFC payers are unionized with USL Local 7211!
Banner at DCFC game that says "Support your ballers" and "Local #7211."
November 5, 2025 at 2:15 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Don't judge a book by its cover...Who would guess these cutesy scrapbooks contain dramatic history of the early @uaw.org? From the John Eldon Papers at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social, they're scrapbooks of news clippings about 1930s autoworker organizing. 📰🐶
archives.wayne.edu/repositories...
Three scrapbook covers. One with an image of deer, another with a black and white dog, and the other with terriers. Newspaper clipping of people demonstrating outside a Dodge Motor plant in Detroit. 1939.
November 4, 2025 at 5:02 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
"Don't Let 'Em Scare You!"👻😱🏚️
#Halloween haunted house-themed flyer from @uaw.org Local 1069, telling members about their legal rights to wear a union button with pride, no matter what their foreman threatens.
1953, from UAW Aerospace Dept Records at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social
.
mage of a haunted house and ghosts. Text reads: ""DON'T LET ‘EM SCARE YOU!” It has been called to our attention that certain foremen are again threatening or coercing or intimidating workers but demanding that they take off UAW-CIO buttons, and in the next breath, the same foremen will ask that workers nut on a PC button. And some foremen are again droning broad hints that certain workers won't be around long if they continue their support of UAM-CIO and Local 1069. Tell, we want to say this…UAW-CIO encourages all workers to wear the Badge of honor, a UAW-CIO button; and we prompt you to solicit on your own time and on company premises, all possible UAW-CIO support! As workers you are protected by the Laws of this land in this endeavor and UAW-CIO came to you to see that you enjoy these rights! And we want you to know that the moral and physical and financial resources of the whole UAW-CIO International Union are supporting you in this campaign!! A word to the wise is usually suffice"
October 31, 2025 at 4:23 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Gulliver breaks his bonds
Cartoon from 1941 issue of United Automobile Worker, newspaper of the @uaw.org. From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Giant worker breaking free from bonds of miniature people, each labeled with anti-labor interests. Such as nazi, Harry Bennett, industry, and fascist. Reference to Gulliver’s Travels.
October 30, 2025 at 6:12 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Halloween hoopla!
👻🧙‍♀️🦇October 1989 issue of The 1866 Voice, publication for @uaw.org Local 1866. From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social. 🎃🏚️🌙
October 1989 issue of The 1866 Voice. Has picture of haunted house and ghosts.
October 30, 2025 at 2:44 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Kid going all in on the 🍎 bobbing? Human-sized 🐕/surgeon? Girls terrified by something off-camera? Grim Reaper? Reaper's victim?
Tag which photo from this collage of @uaw.org Local 662's 1977 Halloween party you most identify with this Halloween! From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Photo collage of @uaw.org Local 662's 1977 Halloween party, from 1977 issue of Delco Sparks.
October 28, 2025 at 6:40 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
🎃 @uaw.org members from the Lansing Car Assembly GM plant, rocking their Halloween costumes. 1990 issue of Line Times. From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Images of autoworkers wearing costumes, featured in a union newsletter, Line Times.
October 28, 2025 at 6:07 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Sweet and sour pork recipe from the Executive Chef at the @uaw.org’s Black Lake education center. 1976 issue of Solidarity magazine, from the UAW archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Article with recipe about chef Mike Gardner from the Walter and May Reuther Family Education Center. Contains sweet and sour pork recipe.
October 27, 2025 at 8:57 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
🚗🔊Very excited to present today at Solidarity House on the history of sound cars and sound trucks used in the early decades of the @uaw.org! Lots of great content and stories from the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.📣
UAW Local 174's sound truck advertising labor candidates in Detroit city election. Local 600 sound truck. 1950s.
October 24, 2025 at 3:15 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
"Make Jobs, not war"
"Fund mass transit"
"Reagan: Robin Hood in reverse"
"Solidarity Day: Labor stands united"

Union slogans and pieces of flair on display with this @uaw.org member. Michigan, circa early 1980s. From the UAW's archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Demonstrator at UAW event holds a picket sign that reads, "UAW Make jobs, not war." He is also wearing a "Buy American, UAW" trucker hat, a striped vest with many union-themed buttons and pins, and a UAW t-shirt. Behind him are other people also holding picket signs.
October 20, 2025 at 2:31 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Workers from other factories rallying in Solidarity for GM autoworkers during the Flint Sit-down Strike. 1936/37. The Great Sit-Down Strike pamphlet, from the @uaw.org archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Workers with clubs cheering around a sound car. Caption reads, "Militant support pours in from Dodge, Kelsey-Wheel, Midland, Chrysler an from other cities." Cover for The Great Sit-Down Strike pamphlet, by William Weinstone.
October 16, 2025 at 6:42 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
🐅 Archivists have a slogan, "archives are not neutral," and in that spirit, go Tigers! Cartoon of @uaw.org President Owen Bieber with a @tigers.bsky.social proto-mascot. Letters-to-the-editor section of 1989 issue of Solidarity magazine, from the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Letter to the editor from Solidarity Magazine. 1989. Letter reads,"AD IS A WINNER While watching the Detroit Tigers play on TV, a UAW commercial was aired featuring President Bieber and assembly line workers. After the commercial, the Tigers came back to win the game. I'm not suggesting that airing the UAW ad during all Tiger games will make them pennant contenders, but its positive approach can go a long way in reshaping the public's image of unions as well as restoring UAW members' sense of pride. Chuck Kennedy UAW Local 1703 member Muskegon, Michigan"
October 10, 2025 at 2:28 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Here Are the Facts About UAW-CIO Radio Station WDET-FM
📻 Article from @uaw.org Local 174 newspaper about the radio station, @wdet.bsky.social, which the union would eventually gift to Wayne State University. 1949, from the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Newspaper article about WDET with photo of UAW staff inspecting the radio station.
October 10, 2025 at 2:04 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
@uaw.org Local 174 flying squadron armband. Circa 1939s-40s, from the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social. Vital to the UAW’s early successes, flying squadrons were groups of union members ready to mobilize and support in solidarity fellow workers on strike at other workplaces.
Blue armband for UAW local 174 flying squadron.
October 9, 2025 at 12:54 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
🤚When you doodle during that next meeting, just remember, it might end up in the archives. Outline of Ed Reno’s hand, from the @uaw.org Local 174 Records at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Pen drawling made of outline of a hand. Signed by Edward Reno.
October 8, 2025 at 7:43 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Keep on guard
Support your union safety committees
Poster made by the @uaw.org, circa late 1940s. From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
KEEP ON GUARD SUPPORT YOUR UNION SAFETY COMMITTEES SAFETY GUARDS SAFETY SHIELDS SAFETY GLASSES TOP SATEL COMPENSATION DEPARTMENT UAW-CIO
October 8, 2025 at 7:27 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Where We Stand
Booklet of adopted resolutions at the 1980 @uaw.org constitutional convention. From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.
Book cover titled, "Where We Stand."
October 6, 2025 at 3:44 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
Colorado Labor Education Collaborative
Kickoff celebration on 10/9, people in Colorado should check out!
COLORADO LABOR EDUCATION COLLABRATIVE Kickoff Celebration! The Colorado Labor Education Collaborative will be: • A model for other communities to follow • A space where the erased history of labor struggles is preserved and made accessible • A platform to highlight and support current worker organizing efforts • A place where artists support the labor movement • A community to resist attacks on labor, higher education, and immigrant communities • An opportunity for students and workers to pursue research on labor legislation and labor studies FREE FOOD AND BEVERAGES Parking is available on campus near Tivioli and in parking garage next to Tivioli PLEASE DO NOT PATRONIZE KING SOOPER'S (Div. of Kroger) EMPLOYEES ON UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICE STRIKE WIN ANT OTHER EXPLOTER UFCW LOCAL #7 IN фе At the Event: We will hear from faculty, students, workers, the Director of UCD's New Directions program, and union leaders. Department of Political Science COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER New Directions in Politics & Public Policy COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO DENVER LABOR LEADERSHIP CERTIFICATE Contact Us james.walsh@ucdenver.edu tgonzaleshyde@gmail.com 5:30 - 7:30 PM OCTOBER FIORIS+ WORKERS ORGANiZAtION ON Strike AURARIA CAMPUS STUDENT COMMONS BUILDING (ACAD) ROOM 1600
October 6, 2025 at 12:26 PM
uawarchivist.bsky.social
🎃👻In time for the month of spook-tober...Gala Halloween dance, brought to you by @uaw.org Local 3. 1941. Program from the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social. 🧛🧙‍♀️🌙
Gala Halloween dance program. With a cartoon of a skeleton in a robe in a graveyard. Held at Maxwell Casino in Detroit. November 1st, 1941.
October 3, 2025 at 8:54 PM