Western Federation of Miners and International Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Records on Microfilm
Collection Number: 5412 mf
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
Western Federation of Miners and
International Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Records on Microfilm,
Collection Number:
5412 mf
Creator:
Western Federation of Miners
(WFM);
International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (Mine Mill)
International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (Mine Mill)
Quantity:
9 microfilm reels
Forms of Material:
Broadsides (notices), photographs,
microfilm.
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Union governance documents (constitutions and collective
agreements) and publications, correspondence, tapes of radio broadcasts, reports and
other documents regarding the history of the non-ferrous metals industry
Language:
Collection material in English
Documents collected by Professor Vernon H. Jensen for his work on the non-ferrous
metals industry. The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and its successor, the
International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW) were historically
considered the radical wing of the non-ferrous metals miners' unions.
Professor Jensen (Ph.D., Univ. of California, 1939) taught labor economics at the
University of Colorado between 1937 and 1945 and was a public panel member of the
National War Labor Board during World War II. He was appointed to the faculty of the
New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University in
1946, where he remained for the balance of his academic career. He is an authority
on collective bargaining and has written extensively on the history of labor
relations on the waterfront and in the non-ferrous metals industry. The documents in
this collection were gathered primarily for the latter project.
The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was founded in 1893 by the Butte, Montana
Miners' Union (WFM No. 1) and other Western hard rock miners' unions in Utah,
Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and South Dakota, in response to two decades of
violent opposition by various mining corporations, and the federal, state and local
governments.
An independent union until its affiliation with the American Federation of Labor in
1896, the WFM broke away from the A.F. of L. two years later, when it sponsored the
Western Labor Union. It formed part of the Industrial Workers of the World from
1905-1907, re-affiliating with the A.F. of L. in 1911, at which time it changed its
name to the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW). An early
affiliate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), it was expelled from
that organization in 1950. In 1967, the IUMMSW merged with the United Steelworkers
of America.
Consist of union governance documents (constitutions and collective agreements) and
publications. Also, correspondence, tapes of radio broadcasts, reports and other
documents regarding the history of the non-ferrous metals industry; union organizing
and strikes; the murder, imprisonment, persecution, and deportation of aliens and
striking miners; court trials of William "Big Bill" Haywood and other WFM miners
(1903-1907); rivalry between the WFM and the Industrial Workers of the World; the
secession of the Ansonia Brass Workers from the IUMMSW (1947-1948); the split
between the CIO and the IUMMSW (1947-1952); and the Butte, Montana miners rank and
file revolt (1955).
Documents regarding the history of the non-ferrous metals industry in the western
United States.
Names:
Haywood, Big Bill, 1869-1928.
Jensen, Vernon H.
Ansonia Brass Workers' Union.
Congress of Industrial Organizations (U.S.)
Industrial Workers of the World.
International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter
Workers.
Western Federation of Miners
Subjects:
Foreign workers z United States.
Nonferrous metal industries z United States.
Miners.
Copper miners.
Form and Genre Terms:
Broadsides (notices)
Photographs.
Microfilm.
Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a
reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet
and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
Western Federation of Miners and International Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers
Records on Microfilm #5412 mf. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives, Cornell University Library.
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Container
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Description
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| Reel 1 | ||
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reel #1 of 7 -- positive
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| Reel 2 | ||
|
reel #2 of 7
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| Reel 3 | ||
|
reel #3 of 7 -- positive
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| Reel 4 | ||
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reel #4 of 7 (2 copies) -- positive
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| Reel 5 | ||
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reel #5 of 7 -- positive
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| Reel 6 | ||
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reel #6 of 7 -- positive
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| Reel 7 | ||
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reel #7 of 7 (2 copies) -- negative
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| Reel 8 | ||
| Reel 9 | ||