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Type: Papers Dates: 1886-1953 Size: 18 manuscript boxes and 37 volumes ID#: 89 |
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HEFA.02.update
Scope & Contents
The Labor History Archives of Wayne State University Purchased this collection from Mrs. Agnes Wieck, widow of Edward Wieck, in February 1964. Contributing to the purchase price was the Institute of Labor and Industrial Studies of Wayne State University and the University of Michigan.
The Wieck Collection contains many original documents relating to the early attempts to unionize the coal mining industry. Among these papers are circulars, memberships lists and letters of the Knights of Labor and the Progressive Mineworkers of America. The bulk of the collection is concerned with the coal mining industry and the history of miners’ unions. This includes clippings, interviews, correspondence, proceedings and other materials. Items relating to T.L. Lewis, John Mitchell and John L. Lewis make up part of this mining material.
In addition to the coal mining material there are items on union activity in the automobile, steel and other industries. There is also extensive material on government agencies in the labor field.
Edward Wieck was born in Staunton, Illinois on October 15, 1884. After receiving his education in the public schools of Staunton, Wieck went to work in the coal mines of Illinois at the age of 19. He was employed as a miner in Illinois and the Far West until 1928, except for two short periods. From 1905 to 1906 Wieck served as a mine payroll and billing clerk. One year, 1915 to 1916, was spent as assistant secretary-treasurer of District 12 (Illinois) of the United Mine Workers of America. Wieck held the position of secretary-manager of the Illinois Coal Sales Association from 1928 to 1930. This group was a state wide organization for the promotion of the sale of Illinois mined coal.
From the time he became a miner, Wieck was active in miners’ unions. He served as pit committeeman and held offices in locals of the United Mine Workers of America. Wieck attended several district and international conventions of theUnited Mine Workers as a delegate. In 1925 John L. Lewis named Wieck as an official guide and interpreter for a party of German mine union officials visiting the United States.
In January of 1934 Wieck was appointed Research Associate in the Department of Industrial Studies of the Russell Sage Foundation. While with the Sage Foundation, Wieck compiled many reports on labor and industry, particularly in the field of coal mining. In 1948 the Department of Industrial Studies was disbanded and Wieck retired.
coal mining industry,
history of coal miners’ unions,
automobile unions,
steel industry unions,
governmental labor agencies
Louis Brandeis T.L. Lewis
James B. Carey Robert M. Lovett
Samuel Gompers H.L. Mencken
Max Lerner Theodore Roosevelt
John L. Lewis Oswald Garrison Villard
To Series 1: Container 1-3 Original Union Materials
Handbills, correspondence, Proceedings, etc., relating to the early miners’ unions and the Knights of Labor. Also minutes of the UMWA Executive Board and Dodge Main Plant Work Council.
To Series 2: Container 4-7 Reports and Articles by Wieck
Published works by Wieck and reports prepared for the Sage Foundation. Arranged alphabetically by title.
Writings by Wieck include:
“Bloody Williamson County,” The Nation (January 3, 1923)
“A Coal Miner’s Journal,” Atlantic Monthly (July, 1924)
“Gambling with Miners’ Lives,” The New Republic (April 15, 1925)
“General Alexander Bradley,” American Mercury (May, 1926)
The Miner’s Union in the Steel Industry (1934)
The Automobile Workers under the NRA (1935)
The Rubber Workers under the NRA (1936)
The Steel Workers under the NRA (1936)
The American Miners’ Association (1940)
Preventing Fatal Explosions in Coal Mines (1942)
To Series 3: Container 7-9 Office Files
A wide variety of material including correspondence, AFL and CIO convention reports, labor conditions in various industries and governmental action in the labor field. Arranged alphabetically.
To Series 4: Container 10 Auto Industry and UAW:
Correspondence, interviews, minutes, reports, etc. Including extensive material on sit down strikes of 1937. Arranged alphabetically by subject or correspondent. Steel Industry and Steel Workers’ Unions: Notes on Steel Workers’ Organizing Committee and steel production.
To Series 5: Container 11-18 Mining:
Correspondence, clippings, reports, noted interviews, etc. on coal mining and coal miners’ unions. Includes UMWA convention material, history of miners’ unions. Arranged alphabetically by subject or correspondent.
Accidents in Mines 11:1
AFL 7:1-5
American Coal Miners’ Union 13:11-13
American Miners’ Association 11:2-8, 12:1-3
Auto Industry 10:1-3
Bradley, Alexander 12:7
Brown, Joe (correspondence) 10:4
Carey, James B. (correspondence) 7:8
Coal field maps 2:1
Farrington, Frank 13:8
Ford Motor Company 10:7
Hosiery Industry 7:16
International Moulders’ Union 10:13
Knights of Labor 2:2-6, 15:1-3
Larkin, James (correspondence) 8:1
Leighton, George (correspondence) 8:2
Lewis, John L. 15:5-9
Locomotive Engineers 8:3
Marshall, General George 8:6
Mencken, H.L. (correspondence) 8:8
Midgley, Wilson (correspondence) 8:10
Pinkowski, Edward (correspondence) 16:7
Pritchard, Paul (correspondence) 16:11
Progressive Mineworkers of America 5:2
Sage Foundation 9:3-4, 9:19
Steel Workers 5:6, 10:15-19
Strikes 8:19, 9:6-7 and 18
Sward, Keith (correspondence) 10:12
Textile Industry 9:13
United Mineworkers of America 2:11-15, 3:1 , 13:2-6, 17:5-6
Villard, Oswald (correspondence) 7:8
Wage controls 6:1, 9:15, 17:7-8, 18:1-4
Woman’s suffrage 9:20
WWII labor conditions 7:22