The Archives of Appalachia seeks to collect those materials that document the day-to-day lives of the Appalachian people. This documentation would be incomplete without the story of work and labor in the region. What results is not the story of common or ordinary people, but rather the story of extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances.

Browse our Suggested Reading List for books of interest.

Manuscripts

American Bemberg Research Department Report
Report prepared in 1952 examines the preparation of staple fiber in the textile industry as this relates to the Bemberg plant in Elizabethton, Tenn.

Barnicle-Cadle Collection
Includes recordings (c. 1930s-50s) of works songs, coal mining songs, railroad songs, union songs, and political ballads and songs.

Broadside Television, Inc. Collection
Includes video-recorded programs on such topics as Appalachian economic conditions, coal mining, craft work, farming, foundry work, labor migration, strikes and lockouts, and trade unions.

Burton-Manning Collection
Includes recordings of work songs and oral histories related to coal mining, craft work, logging, and railroading.

Bernard H. Cantor Collection
Collection of Johnson City, Tenn. attorney and labor arbitrator includes records of arbitration awards (1959-78), Arbitration Review Board decisions (1975-78), labor contracts (1967-78). Many companies and unions are included, especially the United Mine Workers of America and the Bituminous Coal Operators' Association.

Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway Records
Includes company records related to labor agreements, regional economic development, company newsletters, accident reports, employment applications, operator manuals, payroll ledgers, and personnel records.

Coal Employment Project Records
Materials document (1977-91) the organization's operations and its activities to support women miners.

Communication Workers of America, East Tennessee Office Records
Includes minutes, correspondence, reports, grievance case files, pamphlets and posters related to the union's activities (1959- 79).

First Tennessee-Virginia Development District Records
Records of this association of local governments examine such issues as regional economic conditions and development, labor, and occupational training.

Charles Gunter, Jr. Collection
Includes oral history recordings regarding agriculture, Appalachian economic conditions, coal mining, farm life, logging, railroading, trade unions, and the woodworking industry.

International Woodworkers of America, AFL-CIO, Local 5- 313 Records
Includes records (1963-79) of contracts, negotiations, litigation, local and national union publications, minutes, correspondence, financial records, local membership records, and newsclippings.

Johnson City Foundry and Machine Works Collection
Records of this major Johnson City, Tenn. industry include material on labor relations, trade unions, industrial accidents, company employees, and the International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers, Local 727.

Kingsport Press Strike Collection
Includes correspondence, reports, pamphlets, articles, newsclippings, speeches, audio recordings, broadsides, and memorabilia documenting events surrounding the strike at Kingsport Press, 1961-67.

Mildred Kozsuch Photograph Collection
Includes photographs of construction workers and other laborers in the late 19th-early 20th centuries.

Dale K. Larkin Collection
Includes correspondence, financial documents, publications, newsclippings, and memorabilia related (1959-85) to the Communications Workers of America, its Local 10871, the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL- CIO), United Inter-Mountain Telephone Company, the Upper East Tennessee Central Labor Council, and collective bargaining.

Magnet Mills Records
The records (1916-70) of this Clinton, Tenn. hosiery mill include material related to labor relations, contract negotiations and agreements, personnel records, grievances and grievance arbitration, insurance records, publications, and newsclippings.

Marat Moore Collection
Includes audio recordings, transcriptions, and photographs of Moore's interviews (1980-86) with women coal miners. Topics discussed include mining, collective bargaining, strikes and lockouts, sexual harassment, and reminiscences of the "Ludlow (Colo.) Massacre" (1914) and the 1973-74 Brookside Mine strike in Harlan County, Ky.

Pittston Coal Company Strike Collection
Consists of a videotape recording strike activities in southwest Virginia against the Pittston Coal Company in 1989.

Jeane M. Rasmussen Papers and Photographs
Includes essays and other writings by Rasmussen on coal mining as well as photographs depicting life in the Appalachian coal fields.

Helen Raulston Papers
Films and interviews from the spring 1929 strikes at the American Bemberg and American Glanzstoff rayon plants in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

June Rostan Papers
Includes manuscript material, audio recordings, and photographs related to the Coal Employment Project, Southern Empowerment Project, coal mining, the Appalachian Alliance, Highlander Research and Education Center, the 1980 Memphis Furniture Strike, the Tennessee Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, and the United Furniture Workers of America.

Sullivan, Hawkins, Hancock Central Labor Council Records
Includes correspondence, newsletters and other publications, pamphlets, brochures, newsclippings, minutes, constitution and by-laws.

Appalachian Photographic Archive

The Appalachin Photographic Archive has photographs on the following subjects: Agriculture; Coal Mining and Mines; Logging; and Railroads.

Appalachian Publications Files

Includes the "Working in Appalachia" issue of Now & Then (Spring 1988).

Suggested Reading from Special Collections

The following is a list of selected titles relating to labor issues. For a complete listing, consult Sherrod Library Online Catalog.

Borman, Kathryn M. and Phillip J. Obermiller, eds. From Mountain to Metropolis: Appalachian Migrants in American Cities. 1994.

Conway, Mimi. Rise gonna rise: a portrait of southern textile workers. 1979.

Corbin, David. Life, work and rebellion in the coal fields: the southern West Virginia miners, 1880-1922. 1981.

Densmore, Raymond E. The Coal Miner of Appalachia. 1977.

Eller, Ronald D. Miners, Millhands, and Mountaineers: Industrialization of the Appalachian South, 1880-1930. 1982.

Finley, Joseph E. The Corrupt Kingdom: the rise and fall of the United Mine Workers. 1972.

Glen, John M. Highlander, no ordinary school, 1932- 1962. 1988.

Hevener, John W. Which side are you on?: the Harlan County coal mines, 1931-39. 1978.

Petro, Sylvester. The Kingsport Strike. 1967.

West, Don. Songs for Southern Workers: 1937 songbook of the Kentucky Workers Alliance. 1973.

Widick, B. J. Labor Today; the triumphs and failures of unionism in the United States. 1964.

Educational Media

The following videotape programs are available for 30-day loan: Come All Ye Coal Miners, Harvesting the Hardwoods: Appalachian Logging Camp Life, and Long Steel Rail: Southern Mountain Railroads.