Western Federation of Miners Collection

Collection — Box: 1

Identifier: MS-553

Staff Only

Collection Scope and Content Summary

Collection, 1901-1935, of the Western Federation of Miners, the labor union that organized both hard rock miners and smelter workers in the western United States and British Columbia. Includes microfilm copies of Western Federation of Miners constitution, executive board minutes, convention proceedings, hearings, Miners Bulletin, and weekly publications concerning the copper strike in Michigan. Also includes membership books from Local 200 in Hancock, Michigan and five handbills warning people of the strike in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, four are in foreign languages.

Dates

1901-1935

Language of Material

Description is in English, Italian, and Croatian.

Access

Available for use in the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections.

Biography

The Western Federation of Miners, which in 1916 became the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, was from its founding in 1893 to its merger into the United Steelworkers of America in 1967 the major American union in the nonferrous metals industry. The WFM was involved in many of the important labor disputes during the turbulent period from 1893-1915, including the two Cripple Creek strikes, the Leadville strike of 1896, the Coeur d'Alene labor troubles, the Goldfield, Nevada strike of 1908, and the Copper Miners' Strike in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in 1913-1914 (excerpted from "A Guide to Manuscript Collections," University of Colorado at Boulder, Archives, http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/archives/guides/manuscript2008.pdf, accessed January 2011)