Documenting Labor Inside and Out
Archives and Labor Records
The agreement between Ford Motor Company's Green Island Plant
and Local 930 of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of
America (UAW) dated September 15, 1987, included a provision to provide the president of Local
930 with a private office. Other unions maintain office space outside the work place. Yet
regardless of where the office is located, all unions are faced with dealing with their records--and
what happens to them when either the work place office or the outside office is outgrown
or when the officer responsible for keeping the records is voted out of office or
leaves the union. Too often in such situations, records are discarded, misplaced, go with the officer, rather
than remaining with the union, only to end up being stored in
the basement or attic of a house where they are at risk of theft and environmental hazards
such as heat, humidity, and
insect infestation. As a result, much of the labor movement is undocumented or
significant gaps exist in the records that survive.
Union records face similar risks when two or more locals merge
into one. What happens to the records of the local being absorbed by another?
They may be discarded or end up with an officer of the former local. And what about
when a plant closes and a local disbands? Although the president of UAW Local 930 was provided
with an office at the Green Island Plant, when Ford Motor Company closed that plant in the
late 1980s, Local 930's office closed as well. Its records would have been lost but for the
Capital District Labor History Project. As a result, Local 930's historical records are
now stored at an archival repository and are available for research.
An archival repository (also called an archive) is a place where
historical records can be stored and used. With secure, climate-controlled storage space,
an archive protects records from loss and environmental threats. Once the records are at
the archives, the staff processes each collection and makes sure that the records, whether
they be paper documents, video and audio tapes, photographs, three-dimensional artifacts,
or any other type of material, are properly boxed and stored to ensure their longevity.
A finding aid is also created during the processing of each collection.
The finding aid describes the records in the collection, including
the size of the collection (how many boxes are in the collection) and how
the records are organized. The finding aid also summarizes the history of the
organization, or, in the case of personal papers, includes a short biography. With
the help of an archivist and the finding aid, researchers can determine which collections
contain materials of interest to them. When collections are used at an archives the
archivist also makes sure that fragile materials are handled carefully and kept in order,
and ensures that copyright and privacy considerations are properly handled.
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