Title: Oral History Interviews of the Janesville Bicentennial Labor Oral History Project
Inclusive Dates: 1976-1977

Creator:

• Janesville Bicentennial Labor Oral History Project

Call Number: Tape 684A

Quantity: 33 tape recordings

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Tape-recorded interviews conducted by Clem Imhoff for the Janesville Bicentennial Committee with twelve Janesville, Wisconsin, men active in the local labor movement, primarily in the 1920s through 1940s. The men belonged to the firefighters, teamsters, and the auto, rubber, electrical, and textile workers unions and worked at the Parker Pen Company, Rock River Woolen Mills, Fisher Auto Body Plant, General Motors plant, Samson Tractor Company, and Fairbanks, Morse and Company in Beloit. Their interviews discuss the formation of the Janesville labor movement, union organizing there, their union experiences, their ethnic, religious, political, and family backgrounds, and the roles of women and Blacks in the workplace and the unions. Other topics are also explored in some of the interviews. The Gerald Litney, Eugene Osmond, and John Scott interviews contain details on working for railroads. Scott also talks about his experiences as a youthful hobo during the Depression. The Hugo Preuss interview discusses Germans as an ethnic group in Janesville. And Glenn Swinbank describes his youth in New Diggings, Wisconsin.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-tape00684a

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In 1975, the Janesville Bicentennial Committee received a federal matching grant for a labor oral history project. One of 43 projects selected from 256 applications received by the Wisconsin American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, this project's goal was to document the development of Janesville's labor movement and to gather related information on the interviewees' ethnic, religious, political, and family backgrounds.

The interviews were conducted by historian Clem Imhoff with twelve Janesville men active in locals of the firefighters, teamsters, and the auto, rubber, electrical, and textile workers unions, primarily in the 1920s through 1940s.

The paragraphs below summarize the main topics of each interview. The content descriptions which follow are in alphabetical order by interviewee; each is an abstract providing details on the topics and indicating the times when the topics are discussed. Though the tapes are numbered Reels 1-34, there is no Reel 26.

Lou Adkins was born in Indianapolis in 1899. He came to Janesville with his father in 1920 to work at Samson Tractor Company, but spent most of his working years at the Fisher Body plant. Adkins was one of the original organizers for Local 95 of the United Auto Workers. He served on Local 95's shop committee and as president of a joint Local 95-Local 121 union during World War II. His tapes include recollections of the earliest UAW organizing activity at the Fisher plant.

Don Dooley was born in Janesville in 1909. From 1927 to 1969 he worked for Fisher Auto Body spending much of that time in the paint department. Dooley joined the United Auto Workers in 1935 and held several offices including the presidency of Local 95. His tapes include much information concerning work at Fisher, especially in the paint department, and the early development of Local 95.

Ralph Hilkin was born near Dubuque, Iowa. He moved to Janesville circa 1930 to work at Fisher Auto Body where he became an early member of UAW Local 95. After World War II he joined the Janesville Fire Department and played a key role in transforming the Firefighters Association into an effective labor organization. His tapes contain information on his youth, his early years at Fisher, and his service with the fire department, especially concerning Firefighters Local 580.

Harry Johnson was born in Sparta, Wisconsin, in 1897. He moved to Janesville in 1923 to work at Chevrolet and was apparently the first UAW member in the plant. He served as financial secretary of Local 121 during its formative years. His tapes concern early work experiences at Chevrolet, work with the General Motors World's Fair exhibit in 1933, and early membership of Local 121.

James V. (Jack) Johnston was born in Chicago in 1906. The family moved to Fontana, Wisconsin in 1907. He worked primarily with Fisher Auto Body from 1923 to 1964, holding a variety of jobs. An early member of UAW Local 95, he served as vice-president during the union's formative years. His tapes contain information on a variety of work experiences at Fisher, the early development of Local 95, and the 1937 sitdown at Fisher and Chevrolet.

Gerald H. Litney, born in Janesville in 1900, was an employee of the Rock River Woolen Mills during the 1920s and '30s. Litney played a key role in organizing a local of the Textile Workers Union of America at Rock River Woolen. In 1939 he moved to Chicago and a position on the staff of the TWUA. His tapes contain information on the nature of work at the Rock River Woolen Mills, the organization of the TWUA local there, the role of women workers in the Mills, his work with black textile workers in Chicago, his family background, and his and his father's experiences while working for railroads.

Eugene Osmond was born in Janesville in 1908 and worked for forty years at the Chevrolet plant. One of the earliest members of the United Auto Workers at Chevrolet, he served as a trustee and a frequent member of the bargaining committee and devoted much time and energy to the recruitment of new members. His tapes contain information on the nature of work at Chevrolet, the formation of UAW Local 121, and the 1937 sitdown at the Chevrolet plant. He also discusses his father's work in railroad unions.

Hugo Preuss was born in Janesville in 1903. From 1919 he worked as an electrician in the Janesville area, including a stint with the electrical contractors for the General Motors plant constructed circa 1923. Preuss was an early member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 890. His tapes contain information on the nature of early electrical work and the development of the IBEW in the Janesville area, as well as details on Germans as an ethnic group in Janesville.

John S. Scott, Sr., was born in Coweta, Oklahoma, and moved to Janesville from Chicago in 1948. A long-time employee of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, in 1961 he became one of the first black employees for General Motors in Janesville. His tapes include much information on being black in Oklahoma, at Fisher, and in Janesville; on his railroad work; and on his experiences as a youthful hobo during the depression.

Glenn Swinbank was born in New Diggings, Wisconsin, in 1907 and came to Janesville to work at Chevrolet in 1928. He served as recording secretary of UAW Local 121 during the 1930s. His tapes contain information on his youth in New Diggings, his work at Chevrolet, and the formation of Local 121.

John Wesley Van Horn moved with his family to Janesville in 1920 from his birthplace in Boulder, Colorado. He worked with Fisher Auto Body, primarily on the trim line, from 1926 to 1947. He joined the UAW in 1933 and served as president of Local 95 from 1935 to 1938 and again after World War II. He left Fisher to work for Fairbank-Morse in Beloit. His tapes contain information on the nature of work at Fisher and on the early organization of Local 95. He also discusses the 1937 UAW convention.

James Wells was born in Janesville, although he spent much of his youth in Colorado where his father worked as an electrician. Wells went to work for Parker Pen in the early war years. He became active in union affairs at Parker and played a key role in shifting that local from an AFL federal local to membership in the United Rubber Workers. His tapes also contain information on the development of the Teamsters in Janesville during the 1930s. Other topics include the attitude of the Catholic Church toward unions, women as workers at Parker Pen, and the Rock County Democratic Party.

Use Restrictions

See deed of gift for transfer of rights; release forms are in the oral history release file.

Acquisition Information

Presented by the Janesville Bicentennial Committee via George Hickey, Chairman, June 7, 1977. Accession Number: M77-198

Processing Information

Processed by Karen Baumann, February 21, 1978.

	Series: Lou Adkins Note: 805 Sherman Ave., Janesville
	Session I, August 17, 1976
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:20	Introduction
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   0:21 to 4:10	Family background--L. A. and father came to Janesville together to work at Samson Tractor--work at Rock Island Arsenal
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   4:11 to 5:36	Family political background--L. A. shifted from Republican to Democrat--little concern for religion
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   5:37 to 7:57	Recollections of youth in Indianapolis--no early knowledge of unions
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   7:58 to 12:08	Work at GM plant in St. Louis, became familiar with UAW there--speed-up--influence of Jack Livingston, president of St. Louis local--others from Janesville who worked in St. Louis
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   12:09 to 18:39	Origins of UAW in Janesville--small meeting at Lien's service station--Francis Dillon as organizer--speed-up and seniority as L. A.'s concerns--problems with hiring procedures, Jack Smack's drinking buddies
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   18:40 to 21:40	Little class awareness--uncle as president of musician's union in Indianapolis, possible influence on L. A
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   21:41 to 22:55	Experience at Rock Island arsenal
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   22:56 to 26:36	Working at Samson Tractor--Samson recruited L. A. and other workers--lathe operator
Reel/Side   15/1-A Time   26:37 to 29:37	Work at Chevrolet as a tack spitter--no problem adjusting to assembly line
Reel/Side   15/1-B Time   0:00 to 1:52	Lifelong work in cushion department at Fisher, “just a job”
Reel/Side   15/1-B Time   1:53 to 5:49	Survival as key, no limit to demands for work--line speed related to paint drying--no concern for quality
Reel/Side   15/1-B Time   5:50 to 7:40	Foreman hollering at workers
Reel/Side   15/1-B Time   7:41 to 10:26	Fellow workers in cushion department, origins
Reel/Side   15/1-B Time   10:27 to 15:27	L. A. laid off at Chevrolet, hired back at Fisher--militancy in the cushion department--firings to discourage union membership
Reel/Side   15/1-B Time   15:28 to 19:38	Diverse work force in cushion department--L. A. as first chairman of shop committee--security of union activists due to legal protection
Reel/Side   15/1-B Time   19:39 to 22:05	Piece work system, eventually negotiated out--variety of pay systems
Reel/Side   15/1-B Time   22:06 to 26:56	Role of the foreman--survival for the individual--need to restrain GM--foremen as prostitutes--constant efforts to get more work out of the workers
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   0:11 to 3:40	GM's use of the time study department, an unethical outfit to L. A.--the strike out system
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   3:41 to 5:16	No relief or breaks--“taking care of yourself”
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   5:17 to 8:53	Recollections of plant managers--Hurley as crooked and ruthless--Harry Randall curing the Depression
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   8:54 to 11:04	Early recollections of unionism
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   11:04 to 14:24	Comments concerning capitalism--politics--voted against Al Smith out of prejudice--little reaction to Bill Green
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   14:25 to 17:00	Little social interaction with other workers prior to the organization of the union--no lodge affiliations
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   17:01 to 19:40	Family responsibilities--early experience with hospital--good experience concerning an overdue coal bill
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   19:41 to 21:36	Early development of the UAW in Janesville--pressure on those reluctant to join
Reel/Side   15/2-A Time   21:37 to 28:42	First general meeting--more on the meeting at Lien's service station--Waldo Luchsinger's role--from St. Louis to the first general meeting--Dillon's role
Reel/Side   15/2-B Time   0:00 to 4:30	Industrial union problem--union members with protection against arbitrary firing--legal basis for organizing
Reel/Side   15/2-B Time   4:31 to 14:11	Further comments on first general meeting--cooperation of Oliver Riches and the Central Labor Union--no election or minutes from first meeting--those at the first meeting--management as unethical, GM personnel man, Jack Cronin, later agreed with L. A. on that--constant fear of retaliation
Reel/Side   15/2-B Time   14:12 to 16:37	Approaching workers about union membership--union members from the cushion department
Reel/Side   15/2-B Time   16:38 to 19:42	Motives of early organizers--assertion that the company formed the union through its unfairness--Cronin's remarks on GM's unethical practices--company people always fighting for bonuses
Reel/Side   15/2-B Time   19:43 to 22:07	Early union members as mature, experienced workers, nothing else in common
Reel/Side   15/2-B Time   22:08 to 25:43	Wife's reaction to L. A.'s union activities--people who thought company could do no wrong--workers got nothing from GM voluntarily, except for Charlie Wilson offering a cost of living escalator
	Session II, August 31, 1976
Reel/Side   18/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   18/1-A Time   0:16 to 3:56	Location of the Lien Garage, site of first meeting--Al Lien as a progressive--pressuring reluctant members
Reel/Side   18/1-A Time   3:57 to 9:19	GM use of Pinkertons in oiler jobs--finding Herb Lilla's Pinkerton records--L. A. never threatened with firing, GM possibly fearful of discrimination suit
Reel/Side   18/1-A Time   9:20 to 14:40	GM's grievance procedure, sabotaged by L. A. and Carl Nelson as members of the company's grievance committee--other members as “softies”
Reel/Side   18/1-A Time   14:41 to 19:19	Clayton Orcutt as employment manager--Dennis Hurley as manager on Fisher, “lamp post”--meetings with Hurley and department supervisors
Reel/Side   18/1-A Time   19:20 to 26:20	Community reaction against UAW--Gazette as anti-union, fear of GM move--Henry Traxler compared to Nathan Feinsinger
Reel/Side   18/1-A Time   26:21 to 29:35	Recollections of Chief of Police Ford and Sheriff Croake--no support from religious leaders--help from other Janesville labor unions
Reel/Side   18/1-B Time   0:00 to 2:10	Building trades weak in Janesville--UAW problem with members moonlighting in competition with building trades people
Reel/Side   18/1-B Time   2:11 to 8:19	Sources of information on union--conferences--trial and error--the plant “grape vine”--no printing in early years
Reel/Side   18/1-B Time   8:20 to 10:10	Assistance from unions in other Wisconsin cities
Reel/Side   18/1-B Time   10:11 to 12:30	More on living with uncle in Indianapolis--uncle ran proofs for the printer of union journals
Reel/Side   18/1-B Time   12:31 to 14:50	L. A.'s reaction to free enterprise capitalism
Reel/Side   18/1-B Time   14:51 to 17:10	Communists in Janesville, very few, opposed by local union members--Emil Costello as a communist
Reel/Side   18/1-B Time   17:11 to 20:45	Necessity to organize on a local level--AFL did adequate organizing work, no financial assistance from AFL
Reel/Side   18/1-B Time   20:46 to 24:05	Transition from AFL to CIO at Fisher--factions in Local 95, supporters of each faction--people on whom L. A. relied--confrontation with Wes Van Horn and the Martin faction in Local 95
Reel/Side   18/1-B Time   24:06 to 27:48	Effort to expel L. A.--alleged outside influence on Wes Van Horn, Local 95 president, to attempt expulsion of L. A., Local 95 treasurer
Reel/Side   18/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   18/2-A Time   0:11 to 6:50	Meeting to attempt ouster of L. A. from Local 95--L. A. accused of fostering CIO--influence of Jack Livingston from St. Louis--reaction of other Local 95 leaders
Reel/Side   18/2-A Time   6:51 to 11:02	L. A.'s knowledge of national UAW leaders--R. J. Thomas, George Addes, Homer Martin--further comments on factionalism, leadership squabble--organizing efforts picked up after L. A.'s trial
Reel/Side   18/2-A Time   11:03 to 16:41	Body shop and cushion departments most receptive to union, trim and paint departments less so--experienced workers as backbone of union--younger workers less interested--L. A.'s role in the militant cushion department
Reel/Side   18/2-A Time   16:42 to 22:22	Farmer-workers as too busy for the union--religious and ethnic factors not important--no limit to management demands on workers--reluctant unionists, fear
Reel/Side   18/2-A Time   22:23 to 26:38	Members usually joined individually, especially in early years--Chevrolet harder to organize than Fisher--Gazette worked on Elmer Yenney as a “foreigner”
Reel/Side   18/2-A Time   26:39 to 28:49	L. A. originally declined nominations for office, didn't seek office in union
Reel/Side   18/2-B Time   0:00 to 2:10	Early dissatisfaction with officers, 1934--Straus Ellis effort to dissolve union, L. A. protested--Ellis became foreman next day
Reel/Side   18/2-B Time   2:11 to 4:16	L. A.'s role in the early union years--seniority as primary goal
Reel/Side   18/2-B Time   4:17 to 8:42	Recruiting new members, talked to anyone, careful who was watching--more on conflict with Straus Ellis
Reel/Side   18/2-B Time   8:43 to 14:31	The sitdown strike of 1937--planning--only Yenney and Van Horn knew specifics--decision to strike made locally--aware of sitdown in Atlanta--decision made generally by membership vote--GM's attitude as key
Reel/Side   18/2-B Time   14:32 to 20:12	Events of Jan. 5, 1937, sitdown day in Janesville--L. A. and foreman fought over switch--whistle blowing as signal--broke down door when cafeteria was closed and locked--Fisher men went through holes in wall to help on Chevrolet side
Reel/Side   18/2-B Time   20:13 to 25:23	Company reaction, manager Hurley--meeting in City Manager Traxler's office--Traxler announced settlement near midnight--assurances that plant closing would be enforced from Chief Ford and Sheriff Croake
Reel/Side   18/2-B Time   25:24 to 26:39	International focused on Flint, little concern for Janesville--riding train club car with Governor Frank Murphy of Michigan who negotiated Flint settlement
	Session III, September 14, 1976
Reel/Side   21/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   21/1-A Time   0:16 to 2:00	Further comments on the talk with Governor Frank Murphy between Detroit and Washington
Reel/Side   21/1-A Time   2:01 to 5:11	Transition from AFL to CIO--relations with Jack Livingston--Homer Martin too religious for L. A.--attitude toward John L. Lewis
Reel/Side   21/1-A Time   5:12 to 8:57	Further comments on transition--Locals 121 and 95 joined CIO together--John L. Lewis as an idol for L. A.
Reel/Side   21/1-A Time   8:58 to 14:03	The GM Alliance--fear of company leaving Janesville--Alliance people as “weak”--buttons
Reel/Side   21/1-A Time   14:04 to 18:22	Trips to Detroit to deal with grievances--dealt with GM directly--Gabe Jewell as UAW's GM representative
Reel/Side   21/1-A Time   18:23 to 20:03	Jack Cronin as GM personnel manager--121 had to deal with Norm Ellis, Chevrolet more anti-union
Reel/Side   21/1-A Time   20:04 to 27:12	Ringling Circus incident--picket against Ringling--elephant stampede--caravans from Racine and Kenosha to assist 95 and 121
Reel/Side   21/1-A Time   27:12 to 28:30	L. A. in Detroit at time of Rouge River
Reel/Side   21/1-B Time   0:00 to 5:55	L. A. as chairman of shop committee--seniority as basic goal--Fisher personnel managers rotated often--Tom Jeffries--Clayton Orcutt
Reel/Side   21/1-B Time   5:56 to 7:16	Further comments on seniority
Reel/Side   21/1-B Time   7:17 to 12:37	Negotiating local issues--committeemen determined objectives--occasional written suggestions from bulletin board
Reel/Side   21/1-B Time   12:38 to 15:58	Confidence in the union in the early days--speed-up as continuing problem--time standards as strikeable issues
Reel/Side   21/1-B Time   15:59 to 18:15	Wildcat strikes in 1937, “the building of the union”--two non-union women thrown out of cushion department
Reel/Side   21/1-B Time   18:16 to 22:21	95 and 121 as a joint local during World War II, L. A. as president--problems during the War--Oldsmobile more receptive to unions
Reel/Side   21/1-B Time   22:22 to 23:02	Difference between Fisher and Chevrolet, Norm Ellis as key
Reel/Side   21/1-B Time   23:03 to 26:13	No discussion of continuing joint local--problem with rotating shift, L. A. supported seniority--problems in foundry
Reel/Side   21/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   21/2-A Time   0:11 to 2:45	Manager Downey as a pusher during the War, use of patriotic themes--L. A.'s reaction
Reel/Side   21/2-A Time   2:46 to 5:26	Recollection of 1945-46 strike--L. A. on Top Negotiating Committee--Walter Reuther as committee chairman
Reel/Side   21/2-A Time   5:27'to 8:32	Decision to take on GM--appraisal of strike--smoking in the plant as an issue, permitted during War--unity in strike
Reel/Side   21/2-A Time   8:33 to 11:18	Recollection of Blue Jenkins, L. A. serviced plant where Jenkins worked--Jenkins never discussed employment of black workers in Janesville with L. A.
Reel/Side   21/2-A Time   11:19 to 13:34	War Labor Board--smoking and three week vacation as issues
	Series: Don Dooley Note: 2134 Mole Avenue, Janesville	⇧
	Session I, July 13, 1976
Reel/Side   8/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:25	Introduction
Reel/Side   8/1-A Time   0:26 to 3:10	Family background--grandparents of Irish descent--father worked with the Chicago and Northwestern R. R.--family with Janesville background
Reel/Side   8/1-A Time   3:11 to 5:53	Father was a member of locomotive engineers union, Chicago lodge--dedicated union man
Reel/Side   8/1-A Time   5:54 to 8:10	Parents as Democrats--Al Smith as a favorite political leader
Reel/Side   8/1-A Time   8:11 to 10:25	Religious backgrounds--mother more committed than father
Reel/Side   8/1-A Time   10:27 to 18:44	Parents' residences in Janesville--D. D.'s school experience--“secure childhood”--Grant elementary school--neighborhood friends, including Nick Luchsinger
Reel/Side   8/1-A Time   18:45 to 20:27	Work experience before Fisher Body--lingerie factory--C & NW
Reel/Side   8/1-A Time   20:28 to 25:18	Getting a job at Fisher--becoming used to the assembly line--“mankilling jobs”--meaning of “factory broke”
Reel/Side   8/1-A Time   25:19 to 28:55	Drudgerous work, D. D. often wanted to quit--changing jobs helped--D. D. joined union to improve his life's work
Reel/Side   8/1-B Time   0:00 to 4:29	Working conditions in paint department--relations with foremen--lack of breaks--“shystering a job”
Reel/Side   8/1-B Time   4:30 to 7:12	Background of Fisher work force--many from northern Wisconsin--absence of black workers--some workers from Arkansas later
Reel/Side   8/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:12	Introduction
Reel/Side   8/2-A Time   0:13 to 4:08	Relationship with foremen prior to 1937--superintendent rough--plant manager
Reel/Side   8/2-A Time   4:09 to 12:00	Attitudes toward capitalism, bitterness--experience with relief--blamed Hoover and Republicans--questioned system--desperate--class consciousness in 1932, union as a means of striking back
Reel/Side   8/2-A Time   12:01 to 15:23	Reaction toward national figures--supported La Follettes--John L. Lewis as a hero--critical of AF of L
Reel/Side   8/2-A Time   15:24 to 17:14	Dooley social life included Les Fay and Abe Shumacher, later fellow union leaders--church not a center of social activity
Reel/Side   8/2-A Time   17:15 to 21:37	Decision to join union--not a member of earliest cadre--earliest recollections, hard to break through union secrecy
Reel/Side   8/2-A Time   21:38 to 24:08	Very careful about union talk in plant--D. D. worked across from Les Fay--working conditions in paint spray booth, work before and after shift began
Reel/Side   8/2-A Time   24:09 to 27:00	Seniority as most crucial need--need to break influence of foremen in rehiring
Reel/Side   8/2-A Time   27:01 to 28:41	D. D.'s union membership--lapsed for a period prior to 1937 when he perceived that GM had beaten the union
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   0:00 to 3:30	D. D. first joined Federal Local 19324--it was ineffective--awareness of craft v. industrial unionism
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   3:31 to 7:03	Brief period of inactivity--reaction to Homer Martin of UAW-AFL--craft and industrial unionism at Fisher
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   7:04 to 10:20	Union leaders in paint spraying department--Les Fay--anti-union workers--age no factor
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   10:21 to 12:35	Experience as the key to unionism, more experienced as more militant--workers from rural areas harder to organize--ethnic or religious background made no difference
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   12:36 to 14:08	Three factions regarding unionism, their relative strength
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   14:09 to 17:37	Janesville citizens largely hostile to the union--criticism from the business community--use of terms “communistic” and “radical” and “crazy”
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   17:38 to 21:06	D. D. knew of no communists in Janesville then--recollection of local political leaders--Henry Traxler as anti-union
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   21:07 to 24:07	Churches and the union, little interaction--D. D. knew about Rerum Novarum, the papal encyclical supporting labor unions, but he did not learn about it through church, even though he is Catholic
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   24:08 to 27:10	Individual and group decisions to join the union--discharges for union activities
Reel/Side   8/2-B Time   27:11 to 31:18	Aborted strike of paperhangers in 1935--friend fired--other, similar wildcat strikes
	Session II, July 20, 1976
Reel/Side   10/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:20	Introduction
Reel/Side   10/1-A Time   0:21 to 2:58	Recollection of the Civic and Industrial Council, management-oriented group
Reel/Side   10/1-A Time   2:59 to 6:37	The union and the Janesville Gazette--no coverage of union--information to members by word of mouth--fear of arrest for handing out leaflets
Reel/Side   10/1-A Time   6:38 to 8:13	The union and the police--no union publications
Reel/Side   10/1-A Time   8:14 to 9:48	Company spy system
Reel/Side   10/1-A Time   9:49 to 12:59	“Rumble” for a long time--the trim and cushion departments
Reel/Side   10/1-A Time   13:00 to 19:42	Work pressure--union meetings, recitation of problems--working conditions in 1936, no fans, heat a problem--union membership and finances--membership grew in 1936
Reel/Side   10/1-A Time   19:43 to 28:03	Leadership of UAW Local 95--Wes Van Horn--headliner group as militant--Straus Ellis, took care of himself--Waldo Luchsinger--Les Fay, leader in paint department--department as important factor in union membership, also rural-urban factor
Reel/Side   10/1-A Time   28:04 to 29:24	GM as the real organizer
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   0:00 to 2:20	D. D.'s recruiting efforts, risky--D. D. determined to force improvements
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   2:21 to 3:35	UAW international communication with local leaders--need for secrecy
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   3:36 to 7:46	Development of factionalism in Local 95--Luchsinger and Ellis as “go slow” faction--tension between Van Horn and Lou Adkins--D. D. closer to Van Horn
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   7:47 to 12:12	Meetings as source of encouragement--taverns as meeting places, especially Beyer's Tavern under union meeting hall
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   12:13 to 16:25	Unaware of lodge connections--planning for the sitdown strike, handful involved--Adkins, Van Horn, Fay, Jack Johnston--decision to sit down as local--small membership then--some departments strong, some weak
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   16:26 to 17:26	Company union--formation of GM Alliance
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   17:27 to 21:35	D. D. and the sitdown--made decision to sitdown earlier, told wife--walking up and down lines during the sitdown--marching around, no sitting during early stages
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   21:36 to 26:31	Further recollections of sitdown, Jan. 5, 1937--lines shut down rapidly--fear for jobs--many waited to see
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   26:32 to 28:32	Participation in march around plant as test of support for sitdown--reaction of foremen
Reel/Side   10/1-B Time   28:33 to 29:33	Emotions of strikers--D. D.'s commitment
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:12	Introduction
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   0:13 to 3:05	Moods of workers during the sitdown--belligerency--slurs toward non-strikers--determination
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   3:06 to 5:12	No physical violence--reaction of city officials--agreement to evacuate plant--meeting at union hall
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   5:13 to 6:33	No concern about legality of sitdown
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   6:34 to 11:48	Community reaction to strike--little sympathy, frequent remarks against strike--little concern for public opinion
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   11:49 to 14:19	Recollection of the GM Alliance--attempts to break up Alliance meetings
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   14:20 to 15:45	After the sitdown, celebration--rumors around town
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   15:46 to 19:56	Wife's attitude toward sitdown and union--her attitudes softened eventually
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   19:57 to 21:12	Activities in Janesville during strike
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   21:13 to 22:28	Newspaper handling of the 1937 strike--no other sources of news
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   22:29 to 27:29	Incidents during the strike--skirmishes--“forceful persuasion”--Alliance buttons--Clyde Arihood--leaders did not discourage skirmishes
Reel/Side   10/2-A Time   27:30 to 29:10	After the strike in the plant, steward system
Reel/Side   10/2-B Time   0:00 to 4:05	Membership increases--wildcat strike, almost every day, centered in trim and cushion departments
Reel/Side   10/2-B Time   4:06 to 6:36	Situation in the body shop, tough superintendent--D. D. lost contact in 1938, daughter ill
Reel/Side   10/2-B Time   6:37 to 9:55	D. D.'s experience as shop steward--no grievance procedure then
Reel/Side   10/2-B Time   9:56 to 15:06	Stable leadership after sitdown--leadership in Local 95 after the strike
Reel/Side   10/2-B Time   15:07 to 18:00	D. D.'s experience as committeeman
Reel/Side   10/2-B Time   18:01 to 24:45	Union involvement in local politics--D. D. ran for city council--Abe Shumacher ran for school board--many union members not living in Janesville--role of the local press--Waldo Luchsinger on city council--importance of union involvement in politics
	Session III, July 27, 1976
Reel/Side   11/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:20	Introduction
Reel/Side   11/1-A Time   0:21 to 4:05	D. D.'s work during World War II--Buick motor assembly in Melrose Park, Illinois--problem with unequal pay
Reel/Side   11/1-A Time   4:06 to 6:16	Return to Janesville to make shells, workers hired back from seniority lists
Reel/Side   11/1-A Time   6:17 to 10:42	D. D.'s return to union activities, vice president during war years
Reel/Side   11/1-A Time   10:43 to 14:37	The UAW strike against GM in 1945-46, called during period of conversion from making shells to autos--small work force then
Reel/Side   11/1-A Time   14:37 to 15:27	D. D.'s reaction to Walter Reuther
Reel/Side   11/1-A Time   15:28 to 17:20	Labor-management relations no better after the war--smoking privilige from government during the war
Reel/Side   11/1-A Time   17:21 to 23136	Reasons for striking GM in 1945-46--D. D.'s attitude toward 1946 contract--no regrets about 1945-46 strike
Reel/Side   11/1-A Time   23:37 to 30:42	Good coordination between Locals 95 and 121--D. D.'s support for amalgamation--maintaining soup kitchen, help from local merchants--skirmishes in 1946--problem with building contractor crossing picket lines
Reel/Side   11/1-B Time   0:00 to 3:20	Support from members during 1945-46 strike, even those out of work--survival during long strike
Reel/Side   11/1-B Time   3:21 to 8:10	D. D. as Local 95 president--election to establish union shop at Fisher, hands-off company reaction
Reel/Side   11/1-B Time   8:10 to 13:35	Persistent problems during D. D.'s term--no opposition--satisfaction from service
Reel/Side   11/1-B Time   13:36 to 20:26	Problems at beginning of the second shift--no communications between shifts--efforts to amalgamate 95 and 121
Reel/Side   11/1-B Time   20:27 to 23:37	Only factionalism related to second shift problems--1952 as crucial year--D. D.'s efforts to diminish factionalism
Reel/Side   11/1-B Time   23:38 to 26:38	D. D.'s efforts to maintain consensus, togetherness--relied on Les Fay for advice--Abe Shumacher as financial secretary
Reel/Side   11/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   11/2-A Time   0:11 to 3:40	Others on whom D. D. relied, Bruce Warren, Jack Johnston, Lou Adkins--need for united leadership--relationship with Lou Adkins
Reel/Side   11/2-A Time   3:41 to 6:55	Stepping down as president--need for young leadership
Reel/Side   11/2-A Time   6:56 to 9:10	Business operation of Local 95, office help--role of the financial secretary
Reel/Side   11/2-A Time   9:10 to 16:35	Survey of Local 95 leadership--information on John Goetzinger, Dick Halford, Les Fay, Jack Johnston, Stan Gregory
Reel/Side   11/2-A Time   16:36 to 24:56	Information on Lou Adkins, Charles Rosenthal, Wes Van Horn, Abe Shumacher, Cleo Keele
Reel/Side   11/2-A Time   24:57 to 29:32	Information on Walt Trachsel, Bruce Warren, Don Fraser
	Series: Ralph Hilkin Note: 407 Caroline Street, Janesville	⇧
	Session I, June 17, 1976
Reel/Side   3/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:25	Introduction
Reel/Side   3/1-A Time   0:26 to 12:40	Family background, near Dubuque, Iowa--Mosalem township--brothers and sisters--home at St. Catherine's, Iowa--high school education--farm in the hills--Catholic family--Democrats
Reel/Side   3/1-A Time   12:41 to 15:50	Newspapers as source of information--Dubuque newspapers--family reaction to Al Smith as presidential candidate
Reel/Side   3/1-A Time   15:51 to 19:05	FDR as first political hero--Mosalem reacted against Prohibition, home brews
Reel/Side   3/1-A Time   19:06 to 23:30	Characteristics of Mosalem township--R. H.'s uncle as shrewd politician--cheating at polls--size of family
Reel/Side   3/1-A Time   23:31 to 29:20	Farming as hard work--mother as dominant influence, particularly on education--occupations of brothers and sisters
Reel/Side   3/1-B Time   0:00 to 5:38	Recollection of elementary school, parochial school--teaching of German dropped--Franciscan nuns--Dubuque as “little Rome”--getting out of school to plow
Reel/Side   3/1-B Time   5:39 to 9:58	Mother's insistence on high school education--father's attitude less favorable to education, workers needed on farm
Reel/Side   3/1-B Time   9:59 to 14:49	Uncle as political influence on R. H.--interest in history--office work as alternative to farming
Reel/Side   3/1-B Time   14:50 to 16:12	Labor movement not mentioned in schools--uncle in railroad strike
Reel/Side   3/1-B Time   16:13 to 24:58	Little recollection of class awareness--older than most high school students--social studies teacher who later defected to Germany--little support for Germany during WW I--friends and associates in high school
Reel/Side   3/1-B Time   24:59 to 26:34	Good teachers, bookkeeping teacher--comments on women teachers
Reel/Side   3/1-B Time   26:35 to 27:55	Work experience prior to Janesville
Reel/Side   3/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   3/2-A Time   0:11 to 4:05	Influence of brother Joe who came to Janesville before Ralph--first day at Fisher
Reel/Side   3/2-A Time   4:06 to 8:06	R. H. joined UAW at Fisher--lay off in 1934--further comments on getting the job at Fisher--Bill Lee in the employment office--relatively easy for R. H.
Reel/Side   3/2-A Time   8:07 to 10:35	First job for R. H. on the assembly line--then to the seat framing department
Reel/Side   3/2-A Time   10:36 to 12:44	Brother Joe coming to Janesville--first drove for Bennison and Lane Bakery
Reel/Side   3/2-A Time   12:45 to 17:25	Adjusting to the assembly line, need for money--prior attitudes about labor unions--cooperative back home--joining the union
Reel/Side   3/2-A Time   17:26 to 28:41	The speed-up at Fisher Body, the primary grievance--line speed uneven--the piece work system, another major grievance
Reel/Side   3/2-B Time   0:00 to 4:50	Development of R. H.'s interest in the union, related to speed-up--Myron Rothman as a radical influence on R. H.
Reel/Side   3/2-B Time   4:51 to 15:16	The seat framing department, twelve men--located on cushion sub-assembly line--Lou Adkins there--bosses and foremen--tough cushion department supervisor--hard work--response to request for help, time study man from Detroit
Reel/Side   3/2-B Time   15:17 to 18:07	Lou Adkins as a spokesman for the group--leadership
Reel/Side   3/2-B Time   18:08 to 26:23	Anti-union workers in cushion department--Nick Luchsinger as outspoken unionist--Waldo Luchsinger--cushion department as center of union activity, due to workers located there--diverse group
Reel/Side   3/2-B Time   26:24 to 30:06	Body shop as another center of unionism--hard work in the body shop--Straus Ellis unwelcome in body shop--nature of body shop work, one third of workers there
Reel/Side   3/2-B Time   30:07 to 33:52	Company union--anti-union workers held no distinctive traits, except for their anti-unionism
	Session II, June 24, 1976
Reel/Side   5/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:18	Introduction
Reel/Side   5/1-A Time   0:19 to 4:59	Company reaction to union activities--company union and publication--harassment related to production
Reel/Side   5/1-A Time   5:00 to 11:40	Company union called the GM Alliance--harassment of Alliance workers, few in cushion department--cushion department leaders--closely-knit department, most employees there as experienced
Reel/Side   5/1-A Time   11:41 to 21:16	More experienced workers as union leaders--new workers hard to educate, not yet disenchanted with hard work--education of new workers
Reel/Side   5/1-A Time   21:17 to 28:07	School for Workers in Janesville--ride alongs, good followers
Reel/Side   5/1-B Time   0:00 to 2:30	More on School for Workers--R. H.'s aspiration to be a union leader
Reel/Side   5/1-B Time   2:31 to 10:55	Union meetings sparsely attended--Hilkins social life--bars on weekends--a few close friends
Reel/Side   5/1-B Time   10:56 to 14:10	Hilkin social group all Democrats--a couple of Republicans at work--sitdowners in seat framing group
Reel/Side   5/1-B Time   14:11 to 15:'30	No recollection of company spy system
Reel/Side   5/1-B Time   15:31 to, 20:19	Italian-American workers as unionists, most were first generation immigrants, Chicago
Reel/Side   5/1-B Time   20:20 to 23:38	Community reaction to labor unions negative--rush for door during sitdown--guard who got a handful of tacks in the face
Reel/Side   5/1-B Time   23:39 to 31:47	Janesville political leaders and unions--Henry Traxler and the sitdown agreement--no difficulty reconciling religion and union--hostility from merchants, fear of losing money
Reel/Side   5/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   5/2-A Time   0:11 to 6:20	AFL-CIO split caused bitter feelings--Wes Van Horn favored AFL, Lou Adkins favored CIO--cushion department center of CIO support--R. H. attitude toward John L. Lewis
Reel/Side   5/2-A Time   6:21 to 10:55	Industrial unionism--support for CIO--respect for Homer Martin
Reel/Side   5/2-A Time   10:56 to 12:50	Muncie strike in 1935 caused layoff
Reel/Side   5/2-A Time   12:51 to 15:40	Planning for sitdown strike, rank and file not involved--awareness of impending strike
Reel/Side   5/2-A Time   15:41 to 20:35	R. H. did not know until the actual day--had decided beforehand to strike--brother Joe also sat down, although wife opposed
Reel/Side   5/2-A Time   20:36 to 24:50	Most sitdowners were family men--many workers went on welfare
Reel/Side   5/2-A Time   24:51 to 28:18	Further comments on sitdown--role of foremen
Reel/Side   5/2-B Time   0:00 to 5:45	Meeting with city officials in clock room--the press--rally at union hall--importance of pep talks--relatively few sitdowners
Reel/Side   5/2-B Time   5:46 to 14:08	Sitdown as short--workers in quiet, enthusiastic mood--little violence--no special steps by union to avoid violence
Reel/Side   5/2-B Time   14:10 to 20:28	Mediating role of Henry Traxler--sitdown designed to bring pressure to bear--“probably a few divorces resulted”
Reel/Side   5/2-B Time   20:29 to 28:55	R. H. returned to family home in Iowa during the strike--no support for strikers in Janesville--support from R. H.'s family--many strikers left Janesville for their hometowns during those weeks--Markham in personnel--farmer-workers less likely to be involved with union--better workers as union workers
	Session III, July 8, 1976
Reel/Side   7/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:20	Introduction
Reel/Side   7/1-A Time   0:21 to 2:55	Joining the Janesville Fire Department--desire for job security
Reel/Side   7/1-A Time   2:56 to 6:26	Beginning job as a hoseman--work schedule--seasonal nature of firefighter's work
Reel/Side   7/1-A Time   6:27 to 12:42	The working day off, Kelly day--from the 84 hour week to the 56 hour week--wages not comparable to GM
Reel/Side   7/1-A Time   12:43 to 19:51	Early grievances on fire department--extra chores for the city, such as flooding the ice skating ponds--charter members of the Firefighters Union--Chief Andreske
Reel/Side   7/1-A Time   19:52 to 22:18	The captains and the union--labor-management line not rigidly drawn in fire department
Reel/Side   7/1-A Time   22:19 to 24:24	R. H. had no problem getting into department
Reel/Side   7/1-A Time   24:25 to 32:15	Early formation of Local 580 of the Firefighters Union--role of Casey Brothers, suspended for striking in the 1920s--need for good followers--Dennis Casey as militant--Chief Murphy and the union
Reel/Side   7/1-B Time   0:00 to 2:05	Dennis Casey as a source of information for R. H.--importance of extra tasks
Reel/Side   7/1-B Time   2:06 to 7:15	Twenty-five cent pay increase in 1950--nepotism and the Murphy family in the department--Con Murphy
Reel/Side   7/1-B Time   7:16 to 10:06	Kearney brothers, charter members--drill sessions and “school”--knowing streets and fireboxes
Reel/Side   7/1-B Time   10:07 to 15:52	Fred Youngblood--negotiated leisure time on Saturday afternoon--holidays--reaction against nepotism
Reel/Side   7/1-B Time   15:53 to 23:00	Harassment related to retirement--pension system--no social security--firemen and the Wisconsin Retirement Fund
Reel/Side   7/1-B Time   23:01 to 30:19	Firemen had no right to organize until the 1960s--city bargained out of courtesy--mediation--fact finding--Local 580 as “illegal” labor organization--story about the secretary of the Wisconsin League of Municipalities
Reel/Side   7/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   7/2-A Time   0:16 to 2:20	Fire department in 1946--members more daring, but shrewder
Reel/Side   7/2-A Time   2:21 to 539	Changes in nature of fires during R. H.'s career--changes in masks--“going in”
Reel/Side   7/2-A Time   5:40 to 8:05	Hazards of fire fighting--“getting lost”--fear of getting lost
Reel/Side   7/2-A Time   8:06 to 12:00	Tight-knit group--cliques--older men as a clique--union presidency passed around
Reel/Side   7/2-A Time   12:01 to 18:26	State conventions, first one for R. H. in 1949--leg work on pension fund--need for same delegates to attend annually--problem getting convention money--Ed Wellnitz
Reel/Side   7/2-A Time   18:27 to 19:45	Wisconsin Paid Firefighters formed in 1920s for lobbying--unions developed from the W. P. F.
Reel/Side   7/2-A Time   19:46 to 30:44	Janesville sent representatives to W. P. F. conventions--no time off for conventions--union matters talked at conventions--pay and fringe benefits--improvement in Janesville--Chief Alex Andreske's role
Reel/Side   7/2-B Time   0:00 to 1:55	Fire department vacation plan
Reel/Side   7/2-B Time   1:56 to 5:31	School for Workers--preparation for bargaining, role playing
Reel/Side   7/2-B Time   5:32 to 12:05	Further comments on the School for Workers--Mayor Lustig as a bargainer
Reel/Side   7/2-B Time   12:06 to 19:36	Influence of the School for Workers--contact with other firefighters--conventions, need to “make all the groups”--Royal Taylor and the Beloit firefighters--Taylor and Reuben LaFave--influencing legislators--Gaylord Nelson
Reel/Side   7/2-B Time   19:37 to 21:27	Local legislators helpful to firefighters--Lewis Mitness
Reel/Side   7/2-B Time   21:28 to 25:58	Enthusiasm generated by School for Workers--relationship with Gaylord Nelson--Janesville area legislators, Peter Carr and Senator Swan
Reel/Side   7/2-B Time   25:59 to 33:20	Learning from predecessors in the fire department--running a meeting--getting clothing allowances
	Session IV, July 15, 1976
Reel/Side   9/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   9/1-A Time   0:16 to 5:52	Clothing allowances--turnout clothing--shirts--required to wear tie--finally, shoes--80%-20% agreement
Reel/Side   9/1-A Time   5:53 to 11:21	R. H. as president of Local 580--union background--need for initiative--previous president, Merrit Brown, lacked initiative and expertise
Reel/Side   9/1-A Time   11:22 to 14:42	George Forrester as city manager, good for firefighters--R. H.'s first meeting with him--Forrester did not stay long
Reel/Side   9/1-A Time   14:43 to 17:55	Major issues in 1954--low salaries, salaries lagged during 1950s--shorter hours
Reel/Side   9/1-A Time   17:56 to 20:00	Joe Lustig as city manager, “old school”
Reel/Side   9/1-A Time   20:01 to 24:16	R. H. resigned as president in 1968--other ambitious members, Wellnitz and Rasmussen--63 hour work week
Reel/Side   9/1-A Time   24:17 to 29:42	Strikes contrary to international constitution, changed at Toronto convention, R. H. supported change--right to strike--rationale for right to strike for firefighters
Reel/Side   9/1-B Time   0:00 to 1:15	R. H. assumed that threat of strike would be sufficient
Reel/Side   9/1-B Time   1:16 to 4:45	R. H.'s role in 1970 threatened strike--police-firefighter pay disparity as key issue--“nice guy” image of firefighters--firefighting as more hazardous
Reel/Side   9/1-B Time   4:46 to 9:36	Referendum petition to city council on parity--petition thrown out--experiences gathering petitions
Reel/Side   9/1-B Time   9:37 to 17:09	The threat to strike in 1970--three voted not to strike, all signed statement--efforts of supportive council members--meeting at Snyder's funeral home--strike notification
Reel/Side   9/1-B Time   17:10 to 24:20	Meeting to set strike date--role of Mary Wickham--efforts to avoid strike--mediation session--acceptance of mediator's findings--satisfaction with settlement
Reel/Side   9/1-B Time   24:21 to 30:46	Fear of dismissal for signing document--only chief didn't sign, other officers cooperated--bitterness--Chief Andreske held uncooperative attitude toward union
Reel/Side   9/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:12	Introduction
Reel/Side   9/2-A Time   0:13 to 1:58	Further comments on Chief Andreske
Reel/Side   9/2-A Time   1:59 to 11:54	Problem of manning trucks during the strike--call to Beloit fire department--Janesville police anxious to drive trucks--fire department participation in protest against Gazette when it had labor problems, Chief opposed action--bad police-fire department relations
Reel/Side   9/2-A Time   11:55 to 14:05	UAW support for fire department strike--support solicited from other departments
Reel/Side   9/2-A Time   14:06 to 23:54	Public bitterness toward fire department--level of emergency protection planned--rationale for taking risk of fire during the strike--lives would be saved, not property
Reel/Side   9/2-A Time   23:55 to 27:00	City hall resentment toward fire department, fire department supporters defeated in next election
Reel/Side   9/2-A Time   27:01 to 30:57	Police orders to take over fire station--Wellnitz remark on “headcracking”
Reel/Side   9/2-B Time   0:00 to 4:00	Relations between firefighters and city council--problem involving money
Reel/Side   9/2-B Time   4:01 to 15:16	Local 580's political involvement, campaigning--the bumper sticker controversy--R. H. pushed for partisan campaigning--Bill Watson and Bill Cronin--R. H. was on state association board when it decided to go into politics--more on bumper sticker controversy
Reel/Side   9/2-B Time   15:17 to 20:25	Senator Jim Swan's appearance before fire departments--problem with “little Hatch Act”--generally supported Democrats, dissatisfied with Governor Lucey
Reel/Side   9/2-B Time   20:26 to 23:38	Pension bill veto--Lucey as “best Republican governor”
Reel/Side   9/2-B Time   23:39 to 24:34	Political involvement as sound decision
Reel/Side   9/2-B Time   24:35 to 30:50	Need for leadership in Local 580--R. H. took advantage of conditions--identified leaders--getting Gordy Rasmussen involved--need for support from members--importance of a good secretary, Ed Wellnitz--attending the international convention
Reel/Side   9/2-B Time   30:50 to 32:10	Success in helping sheriff's department to organize
	Series: Harry Johnson Note: 1410 Josephine Street, Janesville	⇧
	Session I, July 29, 1976
Reel/Side   12/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:20	Introduction
Reel/Side   12/1-A Time   0:21 to 6:25	Family background near Sparta, Wisconsin--father from Norway--farming and logging--H. J. as workers on Chicago and Northwestern R. R.--mother's background
Reel/Side   12/1-A Time   6:26 to 7:48	Family religious background--mother as 7th Day Adventist--father Norwegian Lutheran
Reel/Side   12/1-A Time   7:49 to 10:14	Father comes to America--family political background
Reel/Side   12/1-A Time   10:15 to 15:07	Elementary education--two years of high school--no knowledge of unions, fellow workers scabbing--loggers unorganized
Reel/Side   12/1-A Time   15:08 to 17:58	Family “never had very much”--move from Sparta to Janesville to work at Chevrolet
Reel/Side   12/1-A Time   17:51 to 29:10	Early attempt at farming--H. J. worked with the C. & N. W. R. R., line work--member then of the AFL Maintenance Away Union, recalls attending meeting, but not a very active member
Reel/Side   12/1-B Time   0:00 to 4:00	Patrolling the track--H. J. saw no future in railroad work--little class awareness
Reel/Side   12/1-B Time   4:01 to 6:06	Chevrolet in 1923--H. J.'s first work, body drop--plant closed during 1933
Reel/Side   12/1-B Time   6:07 to 7:22	Reaction against inside plant work
Reel/Side   12/1-B Time   7:23 to 10:13	Nature of work force in 1920s--many from west central Wisconsin, most off the farm--came to Janesville for jobs at Chevrolet
Reel/Side   12/1-B Time   10:14 to 13:32	Pay at Chevrolet--piece work pay system, hard to figure wages
Reel/Side   12/1-B Time   13:33 to 18:13	Working conditions at Chevrolet, smoke and heat--problem with open windows--conditions good in drop area--health hazards in many areas--paint department
Reel/Side   12/1-B Time   18:14 to 21:39	More on body drop area--union members from body drop area, no talk of unions until 1933--many workers in this area off the farm
Reel/Side   12/1-B Time   21:40 to 23:40	Positive relations with foremen and supervisors
Reel/Side   12/1-B Time   23:41 to 26:20	Reaction to national political and labor leaders--FDR, the La Follettes, Herbert Hoover, Bill Green of the AFL
Reel/Side   12/2-A Time   0:000 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   12/2-A Time   0:11 to 2:41	Reaction to capitalism, slight--old Sparta friends as Janesville friends
Reel/Side   12/2-A Time   2:42 to 7:32	H. J. as a conscientious worker--problems of other workers on the Chevy line--no relief--H. J.'s attitude toward GM
Reel/Side   12/2-A Time   7:33 to 11:43	The speed up--control of the rheostat--speed up caused union--model changeover--short days--difficult times
Reel/Side   12/2-A Time   11:44 to 13:36	The frame gang periodically refused to work before the union was organized--lack of relief--clothing
Reel/Side   12/2-A Time   13:37 to 18:57	Influence of H. J.'s brother, Howard, on the Fisher side--Fisher organized first--H. J. as first union man on the Chevy side--part of national effort
Reel/Side   12/2-A Time   18:58 to 20:48	AFL federal union as first GM union in Janesville
Reel/Side   12/2-A Time   20:49 to 25:34	H. J. worked with GM exhibit at 1933 World's Fair in Chicago--positive experience
Reel/Side   12/2-A Time   25:35 to 29:45	H. J. joins the union--recruiting other members--working conditions most important, especially the speed-up
Reel/Side   12/2-B Time   0:00 to 3:45	Maintenance department as hardest to organize, no speed-up there--anti-union workers--influence of wives
Reel/Side   12/2-B Time   3:46 to 5:08	Joining the AFL union
Reel/Side   12/2-B Time   5:09 to 9:09	Organizer named Dillon--need for education--fear among workers
Reel/Side   12/2-B Time   9:10 to 22:00	H. J. fired for organizing activities--successful appeal to the Wolman Board, nature of the Board--surviving with no job--others fired at the same time, all reinstated--H. J. continued union efforts, more determined--firings as a setback to organizing efforts until H. J. was reinstated, then an influx of new members
Reel/Side   12/2-B Time   22:01 to 22:50	Establishing separate locals for Fisher and Chevrolet
Reel/Side   12/2-B Time   22:51 to 25:51	No bitterness toward GM--key organizers on Chevrolet side, Mark Egbert, Elmer Yenney, John Donagan
Reel/Side   12/2-B Time   25:51 to 27:31	Learning about the union--speakers--the role of the organizers
	Session II, November 11, 1976
Reel/Side   31/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:25	Introduction
Reel/Side   31/1-A Time   0:26 to 4:21	Community reaction to the UAW, mostly negative--some school teachers supported the union--business reaction to UAW
Reel/Side   31/1-A Time   4:22 to 5:52	Union members as diverse group
Reel/Side   31/1-A Time   5:52 to 8:57	Sources of information regarding the UAW and unionism--reliance on Elmer Yenney, president of Local 121--independent labor newsletter in Janesville
Reel/Side   31/1-A Time   8:58 to 13:38	Planning the sitdown strike of 1937--key people--unanimity on executive boards
Reel/Side   31/1-A Time   13:39 to 18:29	Congregating at body drop area on sitdown day--H. J. assembled commercial truck bodies then--support for the sitdown
Reel/Side   31/1-A Time   18:30 to 21:15	Shutting down maintenance in the Old Foundry, last group to stop work in the Chevrolet plant
Reel/Side   31/1-A Time   21:16 to 24:28	Membership at time of the sitdown in 1937 (H. J. was financial secretary)--small percentage of work force as members, membership fluctuated
Reel/Side   31/1-A Time   24:28 to 29:18	Boom in Local 121 membership immediately after strike--attitudes of new members--Local 121's recruiters
Reel/Side   31/1-B Time   0:00 to 8:50	New members as reluctant, justifiable fears--attitudes of early members toward new members--no particular groups' represented by new members
Reel/Side   31/1-B Time   8:51 to 9:15	Wildcat strikes, not a major concern
Reel/Side   31/1-B Time   9:16 to 15:50	Financial status of Local 121 in 1937--sufficient money for travel and other needs--Janesville locals very frugal--open with financial and membership records--Jimmy Hall as an informer
Reel/Side   31/1-B Time   15:51 to 17:20	The Harold Lewis case--Lewis furnished information to management
Reel/Side   31/1-B Time   17:21 to 20:30	Jeanne Rimley as secretary to Local 121--H. J. observed her hiring--very efficient secretary
Reel/Side   31/1-B Time   20:31 to 21:40	Compensation for H. J.'s work, instigated by Jimmy Hill, H. J. suspicious of his motives
Reel/Side   31/1-B Time   21:41 to 22:36	Little recollection of “button day”
Reel/Side   31/1-B Time   22:37 to 25:22	Transition from the AFL to CIO--support for AFL's Homer Martin--Elmer Yenney eventually recommended the change
Reel/Side   31/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   31/2-A Time   0:11 to 4:11	Relations with the international office--H. J. at 1937 UAW convention in Milwaukee--not persuaded by Reuthers at that time
Reel/Side   31/2-A Time   4:12 to 5:17	H. J.'s work during World War II
Reel/Side   31/2-A Time   5:18 to 7:43	Reaction to absence of black workers at Chevrolet--hiring as management prerogative, no involvement by union
Reel/Side   31/2-A Time   7:44 to 10:39	H. J.'s service on Janesville City Council, urged to run by Mark Egbert--accepted by business slating group--H. J. tried to serve entire city--most council decisions by consensus
Reel/Side   31/2-A Time   10:40 to 14:25	Problem of dogs running loose--problem of beer license for bowling alley which served UAW bowlers
Reel/Side   31/2-A Time   14:26 to 16:41	Term as city council president
Reel/Side   31/2-A Time   16:42 to 17:22	Closing statement
	Series: James V. (Jack) Johnston Note: 1702 Tamarack Lane, Janesville	⇧
	Session I, August 24, 1976
Reel/Side   17/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:25	Introduction
Reel/Side   17/1-A Time   0:26 to 7:46	Family background--father as a teamster--parents emigrated from British Isles to Chicago--move to Fontana, Wis., father worked as butcher--mother's health
Reel/Side   17/1-A Time   7:47 to 12:32	Family politics, Republican, J. J. as only Democrat--weeding onions during the Depression--J. J. voted for Al Smith
Reel/Side   17/1-A Time   12:33 to 19:52	Family religious background--parents had no desire to visit ancestral lands--J. J. opposed to Prohibition
Reel/Side   17/1-A Time   19:53 to 22:47	Class awareness not strong--family got by, never on relief--carpentry in spare time
Reel/Side   17/1-A Time   22:48 to 26:58	Growing up in Fontana--recreation--cutting ice on Lake Geneva
Reel/Side   17/1-A Time   26:59 to 29:39	Schools in Walworth--vocational school
Reel/Side   17/1-B Time   0:00 to 3:00	J. J. looked for something different in life--variety of jobs at Fisher--welding, jig shop
Reel/Side   17/1-B Time   3:01 to 8:37	Leaving high school--work for power company--didn't finish high school--nothing about labor movement in schools--J. J. proposed river front parking lot in Janesville
Reel/Side   17/1-B Time   8:38 to 12:46	Father's attitude toward organized labor--influence of Clayton Orcutt in getting J. J. job at Fisher
Reel/Side   17/1-B Time   12:47 to 15:32	More on power company work, enjoyed working out-of-doors
Reel/Side   17/1-B Time   15:33 to 19:03	Going to work at Fisher--previous interest in cars--reaction against inside work--work on Big Foot Country Club course--selling bakery ovens
Reel/Side   17/1-B Time   19:04 to 22:29	More on reaction to inside work--frequent job changes at Fisher--J. J. one of youngest Fisher workers
Reel/Side   17/1-B Time   22:30 to 29:40	Door hanging as first Fisher job, skilled job at that time, not so today--changes in door hanging work, end of wood work
Reel/Side   17/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   17/2-A Time   0:11 to 5:16	Problems for doorhangers, correcting defective parts--no allowance for individual differences on the line, speedup--piece work system
Reel/Side   17/2-A Time   5:17 to 7:42	Need to set a line speed that workers could sustain for a long time
Reel/Side   17/2-A Time   7:43 to 13:09	More on piece work system--J. J. left Fisher after 8 months, felt tied down--returned to Fisher because it was a steady job--moving from job to job in the plant, useful later in organizing
Reel/Side   17/2-A Time   13:10 to 26:40	J. J. as a foreman, quit that job because he didn't want to drive the workers--his department first to drop piece work--J. J. saw need to work out problems between workers and management--information from people in the front office--more on supervisory work
Reel/Side   17/2-A Time   26:41 to 30:51	Fisher work force in the 1920s--most from Wisconsin, large percentage off farms--good laborers
Reel/Side   17/2-B Time   0:00 to 3:15	Very few Fisher workers from Chicago or Milwaukee--possible influence of plant manager Markham
Reel/Side   17/2-B Time   3:16 to 9:21	Further comments on the work force--no distinctive ethnic character, also for the door hanging area--workers with speech and hearing impediments from the Delavan School
Reel/Side   17/2-B Time   9:22 to 11:22	Workers scattered residentially throughout several Janesville neighborhoods
Reel/Side   17/2-B Time   11:23 to 14:43	Worker reaction to unions prior to 1933--comment on industrial unions--impossible to organize Fisher plant along craft lines
Reel/Side   17/2-B Time   14:44 to 19:54	Friends of J. J. in early years who later became active in the union. Still in contact with some of them--the radicals--desire of union members to avoid trouble
Reel/Side   17/2-B Time   19:55 to 24:25	Weeding out the Pinkerton men hired as company spies--J. J. confronted company on spies--dealt with Eddie Butler on these cases--one of Pinkertons used the name of Herb Lilla
	Session II, September 2, 1976
Reel/Side   19/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   19/1-A Time   0:16 to 6:00	J. J.'s political attitudes--moved away from family Republicanism--positive reaction to the La Follettes--first Wisconsin unemployment check
Reel/Side   19/1-A Time   6:01 to 8:26	Extent of J. J.'s political activity--attitude toward free enterprise capitalism
Reel/Side   19/1-A Time   8:27 to 11:47	Work problems at Fisher--problem with ordering a car at smaller dealer, Dickhoff in Milton
Reel/Side   19/1-A Time   11:48 to 23:58	Elimination of company savings plan in 1934--worker reaction to that event--J. J. suspected that action was anti-union in purpose
Reel/Side   19/1-A Time   23:59 to 2755	Plant managers as distant figures in the early years--being away from family
Reel/Side   19/1-A Time   27:56 to 29:10	More on being away from family as result of union activity
Reel/Side   19/1-B Time   0:00 to 9:50	Difficulty sending union representatives to conventions--fellow workers with whom J. J. socialized--get-togethers with the officers--early “victory” party
Reel/Side   19/1-B Time   9:51 to 18:31	Membership in Oddfellows, quit after union involvement--importance of lodge and church affiliations--Janesville as “lily-white” town--J. J.'s reaction to the absence of black people in Janesville
Reel/Side   19/1-B Time   18:32 to 21:17	Location of J. J.'s Janesville residences--uncertainty during World War II--commuting from Rock River home to GM
Reel/Side   19/1-B Time   21:18 to 24:48	Nature of Janesville neighborhood--other GM workers and UAW members in that neighborhood--paying back relief money
Reel/Side   19/1-B Time   24:49 to 27:29	More on Oddfellows--fellow union members who were also Oddfellows--getting a boost through lodges
Reel/Side   19/1-B Time   27:30 to 29:55	Brief period working in Kansas City--also worked in Oakland during the Depression at Ford and GM
Reel/Side   19/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   19/2-A Time   0:11 to 2:55	J. J. returned to Janesville in the fall of 1933, saw union coming then, “people won't be held down”--plumbers card incident in Pittsburgh in 1924--J. J. waited for opportunity to join a labor union
Reel/Side   19/2-A Time   2:56 to 9:18	J. J. observed early organizing efforts in Oakland, influenced by that experience--anxious to get involved
Reel/Side   19/2-A Time   9:19 to 14:14	Recollection of first Janesville UAW meeting at the Lien Garage--current location of that building--union card numbers not in order--relationship to Waldo Luchsinger and Lou Adkins--union drew people together
Reel/Side   19/2-A Time   14:15 to 17:07	Nature of work after return to Janesville in 1933--metal finishing and welding--the work of the metal finisher
Reel/Side   19/2-A Time   17:08 to 22:58	J. J.'s early involvement with the UAW in Janesville--first mass meeting at the Beverly Theater--comments on pensions
Reel/Side   19/2-A Time   22:59 to 27:19	Further comments on J. J.'s early union activity--more on first meeting at Lien Garage, small group--many fearful for jobs early--organizing accomplished by local people, different from Oakland
Reel/Side   19/2-A Time   27:20 to 30:22	Early members from the body shop--recruiting on the sly
Reel/Side   19/2-B Time   0:00 to 2:50	Recruiting in the plant, against company rules--most members signed up in plant
Reel/Side   19/2-B Time   2:51 to 14:00	Fear as an impediment to organizing--the GM Alliance, weak effort--limits on organizing activities in the plant--body shop hard to organize--need to control violence--UAW as most democratic union
Reel/Side   19/2-B Time   14:01 to 21:21	Auto workers needed the CIO, workers bound together only by need to organize, no ethnic or religious bonds--early union members tended to be the more experienced GM workers--older workers as more reluctant to join-local UAW leaders from Janesville
Reel/Side   19/2-B Time   21:22 to 23:58	Small town and farm people as harder to organize--most workers as unsophisticated and untravelled--J. J. had wider range of experience than most
Reel/Side   19/2-B Time   23:59 to 26:24	Politics of early members, not overwhelmingly Democratic at that time, became so before long
	Session III, September 16, 1976
Reel/Side   22/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:12	Introduction
Reel/Side   22/1-A Time   0:13 to 11:58	Grievances concerning work load--setting a pace--impact of piece work system--wages as secondary grievance--hiring and firing system as key grievance--health hazards, particles in the air
Reel/Side   22/1-A Time   11:59 to-16:39	Dealing with health hazards--union had called in state health inspectors very early--fumes in the paint department
Reel/Side   22/1-A Time   16:40 to 22:08	Company reaction to early organizing efforts--recollection of firings for organizing activities--city hurt by strikes
Reel/Side   22/1-A Time   22:09 to 28:56	J. J. as a GM Alliance committeeman--recalls Alliance committee meetings with management--Alliance folded in six months
Reel/Side   22/1-B Time   0:00 to 2:25	Violence held to a minimum--no personal knowledge of violence or sabotage
Reel/Side   22/1-B Time   2:25 to 6:33	Pressuring workers in UAW membership, very infrequent--cold shoulder treatment--working with reluctant members
Reel/Side   22/1-B Time   6:34 to 8:39	J. J. leaned toward the CIO--dissension resulting from AFL-CIO split
Reel/Side   22/1-B Time   8:40 to 17:35	AFL v. CIO--Wes Van Horn's support for AFL--persistent support for AFL in Janesville--J. J. leaned toward CIO, but not militant--no desire for union job
Reel/Side   22/1-B Time   17:36 to 23:31	Bylaws and constitution for Local 95--need to bring young members into leadership--working on the bylaws
Reel/Side   22/1-B Time   23:32 to 29:17	Little reading and studying about unions in early years--reaction to John L. Lewis, Homer Martin--Janesville isolated from mainstream of union activity--Dave Sigman and the organization of Parker Pen
Reel/Side   22/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:12	Introduction
Reel/Side   22/2-A Time   0:13 to 4:41	Local 95 and organization of Parker Pen--other Local 95 efforts to assist other unions--organizing effort in Fort Atkinson
Reel/Side   22/2-A Time   4:42 to 14:27	Janesville community reaction to UAW--attitude toward Vietnam War--different attitudes of retirees and young workers--no feeling of isolation in Janesville
Reel/Side   22/2-A Time   14:28 to 27:10	J. J. as a union officer--offices not generally sought after--relationship between J. J. and Wes Van Horn-union officers not usually well-acquainted previously--more socializing now than in early years
Reel/Side   22/2-A Time   27:11 to 28:13	Development of social relations
Reel/Side   22/2-B Time   0:00 to 6:30	The significance of wearing union buttons--buttons disallowed in first contract--plant manager wore a Landon button in 1936
Reel/Side   22/2-B Time   6:31 to 15:00	The sitdown strike of 1937--planning--J. J. and Wes Van Horn pulled the switches--meeting with management--supervisors allowed to pass through picket lines--providing food for the strikers
Reel/Side   22/2-B Time   15:01 to 20:26	Further comments on planning the sitdown--imponderables--strike vote--role of the international in calling the strike
Reel/Side   22/2-B Time   20:27 to 32:12	Happenings at the time of the sitdown, many left plant, fifty percent sitdown--strike vote meeting well-attended, little opposition to strike from members--Homer Martin scheduled to speak, called back to Detroit--J. J.'s comments on the legality of the strike
	Session IV, September 21, 1976
Reel/Side   23/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   23/1-A Time   0:16 to 2:52	More on the sitdown strike of 1937--trim shop as militant--strike carried off smoothly
Reel/Side   23/1-A Time   2:53 to 4:00	Education efforts
Reel/Side   23/1-A Time   4:01 to 6:47	Setting the strike--positions during the sitdown, desire to prevent trouble
Reel/Side   23/1-A Time   6:48 to 15:58	Meeting in City Manager's office--Traxler's role--brief meeting--sheriff's office
Reel/Side   23/1-A Time   15:59 to 24:15	After the agreement was announced--strike activities after the sitdown ended--daily meetings--difference between radical and militant
Reel/Side   23/1-A Time   24:16 to 25:46	Going back to work--seniority as key gain
Reel/Side   23/1-A Time   25:47 to 29:27	Wildcat strikes during 1937--front window vent group on strike--manpower problem
Reel/Side   23/1-B Time   0:00 to 3:05	Relief time problem
Reel/Side   23/1-B Time   3:06 to 6:51	Relationship between locals 121 and 95--J. J.'s knowledge of people on Chevy side
Reel/Side   23/1-B Time   6:52 to 13:47	Membership growth after the sitdown--pride in accomplishments of Local 95--Christmas baskets--seasonal layoffs
Reel/Side   23/1-B Time   13:48 to 15:23	Credit from merchants during the strike
Reel/Side   23/1-B Time   15:24 to 22:09	AFL and CIO affiliations--J. J. support for industrial union concept--failure to buy old post office, AFL insisted on control by one union, one vote principle
Reel/Side   23/1-B Time   22:10 to 24:48	Chevrolet purchased old UAW building on Jackson Street--95 bought Lutheran school on Academy Street
Reel/Side   23/1-B Time   24:49 to 30:00	UAW and the Janesville Labor Council--J. J. unaware of AFL resentment of moonlighting by UAW workers
Reel/Side   23/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   23/2-A Time   0:11 to 7:53	Transition from AFL to CIO--fear of losing dues money delayed decision--few CIO organizers in Janesville--desire for unity in Local 95--factionalism
Reel/Side   23/2-A Time   7:54 to 18:32	J. J. as early CIO supporter--many members quiet regarding AFL and CIO, although the issue was of general concern to members
Reel/Side   23/2-A Time   18:33 to 19:18	Homer Martin scheduled to come to Janesville
Reel/Side   23/2-A Time   19:19 to 24:49	J. J.'s knowledge of the positions of several Local 95 members on the AFL-CIO split--John Goetzinger, Dick Halford, John Goethe, Lars and John Johannson, Jake Vorath
Reel/Side   23/2-A Time   24:50 to 28:08	Dropping of GM savings plan--GM control
Reel/Side   23/2-B Time   0:00 to 3:28	UAW in local politics, UAW members on the City Council, Mark Egbert and Harry Johnson
Reel/Side   23/2-B Time   3:29 to 7:05.	J. J.'s recollection of effort to oust Lou Adkins from Local 95, led by Wes Van Horn
Reel/Side   23/2-B Time   7:06 to 10:11	J. J. during World War II--not an officer then, need for younger officers, concern about factionalism within Local 95--work in inspection department, then tool and die
Reel/Side   23/2-B Time   10:12 to 16:52	J. J. called in to talk with FBI agent--asked about Communists in the union, J. J. knew of none--FBI agent only concerned about those specifically members of Communist Party--different type of people in Janesville
Reel/Side   23/2-B Time   16:53 to 19:27	Ringling Circus incident--auto raffle--J. J. missed the elephant charge
Reel/Side   23/2-B Time   19:28 to 22:23	Concluding remarks--development of the UAW as inevitable
	Series: Gerald H. Litney Note: 56 Parkview Terrace, Milton	⇧
	Session I, December 9, 1976
Reel/Side   32/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:25	Introduction
Reel/Side   32/1-A Time   0:26 to 7:46	Family background, the Litneys and the Lees--grandfather Lee as a railroad man--origins of grandparents
Reel/Side   32/1-A Time   7:47 to 14:22	Parental background--father as a railroad worker, dispatcher--G. L.'s observations of his father's work
Reel/Side   32/1-A Time   14:23 to 24:33	Father as a railroad union member--recalls strike circa 1914--American Railway Union of Eugene Debs--many supporters of Debs in the Janesville area--father visited Debs in prison--father not a socialist--father injured at time of strike
Reel/Side   32/1-A Time   24:34 to 29:29	G. L.'s brief work with the railroad--the setup at the South Janesville Yard--a youth views the union--low pay for railroad work at that time--recollection of back pay, downpayment on a home
Reel/Side   32/1-B Time   0:00 to 1:40	Backgrounds of railroad workers-
Reel/Side   32/1-B Time   1:41 to 6:06	Father's injury, badly broken leg
Reel/Side   32/1-B Time   6:07 to 12:47	Family political background--father as a Democratic activist--G. L. recalls his first vote--supported Bob La Follette--reactions to other candidates
Reel/Side   32/1-B Time   12:48 to 14:58	Local politics--Mayor Goodman of Janesville as a cousin--recollection of J. J. Dulin, but not as a political leader
Reel/Side   32/1-B Time   14:59 to 18:19	Family religious background--grandfather Litney broke with the Catholic Church--father as good member of St. Patrick's
Reel/Side   32/1-B Time   18:20 to 23:20	Church's attitude toward labor unions--G. L. received approval from Fr. Reilly for G. L.'s role as a labor organizer--aware of Pope Leo's Rerum Novarum, papal encyclical supporting labor, G. L. learned of it from the School for Workers, not the Church, very important
Reel/Side   32/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   32/2-A Time   0:16 to 3:26	G. L.'s youth in Janesville-family residences--the family
Reel/Side   32/2-A Time   3:27 to 11:47	St. Patrick's elementary school--great aunt was a nun there--later attended public school--comparison of parochial and public schools--Fr. Mahoney of St. Patrick's
Reel/Side   32/2-A Time   11:48 to 15:48	Ethnic backgrounds--4th Ward as heavily Irish
Reel/Side   32/2-A Time   15:49 to 23:15	G. L. left school after 7th grade--went to work for Janesville Shirt and Overall--carried bundles to seamstresses--location of plants--G. L. as youngest worker--friend Johnny Cullen
Reel/Side   32/2-A Time   23:16 to 28:06	Recreation as a youth--4th Ward baseball team, walked to Milton to play--Don Dawson the pitcher--work for Townsend Co. as a machinist for G. L.--brief term at Samson Tractor--work at Rock River Woolen Mill
Reel/Side   32/2-B Time   0:00 to 4:30	G. L. as a weaver--learning the trade--work at Rock River Woolen Mills
Reel/Side   32/2-B Time   4:31 to 7:51	The river and G. L.'s youth--Goose Island--the Hilt family at Jackson and Western Streets--Townsens Tractor plant on River Street
Reel/Side   32/2-B Time   7:52 to 12:07	Class awareness--aspirations as a youth, cut short by Depression--G. L. moved to Milwaukee briefly, work as bakery truck driver
Reel/Side   32/2-B Time   12:08 to 13:58	Drove for Cunningham's Bakery in Janesville after return from Milwaukee--return to Rock River Woolen Mills
Reel/Side   32/2-B Time   13:58 to 15:58	Ed Dulin as first president of Textile Workers local at Rock River Woolen--then G. L. assumed leadership--later became union staff member
Reel/Side   32/2-B Time   15:59 to 24:29	Further comments on weaving experience--brief training for weaver--description of weaving process--the race, source of the wool
	Session II, January 11, 1976
Reel/Side   33/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   33/1-A Time   0:16 to 5:31	Rock River Woolen in early 1920s--Johnny Mitchell as tough weave boss--piece work system, pay less than a quarter per hour
Reel/Side   33/1-A Time   5:32 to 10:07	Work in the design room under Mr. Gladhill--work for Cunningham Bakery--work for other mills, Daniel Boone in Chicago, many others--always hired back at Rock River
Reel/Side   33/1-A Time   10:08 to 11:38	Demand for weavers--most weavers were men then--shortage of experienced weavers
Reel/Side   33/1-A Time   11:39 to 14:29	More on design work, not routine
Reel/Side   33/1-A Time   14:30 to 20:50	No break time or rest periods--leaving the loom--lighting in the plant--watching for “ends out”, key part of job--fines for “wrong draws”, flaws in material
Reel/Side   33/1-A Time   20:51 to 23:15	The Daniel Boone Mill--cutting room work
Reel/Side   33/1-A Time   23:16 to 27:00	Air quality at Rock River Woolen--fibers in air from pounding operation--card room had poorest air quality
Reel/Side   33/1-A Time   27:01 to 29:55	Problems working with asbestos, later when G. L. was a union representative
Reel/Side   33/1-B Time   0:00 to 2:05	Asbestos plant had moved from Chicago to Bloomington, Ill.--asbestos weaving process
Reel/Side   33/1-B Time   2:06 to 6:01	Decline of Rock River Woolen--recollection of Mr. Tate, mill owner--Tate as good salesman and plant manager
Reel/Side   33/1-B Time   6:02 to 7:52	Early union activities--Ed Dulin as first president--union voted out first time
Reel/Side   33/1-B Time   7:53 to 9:53	G. L. with overview of plant operation--size of plant--value of union president experience
Reel/Side   33/1-B Time   9:54 to 13:54	Comparison of Rock River Woolen with other woolen mills--Tate as best manager--working conditions better--different types of cloth in other mills--best wursted fiber at Rock River
Reel/Side   33/1-B Time   13:55 to 19:05	Backgrounds of fellow weavers at Rock River Woolen--many from eastern U. S., moved to Janesville for opportunities at Rock River Woolen--names of several local weavers
Reel/Side   33/1-B Time   19:06 to 22:21	Families of weavers in Janesville--G. L. not in Janesville after 1940
Reel/Side   33/1-B Time   22:22 to 24:27	Ethnic backgrounds of mill workers--Italians from Rock Hill neighborhood--Irish and German
Reel/Side   33/1-B Time   24:28 to 27:33	Women weavers at Rock River--few in early 1920s, 70% by 1940--GM drew male weavers away from mill because of better pay--only men in card room and dye house
Reel/Side   33/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   33/2-A Time   0:11 to 3:51	Acceptance of women weavers, not competing with men--the mill as a place to work--the dye house, odor, hard work
Reel/Side   33/2-A Time   3:52 to 8:32	The mill and the Depression--G. L. to Milwaukee early in Depression--back to Janesville, Cunningham's Bakery
Reel/Side   33/2-A Time   8:33 to 17:43	G. L. on first union organizing committee at Rock River Woolen--grievances, hot-tempered foreman, wages--lost vote on first effort--opposition to the union--role of the Textile Workers Organizing Committee--organizer from Milwaukee
Reel/Side   33/2-A Time   17:43 to 29:43	Fellow committee members--Tate's reaction to the union--weavers as largest group in the plant--noise of the looms, hearing problems--shuttle hazard--piece work as key grievance--loom hazards, speed--innovations in looms
Reel/Side   33/2-B Time   0:00 to 1:00	More on loom innovations
Reel/Side   33/2-B Time   1:01 to 7:11	Work load as a problem, two looms per weaver, then four--wildcat strike in weave room in 1924, resulted in change in shuttle size, G. L. not too upset by that--two looms per weaver as a greater problem
Reel/Side   33/2-B Time   7:12 to 10:32	Work as a machinist--work for Carpenter Bakery in Milwaukee
Reel/Side   33/2-B Time   10:33 to 17:23	First trip to Milwaukee concerning the formation of the union--recollection of John Bonahovich, key organizer, trained G. L. as an organizer--the Chicago Joint Board of the Textile Workers Union--more on John Bonahovich, patient toward opposition workers, successful approach
Reel/Side   33/2-B Time   17:24 to 20:34	Converting non-union workers--Bonahovich and management--arbitration cases, one on the four loom proposition
	Session III, January 19, 1977
Reel/Side   34/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   34/1-A Time   0:16 to 4:21	G. L.'s role in union development at Rock River Woolen--committeeman--modernization and job overloads--company as dictatorial--wages and working conditions as key factors
Reel/Side   34/1-A Time   4:22 to 6:22	Influence of the UAW example at GT&I--militant workers in the mill
Reel/Side   34/1-A Time   6:23 to 15:03	G. L. becomes local president--union first voted out in late 1937--union won a second vote one year later--hard work during that year to build up a following--others who were involved, Terwiligers
Reel/Side   34/1-A Time   15:04 to 17:04	Role of women in the union, some were stewards, no women officers
Reel/Side   34/1-A Time   17:05 to 20:30	G. L.'s fellow officers--Oliver Nunes as treasurer--Morris Hendrickson as recording secretary, currently living on South Pearl Street
Reel/Side   34/1-A Time   20:31 to 25:46	Union shop established with little opposition from management--motives of anti-union workers often personal, little bedrock opposition--departments within the plant, union strength balanced
Reel/Side   34/1-A Time   25:47 to 30:02	Management reaction to union--congratulations from Tate after second election--G. L. threatened by foreman
Reel/Side   34/1-B Time   0:00 to 1:45	Clean election, fair play from management
Reel/Side   34/1-B Time   1:46 to 3:00	Infrequent wildcat strikes at Rock River
Reel/Side   34/1-B Time   3:01 to 8:46	First contract signed shortly after second election--included union shop--wage increase and vacation clause--negotiators--sessions in lawyer Woods' office--long sessions
Reel/Side   34/1-B Time   8:47 to 19:22	Arbitration cases after contract signed--Mr. Peacock spoke for company during contract negotiations--management attitudes during negotiations--G. L.'s feelings during negotiations--overwhelming vote to accept contract--Earl McGrew, union representative, played key role in contract negotiation--McGrew eventually hired G. L. as an international representative
Reel/Side   34/1-B Time   19:23 to 25:28	International representative job as a great opportunity for G. L.--nature of the work--establishing contracts--work through local organizing committees--organizing tactics--contact work
Reel/Side   34/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   34/2-A Time   0:11 to 9:31	More on developing contracts--contact with black man in Chicago on Branwine Mattress Co., gave G. L. other black contacts in Chicago area plants--black workers in Chicago textiles--G. L. as NAACP member--organizing regardless of color
Reel/Side   34/2-A Time   9:32 to 12:37	G. L.'s work with the staff of the Chicago Joint Board--promoted to head of organizing activities, paid by Textile Workers Organizing Committee, attended educational conferences sponsored by TWOC
Reel/Side   34/2-A Time   12:38 to 18:13	The educational conferences--usually conducted by union leaders--the professor who tried to get G. L.'s library--influence of Larry Rogan
Reel/Side   34/2-A Time   18:14 to 20:34	Recollection of Sidney Hillman, spoke at Apollo Theater in Janesville
Reel/Side   34/2-A Time   20:35 to 22:20	Impact of the educational conferences on G. L.
Reel/Side   34/2-A Time   22:21 to 27:16	Recollections of other textile labor organizers and leaders--reaction against the AFL United Textile Workers--UTW not very active in the Midwest
Reel/Side   34/2-B Time   0:00 to 4:55	G. L.'s sources of information on unionism--newspapers, a failed Democratic paper from Rockford--Chicago Daily News
Reel/Side   34/2-B Time   4:56 to 8:36	Union publications very important--influential books--Eugene Debs' autobiography
Reel/Side   34/2-B Time   8:37 to 11:12	Contract negotiations with the Eagle Knitting Co.--G. L. thrown out of plant, then readmitted--later G. L. and the president of Eagle became more friendly
Reel/Side   34/2-B Time   11:13 to 13:13	Janesville Public Library as a source of information, very little in early stages--the University of Wisconsin Bookstore
Reel/Side   34/2-B Time   13:14 to 20:00	No factionalism in Rock River local--Walter Nails succeeded G. L. as president--G. L. worked with and trusted Van Horn and Yenney of the UAW--meeting at the Apollo Theater partially concerning the Communist problem-Communist disruption of Chicago Industrial Union Council meeting, later Communists formed their own council in Chicago
	Series: Eugene Osmond Note: 1416 East Van Buren, Janesville	⇧
	Session I, June 8, 1976
Reel/Side   1/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:20	Introduction
Reel/Side   1/1-A Time   0:21 to 8:30	Family background--father as a railroad worker--family's ethnic heritage--family religious background--family political background
Reel/Side   1/1-A Time   8:31 to 14:35	Eugene Osmond as one of fourteen children--large family as “rough”--close family--self description
Reel/Side   1/1-A Time   14:36 to 18:45	Further comments on father and the railroad, helped organize railroad union--E. O.'s reaction to father's work and unionism
Reel/Side   1/1-A Time   18:46 to 23:34	Family's religious commitment--E. O. goes to work for Janesville Sand and Gravel at age thirteen
Reel/Side   1/1-A Time   23:35 to 28:50	School experiences--pleased to leave school--aspiration for medical school
Reel/Side   1/1-B Time   0:00 to 6:40	Bringing home a paycheck--Sister Thomas as a favorite teacher, gentle--dislike for farm chores
Reel/Side   1/1-B Time   6:41 to 10:43	More on aspirations--E. O. liked to read--reading habits
Reel/Side   1/1-B Time   10:44 to 15:14	Class awareness--family as second-class citizens--grandfather as a gardener for the Kaiser in Germany, shoe story--came to United States to escape, no desire to return to Germany
Reel/Side   1/1-B Time   15:15 to 18:45	Union as a means of betterment, seniority as the key
Reel/Side   1/1-B Time   18:46 to 25:10	People admired by E. O.--Mr. Hemingway, successful but tough landlord--admired parents for their sacrifices--working at fourteen
Reel/Side   1/1-B Time   25:11 to 33:40	Early experiences at Chevrolet, 1928 to 1933--first job moving frames, made feet bleed--the bullpen, hiring--Chevrolet not good working place then--lunches, skimpy then
Reel/Side   1/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   1/2-A Time   0:11 to 4:00	Further recollections of first job at Chevrolet--tacks on floor--“chew-off time” from foremen
Reel/Side   1/2-A Time   4:01 to 12:10	Getting a job at Chevrolet in 1928--more on the bullpen--influence of friends--Mr. Coryll's help--rubber doughball problem--lodge associations too influential, Masons and Oddfellows--Knights of Columbus may have been helpful for E. O.
Reel/Side   1/2-A Time   12:11 to 20:30	Working conditions in 1928--work formula--plant layout--rest rooms and lighting adequate--work too hard--Chevrolet as “dealing in labor”, from a personnel man
Reel/Side   1/2-A Time   20:31 to 26:00	Very few good jobs at Chevrolet--Ford screwdriver joke--making time to go to the rest room and the water fountain
Reel/Side   1/2-B Time   0:00 to 9:25	E. O. fired for union activities--E. O. as a recruiter of union members--won back job through the Wolman Board, appearance before the Board
Reel/Side   1/2-B Time   9:25 to 14:37	Expectations of assembly line work--plant shutdown during 1933 World's Fair--work on truck frame line--work at Chevrolet now much improved
Reel/Side   1/2-B Time   14:38 to 25:43	Early attitudes toward unions--influence of Harry Johnson, first union member at Chevrolet--problem with stool pigeon, trip to Chicago to track him down
Reel/Side   1/2-B Time   25:44 to 26:39	General Motors sabotage methods
Reel/Side   1/2-B Time   26:40 to 29:05	Fear of losing jobs, made union organizing difficult
Reel/Side   1/2-B Time   29:06 to 34:55	Development of positive attitudes toward union--E. O. as enthusiastic union member--difficulty talking about union
	Session II, June 15, 1976
Reel/Side   2/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   2/1-A Time   0:16 to 4:50	Good jobs and bad jobs at Chevrolet--group piece work as a problem
Reel/Side   2/1-A Time   4:51 to 9:28	Characteristics of the work force--good people with similar problems--no pronounced demographic characteristics
Reel/Side   2/1-A Time   9:29 to 15:20	Mr. Wright as manager--managers as distant--E. O. had personal contact with managers as member of bargaining committee--Fitzpatrick, the prison warden, as manager during the organizational period
Reel/Side   2/1-A Time   15:21 to 18:55	Efforts to intimidate strikers in 1937--shutoff of food and water then--Sheriff James Croake recalled as fair to the strikers
Reel/Side   2/1-A Time   18:56 to 28:40	Number in sitdown in 1937--story of Mel Jordan and his sick child, to illustrate the union's determination--workers reactions to the sitdown--three factions among the work force--definition of militant--the roles of government officials
Reel/Side   2/1-B Time   0:00 to 6:00	Further comments on the roles of local government officials during the sitdown--more on Sheriff Croake
Reel/Side   2/1-B Time   6:01 to 14:20	The anti-union workers, the Loyal Alliance--nose benders--ridicule of Alliance members--union takeover of Alliance meeting during sitdown
Reel/Side   2/1-B Time   14:21 to 20:15	Alliance leaders as weak, manipulable--selfish people--group action v. individualism--the story of “Sailor” who wanted to be a foreman
Reel/Side   2/1-B Time   20:16 to 23:20	Further comments on the Loyal Alliance--fight with Alliance members--“button day”, the end of the Alliance
Reel/Side   2/1-B Time   23:21 to 30:05	Necessary and unnecessary violence--tavern brawls
Reel/Side   2/1-B Time   30:06 to 32:25	Union and non-union hangouts, avoided by E. O. who drank little
Reel/Side   2/1-B Time   32:25 to 39:40	Justification for holding the plant during the sitdown--GM denied workers their dignity
Reel/Side   2/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:18	Introduction
Reel/Side   2/2-A Time   0:19 to 359	Fear during the sitdown--most strikers as family people, E. O. single then
Reel/Side   2/2-A Time   4:00 to 8:48	Mood of sitdowners--solidarity, serious
Reel/Side   2/2-A Time   8:49 to 10:39	Movement in and out of the plant during the 1937 sitdown strike
Reel/Side   2/2-A Time   10:40 to 12:40	Leadership of Local 121 during the sitdown--reliable, honest officers
Reel/Side   2/2-A Time   12:41 to 16:25	Community reaction to the sitdown--story of Manager Fitzpatrick at Mass and John Donagan's button--little reaction from Church, E. O. avoided talking with pastor about union
Reel/Side   2/2-A Time   16:26 to 20:26	Reconciling the union and religion--pride in union activities--fraternity of sitdown strikers
Reel/Side   2/2-B Time   0:00 to 6:22	Further comments on pre-union period--attitude toward capitalism--obligation to organize
Reel/Side   2/2-B Time   6:23 to 15:38	Attitudes toward socialism--reaction against UAW leaders identified as communists, Wyndham Mortimer--positive reaction toward the Reuthers
Reel/Side   2/2-B Time   15:39 to 21:24	Reaction to other national union leaders--Homer Martin of the UAW--Bill Green--John L. Lewis--reaction to the concept of industrial unionism
Reel/Side   2/2-B Time   21:25 to 24:13	Signing up under the influence of Harry Johnson--arguments at the Osmond home
Reel/Side   2/2-B Time   24:14 to 28:54	Reaction to Federal Local 19324, the first union at Janesville Chevrolet, AF of L--recollection of first meeting and earliest members--departments where the union was strongest and weakest
Reel/Side   2/2-B Time   28:54 to 31:42	Poor air conditioning in the paint dept.
Reel/Side   2/2-B Time   31:43 to 35:18	Assemblers and paint dept. as easy to organize--development of cliques later
Reel/Side   2/2-B Time   35:19 to 42:45	Company reaction to organizing activities--role of section 7a of the National Industrial Recovery Act
	Session III, June 22, 1976
Reel/Side   4/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:25	Introduction
Reel/Side   4/1-A Time   0:26 to 3:53	E. O. with nothing to lose during the sitdown strike
Reel/Side   4/1-A Time   3:54 to 9:14	Service as a picket captain, turning back armed picket--no weapons on picket line--efforts to control violence
Reel/Side   4/1-A Time   9:15 to 17:27	Spontaneous fistfights between union and Alliance members--picketing of Alliance homes--over-exuberant union members--need to control violence to preserve the legality of the strike
Reel/Side   4/1-A Time   17:28 to 18:23	Sitdown as minor legal violation
Reel/Side   4/1-A Time   18:24 to 23:32	Problem with local stool pigeons, not GM-hired spies--management always knew results of union meetings
Reel/Side   4/1-A Time   23:33 to 29:51	Planning the sitdown, small strike committee--Manager Fitzpatrick's threat to Elmer Yenney--need to build courage for the strike--role of international UAW in the Janesville sitdown
Reel/Side   4/1-B Time   0:00 to 3:30	Local union weak at time of sitdown--union leaders more cool and smarter than management
Reel/Side   4/1-B Time   3:31 to 13:03	Membership of strike committee--more on need to build courage--sitting down as spontaneous decision for many workers--extent of workers knowledge about impending strike
Reel/Side   4/1-B Time   13:04 to 15:49	Sitdown as a “time of action”, convincing people to participate--choice of strike time
Reel/Side   4/1-B Time   15:50 to 18:40	Picket captains and strike captains--head captain recruited others
Reel/Side   4/1-B Time   18:41 to 22:33	Relationship between Local 121 and Local 95, the Fisher Body union--coordination, separate strike committees
Reel/Side   4/1-B Time   22:34 to 29:04	Strikebreakers hired as sheriff's deputies--problem for Sheriff Croake who chose many of them--good timing for the strike--communication between Locals 121 and 95 only at leadership level--split between them
Reel/Side   4/1-B Time   29:05 to 33:35	Positioning of the sitdowners in the plant--gathered at front end of plant--company shut off heat, union opened windows
Reel/Side   4/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   4/2-A Time   0:21 to 2:39	Strength in numbers--need for cooperation from railroad people
Reel/Side   4/2-A Time   2:40 to 8:25	Slight recollection of City Manager Henry Traxler's role--relations in the plant between union members and workers reluctant to join union--giving up dues to keep members
Reel/Side   4/2-A Time   8:26 to 14:50	Repair department hard to organize--Alliance strength there and in conditioning department--limits on union talk in the plant
Reel/Side   4/2-A Time   14:51 to 19:29	E. O. offered foreman job, considered it a bribe attempt--hard to recruit workers from rural areas--Local 121 as a better union, more careful with money
Reel/Side   4/2-A Time   19:30 to 23:24	End of sitdown--Janesville plant not essential to UAW's national plan--E. O. pleased at ease of sitdown
Reel/Side   4/2-A Time   23:25 to 26:45	E. O.'s discontent with piece work system--recruiting union members as a learning experience
Reel/Side   4/2-A Time   26:46 to 30:30	Learning about unions, trial and error--current problems--no reading matter available on industrial unions then
Reel/Side   4/2-B Time   0:00 to 3:05	Importance of local and national leadership--the Reuthers, Walter as a used car salesman story
Reel/Side   4/2-B Time   3:06 to 9:36	Community to the Janesville locals during the mid-1930s--no support from local political leaders--unions ignored by Janesville community leaders
Reel/Side   4/2-B Time   9:37 to 16:07	No support from community religious leaders--local newspaper, The Gazette, as anti-union--no sense of isolation
Reel/Side   4/2-B Time   16:08 to 18:38	Joining the union as generally a personal decision, occasionally a group decision--many workers fearful for family needs
Reel/Side   4/2-B Time   18:39 to 22:14	Change in recruiting methods after the sitdown strike, tougher--recognition from a GM supervisor in the hospital
Reel/Side   4/2-B Time   22:15 to 24:45	Recruiting in outlying communities--use of beer and booze in recruiting
Reel/Side   4/2-B Time   24:46 to 30:21	Further recollections about AF of L Federal Local 19324--focus of AF of L on skilled workers, no understanding of industrial unionism--transition to the CIO--E. O. supported the CIO faction
	Session IV, June 29, 1976
Reel/Side   6/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:20	Introduction
Reel/Side   6/1-A Time   0:21 to 3:40	Recollection of Civic and Industrial Council--suspicions of Henry Traxler
Reel/Side   6/1-A Time   3:41 to 435	Absence of support from other labor organizations
Reel/Side   6/1-A Time   4:36 to 12:46	Local 121 and the UAW international--121 generally supported those in power--opposition to communists--response to Martin-Reuther factionalism within the UAW
Reel/Side   6/1-A Time   12:47 to 21:07	International office responsive to local needs--Jack Livingston of the UAW forced GM to change the “lousy” bargaining room which had been arranged to favor the company
Reel/Side   6/1-A Time   21:08 to 23:08	UAW representatives from Detroit--more on Jack Livingston
Reel/Side   6/1-A Time   23:09 to 25:49	The 1937 strike after the sitdown ended--E. O. as picket captain, ruined car--bitterness in Janesville
Reel/Side   6/1-A Time   25:50 to 29:30	Stopping the delivery of materials and the shipment of cars during the strike--potential for violence
Reel/Side   6/1-B Time   0:00 to 1:50	Keeping informed on national strike activities
Reel/Side   6/1-B Time   1:51 to 9:10	Gains from the strike, recognition primarily--encounter with the general manager--membership drive after the strike--rural workers hard to organize--majority by 1939--company as tough
Reel/Side   6/1-B Time   9:11 to 10:23	Further comments on gaining new members--Harry Johnson as key person
Reel/Side   6/1-B Time   10:24 to 12:54	Comments on the first contract, 1937--period of ad hoc problem-solving--need for UAW local reference library
Reel/Side   6/1-B Time   12:55 to 16:15	Management's attitude after the 1937 strike, no softening--Stanley Judd, the time study man for GM at Janesville Chevrolet
Reel/Side   6/1-B Time   16:16 to 19:45	E. O. as a member of the first bargaining committee--other members--issues, wages, plant conditions--need for a seniority system
Reel/Side   6/1-B Time   19:46 to 22:36	Further comments on the seniority system--division between skilled and unskilled workers
Reel/Side   6/1-B Time   22:37 to 28:57	Typical bargaining committee meeting--chairman did most of the talking--the management team
Reel/Side   6/1-B Time   28:57 to 31:37	Trips to Detroit for a variety of purposes
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   0:11 to 1:50	Problem-solving at the Chevrolet central office
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   1:51 to 3:26	The ladies' auxiliary, soup kitchens
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   3:27 to 5:22	UAW political involvement in Janesville--recent strength on City Council
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   5:23 to 9:43	Comments on Harold Lewis case, trustee expelled from Local 121
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   9:44 to 10:39	Local 121 and Janesville Labor Council
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   10:40 to 13:30	E. O.'s work during World War II--work for Fairbanks-Morse in Beloit
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   13:30 to 16:25	Recollection of 1946 strike against GM--bad timing--strike resulted from unfair treatment during the war
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   16:26 to 21:16	Leadership during the 1946 strike--bitterness--continual grievances, workers unwilling to follow process
Reel/Side   6/2-A Time   21:17 to 30:22	Information on Local 121 leaders which E. O. recalls--including hometown, department in which the person worked, residence in Janesville or area, religion, ethnic background, degree of militancy, and anecdotal material--Waldo Luchsinger and Elmer Yenney
Reel/Side   6/2-B Time   0:00 to 5:20	Information on Lou Adkins, Martin Setzer, John Carter, Harry Johnson
Reel/Side   6/2-B Time   5:21 to 9:30	Information on Howard Johnson, Straus Ellis, Belle Olson, Harold Lewis
Reel/Side   6/2-B Time   9:31 to 17:00	Information on Joe Knipshield, Mark Egbert, Glenn Swinbank and John Wuksinich
Reel/Side   6/2-B Time   17:01 to 24:00	Information on Richard Wagner, Clarence Carroll, Francis Sheridan and Frank Shumacher
	Series: Hugo Preuss Note: 1619 Elizabeth Street, Janesville	⇧
	Session I, August 3, 1976
Reel/Side   13/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:25	Introduction
Reel/Side   13/1-A Time   0:26 to 7:00	Family background--grandparents emmigrated from Germany, parents as children at the time--origins in Pomerania near Stettin--never any desire to return to Germany
Reel/Side   13/1-A Time   7:01 to 10:06	Family spoke High and Low German when H. P. was a youth--H. P. born on River St.--residences of grandparents
Reel/Side   13/1-A Time   10:07 to 16:22	Maternal grandfather as a mason tender--family political background--Lutheran religious background--the role of the minister as advisor to grandparents, members at St. Paul's, Missouri Synod
Reel/Side   13/1-A Time   16:23 to 27:03	Persistent German custom--gardening--Low v. High German--no German spoken after World War I, warned by minister--minister used Bible to encourage patriotism, Reverend Troy--no antagonism from community, played with Irish children
Reel/Side   13/1-A Time   27:03 to 29:23	Relations between German Lutherans and Irish Catholics in Janesville
Reel/Side   13/1-B Time   0:00 to 1:15	Relations between earlier and later German immigrants, separate communities
Reel/Side   13/1-B Time   1:16 to 11:00	Hard work, mother worked in cotton mill--social life, gathering life, soda pop at the tavern--Janesville breweries, ale brewed at Boub's brewery during the summer
Reel/Side   13/1-B Time   11:01 to 19:45	Elementary school at St. Paul's Lutheran--bilingual education--strict teachers--use of German declined after WW I--H. P. preferred public school--“religion to deal with” at St. Paul's, repetitive and boring--public school offered baseball and football teams
Reel/Side   13/1-B Time   19:46 to 30:26	Forms of recreation as a youth--good fishing below dam, raking in fish--raking and spearing illegal--water quality good, variety of fish--lax enforcement of game laws--drownings and inexperience
Reel/Side   13/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   13/2-A Time   0:11 to 1:35	More on recreation
Reel/Side   13/2-A Time   1:36 to 3:36	Odd jobs for kids--picking fruit at Kellogg Nursery--other jobs
Reel/Side   13/2-A Time   3:37 to 8:23	Preus family position in community--class awareness--frugality--“high-toned” people getting into a trade as the goal
Reel/Side   13/2-A Time   8:24 to 11:48	H. P. aspired to be a railroad engineer--got into electrical work through Frank Albright, a family friend--apprenticeship
Reel/Side   13/2-A Time   11:49 to 15:29	German language newspaper in Janesville, both English and German papers in Preus home--German paper in Janesville stopped publishing around WW I
Reel/Side   13/2-A Time   15:30 to 28:25	Further comments on apprenticeship--wiring for lights as primary work for apprentice--contractors did not push wall plugs and appliances in early stages of electrical business--machine work--H. P. developed great interest in electricity--rapid changes in electronics--from current to electron theory, H. P. learning about electrons
Reel/Side   13/2-B Time   0:00 to 2:50	Resistance to electron concept--H. P. attended night school to learn new ideas
Reel/Side   13/2-B Time   2:51 to 7:30	Hazardous work on utilities--daring behavior, bravado
Reel/Side   13/2-B Time   7:31 to 14:20	Janesville Electric Company--more on apprentice work--work on Samson Tractor plant--H. P. preferred industrial work--the Samson tractor--the coming of Wisconsin Power and Light
Reel/Side   13/2-B Time   14:21 to 17:21	Hazards of industrial electrical installation--development of regulations, little enforcement in early years
Reel/Side   13/2-B Time   17:22 to 22:30	Further comments on Frank Albright--summer as off-season--some workers travelled, union development made that more difficult--Albright as small contractor, later joined union himself
Reel/Side   13/2-B Time   22:31 to 25:45	H. P.'s early attitudes toward unions--only learned about labor unions by word of mouth, mostly negative comments
Reel/Side   13/2-B Time   25:46 to 27:00	The strike of 1919 against Janesville Electric--the company hired strikebreakers
	Session II, August 10, 1976
Reel/Side   14/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   14/1-A Time   0:16 to 9:15	Organization of Local 890 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers--early members--working conditions were the primary grievances--big contractors unionized--local contractors as anti-union
Reel/Side   14/1-A Time   9:16 to 12:55	Janesville contractors hostile to union, fired workers who voiced support for unions
Reel/Side   14/1-A Time   12:56 to 17:05	H. P.'s first contact with the union, asked by Frank Kelly not to work during strike--Kelly later got job at Samson Tractor for H. P.--the boomers, travelling workers with nationwide contacts
Reel/Side   14/1-A Time   17:06 to 22:00	Union structure, three divisions within the IBEW, none within Local 890--factionalism within the IBEW, little impact on Janesville
Reel/Side   14/1-A Time   22:01 to 28:25	More on H. P. joining union at age 16--initiation--attitude toward unionism--could still work in open shops--no written contracts--more on Samson Tractor job
Reel/Side   14/1-A Time   28:26 to 29:34	Absence of safety precautions
Reel/Side   14/1-B Time   0:00 to 3:10	Improvements in safety--H. P. as a union members
Reel/Side   14/1-B Time   3:11 to 7:35	Leaders of Local 890--terms of verbal agreements--death benefit for IBEW members
Reel/Side   14/1-B Time   7:36 to 11:06	Reasons for joining the unions--chance for big jobs, overtime pay--big jobs for H. P.
Reel/Side   14/1-B Time   11:07 to 11:47	GM annual changeover as big job here
Reel/Side   14/1-B Time   11:48 to 19:08	The strike of 1919, Janesville Electric used strikebreakers--community reaction--H. P. won nothing from that strike--Emmons, a union man, began an electrical shop as a result of 1919 strike
Reel/Side   14/1-B Time   19:08 to 26:43	H. P. went back to Albright after strike--other unions in Janesville in 1919, also used only verbal agreements--meetings and activities of the Building Trades Council
Reel/Side   14/1-B Time   26:44 to 28:30	Early meetings of Local 890--pleas for assistance from other unions
Reel/Side   14/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   14/2-A Time   0:11 to 3:55	Vague recollections of the Council on Industrial Relations--Allied Pipe Trades
Reel/Side   14/2-A Time   3:55 to 5:15	Repairing street car motors
Reel/Side   14/2-A Time   5:16 to 9:46	Local membership during the 1920s--no decline in local membership parallel to national IBEW decline during the 1920s--impact of the Depression--H. P. had steady work then, serviced radios
Reel/Side   14/2-A Time   9:47 to 18:27	H. P.'s reaction to the 1937 sitdown strike at GM--story about merchant demanding cash--recollection of picketing Ringling Circus--Carl Bunce--arrangements regarding electrical work at GM
Reel/Side   14/2-A Time   18:28 to 21:50	Reaction to the CIO--problem with UAW members moonlighting on electrical work--UAW seemed down on the AFL to H. P.--strained relations
Reel/Side   14/2-A Time   21:50 to 29:40	Bill Kuhlow's concern for local building codes, safety concerns, lobbied with the city government to improve them--relations with Henry Traxler--H. P. with few recollections of Janesville politics
Reel/Side   14/2-B Time   0:00 to 3:42	Early business agents, not reimbursed for time--union couldn't afford a full-time agent
Reel/Side   14/2-B Time   3:43 to 6:07	H. P. as a member of the apprentice examining board, role of board
Reel/Side   14/2-B Time   6:08 to 10:53	Impact of Rural Electrification Administration on Local 890--REA used a different method of wiring--most REA work done by open shop workers in Janesville
Reel/Side   14/2-B Time   10:54 to 14:32	H. P.'s overall attitude toward his union membership--importance of apprentice program and of getting the big jobs
Reel/Side   14/2-B Time   14:33 to 16:43	Disagreements on contracts--the IBEW pension system
	Series: John S. Scott, Jr. Note: 648 West Delavan Drive, Janesville	⇧
	Session I, August 24, 1976
Reel/Side   16/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:25	Introduction
Reel/Side   16/1-A Time   0:26 to 6:40	Family background--mother born in Illinois, father in Indiana--family lived in Coweta, Oklahoma--father as a drayman and farmer
Reel/Side   16/1-A Time   6:41 to 17:15	Coweta--Scott family one of few with northern background--Scotts as a black family in Coweta, got along with whites and Indians--recollection of Indian pow-wow in June--feasts for the dead--lodges and churches
Reel/Side   16/1-A Time   17:16 to 24:56	Segregated schools in Coweta--county exams, black students graded low--nearest black high schools at Tulsa and Muskogee--Indians attended white schools
Reel/Side   16/1-A Time   24:57 to 27:37	Scotts lost home in Coweta--Dr. Carter
Reel/Side   16/1-A Time   27:37 to 29:32	Family religious background--father offended by church-going hypocrites
Reel/Side   16/1-B Time   0:00 to 4:35	Family political background--parents “working the poll tax”--no voting rights for blacks in Waggoner County, Oklahoma--awareness of voting as power--use of the term “colored”
Reel/Side   16/1-B Time   4:36 to 10:26	Little sense of class--no library in Coweta's black school--throw-away books and crayons--other school problems
Reel/Side   16/1-B Time   10:27 to 15:49	Parents did not compare Coweta with Indiana or Illinois--no reaction against segregation--spiking tops on the playground--J. S. wanted to be a doctor
Reel/Side   16/1-B Time   15:50 to 25:08	J. S. and the railroads, hired by the Pullman Co.--move to Chicago--hitchhiking, driving for drummers--fourteen year-old hobo out of Coweta, left home in Coweta hoping to be able to go to high school, no opportunity available--ranged over the whole country during early Depression years, welcomed back home by father
Reel/Side   16/1-B Time   25:09 to 30:14	Riding the freight trains, living in hobo jungles--the workhouses--dodging the railroad dicks--states to stay out of
Reel/Side   16/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   16/2-A Time   0:10 to 10:15	Women in hobo jungles--protection--more on evading railroads dicks--hoboing in cold weather--comment on Grapes of Wrath--J. S. as the “youngest bum”--boarding trains
Reel/Side   16/2-A Time   10:16 to 17:06	Railroad men helped hobos evade railroad dicks--hitching-hiking and riding rails--law enforcement and hobos--help from churches in Chicago--Pilgrim Baptist Church, later when working for Pullman
Reel/Side   16/2-A Time   17:07 to 21:42	Hardships in Chicago, before being hired by Pullman--beginning with Pullman--too much travel with Pullman--then a waiter with the Chicago and Northwestern
Reel/Side   16/2-A Time   21:43 to 28:53	Member of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters--strikebreakers and the grocery store--fights with winos during strikes, J. S. has scar from such a fight--during stockyards strikes
Reel/Side   16/2-B Time   0:00 to 2:25	Comments on Sleeping Car Porters leadership--respect for A. Philip Randolph
Reel/Side   16/2-B Time   2:26 to 8:40	Service on the “Dakota 400” and the “Merry-go-round”--fellow dining car workers--leaving the Chicago and Northwestern in 1948, no more troop trains
Reel/Side   16/2-B Time   8:41 to 12:55	Looking for a home in Wisconsin--problem in Chicago school--need to be home more--fears of Chicago
Reel/Side   16/2-B Time   12:56 to 14:56	Visiting in Janesville--unaware of the absence of blacks--attended First Baptist Church
Reel/Side   16/2-B Time   14:57 to 19:37	Primarily worked on troop trains with the Chicago and Northwestern, the “Challenger” comments on passenger service--late-running passenger trains
Reel/Side   16/2-B Time   19:38 to 25:23	Finding a home in Janesville--getting approval from the “Good Neighborhood Association”--overview of working experience--coal from Hill's Coalyard
Reel/Side   16/2-B Time   25:24 to 29:19	J. S. had to buy a home in Janesville--no rentals to blacks, lost room at Milton Hotel, finally got a room at 104 S. Locust--deal for present home--decided to stay in Janesville after retirement
	Session II, September 9, 1976
Reel/Side   20/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   20/1-A Time   0:16 to 5:55	Decision to move to Janesville--Chicago overcrowded--suggestion from couple on train, gift of money
Reel/Side   20/1-A Time   5:56 to 8:32	More on finding a house in Janesville--visiting Wilson School--few other black families--ability to get along with whites
Reel/Side   20/1-A Time   8:33 to 16:15	Work at Janesville Country Club, low pay--job with Chicago and Northwestern at South Janesville--keeping track clear
Reel/Side   20/1-A Time   16:16 to 28:56	Backgrounds of fellow workers at South Janesville yard--work as a carman, repairing cars--use of American Ass'n of Railroads rulebook--inspection and care of freight cars--flat spots on wheels
Reel/Side   20/1-B Time   0:00 to 3:30	J. S. as member of Brotherhood of Railroad Carmen--comments on fellow workers
Reel/Side   20/1-B Time   3:31 to 5:31	Reason for freight train priority over passenger trains
Reel/Side   20/1-B Time   5:32 to 8:17	No recollection of discrimination from Chicago and Northwestern--acquaintance with manager, Mr. Lightheiser--switchman as desirable job
Reel/Side   20/1-B Time   8:18 to 13:30	Living in Janesville--member of First Baptist Church--wife asked to join choir--J. S. as usher captain--getting acquainted
Reel/Side   20/1-B Time   13:31 to 16:06.	The Scott children and Janesville's schools--story about daughter Sandra--note about African forefathers
Reel/Side   20/1-B Time   16:07 to 17:55	Availability of public facilities
Reel/Side   20/1-B Time   17:56 to 24:38	Discrimination at local tavern, support from a friend--served at Isabel's that night--other minority residents in Janesville, Dr. Nino and the Lopez family
Reel/Side   20/1-B Time   24:39 to 26:29	Other black people in Janesville--George Davis and the city body shop--Ike Williams family--Stud Wilson
Reel/Side   20/1-B Time   26:30 to 27:55	Little contact with Beloit black community until J. S. worked at Beloit Iron Works and joined the Kennedy Lodge
Reel/Side   20/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   20/2-A Time   0:11 to 3:53	The Al Beck story, dismissed from GM because of race, Beck did not appeal
Reel/Side   20/2-A Time   3:54 to 6:54	Timing of Al Beck's firing--importance of his fair-skinned appearance--Beck Working at Chrysler today
Reel/Side   20/2-A Time   6:55 to 10:15	J. S. getting a job at GM--assistance from a Mason friend--J. S. once assisted a white Mason
Reel/Side   20/2-A Time   10:16 to 17:32	S. Janesville yard closed down--work in Chicago and Beloit--pay discrimination at Beloit Iron Works, bad treatment there--then work at Clinton, Iowa yard with Chicago and Northwestern
Reel/Side   20/2-A Time   17:32 to 21:12	Then received call from Fisher Auto Body--worked through Paul Meicher in public relations office--Tom Jeffries as personnel director then
Reel/Side   20/2-A Time   21:13 to 25:38	J. S. “knew the score”--allegations of discriminative clause in local union contract--no hard evidence--Elmer Yenney refused J. S. a copy of the contract, prior to J. S.'s hiring by Fisher
Reel/Side   20/2-A Time   25:38 to 29:03	Conversation with Local 95 official, no follow-up--J. S. insulted in conversation with Elmer Yenney, J. S. characterized as “another Paul Robeson”
Reel/Side   20/2-B Time   0:00 to 6:40	Self-restraint in face of insult, spiritual influence--J. S. reluctant to force issue--Yenney died shortly before J. S. was hired--J. S. in Clinton at time of his hiring by Fisher
Reel/Side   20/2-B Time   6:41 to 17:46	“Robeson” comment taken as Communist slur--recollection of meeting Blue Jenkins from Racine, labor leader there--Jenkins took J. S.'s Gazette clippings relative to job discrimination, letters to editor--experience fishing near Fort Atkinson--Jenkins failed to return clippings--Jenkins asked about hiring at GM, several years prior to hiring of J. S., no mention of Beck case
Reel/Side   20/2-B Time   17:47 to 21:11	Nature of J. S.'s work at Fisher--started at straight pay due to proficiency
Reel/Side   20/2-B Time   21:12 to 28:12	Attitudes of fellow workers--new job, steaming headliners--problem of depleted stock at beginning of shift and cut steam hose, harassment--pressure for working early to set up job
	Series: Glenn Swinbank Note: 1514 Greenview Avenue, Janesville	⇧
	Session I, September 23, 1976
Reel/Side   24/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:32	Introduction, Mrs. Swinbank sat in on this session and occasionally contributed her comments
Reel/Side   24/1-A Time   0:33 to 3:17	Family background in New Diggings, southwestern Wisconsin--comments concerning grandparents--father a barber, mother a music teacher
Reel/Side   24/1-A Time   3:18 to 4:28	New Diggings rough--G. S. and John Carter who also became a leader in Local 121 at Chevrolet as members of first New Diggings high school class
Reel/Side   24/1-A Time   4:29 to 7:00	Family ethnic background--religious background, mother as primitive Methodist, father unaffiliated--father as Republican
Reel/Side   24/1-A Time   7:00 to 14:40	Schooling in New Diggings--ethnic groups in New Diggings--more on the town's rough character--high school years--recreation--G. S. aversion to mines--background on John Carter--slight knowledge of unions
Reel/Side   24/1-A Time   14:41 to 16:57	Swinbanks as middle class, little class consciousness--more on mines
Reel/Side   24/1-A Time   16:58 to 22:24	G. S. came to Janesville in 1928--others from New Diggings before, John Carter came before G. S.--easy to get GM job then--Chevrolet did not recruit
Reel/Side   24/1-A Time   22:25 to 25:20	Getting a job--stayed in rooming house, met wife there--the bull pen--hired by Clayton Orcutt, conversation with Orcutt
Reel/Side   24/1-A Time   25:21 to 29:03	First job on fenders--second job--piece work system--old vacuum fuel system
Reel/Side   24/1-B Time   0:00 to 5:08	Work on steering column and floorboard in 1929--no breaks--unpredictable hours--putting on tires as backbreaking job, with John Carter
Reel/Side   24/1-B Time   5:09 to 7:24	Reaction to assembly line work
Reel/Side   24/1-B Time   7:25 to 11:31	Backgrounds of workers--nearly half from Janesville and surrounding towns--many from northern Wisconsin--mixed ethnically
Reel/Side   24/1-B Time   11:32 to 17:27	Fellow workers who later became active in the union--early knowledge of Elmer Yenney, Mark Egbert and other leaders of Local 121--little union talk prior to 1933--laid off railroad workers worked at Chevrolet, recommended union, John Kaufman, they later returned to railroad
Reel/Side   24/1-B Time   17:28 to 24:43	Relations with foremen--Frank Shuler as tough production manager--plant managers as remote--Fitzpatrick as hard plant manager--G. S. had no desire to be foreman, refused opportunity--foremen as younger men
Reel/Side   24/1-B Time   24:44 to 28:14	Attitude toward work, pride--pushed too hard by management--general resentment against work overload
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   0:11 to 3:29	Attitude toward capitalism--GM not giant company at that time, understood need to establish company--savings system prior to 1933
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   3:30 to 5:22	World Fair workers in 1933--no work for G. S. in 1933, plant closed, used savings
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   5:23 to 10:08	G. S.'s political attitudes--voted for Hoover in 1928, confirmed Democrat thereafter--vague about AFL in early years--recollection of the GM Alliance--200 plus stayed in Chevrolet plant during the sitdown of 1937
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   10:09 to 11:04	Little socializing among workers, no time
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   11:05 to 13:23	First organizing efforts in Fisher plant--early organizers--G. S. succeeded John Kaufman as recording secretary
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   13:24 to 18:27	Early meetings, topics of discussion--Elmer Yenney's father a railroad man in Iowa--Yenney and Joe Knipschield as effective speakers--G. S. as secretary
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   18:28 to 22:23	Grievances--recollection of AFL federal local as first GM union in Janesville--switch to the CIO
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   22:24 to 27:02	G. S.'s reasons for joining union, need for change--firings for soliciting union members in plant--Fisher workers pushed harder for union
Reel/Side   24/2-A Time   27:03 to 30:13	Workers at 1933 World's Fair--Harry Johnson and Elmer Yenney as workers at the Fair in Chicago--impact of the National Industrial Relations Act--Fisher organizers assisted Chevrolet union members
Reel/Side   24/2-B Time   0:00 to 1:15	Early recruiters for Local 121--value of members in maintenance department
Reel/Side   24/2-B Time   1:16 to 5:02	Best organized departments--Joe Knipschield in paint department--outlying departments difficult to organize--GM homeowners
Reel/Side   24/2-B Time   5:03 to 8:47	Older men harder to organize--assembly line workers easy to organize--other factors made little difference
Reel/Side   24/2-B Time   8:48 to 14:43	Company reaction to early organizing efforts--Loyal or GM Alliance of anti-union workers, fizzled--G. S. persuaded Floyd Mabie, Alliance leader to join the union, picketed his house--no “roughhouse”--Alliance members
Reel/Side   24/2-B Time   14:44 to 18:04	Company espionage--Jimmy Hill as company spy in the maintenance department--Hill as a Pinkerton--effort to contact him in Chicago--local stool pigeons
Reel/Side   24/2-B Time   18:05 to 19:45	Firings of union members, Eddie Flood as the first--G. S. encounter with manager Shuler
Reel/Side   24/2-B Time   19:46 to 24:10	Community reaction to union--story about G. S. and a bill at Rayberg's store--Labor Day parade, G. S. got permit for first parade from Henry Traxler, company spied on parade
Reel/Side   24/2-B Time   24:11 to 27:56	No supportive local politicians--Traxler as fair city manager--no support from churches--support from local merchants, City Meat Shop, grocery stores and taverns
	Session II, September 30, 1976
Reel/Side   25/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:25	Introduction
Reel/Side   25/1-A Time   0:26 to 1:34	Many people left New Diggings during the 1920s due to the closing of the mines
Reel/Side   25/1-A Time   1:35 to 6:47	Sources of information on unions--influence of those who worked at the 1933 World's Fair--reliance on Elmer Yenney for information--the Gazette--the Capital Times--the public library
Reel/Side   25/1-A Time   6:48 to 13:18	The sitdown strike of 1937--incident between Manager Fitzpatrick and Dick Wagner--Fitzpatrick, Sheriff Croake and the crowd in the plant lobby--Joe Knipschield stopping the railroad cars
Reel/Side   25/1-A Time   13:19 to 22:34	Planning the strike--executive board meeting--relationship between Local 121 and the international--dues-paying membership--assistance from merchants--desire to avoid trouble--surge of new members after sitdown, Alliance ceased functioning
Reel/Side   25/1-A Time   22:35 to 28:35	Strike vote in December, 1936--firings before strike--difficult to move around plant--opposition from strike from members timing of strike--Shuler's comments on morning of the strike
Reel/Side   25/1-A Time   28:36 to 31:11	Local 121 and the international--activities after the sitdown
Reel/Side   25/1-B Time   0:00 to 1:15	Attitude toward post-strike members--some strong members from the Alliance
Reel/Side   25/1-B Time   1:16 to 5:51	Sheriff Croake's role, recommended that GM agree to shut down--parts department continued to operate during strike
Reel/Side   25/1-B Time   5:52 to 8:57	Shuler firing people--actions of supervisors during the strike--bargaining committee to negotiate settlement
Reel/Side   25/1-B Time   8:58 to 12:23	G. S.'s actions during the strike, after the shutdown, signing up new members--groups from outlying towns--activities at Local 121 office--bargaining committee
Reel/Side   25/1-B Time   12:24 to 18:00	Comments on the agreement--management as somewhat more cooperative--Shuler stripped of right to hire and fire--strike as “make or break” effort
Reel/Side   25/1-B Time   18:01 to 24:01	The button dispute--button day, later in 1937--community reaction to union--story about Local 121 buying old school near plant, company opposed, assistance from City Council and Henry Traxler
Reel/Side   25/1-B Time   24:01 to 27:37	Comments on time study--Stanley Judd as time study man
Reel/Side   25/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   25/2-A Time   0:11 to 10:00	Wildcat strikes in 1937 after the “Big Strike”--general spirit of militancy--emergence of new leaders--working conditions issues--wildcats productive for union
Reel/Side   25/2-A Time   10:01 to 15:35	Transition from AFL to CIO--Yenney and Egbert as CIO supporters--reaction to Homer Martin, long-term support for him
Reel/Side   25/2-A Time   15:35 to 19:30	Recollection of Harold Lewis--Lewis an informer, according to G. S.
Reel/Side   25/2-A Time   19:31 to 22:26	Reaction to allegation of agreement between company and city not to hire black workers--G. S. attitude toward black workers
Reel/Side   25/2-A Time   22:27 to 23:47	G. S. during World War II, entered Army in 1942
Reel/Side   25/2-A Time   23:47 to 27:07	G. S. returned from Army just before 1945-46 strike--picket captain during that strike--positive attitude toward the strike
Reel/Side   25/2-A Time   27:07 to 29:47	G. S. provides additional information on others who helped to organize Local 121--Elmer Yenney--Mark Egbert
Reel/Side   25/2-B Time   0:00 to 1:55	Harry Johnson, militant after he was fired--Howard Johnson, Harry's brother
Reel/Side   25/2-B Time   1:56 to 8:36	Joe Knipschield, influential in paint department--Gene Osmond, influenced people in his area of the assembly line--Bob Brennan, cab trim leader--Louie Prohuska--Ollie Radtke--Eddie Flood in the radiator area
Reel/Side   25/2-B Time   8:37 to 16:02	Getting off the line into the desirable jobs--Kenny Scholl--Cliff Porter on the body line, brought Brennan into union, picketed Floyd Mabie's house--Waldo Luchsinger
Reel/Side   25/2-B Time   16:03 to 20:38	Comments on the women's auxiliary--Mrs. Swinbank comments on auxiliary activities, the drill team and the chorus, the soup kitchens--Mrs. Swinbank's attitudes toward the union
	Series: John Wesley Van Horn Note: 349 West Grand, Apt. 206, Beloit	⇧
	Session I, October 19, 1976
Reel/Side   28/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:45	Introduction
Reel/Side   28/1-A Time   0:46 to 3:51	Family background--father as “jack-of-all-trades”, farmed in Iowa, returned to family home in Milton, Wis.--importance of 7th Day Baptist churches to the family--early work experience
Reel/Side   28/1-A Time   3:52 to 7:57	More on family background--7th Day Baptist religious background--children ceased 7th Day practice, worked on Saturday--W. V. H. later attended Congregational Church
Reel/Side   28/1-A Time   7:58 to 15:08	Republican family politics--W. V. H. considered radical--father worked at Badger Ordnance in Merrimac during WW II--W. V. H.'s development as a Democrat, influence of FDR and the UAW
Reel/Side   28/1-A Time   15:09 to 18:54	W. V. H. grew up in Iowa, cut wood during the winter--later life in Milton
Reel/Side   28/1-A Time   18:55 to 24:40	First job at Chevrolet, mounting front springs--variety of experiences--Seaman Body Co. in Milwaukee--upholstered Majestic Theater seats in Milwaukee--A. O. Smith--bartending in Milwaukee during Prohibition--return to Janesville
Reel/Side   28/1-A Time   24:40 to 29:25	Getting first job at Chevrolet--arbitrary process--hard and dirty work
Reel/Side   28/1-B Time   0:00 to 1:35	Front spring mounting as slave labor
Reel/Side   28/1-B Time   1:36 to 7:31	Good pay at Chevrolet, pay scale in 1924--work force at Chevrolet, many farm boys--younger men--many workers from Iowa, Illinois and northern Wisconsin
Reel/Side   28/1-B Time   7:32 to 12:52	W. V. H. and Elmer Yenney, president of Local 121 later, stayed at same boarding house in early years--other early friends who were later UAW associates
Reel/Side   28/1-B Time   12:53 to 15:23	First union meeting--W. V. H. left Chevy for Michigan
Reel/Side   28/1-B Time   15:24 to 18:29	Return to Janesville, getting on at Fisher--sporadic productions--road work on Highway 26
Reel/Side   28/1-B Time   18:30 to 24:25	Tack spitting at Fisher, resultant damage to teeth--case taken to the Wisconsin Industrial Commission--company refused compensation--Glen Demrow as “guinea pig”--Leon Feingold as attorney
Reel/Side   28/1-B Time   24:26 to 27:41	Illegal picketing case after the War, involved a Milwaukee construction firm
Reel/Side   28/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   28/2-A Time   0:11 to 6:36	More on illegal picketing case--confrontation--W. V. H. and Bob Donegan charged--contractor and income tax loss--case dismissed--related to 1945-46 strike
Reel/Side   28/2-A Time   6:37 to 10:12	Leon Feingold as the UAW's attorney in Janesville
Reel/Side   28/2-A Time   10:13 to 15:08	Fisher work force--union activists from trim department--the headliner gang
Reel/Side   28/2-A Time   15:09 to 21:29	Strong union members in other departments--highest paid, experienced workers as best union members, “different class of people”
Reel/Side   28/2-A Time   21:30 to 25:00	Line speed as key problem--arbitrary hiring and firing--Manager Hurley “shooting off his mouth”--chain gang
Reel/Side   28/2-A Time   25:01 to 26:16	Line speed at 72 per hour--gaps in line lowered that somewhat
Reel/Side   28/2-A Time   26:16 to 29:21.	Attitudes of management--periods of unemployment
Reel/Side   28/2-B Time   0:00 to 2:15	Few health problem other than tack-spitting--solder pots
Reel/Side   28/2-B Time   2:16 to 7:56	Early development of Local 95--joint union for Fisher and Chevy at first--reason for dividing them--Ed Hall as UAW-AFL international representative--dissatisfaction with early union
Reel/Side   28/2-B Time   7:57 to 13:23	W. V. H. not hired back in 1935, appeal to Wolman Board--the hearing, those in attendance, Ed Hall for the union--radicalizing experience for W. V. H.
Reel/Side   28/2-B Time   13:24 to 20:29	W. V. H.'s early union activities, visited workers at their homes--recruiting at local taverns--little help from AFL
Reel/Side   28/2-B Time   20:30 to 27:45	UAW international convention at Milwaukee in 1937--factionalism at that convention--Martin v. Thomas factions at 1938 convention--Harold Christoffel as a Communist leader--W. V. H.'s fear of the Communist Party--little problem with Communists in Janesville--suspicions, especially during the 1937 sitdown strike
	Session II, October 27, 1976
Reel/Side   30/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   30/1-A Time   0:16 to 9:50	Communist influence in UAW at the international level--more on Harold Christoffel and the 1937 Milwaukee convention--Communists in the UAW-CIO, Wyndham Mortimer--Ed Hall as right-wing--George Addes--Reuther brothers as socialists, distinction between Communists and socialists--recollection of Jack Livingston, “straight”
Reel/Side   30/1-A Time   9:51 to 13:31	Membership in Local 95--fluctuation--the company union--membership influx after the 1937 sitdown
Reel/Side   30/1-A Time   13:32 to 16:27	Recruiting members before 1937--wives often fearful--house-to-house canvassing--problems with organizing inside plant
Reel/Side   30/1-A Time   16:28 to 20:43	Higher paid, skilled workers as union activists--key members in the various departments--polish department as hard work, metal finishing as hardest
Reel/Side   30/1-A Time   20:44 to 24:04	Religious and ethnic backgrounds made no difference--other factors--more experienced workers more likely to join--encouraging new hires to join the union
Reel/Side   30/1-A Time   24:05 to 25:50	Leadership in 1935, Straus Ellis sought management position
Reel/Side   30/1-A Time   25:51 to 27:56	Company reaction to union in early years--union not taken seriously, no power
Reel/Side   30/1-B Time   0:00 to 2:50	Confrontation with manager Hurley, union cigarettes, the headliners
Reel/Side   30/1-B Time   2:51 to 4:55	Company union--local members in it
Reel/Side   30/1-B Time   4:56 to 11:20	Local 95's executive board--AFL v. CIO as an executive board decision, board followed W. V. H.'s recommendation, after 1937--most anxious to join the CIO--Jap Michaels as international representative
Reel/Side   30/1-B Time   11:21 to 14:46	Isolation of the Janesville locals from the UAW mainstream--confrontation with Frank Sihorsky from Racine Case local at a meeting of the CIO faction
Reel/Side   30/1-B Time   14:47 to 21:07	The effort to strip Lou Adkins of the treasurership of Local 95 for supporting the UAW-CIO--W. V. H. lost, he and Adkins worked together on a friendly basis after
Reel/Side   30/1-B Time   21:08 to 26:58	The decision to join the UAW-CIO, W. V. H. attended CIO meeting in Flint--resulting confrontation with Homer Martin and AFL leaders--W. V. H. and Elmer Yenney of Local 121 agreed on need to join CIO, 1940--fear of Communists as key reason for failure to join earlier
Reel/Side   30/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   30/2-A Time   0:11 to 9:51	The sitdown strike of 1937--about 15% of workers as dues-paying members then--strike expected--planning for the sitdown, timing left to executives of Locals 95 and 121--one o'clock on Jan. 5, 1937, reason for that timing--W. V. H. told Coley Simmons to shut down line--subsequent events in the plant--agreement to end sitdown, Traxler forced to announce agreement
Reel/Side   30/2-A Time   9:52 to 12:17	Trouble on the railroad tracks, keeping a train out of the plants
Reel/Side   30/2-A Time   12:18 to 15:33	Further comments on planning--previous UAW experience in Flint--mass meeting on night before the sitdown
Reel/Side   30/2-A Time   12:18 to 16:03	Community reaction--W. V. H. had no fear of plant closing--reason for sitdown, value of sitdown--spontaneous decision to sitdown
Reel/Side   30/2-A Time   16:04 to 20:59	Negotiations to end the sitdown, W. V. H. not directly involved--role of Sheriff Croake--Henry Traxler's role--no arrests
Reel/Side   30/2-A Time   21:00 to 24:10	News reporting of the sitdown--Rockford Morning-Star better than Gazette--coverage of the Madison Capital Times
Reel/Side   30/2-B Time   0:00 to 3:25	Legality of the sitdown--W. V. H. thought it illegal--contest for power
Reel/Side   30/2-B Time   3:26 to 4:46	Activites after sitdown, during strike
Reel/Side   30/2-B Time   4:47 to 9:22	Grievances after plant re-opened--line speed--inconsistent pay scale--seniority--sanitation problems, toilets not cleaned--line speed dropped from 72 to 58--body banks used to keep the line full
Reel/Side   30/2-B Time   9:23 to 16:08	Wildcat strikes after the big strike--“guys got cocky”--problems for union--role of Jack Cronin, a fair personnel man--cocky foreman and bosses--problem with a foreman who borrowed from his men--grievance system established prior to WW II
Reel/Side   30/2-B Time   16:09 to 20:49	Response of Local 95 leaders to wildcat strikes--incident when non-union workers were thrown out of the plant--stopping a brawl at a country tavern--getting non-members into the union
Reel/Side   30/2-B Time   20:50 to 24:15	W. V. H. as a UAW field representative--returned to Janesville after a few months
Reel/Side   30/2-B Time   24:16 to 26:36	Work experience during WW II--wartime leave from Janesville plant--UAW field work in the Janesville area
	Series: James Wells Note: 1038 Jerome Avenue, Janesville	⇧
	Session I, October 14, 1976
Reel/Side   27/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:20	Introduction
Reel/Side   27/1-A Time   0:21 to 4:41	Family background--mother from Beaver Dam--father with telephone company--ethnic background
Reel/Side   27/1-A Time   4:42 to 10:32	Living in Colorado as a child, father did line work there with power and light company--returned to Janesville, father worked as a meter tester, mother at woolen mill
Reel/Side   27/1-A Time   10:33 to 13:58	Mother's experience in the woolen mill--more of life in Colorado, difficult times--attending church in Colorado
Reel/Side   27/1-A Time   13:59 to 16:59	Youth in Janesville-required to repeat a grade in school--selling newspapers
Reel/Side   27/1-A Time   17:00 to 22:20	Family religious background--St. Patrick's Catholic Church--formation of St. Mary's, rules on attending new churches--strong Catholic family
Reel/Side   27/1-A Time   22:21 to 31:36:	Attending St. Patrick's School--Sisters of Mercy--quality of education at St. Patrick's--discipline in the parochial school, respect for the nuns
Reel/Side   27/1-B Time   0:00 to 3:35	Ethnic differences not too important--relations with St. Paul's Lutheran School--Irish priests at St. Patrick's
Reel/Side   27/1-B Time   3:35 to 7:10	Family political background, not active--father voted Progressive--supported rights of workers--reaction to 1928 election--high school experience, baseball
Reel/Side   27/1-B Time   7:11 to 9:00	Father not in IBEW--father's attitude toward the labor movement
Reel/Side   27/1-B Time   9:01 to 11:06	Early work experience at GM as a timekeeper, disliked the work, quit
Reel/Side   27/1-B Time   11:07 to 17:02	Grocery delivery business--insurance salesman--further comments on timekeeper work at GM, son had similar experience at GM
Reel/Side   27/1-B Time   17:03 to 21:28	More on the grocery delivery business--milk delivery business--getting a job at Parker Pen
Reel/Side   27/1-B Time   21:29 to 24:49	Car driveaway at GM, beginning of Teamster union activity in Janesville
Reel/Side   27/1-B Time   24:50 to 26:45	J. W. had contact with Teamster organizer--fired for attending organizational meeting
Reel/Side   27/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   27/2-A Time   0:11 to. 3:05	Further comments on the organization of the Teamsters in Janesville--Frazier, the organizer from Chicago
Reel/Side   27/2-A Time   3:06 to 6:16	J. W.'s attitudes toward the labor movement--decline of the grocery delivery
Reel/Side   27/2-A Time   6:17 to 8:32	J. W. portrays Frazier as a close-mouthed, crafty union organizer
Reel/Side   27/2-A Time   8:33 to 13:28	Opposition to the Teamsters from Janesville merchants and businessmen--organizing. Benison and Lane Bakery--attempt to organize Schaeffer Pen--hazards of organizing
Reel/Side   27/2-A Time   13:29 to 19:37	More on organizing Benison and Lane--other Teamster targets--important move driveaways to trucks at GM--J. W. as a Teamster member
Reel/Side   27/2-A Time   19:38 to 22:08	Typical early Teamster meetings, hatred for employers--J. W.'s attitude--emergence of car-hauling companies
Reel/Side   27/2-A Time   22:08 to 29:32	Impact of Teamsters on Janesville, union awareness--exorbitant salaries for union officials--attitude toward George Meany--choosing a union for Parker Pen
Reel/Side   27/2-B Time   0:00 to 1:16	Further comments on the United Rubber Workers at Parker Pen, desire of workers to maintain local autonomy
Reel/Side   27/2-B Time   1:17 to 10:22	Community reaction to the Teamsters--wives often hostile--the Gazette's reporting--anti-union teachers in the schools, J. W.'s children anti-union--unions and municipal workers--opposition to compulsory arbitration
Reel/Side   27/2-B Time   10:-23 to 15:13	Reaction to Firefighters Association, no right to strike--argument that they produce nothing of value
Reel/Side   27/2-B Time   15:14 to 22:49	The Church and labor unions--reaction of priests to organized labor, allied with employers, tried to keep pay low for janitors-J. W. learned about Rerum Novarum, the papal encyclical on labor, at the School for Workers--anti-union statements in sermons recalled
Reel/Side   27/2-B Time   22:50 to 26:10	J. W. active in Democratic Party politics--helped to develop the Democratic Party in Rock County after World War II--other active Democrats
	Session II, October 21, 1976
Reel/Side   29/1-A Time   0:00 to 0:15	Introduction
Reel/Side   29/1-A Time   0:16 to 6:00	Beginning work with Parker Pen in 1941--made delayed-action fuses during the War--J. W.'s work as a tool sharpener--supervisor in fuse plant
Reel/Side   29/1-A Time   6:01 to 8:39	Management of the fuse plant--responsibilities as fuse plant supervisor--J. W.'s ability to get along with people
Reel/Side   29/1-A Time   8:40 to 14:10	Work force at the fuse plant was non-traditional in many ways--inexperienced as factory workers, many problems--methods to counter the problems
Reel/Side   29/1-A Time   14:11 to 15:29	Women workers at the fuse plant
Reel/Side   29/1-A Time   15:30 to 20:35	Returning to the pen plant after the war--back into work force as a set-up man
Reel/Side   29/1-A Time   20:36 to 26:41	Parker as a good place to work, not too difficult--floor inspection work
Reel/Side   29/1-A Time   26:42 to 29:52	Parker as closed shop by 1941--background on the union--first meeting in Anna Marsden home--Holtons and Dabsons as early organizers--incentive pay system as key grievance--union time study after the war
Reel/Side   29/1-B Time   0:00 to 2:45	More on problem with incentive pay system
Reel/Side   29/1-B Time   2:46 to 4:41	Company relatively cooperative with the union--wildcat strike after the war
Reel/Side   29/1-B Time   4:42 to 9:27	The independent, federal union--federal local satisfactory for long time--problem with AFL being trades unions, federal locals as industrial unions, stepchildren
Reel/Side   29/1-B Time   9:28 to 18:13	No knowledge of establishment of closed shop at Parker--Waldo Luchsinger as personnel director--absence of hard feelings between labor and management--importance of women workers at Parker--several families with more than one employee--separate payrolls maintained for men and women
Reel/Side   29/1-B Time   18:14 to 24:34	Women workers in majority, most holding second family job--more on hiring of families by Parker--Mr. Hall as production superintendant
Reel/Side   29/2-A Time   0:00 to 0:10	Introduction
Reel/Side   29/2-A Time   0:11 to 2:45	Variances in pay for men and women during World War II--little reaction by women
Reel/Side   29/2-A Time   2:46 to 8:10	J. W.'s service with the union--long term as local president--Rock County Board of Supervisors--term as union steward
Reel/Side   29/2-A Time   8:11 to 16:11	Issues on the bargaining board--the Scanlon Plan during the mid-1960s--need for the Scanlon Plan, alternative to an incentive system--determination to avoid profit-sharing
Reel/Side   29/2-A Time   16:12 to 19:27	Good working conditions--most complaints settled with foreman--crowded conditions in old plant
Reel/Side   29/2-A Time   19:27 to 23:07	Term as president of Janesville Labor Council--the UAW and the Labor Council--UAW left at time of AFL-CIO split
Reel/Side   29/2-A Time   23:08 to 26:08	J. W.'s involvement with the Democratic Party through Earl Heffernan--problem with by-laws
Reel/Side   29/2-A Time   26:09 to 29:49	Phasing-out of the federal unions--Parker union required to select an international--competition from main internationals
Reel/Side   29/2-B Time   0:00 to 3:05	Selecting the United Rubber Workers--autonomy for smaller locals--decision made by local leadership
Reel/Side   29/2-B Time   3:06 to 5:51	International Association of Machinists at Parker Pen--weak IAM effort to organize the whole plant--competition between the old federal local and the IAM
Reel/Side   29/2-B Time   5:52 to 7:07	Rubber Workers in the AFL
Reel/Side   29/2-B Time   7:08 to 10:43	URW organizers in Janesville--Bill Kitchens--J. W.'s knowledge of Pete Bomarito, current URW president--importance of bringing wives to the conventions
Reel/Side   29/2-B Time   10:44 to 17:34	Few changes resulted at the local level--Janesville local from bookkeeping standpoint--Janesville people offered opportunities with the URW international office--J. W. involved in effort to organize Schaeffer Pen, ran into anti-union sentiment
Reel/Side   29/2-B Time   17:35 to 19:35	Parker management did not care about shift from federal local to URW--concluding comments