Labor Union Blog

Interested in the "DRAMATIC!" and "THRILLING!" adventures of Joe Worker in 1945, or maybe a take on "low-wage scheme" "right to work" for less laws from 1955?

University of California, Los Angeles, history professor Tobias Higbie has a fabulous collection of old union pamphlets, radical magazine covers and working-class publications featuring Joe Worker and many other subjects. It's just a couple of clicks away on the photo-sharing website Flickr.

Higbie, an AFT member, specializes in working-class and labor history. He also is author of Indispensable Outcasts: Hobo Workers and Community in the American Midwest, 1880-1930. The book won the 2004 Philip Taft Labor History Book Award, Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

A tip of the hat to our colleagues at Metropolitan Washington Council who recently noted Higbie's work in their e-newsletter Union City:

The union pamphlets feature powerful art and the collection includes scans and digital photographs of pamphlets and books from labor unions and radical organizations, mostly from the early 20th century, while the readers include historical documents related to self-educated workers and working-class readers during the early 20th century.