Collections

In an unpublished essay, Boswell, editor of the Labor Argus (Charleston's Socialist newspaper) describes the mining labor troubles at Paint Creek and Cabin Creek. He adamantly opposes Governor Hatfield's settlement and the role of the UMWA in accepting it. In particular he castigates Thomas Haggerty, a field marshal for the union, for compromising with capitalists.

A collection of typescripts, brochures, pamphlets, books, tape recordings, and assorted ephemeral publications concerning radical political and economic groups and community organizing related to labor history in Appalachia and the United States as compiled by Keith Dix. Organizations and publications represented in the collection include New Directions in Labor (1970-1971), New American Movement (1970-1971), New University Conference (1971), Labor Research Association (1971), Students for a Democratic Society (1963), and Radical Education Project (1968-1969), among others. Also includes material from 1923 to 1976 concerning coal mining labor relations and the role of unions such as the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). Topics of these items include rank-and-file members of the union, strikes, agreements, and mechanization. Tape recordings contain oral history interviews conducted by Keith Dix. Interviews chiefly concern coal mining in West Virginia. A more complete list of publications and tape recordings is available in the library. Most of the collection is arranged according in subject files, according to the topic or name of organization.

Mr. Pryzbylinski, a resident of Mt. Carmel, Pennsylvania, was a coal miner and actively promoted trade unionism and socialism in his area from about 1915 to 1930. When many mines in the anthracite coal fields closed in the early 1930s, he stopped working as a miner and became engaged in radio repair work. He was also interested in the co-operative movement. He encouraged this movement in the Mt. Carmel area and was president of the local co-operative. The collection includes 363 pamphlets concerning socialism, trade unionism, and the welfare of the working class. There are also clippings and magazine articles on these subjects. Included is a copy of the National Berger Memorial Edition of the Milwaukee Leader from August 7, 1930, and a typescript mimeograph copy of the proceedings of a meeting entitled "Who is Calvin Coolidge?" chaired by Oswald Garrison Villard, April 12, 1927. This group of materials comprises 8 boxes. Two boxes contain the material collected by Mr. Pryzbylinski on the co-operative movement. Includes the cooperative league's publication, Cooperation, and Consumer cooperation for 1929-1939; cooperative Association yearbooks; 67 pamphlets on the cooperative movement; newspaper and magazine clippings; and one bound volume, no. IX, of the Cooperative Builder, published in Superior, Wisconsin, for 1934.

Dr. William D. Barns (1917-1991) was a professor of history at West Virginia University from 1940 to 1985. His fields of specialization were American agriculture and labor history, West Virginia and regional history, American economic history, and the United States since 1860. The material has been divided into three main sections of archives, books, and periodicals, and described to the box level. The contents of this collection were created or collected by Dr. William D. Barns and Mrs. Doretha Barns from the 1920s to 1995. The majority of the material pertains to the academic career of Dr. Barns. Mrs. Barns continued to collect material until 1995. Two large series that relate specifically to Mrs. Barns are the League of Women Voters and Mrs. Doretha Barns. In addition, she contributed to the series on the Federal Government, Miscellaneous, Pacifism, and Society of Friends.

The collection consists of ledgers, journals, and cashbooks of the Goodwill Coal and Coke Co., Greenbrier Coal and Coke Co., Gulf Coal Co., Louisville Coal and Coke Co., Winding Gulf Coal and Coke Co., and the Winding Gulf Colliery Co., with some material on the operation of company stores. There is also correspondence (1911-1915) between the managers of mines at Winding Gulf and Davy, West Virginia, discussing production levels, availability of railroad cars and freight rates, New River and Pocahontas Operators Organization, operating difficulties, labor shortages and working conditions, the Mabscott mine strike and German "socialists" at Mabscott, the Bottom Creek explosion at Vivian, the UMWA and a 1915 agreement, and the good roads movement in Raleigh County in 1915.