A&M 2778Mother Jones Typescript Memoir, 1938 A&M 2778Staff of the West Virginia & Regional History CenterWest Virginia and Regional History Center

1549 University Ave. P.O. Box 6069 Morgantown, WV 26506-6069Business Number: 304-293-3536wvrhcref@westvirginia.libanswers.comURL:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-08-30 08:18:08 -0400.EnglishDescribing Archives: A Content Standard West Virginia and Regional History Center Mother Jones Typescript Memoir Burgess, Lillie May (Fowler) A&M 2778 Archival Resource Key Previous Archival Resource Key Previous Archival Resource Key Previous Archival Resource Key /repositories/2/resources/907 0.25 Linear Feet Summary: 3 in. (1 small flat storage box) 1938 Typescript memoir of the life of Mother Jones, entitled "Mother Jones: the Life Story of the Irish Immigrant Girl Who Became the Most Unique Character in the American Labor Movement, Living Past 100 Years," written by Lillie May Burgess of Hyattsville, Maryland, and copyrighted 8 February 1938. The manuscript is in two parts, several pages of which are missing. The first part (241pp.) is entitled "The Life Story of Mother Jones: American Labor's Joan of Arc," and is a narration of events in Mother Jones' life. It includes a description of her early years, before she became a labor activist, and some of the highlights of her labor career. Her activities in organizing miners in West Virginia and Colorado receive most emphasis, but also included are her activities among women brewery workers, her participation in the 1919 steel strike at Homestead, Pennsylvania, her interest in the Mexican Revolution of 1911, her views on woman suffrage and prohibition, her meetings with various presidents and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and her friendship with Terence V. Powderly, fellow labor activist. The narration follows closely that of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MOTHER JONES, published in 1925 by Charles H. Kerr & Co., Chicago, Ill., with the addition of some chapters on her life after 1925. The second part (106pp.) is entitled "The Last Years of Mother Jones (Personal Reminiscences)." It is a narration of the later years of Mother Jones' life, ca.1927-1930, most of which she spent under the care of the author, Lillie May Burgess, at the Burgess home in Hyattsville, Maryland. Mrs. Burgess relates the circumstances under which Mother Jones and she became friends, how Mother Jones came to live with the Burgess family in 1927, and what these years of her life were like. West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/ English Conditions Governing Access

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[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Mother Jones Typescript Memoir, A&M 2778, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

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 Colorado Hyattsville (Md.) West Virginia Agriculture Churches -- Roman Catholic Coal miners Coal mines and mining Coal mining - Labor organization. Coal mining - Strikes - Colorado mines. Coal mining - Strikes - West Virginia mines. Coal mining. Mines and mining -- Colorado Estate settlements. Homestead, PA -- Steel workers -- Strikes Labor organization. SEE ALSO Coal mining - labor Mexican Revolution. Mines and mining -- Colorado Prohibition -- United States -- History Homestead, PA -- Steel workers -- Strikes Strikes - Colorado miners. Homestead, PA -- Steel workers -- Strikes Strikes -- West Virginia -- Coal miners Unions. Women labor union members Women brewery workers -- Wisconsin -- Milwaukee Coal miners' spouses Women textile workers Women -- Suffrage Women -- United States -- History United Mine Workers of America Western Federation of Miners Burgess, Lillie May (Fowler) Burgess, Lillie May (Fowler) Burgess, Walter. Jones, Mary. Powderly, Terence Vincent, 1849-1924 Rockefeller, John D., Jr. (John Davison), 1874-1960