Afl-Cio Archive Donation Largest In University Of Maryland Library History
October 08, 2013
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka addresses the history of his organization during the acceptance ceremony on October 1st in front of Hornbake Library.
By Jenny Hottle, The Diamondback
In the days following a massive donation of historical labor materials to the university archives, the collection is creating buzz not only on the campus, but also around the world.
Filling up six miles of shelving, the George Meany Memorial AFL-CIO Archive is the largest single donation to the university libraries ever, said Lauren Brown, manager of special collections. It is valued at $25 million and contains more than 40 million artifacts and documents ranging from campaign buttons and photographs to books and even a pair of old work boots.
The archive was curated and collected by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, an umbrella organization for 57 U.S. labor unions that represent more than 12 million workers. It joins several other university-housed collections of labor history, making this university among the largest union research sites on the East Coast, said Patricia Steele, dean of the university libraries.