Collections
MF 038 Maine State Federated Labor
Council Collection
Number of
Interviews: 24
Dates when interviews were conducted: 1969-1974
Time period covered: early-to-mid twentieth century
Principal interviewers: multiple, see individual accessions
Finding Aides: indexes and transcripts
Access Restrictions: No releases. Copyright retained by
interviewee and interviewer and/or their heirs.
Description: A collection of twenty-four accessions featuring
interviews conducted between 1969-1973 under the auspices of the
Maine State Federated Labor Council. Topics range widely over the
spectrum of organized labor issues in Maine, but seem to deal
primarily with unions, union organizing, and elections. Interviewees
include top ranking union officials as well as lobstermen,
longshoremen, bricklayers, quarry workers, textile and paper millworkers, sulphite workers, iron workers, shipbuilders, railroad
workers, typesetters, building trade workers, electricians, garment
workers, and shoe makers. Also represented are union organizers,
labor historians, and publishers of labor periodicals such as “Labor
News.” A card index of personal names, place names, topics, unions,
and company names for this collection is available in the Archives.
574 Maine State Federated Labor Council. Spring 1969. Maine:
Waterville. 18 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with George
Jabar, former CIO president, about organizing unions in Maine
between 1937 and 1941, the first general strike and riot in
Waterville, picketing laws, check-off provisions, national
conventions, also remarks about Ben Dorsky, Jean D’Avagnon, and
James George. Interviewer: Charles O’Leary. T298
584 Maine State Federated Labor Council. July 1969. Maine:
Waterville. 27 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview with
Benjamin J. Dorsky, President of the Maine State Federated
Labor Council since 1937, about his career in organized labor in
Maine. Interviewer: Charles O’Leary. T328
585 Maine State Federated Labor Council. Feb. 1971. Maine:
Bangor. 14 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview with
Harold Noddin, Secretary-Treasurer of the Maine State
Federated Labor Council, on the history of organized labor in Maine;
also the 1962 convention that elected Benjamin Dorsky president and
the campaign leading to his election. Interviewer: Charles O’Leary.
T328
600 Maine State Federated Labor Council. 1971. Maine: Bangor,
Livermore Falls. 52 pp. Tape: 1 1/2 hrs. w/ brief cat. & trans.
Interviews on labor history: 1.) Unidentified respondent; 2.)
Wilfred E. Gonya, Vice-President of International Brotherhood of
Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers. Interviewer: Charles
O’Leary. T337
667 Maine State Federated Labor Council. Dec. 1971 & Jan.
1972. Maine: Bangor, Bucksport. 68 pp. Tape: 2 hrs. w/ brief cat. &
trans. Interview with Prof. Edward Holmes on organizing
lobsterman’s co-operatives on Maine coast in 1930’s; interview with
Harold Noddin on union organization in pulp and paper
industry; interview with Frank Dunbar on his experiences
organizing pulp and sulfite workers and longshoremen in Maine,
especially in Bucksport. Interviewer: Bill Griffith. T367
668 Maine State Federated Labor Council. Feb. 1972. Maine:
Bangor. 68 pp. Tape: 2 hrs. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview with
Bob Ewer about labor organization history of the railroad;
interview with Ted Kimble about labor history of bricklayers.
Interviewer: Bill Griffith. T368
671 Maine State Federated Labor Council. Feb., Mar., May,
1972. Maine: Waterville, Bangor. 140 pp. Tape: 4 hrs. w/ brief cat.
& trans. Interview with Floyd Craig of Denver, Colorado on
the early history of Labor News; an unidentified conference with
several men; interview with Benjamin Dorsky and Arthur
Lebel; interview with George Jabar. Interviewer: John
Hanson. T373 - T374
672 Maine State Federated Labor Council. March 1972. Maine:
Woodland. 38 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview with
Joseph White on early labor movement in paper mills in
Woodland. Interviewers: Charles O’Leary, John Hanson, Harold Noddin.
T375
682 Maine State Federated Labor Council. April 1972.Maine:
Old Orchard Beach. 43 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with
Mike Schoonjons about human rights for workers and the
difficulties in establishing unions in Maine. Interviewer: Bill
Griffith. T392
683 Maine State Federated labor Council. March 1972. 39 pp.
Tape: 1 hr. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview with C. Arnold Brown
of the Paper Makers’ Union about his fight for safety in working
conditions and difficulties in organizing the workers; also speaks
on the split between the AFL and CIO. Interviewer: Charles O’Leary.
T393
685 Maine State Federated Labor Council. April 1972. Maine:
Bangor. 34 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ trans. Interview with John Wheeler
about his experiences in different unions over the years.
Interviewers: Ben Dorsky, Jay McCloskey, Charles O’Leary. T395
687 Maine State Federated Labor Council. April 1972. Maine:
Bangor. 91 pp. Tape: 2 1/2 hrs. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview
with Benjamin J. Dorsky about the early history of labor
unions in Maine and the difficulties they encountered within and
without. Interviewers: Charles O’Leary and Jay McCloskey. T397
688 Maine State Federated Labor Council. May 1972. Maine:
Hampden. 42 pp. Tape: 1 1/2 hrs. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview
with Percy Flanders about working conditions before and after
the union; how elections were conducted in the union; the art of
stone laying. Interviewers: Jay McCloskey and Chris Lavin. T398
689 Maine State Federated labor Council. May 1972. Maine:
Oquossoc, Bath. 76 pp. Tape: 2 hrs. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview
with Al Page about attitudes of Maine people towards unions,
problems of organization, merger of AFL and CIO; interview with
workers at Bath Iron Works about the beginnings of the union there,
their work on famous yachts, the work during the war, individual
experiences. Interviewers: Jay McCloskey and Chris Lavin. T399 -
T400
691 Maine State Federated Labor Council. May 1972. Maine:
Bangor. 19 pp. Tape: 1/2 hr. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview with
Fred Parent about the organizing of the Bangor and Aroostook
Railroad workers; absence of strikes; procedures in grievance cases;
connections with state legislature. Interviewer: Jay McCloskey.
T404
694 Maine State Federated Labor Council. June 1972. Maine:
Bangor. 23 pp. Tape: 3/4 hr. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview with
Bob Toole about his work as a typographer; Maine people’s
attitudes toward the labor movement and lack of knowledge about
unions. Interviewer: Jay McCloskey. T408
696 Maine State Federated Labor Council. July 1972. Maine:
Augusta. 35 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview with
Carl Russell about unions in the building trades; minority
groups in the building trades; safety and wage improvements.
Interviewers: Jay McCloskey and Ken Morgan. T411
703 Maine State Federated Labor Council. July 1972. Maine:
Portland, Rockport. 69 pp. Tape: 2 hrs. w/ brief cat. & trans.
Interview with Ed Boulos about the organizing of an
electrical union and related trades; interview with Joe Maloney
of bricklayers union; interview with Edith Wall of
Amalgamated Clothing Workers. Interviewer: Ken Morgan. T426 -
T427
709 Maine State Federated Labor Council. July 1972. Maine:
South Port land. 34 pp. Tape: 1 hr. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interview
with Phil Place of the International Brotherhood of
Electrical Workers. Interviewer: Ken Morgan. T433 - T434
711 Maine State Federated Labor Council. August 1972. Maine:
Millinocket. 71 pp. Tape: 2 hrs. w/ brief cat. & trans. Interviews
with Bill MacLeod and Adelaide Bilodeau about
organizing labor in the State of Maine and at Great Northern Paper
Company. Interviewers: Ken Morgan and Jay McCloskey. T450 - T451
712 Maine State Federated Labor Council. Sept. 1972. Maine:
Biddeford, Bangor, Sanford. 141 pp. Tape: 3 hrs. w/ trans. Interview
with Arthur Lebell of the Maine State Federated Labor
Council; interview with Herman Ackroyd of the United Textile
Workers at Sanford; interview with Alexander Anastosoff of
the TWUA at Biddeford. Interviewers: Jay McCloskey, Ken Morgan, and
Mark Jacobs. T452 - T455
728 Maine State Federated Labor Council. Sept.-Dec. 1972.
Maine: Millinocket, Auburn, Hallowell, Lisbon, Bath, Rumford; N. H.:
Lancaster. 269 pp. Tape: 9 hrs. w/ trans. Series of interviews
concerning the labor history of the State of Maine. Interviewees:
Cecil Crawford, Quarry-workers’ International Union, the United
Mine Workers, and the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite
and Paper Mill Workers; Thomas Simpson of the International
Brotherhood of Paper Makers; Mark Burke of the
Lewiston-Auburn Shoe Workers’ Protective Assn; Stuart Gould
of the United Textile Workers; George Young, worker at Bath
Iron Works; Herman Combs, National representative of
Industrial Brotherhood of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of
America; George Worthley of the Paper Makers. Interviewers:
Ken Morgan and Mark Jacobs. T545 - T553
779 Maine State Federated Labor Council. August 1973. Maine:
Mercer, Lisbon Falls, Waterville. 13 pp. Tape: 2 1/2 hrs. w/ brief
cat. Interviews with Leslie King, Kendall Merriam, Denis Blais,
Bryant Hopkins about organized labor in Maine. Interviewer:
Richard Davies. T651 - T654
980 Madigan, Kevin. Summer 1974. Maine: Brewer. 6 pp. Tape: 1
hr. w/ brief cat. Interview with Ken Wormell about union
activities, strikes, walkouts, relations between carpenters and
other building trades, State Labor Council, featherbedding,
negotiating. T980
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