Working People Built This Archive
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3981987 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Henry John (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Pages | 255-267 |
| Publication date | 2022-11-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Labour / Le Travail (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0700-3862 • E-ISSN: 1911-4842 |
| Publisher | Athabasca University Press (PUBLISHER • CA) |
| DOI | 10.52975/llt.2022v90.0010 |
| OpenAlex | W4311656682 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 4 |
In 2021 an archive dedicated to the history of the International Woodworkers of America (iwa) opened in Kaatza Station Museum in Lake Cowichan, on unceded Ts'uubaa-asatx territory, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia.The International Woodworkers of America originally operated in British Columbia as iwa District Council #1.During the 1950s the district office assumed responsibility for operations in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, becoming iwa Western Canada Regional Council #1.In 1987 the decision was made to separate from the Portland-based International union.The subsequent merging of Western Canada Regional Council #1 and Eastern Canada Regional Council #2 created a nationwide leadership structure, with its head office in Vancouver, BC, under the name iwa Canada. 1 The iwa Archive is the product of decades of labour, a product of working peopleuntil recently, independent from the support of academic institutions -taking the production of their history into their own hands.The archive's arrival in Lake Cowichan and its organization (and administration) are the result of years of dedicated working-class do-it-yourself archiving as well as a commitment to historical conservation that extends back to the 1970s.In 1977 the acclaimed populist American historian Howard Zinn wrote that the availability of historical records and archives is "very much determined by the distribution of wealth and power" and that the capacity for maintaining and controlling documentary records is dominated by "government, business, and the military."Zinn concluded by calling on archivists to "play some small part in the creation of a real democracy" by taking "the trouble to compile a whole new world of documentary material, about the lives, desires, needs, of ordinary people." 2 Since then, many historians and archivists have considered 1.In breaking from the International and forming iwa Canada, the newly nationalized union changed its name to the Industrial Wood and Allied Workers.The acronym iwa remained.2.Howard Zinn, "Secrecy, Archives, and the Public Interest," Midwestern Archivist 2, 2 (1977): 20-25.Zinn had previously made similar arguments in his
World Wide Web · Computer Science · Labor Movements and Unions
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |