M a r k D i l l e y

This article in ASR was called “How to find your local Wobbly history” by Robert Helms. The gist was this: go to a good library, preferably a university one. Get some books on the IWW. Look up your town in the index. Write down: dates, companies where agitation was happening, any names. Then go to the public library, look at old newspapers on microfiche, look for the day after the dates you wrote down previously. You will likely find detailed reports of events that know one alive knows about, including names of participants and addresses of events. Then go check out these addresses. Helms said he went to several old union hall sites, and two were still standing. In one, the current occupants had found some old handbills in the basement, and had them framed on the wall. Very cool stuff.