How to Keep Union Records

by Michael Nash

Ten chapters address issues of perennial concern to labor building relationships with the unions, developing collecting policies that support current labor history scholarship, adapting appraisal theory to the unique challenges of labor union archives, and arranging and describing collections so that finding aids speak to both academic and union audiences.

In the tradition of Debra E. Barnhardt's classic text on the subject, this new volume highlights recent transformations in the labor archives world, such as changes in recordkeeping practices, the impact of union mergers and the consolidation movement on archival collections, the growing importance of media collections, and electronic records and union websites. Also included in the volume are an extensive bibliography and a directory of labor archives in the United States.

How to Keep Union Records illustrates how basic archival theory and best practice methodologies can be applied to the challenges presented by labor collections. Archivists in collecting repositories and union records administrators will greatly benefit from this excellent collection of essays by leaders in the field.

Society of American Archivists (2010)

238 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010