John A. Tully - Labor in Akron, 1825-1945

Contents

I was fortunate in researching for this book to make the acquaintance of a number of very helpful archivists and librarians in Akron and elsewhere in Ohio. Firstly, I must thank the staff at The University of Akron Archives for their help. These include the current director, Vic Fleischer, John Ball, and the former director, John Miller. Sadly, another UAA archivist, Craig Holbert, died far too young in 2017. I missed Craigs unfailingly helpful and courteous presence when I last visited the archives. Craig was the author of two books and had an encyclopedic knowledge of the local history of his city. I must also thank Jeffrey Franks of Bierce Library at The University of Akron for his help in suggesting readings when I was first gathering material on rubber and the labor movement in the city. Jeff also kindly provided me with details of the life of his grandfather, K. H. Andonian, who came to Akron as an Armenian refugee before World War I and worked for many years at the Goodyear plant. Nor can I forget Judy James and Mike Elliott at the Akron-Summit County Public Library; the staff of the Ohio Historical Center in Columbus, Ohio; and the staff at the Center for Archival Research at Bowling Green State University. Thanks also to Ann K. Sindelar and her colleagues at the Cleveland History Center, Ohio. I am especially indebted to Norma Hill, the librarian at the Akron Beacon Journal for helping locate material while I was in Akron, and for searching for material and sending it to me in Australia. Andy Blunden, Tim Davenport, and Marty Goodman of the Marxist Internet Archive also kindly helped to find a photograph of the Akron Socialist leader Marguerite Prevey, and I thank them for this. Thanks also to the staff of the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives in New York. Thanks also to Noah Carmichael, Field Representative of Local 7 of the Bricklayers Union, who shared details of growing up in Goodyear Heights and made time to give me a tour of the rubber factory sites in Akron. Noah also kindly contacted Dr. Samuel W. White of the Institute for Labor Studies and Research at the University of West Virginia for information on US coalmining terms. Thanks, Sam for tracking them down. (Evidently, my request for the American equivalent of the British term banksman caused Sams contacts in the United Mine Workers some merriment!) I should also not forget the UMWA.s Tim Baker for his help in this regard. I have visited Akron on a number of occasions and have come to view the city with affection. The people have been unfailingly kind and helpful. Two I must thank for their hospitality are Jim Slowiak and Jairo Cuesta of the New World Performance Lab in Akron. The late Stan Ovshinsky, who spent his early life in Akron, also took time from his busy schedule to talk with me over lunch in a pleasant restaurant near his workplace in Detroit. I would also like to thank David Roberts, a rediscovered friend from my earliest schooldays, for reading some of the manuscript and making pertinent suggestions. I must also thank Jon Miller and his staff at The University of Akron Press for their invaluable help in bringing the manuscript to a publishable state, particularly Amy Freels and Thea Ledendecker. Nor should I omit mention of Elliot Linzer for the indexing. Lastly, I must not forget my life partner, Dorothy Bruck, for her unstinting support, including reading the manuscript and making suggestions; for tolerating my absences on research trips; and for putting up with my abstracted demeanor while I was writing the bookwhich she called going to Akron. Naturally, any errors and omissions are my responsibility and all interpretations are my own and do not imply agreement with my ideas by any of the people I have listed.