Reaching into the Community to Interpret Labor History

After flourishing in the late twentieth century, community labor history projects have languished in recent decades.1 Perhaps not anticipating the new spark of labor mobilization of the past few years, labor historians and local museums and historical societies have missed opportunities to document the stories of ordinary workers and their unions and educate and inspire others through public exhibits and programs.Both public historians and their academic partners have faced new challenges in presenting stories about American workers. This is partly due to the neoliberal political economy, as editors Thomas Klubock and Paulo Fontes conclude in their introduction to a special issue of International Labor and Working-Class History on labor and public history, but also because of new priorities within museum and academic cultures.2 Richard Anderson recently noted this disconnect between labor and labor historians and stated that making labor scholarship accessible is key to forming “a deep reservoir of inspiration and guidance” for current labor struggles, even as the demands of the academy require scholars to publish in more obscure journals and monographs.3 Public history institutions have always faced funding challenges, but in recent decades they have confronted more scrutiny into the content of their collections and programming efforts. Smaller museums in particular face pressures from local governments, boards, and members; lack consistent funding and sufficient professional staff; and must cater to the interests of granting agencies and donors. As a result, they are reluctant to tackle projects that either will not garner financial support or might be viewed as too “political” or “controversial.”4For museums in communities that may lack a well-known or celebrated labor past, public and labor historians face even more difficulties as they try to develop projects that document and present the history of workers and their popular protests. Earlier scholarship and public history projects have focused on famous sites of struggle, such as in New York City, Pittsburgh, Homestead, Lowell, or Chicago.5 Deindustrialization spurred local efforts to collect archival materials, oral histories, and artifacts to be presented in exhibits, publications, and commemorations—mostly in the industrial heartland of the northeastern and midwestern states, the landscapes of focus of so much labor history. Whereas the labor history of these places may be the most familiar to the public, the histories of smaller cities and suburbs can illuminate the ways that workers formed and participated in unions and interacted with both their employers and their communities in the years when a union presence was commonplace.This essay focuses on a local public history project that overcame these challenges and succeeded in documenting one county’s hidden labor movement history, creating new partnerships, and attracting new enthusiastic constituencies to museum programs. Spearheaded by the Clark County Historical Museum (CCHM) in Vancouver, Washington, this collaborative public history project involved museum staff and volunteers, professors and students from Washington State University Vancouver, the Vancouver Community Library (part of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library District), and various local unions. The Northwest Labor Press, the Southwest Washington Central Labor Council, and the Labor Roundtable of Southwest Washington also provided critical support. A local nonunion business contributed critical financial resources to help fund the exhibit. In one year, we produced a major exhibition, a walking tour, new oral histories and other collections, as well as a variety of public programs including a book discussion series. The project also generated new long-term relationships with diverse communities, provided instruction that is ongoing, and created an inclusive funding model that would be used for later CCHM projects. The project demonstrated that by focusing on a single county’s labor history and drawing on the expertise of community members, professional staff, and scholars, a museum can successfully document an important but neglected aspect of a place’s history, educate a community about that history, and expand public history audiences by developing new exhibits and programming.Until the late twentieth century, entire communities—including Vancouver, Washougal, and Camas in Clark County, Washington—supported union workers because they depended on union wages to support local businesses, taxes, and middle-class aspirations. Clark County is now the northern suburb of the larger metro area of Portland, Oregon, separated by the Columbia River; but it was once a blue-collar and union bastion in Washington state, with its own flourishing industries and labor movement. From the late nineteenth through most of the twentieth centuries, Vancouver epitomized the Northwest economy with its reliance on lumber and paper mills, railroad yards, small manufacturing, wartime shipyards, an aluminum plant dependent on cheap power from Columbia River dams, and seasonal farming, forestry, and fishing. Like other small cities in the region, it also hosted a thriving labor movement that represented a range of workers from wood products industries to restaurants, schools, and offices. As our exhibit and accompanying public programs revealed, many residents and museumgoers were surprised by this story. However, it is one that history museums are obligated to tell as part of their mission to explore a community’s past and to find and interpret the stories of working people that are often forgotten, neglected, or hidden.The storied, militant written labor history of the Pacific Northwest has mirrored the national focus on male-dominated unions and industrial heritage, with the bulk of scholarship and archival efforts focused on the urban centers of Seattle and Portland. The vitality of this scholarship and interest is in the of the Pacific Northwest Labor History has scholars, union members, and public historians from Washington, and to in its programs. the Seattle Labor History and by and students the University of Washington has created labor history In the funding and support from the International and Washington State Labor Council, and for Labor the Labor of Washington to collect and labor The Historical has also a major labor oral history and its of of have to the public about the many communities have in this and have or even their labor to find for on labor in Washington, that the History Museum labor history collections, from local unions and the International of However, the museum staff to or the collections, and even a not on of the labor the were and in of the Historical Museum was by a that the entire labor history many of from the and local labor in the the of the or have much from labor many communities the was from to have either or the and its in lumber and in their local historical publications, collections, and for years, the of one of the the on the and the of In the a The to the as a labor However, in the local a public and new residents an by new and public This in the of sites and to the of A of union members, and other residents through to a to labor past to the The also and local business the that the the the In of The of a to the past and present labor struggles, as a to and residents a or labor from its past, a Clark County is a but important for public historians and cities of the have of their industrial and labor history but in the Pacific many urban such as Vancouver have of this as Clark as it part of the and a community for the metro labor union has and such as local union their and with labor and history was when a in Washington, to the labor movement As local and community of the Clark County Historical Museum in Vancouver and a of the the community’s with history. the on exhibit project with of history the for a labor history in the CCHM has an in as the major local The museum created exhibits and collections, professional staff, and with other area scholars, and also including the history of the region, the of and such as the and the with its small the museum its mission by in community through and public programs. a small and staff, CCHM has also in for it with Washington State University and professors to and other As a and public the to academic historians in museum and projects. current and museum efforts to programs and accessible through with academic and on an the museum staff, scholars, and students to document the history of the the Columbia River and Washington and Oregon, the in the of a by Washington and to and expand the the the of efforts to and the its in funding from Washington, CCHM the to historical for and the In with the exhibit the museum provided a of public programs with urban and The a by a Clark County both and of the The written from members, for a between and This project demonstrated that the museum a history that both and of the project and it and audiences to might be as a in the museum The and the for the labor history the issue that our interest in the history of a current the in and the public it that was a for public about the history of the labor movement. CCHM staff was an and to CCHM collections into a new educate staff about labor we for the labor exhibit in we major challenges that to to the community for we about Clark labor history in the collections or in state, and local and we find in local focused on such as and they were often not to labor and about and CCHM staff in the that be union and a few collections such as from the Washington they that community was in to to tell the funding for the exhibit and programs to be were surprised to that funding and agencies and to fund a labor project because of its would not one The that from labor history a in American as labor power in American and in the late twentieth and centuries, it a in local governments, and on people were often to employers and labor unions and their these major by materials, and community projects with to key people in that community and the of As on and people to people to the and business of the International of As an labor in Vancouver and the larger region, CCHM to various unions and a of people be also as an important to and both local and labor and labor was also critical to the As of the International of and a of the Southwest Washington Central Labor Council, a for the exhibit and a between the museum and the labor was an for the exhibit and in the so that we union In to a from a local business not the key within labor unions and also their to support the many museums are reluctant to an exhibit collections, CCHM for the to with the help of local unions. and for and local union and labor The Northwest Labor Press, of more unions in and Southwest Washington, for its to in the project and and other we and the unions was that for the most not the of their critical of the workers of their because they not the of their history. unions either to their or are about with This to museum staff more with local unions about the of their own history by and for historical and about these can both the about past and their own and for to be to local by the in a ordinary to in the the of that is the the museum one with from and so in and of the The and of the that and can help public history efforts when collections are not and unions the to a few artifacts and in union or of a history and a key to the exhibit. its the CCHM a variety of and from the Pacific Northwest Regional of the museum a and a from the of a of from the a of for to the from the in Portland, and a and from the a with union The museum also a from one of as of the was the The Northwest Labor Press, and the International of and also contributed to or and from Clark County, Portland, and the contributed financial making this a funding the so many and small contributed to an exhibition, a model for the CCHM would fund its projects. to the exhibit by was by a major After about the the about its the museum when the Washington State Labor in Vancouver on After the the labor and interest to its the union were with and the museum contributed financial it was to find about Clark County workers and it was even more to find and about and workers of This the of Pacific Northwest industries and as well as the entire American labor movement. However, the unions have the of other small cities the and the the of workers in and provided a to tell their In as we of the project in of Vancouver workers a to wages and to The including many with the in In its to an the union the of community members, the with and other unions to the workers and on both the and the The in Vancouver new labor in the by people of and and it past stories about the labor history to the historians often on oral history to the history of to the and the provided content for history and on both and area labor history. provided critical and they represented one of the ways we with the workers we were As we through the of important labor provided by This the of and the of the unions we into the demonstrated one of the key of public history by Richard we and into our the of the workers we and also involved students in the project to to both labor history and the history of their as well as to the to in the of oral histories and other a public history in students a variety of union as part of their However, both and that because of with the labor they with the focusing their and the they for this and workers from the industrial and from and unions. noted that years of Washington a in the of students have either to unions or about through their As a result, we students the of unions national and local labor history. students were enthusiastic about their a and in the that they produced into the exhibit and both CCHM and history in and focused on Clark labor history, and were into the exhibit or used as of the projects contributed new about stories such as the the Camas the and the of a students even presented their the Pacific Northwest Labor History in in and in in After students they to labor history in their was to a labor history in that the of Clark County workers the national about the and of but we also to local and and As local historical societies and museums are national stories to local residents more with the with to tell a that to its our the exhibit key and workers and labor unions in were their and in Clark County the twentieth the local and In ways has the and national local and our in and exhibit with accompanying and our we new about labor history, and we other public historians and institutions to this Columbia and the of for as well as the later that other workers to the In the Fort Vancouver as its and for its The and with the local and as well as with other and in an of the late nineteenth century, in as an American to a of workers were with labor unions to try to the power of the Vancouver represented as seasonal workers in and industries to and local local and efforts. the in in Clark County and the of paper products in the to a union but were not the late In in the their wages and working After for they a small and the In of the the workers in Camas for wages and a of in communities the However, the paper to the as and labor for the and workers in the to their a of in Clark County in the a new for the labor movement as it in the of the by new labor the of the to and the militant and the to unions. This labor was in the of a new labor and in Vancouver, a labor the Clark County and of new union that and in and and lumber Vancouver even in when and to union would many places on the Clark economy and with major in and other industries their in the to wages from their or from as a and later the to and that was the so The wartime also to However, the of programs in was a from New York not in Vancouver and was from the the when and opportunities to or many labor history projects that focus on the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, our as much to the as to the decades Like other Clark County in the of the twentieth the the aluminum on the of the a major aluminum products and both the and its union for the From the late through the unions as diverse as the to Washington State represented area and the in to union area unions workers their and unions for as they workers to the because it to with that as of the International of for and by the and that was a that was was a many workers in Washington national of and from unions. and its from the for the its and local with their unions of and and the and paper workers in and created the of The The and its the of the to and focused on critical such as the in between and Clark County and to the was more to find to tell the of labor in the community workers and their to both their and community often a in a people to products that a and or various and support for and their Labor were also in major Vancouver Clark and the of for unions a and such as the the of and workers they often and people of to The and their and the to to from of the of on and national as and people of their into and local often the This is not a or even by union even as to for such as or as new In the such as the in to to and and workers the of their for was not American and but it was to with the that was and are a the Camas it was a oral history and to the stories from and the labor history to tell more stories about to to This to and document the past public and labor historians and about too much on to the presence of more and people of in public workers such as often from labor public history in the In the Washington the to and with boards, challenges to their In of in to the lack of with in the Vancouver were the in the to on for the and and for more and to to and when they the of the the to the to for the to The the to for the and it on The Washington it the in Washington new in the faced both and as labor and power due to and unions once As from the through the century, wages for most American workers in the plant of industrial the In of the that the of the workers represented by in and the that year, in Camas its one workers and its to River as or in the and that when working for in the people in the by the it in workers and also workers. not as because people are In this and on might not have a when of the of the have when have a union and have have a of now are to have much about of in to the the oral history both for the and the critical to about key The also a of the labor movement a often not in other Washington that to the of unions when to the was to a and that was in their as as a that was about that wages to be and that workers were it to and that one of the we were with was the to is an to that that has that when union on other unions provided support because workers and their that they were to a As is so The people are the people in the labor movement and the and the and the wages that that a of even about about the people the the of in the of unions and such provided to the involved in a union because was from a union was and a union for we were and that that were not of they working and be about the to union because we that much it was not not always about the be for the museum staff History to as well as that were in and a and also their to museum staff in for a with exhibit created a with union in a that focused on workers and of the they were with into the to were used In with their and for the were used a to the resources a with a of about Pacific Northwest labor the on the This would be the of many and programs that the exhibit through The labor and University of Washington and on the Labor and in and the and Washington Labor the museum for their and other exhibit participated in the Pacific Northwest History and Pacific Northwest Labor History in Vancouver in the of and the museum hosted for exhibit with the exhibit and accompanying and a walking that the museum and sites in Vancouver that were once to past, on public that and of can and the Vancouver has many of its labor sites the past few museum staff to labor history into the tour, such as the of a represented the between and the that with Vancouver The also a labor on by in and to labor union the late of the sites on the including labor union and other places of The museum these sites through a walking tour, but public historians can and the of or The lack of to a larger issue in labor history. As a to that it can “a of historical for public but also that the for of labor sites are or sites are either too new to or have in with the Fort Vancouver Regional Library and with support from the Southwest Washington Central Labor and Washington, we a book discussion through the and into of The The History of and in the Pacific an and discussion the Vancouver Community Library that was by and on programs were also the including book by historians and of the Vancouver Community Library provided to discussion of A the and for a discussion on the about Pacific Northwest labor history. were surprised that the many of were new to the community and about and others were current or union that the the exhibit and programming the new collections and relationships and audiences as an for other and their of the their history represented for the interest in the of their past and the of and As the late public labor history not of the past that but it community as their own The of history to labor that the The exhibit other new to the including and new Clark County residents not a of community or about the exhibit Clark labor history in the of its to the and also its local history the to the exhibit provided historical for and political it also the of union on their past key and the of unions in their museumgoers or of the labor may have provided the most are always and because CCHM has and new exhibits to interest and and new the labor exhibit was the of as a we to its by it for in one of the local union In the the exhibit was and on the CCHM the recent when the museum was from the exhibit so that they be viewed by or working in The museum has to the exhibit for content by from the exhibit in the on the of Vancouver and the on the of the of the of this project the of a more for exhibits and developing new long-term many that to to their on CCHM community from the to that were the on one of the exhibit are the of and to the not generated a of the but also their that their history was and that their support This model has with exhibits were to an exhibit and be in the After the of the and contributed to the project later to help the and project the of community stories of collections or the might be viewed as a by to it to people in and major the museum to on of small donors. on small we and long-term support in the on and the that with or from a of This will be the inspiration for and the museum more in content and that the to a and were and we not it in ways that generated long-term of the of museum programs is to and expand museum and to educate and with diverse The labor exhibit this as in a to through the of the on these we were to was an in new museum from Washington and The public programs with the exhibit created a for and about labor to the by a local would not this the museum not from members, or other In this collaborative the and opportunities for new exhibit a major that exhibit an and story. help in the and of In to oral histories the the exhibit a few community to labor to a new on labor history has generated even more and more to the CCHM about area workers in its and a now State University on the history of labor the Camas paper our students and residents face as workers and the in due to opportunities for union and is more important for local historical institutions to find and labor history. Labor historians have to the for making their public, and the of Public History recently a working to the of public and labor history more As museums to the of the it is important to that the also a of union and that are other to be from their as well as their wartime The and of our was by working their stories are from schools, and labor represented a of the the so and in the are programs and about business and in such as public and but not about workers and their labor This the in our of it the more important for museums and historical societies to the of to new constituencies and document and present their community’s labor history in to tell an important local and American story. The recent of a new of workers the of can help the for public historians to the present to the

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