Search Constraints
« Previous |
1 - 10 of 20
|
Next »
Search Results
- Description:
- Wayne Nunheimer recalls his career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1945 to 1975. He talks about his father working for REO, the REO Clubhouse, the 1937 strike, the company in the post-war period, his job as a spot welder, lawnmower production, piecework and the beautiful REO Flying Cloud automobile. Nunheimer also recalls the mergers which led to the end of the company, ongoing legal battles in bankruptcy, and says how fortunate workers were to have union representation and what a positive influence the union was in the plant. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-06-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Historian Dr. Matthew Pehl from Augustana College delivers a talk entitled, "The Moralistic God and the Factory System: Uncovering Religion in a 1950s Automobile Factory." Pehl looks at "The Detroit Industrial Mission" and the organization's efforts to both research and minister to workers in the Detroit area factories of the 1950s. Pehl reflects on their efforts and their findings of the influence class and denomination had on religious perspectives and workers' views of the nature of work. He describes the project that brought clergy into auto factories, their status as outsiders, the social dynamic in the plants, and the rejection by most workers of proselytizing in the workplace. He answers questions from the audience. Pehl is introduced by Michigan State University Professor John P. Beck. Part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series co-sponsored by the MSU School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, the MSU Museum, and the Lansing Stewardship Community/Motorcities Automobile National Heritage Area. Held in the MSU Museum Auditorium.
- Date Issued:
- 2014-03-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Antique automobile restoration expert Dan Shafarman talks about his interest in REO motor cars and his difficult search for parts to fix a REO Royale. Shafarman also talks about his life before coming to the Lansing, MI area in 1969, mass production techniques in the auto industry, bad working conditions in the early car factories, Henry Ford’s hiring and pay practices, corporate paternalism, and the "novel" idea of paying workers enough to afford to buy the products they built. Recorded as part of the commemoration of REO Motor Car Company’s 100th Anniversary.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-05-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Dr. Gregory Wood, assistant professor at Frostburg State University, delivers a talk entitled "GM never surrendered : on anti-union politics in the automobile industry in the 1960's and 70's." Wood discusses a number of pertinent National Labor Relations Board cases and practices and tactics used by General Motors to destabilize established unions during the 1960's and 1970's. Presentation is followed by a question and answer session. Wood is introduced by Michigan State University Professor John P. Beck.
- Date Issued:
- 2015-10-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Arthur Frahm recalls his career as a bookkeeper and purchasing agent at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, Mi, between 1947 and 1972. Frahm describes his job buying almost everything used in the factory, the constant turmoil as REO changed hands over the years, the decline of the company, his own discharge, and his unsuccessful class action law suit filed against REO. Frahm also talks about his education, childhood in Lansing, the Lansing Labor Holiday and the 1937 strikes, REO’s involvement in the community, the destruction of the worker's pension fund, the start of Spartan Motors, and his career after REO. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-02-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Don talks about his union activity and experiences as the Chair of the Bargaining Committee, collection of union dues, and strikes. He met Caesar Chavez, Walter Reuther and Doug Frasier. Doreen talks about the experiences of women in the plant, building the Local 602 Union Hall, and changes observed between 1950 and 1984.
- Date Issued:
- 2005-12-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Doris Dow recalls her career as a secretary at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, Mi, between 1950 and 1975. Dow talks about joining her mother and other relatives at the plant and describes her first job running a blueprint copier, becoming a secretary and later working for Oldsmobile. She says that at REO, the company was more a part of the social fabric of a worker's life than at Oldsmobile and goes on to describe the "fun" she had at the REO Girls Club, and performing charity work with other employees. Dow also discusses the decline of REO, the day that the doors were locked, the aftermath of the closing, the demolition of the REO Clubhouse and the loss of the REO pension fund. She explains the complexity of selling the company as a unit because of the way owner Francis Cappaert had divided the operations from the property. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-02-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Marilyn Chamberlain talks about working at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1965 to 1975. She talks about her many bosses and the unique family atmosphere in the plant, which she says she never found in any other workplace. Her husband, Calvin Chamerlain, talks about coming to REO from Motor Wheel in Lansing and working his way up from machine operator to time study analyst on the truck and lawnmower lines. He says that workers often felt threatened by time studies and reacted to them with hostility. The Chamerlains recount the decline and end of the company, the loss of the REO Clubhouse, hard feelings and tension throughout the factory and leaving the plant for the last time. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-06-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Dr. Ruben Martinez, director of the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University, and MSU professor Daniel Vélez Ortiz, deliver a talk entitled "Latino auto workers : from the margin to the core." Martinez describes their research project which looks at auto workers of Latino heritage, their transition from migrant and seasonal work to industrial jobs, and the dramatic rise in their standard of living. Ortiz talks about what brought Latinos to Michigan, their experiences, association with the United Auto Workers, participation in the Flint Sit-down strike, how they maintained their cultural heritage, and how auto industry jobs came to successive generations. They answer questions from the audience. The speakers are introduced by MSU Professor John P. Beck. Part of the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series sponsored by the MSU School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, the MSU Museum, and cosponsored by Chicano/Latino Studies, the Julian Samora Research Institute, and the Lansing Stewardship Community/Motorcities - The Automobile National Heritage Area. Part of Project 60/50. Held at the MSU Museum.
- Date Issued:
- 2014-11-14T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Jack Down, an R. E. Olds Transporation Museum volunteer and former REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc. employee, recalls his experiences with the company and his life in the Greater Lansing, MI area. Down talks about his youth in East Lansing, attending Michigan State College, his jobs prior to working for REO, the factory buildings and land around the plant, the REO Clubhouse, and the beginnings of the REO Motor Car Company and the Oldsmobile and Fisher Body operations in Lansing. He also discusses the tragedy of owner Francis Cappaert raiding the REO worker's pension fund and the turmoil of the Lansing Labor Holiday and the labor confrontation known as the Battle of the Red Cedar. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-02-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection