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- 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:
- Michigan State University Professor John Beck emcees a program dedicating a State of Michigan historical marker commemorating the "Lansing Labor Holiday" of June 7, 1937. Guitarist Chris Buhalis opens the event with labor songs, Beck describes the events of June 1937, the actions of Lansing labor leader Lester Washburn, and the successful resolution of the general strike with the help of Michigan Governor Frank Murphy. Speakers include, Lansing City Council President Patricia Spitzley representing Mayor Virgil Bernero, Michigan State Representatives Andy Schor and Tom Cochran, Michigan State Senator Curtis Hertel Jr., Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth, UAW Director Gerald Kariem, USW Director Michael Bolton, and Tom Truscott, a member of the Michigan Historical Commission. Buhalis closes the event by leading those gathered in singing of "Solidarity forever".
- Date Issued:
- 2017-06-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Darrell Tennis, labor activist and political consultant, talks about his career advocating for Michigan organized labor. Tennis reflects on working for a number of labor unions before finally opening his own consulting firm in Lansing. Tennis also talks about lobbying in the state, the influence of the United Auto Workers in the AFL-CIO, tensions between unions as state workers were organized, the administrations of Governor William Milliken and John Engler, and the creation of the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He says that he expects continued attempts to privatize public services in the state, that electing more Democrats to office does not insure a pro-labor legislature and that a fundamental problem in Michigan politics is the "gerrymandering" of voting districts. Tennis is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor emeritus of Labor and Industrial Relations.
- Date Issued:
- 2008-12-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Author and historian Elizabeth Homer presents, "The Knights of Labor vs. Michigan's Political Machine in the Gilded Age," a look into the history of Lansing, MI, as the state capitol and the congressmen that supported Michigan labor. Homer is introduced by Michigan State University 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 and the MSU Museum. Held at the MSU Museum.
- Date Issued:
- 2015-09-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Keith Groty, former MSU Assistant Vice President of Personnel and Employee Relations, talks about his involvement with the university's Faculty Grievance Procedure (FGP). Groty says that he supported the FGP because he saw it as a mechanism for heading off faculty unionization, but that he really didn't have a role in the development of the FGP or the position of Faculty Grievance Official (FGO). Groty also says that MSU's FGP has worked through the years because it found an appropriate balance between the administration's power and faculty concerns. He talks about the failed faculty attempts at unionization and says that the main issue at MSU was always the disparity in faculty pay. Groty is interviewed by Robert Banks, former Associate Vice President for Academic Human Resources and professor emeritus of the James Madison College at MSU, and John Revitte, MSU professor emeritus of Labor and Industrial Relations. Via telephone.
- Date Issued:
- 2018-06-11T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Hmong immigrant and former soldier Tom Vue discusses emigrating from Laos to the U.S. via a camp in Thailand. He discusses taking command of 1200 troops in the rain forests of Laos after Hmong General Vang Pao emigrated to the US in 1975. Vue talks about their defeat by the communists in 1977 and his flight from Laos to Thailand. He also speaks about coming to Lansing, MI with his family and working in social services as a translator and refugee interviewer.
- Date Issued:
- 2011-02-19T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Retired Lansing Police Chief Jerry Mills discusses his career and experiences in an interview with retired Lansing Police Officers James Gleason and John Assiff. Mills discusses the relationship between officer education and training, civil unrest during the 1960's, his involvement in the formation of the Lansing chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, and his time as head of the Lansing Police Department Helicopter unit.
- Date Issued:
- 2008-06-26T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- 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
- Description:
- Hmong immigrant and former soldier Tom Vue discusses emigrating from Laos to the U.S. via a camp in Thailand. He discusses taking command of 1200 troops in the rain forests of Laos after Hmong General Vang Pao emigrated to the US in 1975. Vue talks about their defeat by the communists in 1977 and his flight from Laos to Thailand. He also speaks about coming to Lansing, MI with his family and working in social services as a translator and refugee interviewer.
- Date Issued:
- 2011-02-19T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Retired Lansing Police Chief Jerry Mills discusses his career and experiences in an interview with retired Lansing Police Officers James Gleason and John Assiff. Mills discusses the relationship between officer education and training, civil unrest during the 1960's, his involvement in the formation of the Lansing chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, and his time as head of the Lansing Police Department Helicopter unit.
- Date Issued:
- 2008-06-26T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- 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:
- Michigan State University Professor John Beck emcees a program dedicating a State of Michigan historical marker commemorating the "Lansing Labor Holiday" of June 7, 1937. Guitarist Chris Buhalis opens the event with labor songs, Beck describes the events of June 1937, the actions of Lansing labor leader Lester Washburn, and the successful resolution of the general strike with the help of Michigan Governor Frank Murphy. Speakers include, Lansing City Council President Patricia Spitzley representing Mayor Virgil Bernero, Michigan State Representatives Andy Schor and Tom Cochran, Michigan State Senator Curtis Hertel Jr., Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wrigglesworth, UAW Director Gerald Kariem, USW Director Michael Bolton, and Tom Truscott, a member of the Michigan Historical Commission. Buhalis closes the event by leading those gathered in singing of "Solidarity forever".
- Date Issued:
- 2017-06-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- 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:
- Part 1: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan talks about his family history, his father and mother, attending Catholic school, and the University of Detroit Law School, opening his own law practice, being elected to the Common Pleas Court, being appointed to the Circuit Court by Governor Romney in 1963, being elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1966, and becoming Chief Justice in 1969. Brennan says that practicing law prepared him well for the rigors of being a judge. Justice Brennan also discusses what he calls "the myth of non-partisanship, the nature of democracy, the political nature of the selection of Chief Justice, the notion of representation in a democracy, the nature of leadership, the establishment of the State Appellate Defenders Office, the creation of the State Bar Grievance Board in 1969, the election process for judges in the Detroit area, the establishment of a Criminal division of the Detroit District Court, economic stability, civil disorder, and the 1967 race riots in Detroit. Part 2: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Brennan talks about judicial activism and the prospective vs. retrospective changing of Common Law, using humor in writing court opinions, and making decisions by law or by conscience in a judicial context and whether his Catholicism is an issue in performing his public duties. Brennan also discusses the controversy surrounding his founding of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing and the school's mission of offering practical scholarship to a broad and diverse study body. Part 3: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan talks about a case concerning the apportionment of the Michigan Legislature in the 1970s, having his portrait presented to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1980, and his activities since leaving the court in 1973.
- Date Created:
- 1991-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices
- Description:
- Part 1: Harold Hoag shares stories of his time as Deputy Clerk and Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court between 1967 and 1982. Hoag talks about deciding to become a lawyer while in the Navy, his law school experience, the role of the law clerk in the judicial process,and the Supreme Court Justices he served under, and how they dealt with cases and how he interacted with each. He also discusses the effect the addition of female justices had on the Court, the law in general, and the history of law enforcement in the United States. Hoag ends by reminiscing about his parents and his childhood. Part 2: Harold Hoag, clerk and Deputy Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court talks about the duties of the clerk, his desire to conduct his office in as apolitical a manner as possible, the partisan nature of the court, shepherding cases through the system and assigning them to the justices by lottery, hiring his own assistant when the case load became to much to bear, and playing "gatekeeper" in the face of the appeals process. Hoag says that the justices have become more like "CEOs and less like judges" as the work load has increased and they have been forced to bring in more clerks and other staff to manage the extreme caseloads. Hoag concludes by recalling the women justices with whom he worked and his legal training at the University of Michigan, and explaining how he came to the Michigan Supreme Court.
- Date Created:
- 2006-03-27T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices
- 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
- Description:
- Darrell Tennis, labor activist and political consultant, talks about his career advocating for Michigan organized labor. Tennis reflects on working for a number of labor unions before finally opening his own consulting firm in Lansing. Tennis also talks about lobbying in the state, the influence of the United Auto Workers in the AFL-CIO, tensions between unions as state workers were organized, the administrations of Governor William Milliken and John Engler, and the creation of the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration. He says that he expects continued attempts to privatize public services in the state, that electing more Democrats to office does not insure a pro-labor legislature and that a fundamental problem in Michigan politics is the "gerrymandering" of voting districts. Tennis is interviewed by John Revitte, MSU professor emeritus of Labor and Industrial Relations.
- Date Issued:
- 2008-12-15T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Keith Groty, former MSU Assistant Vice President of Personnel and Employee Relations, talks about his involvement with the university's Faculty Grievance Procedure (FGP). Groty says that he supported the FGP because he saw it as a mechanism for heading off faculty unionization, but that he really didn't have a role in the development of the FGP or the position of Faculty Grievance Official (FGO). Groty also says that MSU's FGP has worked through the years because it found an appropriate balance between the administration's power and faculty concerns. He talks about the failed faculty attempts at unionization and says that the main issue at MSU was always the disparity in faculty pay. Groty is interviewed by Robert Banks, former Associate Vice President for Academic Human Resources and professor emeritus of the James Madison College at MSU, and John Revitte, MSU professor emeritus of Labor and Industrial Relations. Via telephone.
- Date Issued:
- 2018-06-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Author and historian Elizabeth Homer presents, "The Knights of Labor vs. Michigan's Political Machine in the Gilded Age," a look into the history of Lansing, MI, as the state capitol and the congressmen that supported Michigan labor. Homer is introduced by Michigan State University 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 and the MSU Museum. Held at the MSU Museum.
- Date Issued:
- 2015-09-18T00:00:00Z
- 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