Items

• Women's Labour History Project: Summer 1979 Guide to Collection: Provincial Archives of British Columbia; SFU; BC Federation of Labour

  Oral history summaries / guide to collection. Missing pages 21-24.
• Women's Labour History Project Guide to the Collection (1978-1979) Prepared by Sara Diamond

  Women's Labour History Project Guide to Collection (1978-1979) prepared by Sara Diamond including women's labour history project interviewees and descriptions.
• Women's Labour History in British Columbia: A Bibliography, 1930-48

  Bibliography of Women's Labour History in British Columbia, 1930-1948 compiled by Sara Diamond. Includes general sources, the depression years, the war years, and the immediate post-war period.
• VDTLC Minutes - Research selection 1937-1941

  VDTLC scanned minutes (June 1937-June 1941) various years, related to Case Study 1 research spreadsheet CVA VDTLC Minutes 1930-1948 . Issues relevant to Case Study 1 include: 1931 Feb 3, Chinese cooks support the waitress strike; 1937 May 3, Restaurant Employers and their association attempt to form parallel restaurant sector unions to undermine the HREU. 1938, Dual organizing (related to the communist contingent) begins 1938 Mar 15, A pushback against "anti-orientalism" begins from Asian HREU members and others, Like Bill Stewart. 1939 Mar 21, HREU is given jurisdiction over apartment hotels, and the Fish and Oyster Bar goes 100%union. 1940 Feb 6, Communist party expelled; Feb 20 showdown between communist leaders/dominant 1940 Oct, dual council in city with CIO established (communism) 1941 Feb 4, Report on hotel strike and settlement of the Hotel Vancouver 1941 Trouble with union houses
• Union Urges Cafe Night Shifts

  A newspaper article documenting the HREU (AFL)'s call for changes to shift work in cafes and restaurants, following the murder of waitress Olga Hawryluk by a customer. She had been returning home from work at 3am. Speaking for HREU are Mrs. Emily Watts, HREU organizer, and Mrs. May Ansell [AKA Martin], HREU Business Agent.
• Researcher notes: Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Local 28 activities

  Notes by researcher Sara Diamond from her late 1970s-early 1980s Women's Labour History Project. Diamond's notes are written in cursive and assembled in three parts. Does not always follow chronological order. 1930s-1940s
• Outstanding and fiery unionist supported our amalgamation

  A reprint of an article by unionist William "Bill" Stewart on the challenges of organizing, published in commemoration of the amalgamation of Hotel, Restaurant and Employees Union Locals 676 an 28.
• May Martin interview

  Audio and transcript of Sara Diamond's interview with May Martin.
• Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Local 28. May Day c.1940s.

  A photo of women of H.R.E.U Local 28 on May Day c.1940s. Includes Marion Sarich and Emily Nuttall.
• Executive of HREU Local 28 c.1947

  SD_WLHP_MM3_006 Executive of H.R.E.U. Local 28 elected June 1947 [serving 1947-1948]. [Back row from left] Jimmy Lyons, Trustee; Bob Annola, Trustee; Margaret Shelton, Chairman [sic] of Education and Publicity; Gertrude Philip, Chairman of Social Committee; Roy Moore, Inspector. [Front row from left] Babella [Isabella] Beck, Recording Secretary; Emily Watts, President; Bob Williams, Vice President; May Ansell [Leniczek][Martin] , Secretary Treasurer and Business Agent.
• Emily Nuttall Interview (4/5) Excerpt

  Emily Nuttall talks about her experience at the Milwaukee Convention in 1947 and the subsequent International takeover of the HREU Local 28 office and her explulsion from the union.
• Emily Nuttall Interview (3/5)

  Emily Nuttall discusses difficulties with organizing in restaurants (lots of turnover, its consideration as “women’s work”), changes in outlook on the profession from the Depression, her involvement with hotel organizing (particularly in the Georgia Hotel and the Belmont Hotel), and the union’s work towards shorter work weeks and the elimination of split shifts.
• Emily Nuttall interview

  Audio and transcript of Sara Diamond's interview with Emily Nutall.
• Dishing it Out: Waitresses and their Unions in the Twentieth Century

  Back when SOS or Adam and Eve on a raft were things to order if youwere hungry but a little short on time and money, nearly one-fourth of all waitresses belonged to unions. By the time their movement peaked in the 1940s and 1950s, the women had developed a distinctive form of working-class feminism, simultaneously pushing for equal rights and pay and affirming their need for special protections. Dorothy Sue Cobble shows how sexual and racial segregation persistedin wait work, but she rejects the idea that this was caused byemployers' actions or the exclusionary policies of male trade unionists.Dishing It Out contends that the success of waitress unionism wasdue to several factors: waitresses, for the most part, had nontraditionalfamily backgrounds, and most were primary wage-earners. Theirclose-knit occupational community and sex-separate union encouragedfemale assertiveness and a decidedly unromantic view of men andmarriage. Cobble skillfully combines oral interviews and extensivearchival records to show how waitresses adopted the basic tenets ofmale-dominated craft unions but rejected other aspects of male unionculture. The result is a book that will expand our understanding offeminism and unionism by including the gender consciousperspectives of working women. [Source: UI Press]
• CVA VDTLC Minutes 1930-1948: Researchers Notes

  Researcher notes taken from Vancouver District Labour Council Minutes 1930-1948.
• Case Study 1: Oral Histories Research document

  A thematic guide for the Women's Labour History Project oral histories. This work is ongoing. As of March 2024, we have drawn on oral histories from VIVO Media Arts Centre, SFU Archives, and newspaper interviews . We will soon be working on additions from other archives, like the BC Labour Heritage Centre. This multi-sheet xls spreadsheet includes (1) Object metadata for all interviews; (2) Interviewees biographical details; and (3) Research notes: select excerpts from the interview(s) and details related to our research questions (one sheet per interviewee) ID structure (1) Each interviewee is assigned a letter which is their "Subject ID" (A,B,C, etc.) (2) Each Object (research resource) is assigned an "Object ID" : a combination of the "Subject ID" and a number assigned to delineate each research resource (ie A1, A2, A3, etc). (3) Individual interviewees research sheet is identified using the individual's Subject ID followed by a colon and their surname (ie, A: Fawcett) About our Interviewee Biography sheet Drawing on publicly available resources and implementing genealogical strategies and proof standards, Knights expanded the biographies of the oral history participants. This assisted the researchers with clarifying timelines, locations, and confirming identifies. This latter step was required to ensure that we were researching the correct individual. The women regularly went by nicknames, middle names, maiden names if married, divorced surnames if single, Mrs or Miss irrespective of their actual marital status. It also gives insight into the way waitresses shifted marital status for protection, anonymity, or hirability. The biographic and demographic material also informs the interviewees own statements on why they became involved in union activity or activist movements.
• Burrard Dry Dock pass

  Burrard Dry Dock pass for Mary Ansell, HREU representative. Original: printed card with signature.
• Barbara Stewart interview

  Audio and transcript of Sara Diamond's interview with Barbara Stewart.
• [Unidentified woman in “Miss Service Worker” sash]

  A photo of an unidentified woman in “Miss Service Worker” sash. Courtesy of May Martin.
• [Three waitresses pose outside The Empress Hotel, Victoria, Canada]

  Three waitresses pose outside the Canadian National Railway (CNR)-owned Empress Hotel In Victoria, Canada.
• [Signing of the Restaurant agreement, July 1946]

  An image of Emily Nuttall Watts and May Martin signing of the Restaurant agreement, July 1946. Courtesy of May Martin.
• [May Ansell Martin, unknown male, and Emily Nuttall in front of the Alexandra Hotel]

  A photo of May Ansell [Martin], unknown male, and Emily Nuttall in front of the Alexandra Hotel.
• [May Ansell Martin with union sisters]

  May Ansell [Martin] with Hotel and Restaurant Employess Union sisters on May Day 1946. She is holding a donation tin.
• [HREU Local 28 Union Restaurant List]

  A list with the header, Union Restaurants, with the names of Vancouver restaurants that are members of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Local 28 in 1947.
• [Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union Local 28 with international union rep and Emily Nuttall]

  A photo of Hotel and Restaurant EmployeesUnion Local 28 group with international rep and Emily Nuttall marching with their banner on the streets of Vancouver. Late 1930s or 1940s