In the Archives: Mother Jones at UIUC
I just want to extend a big "THANK YOU!" to everyone of the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. I drove down last week at dug through the John H. Walker Papers and the Thomas and Elizabeth Morgan collection and discovered many wonderful articles and letters from and about Mother Jones. I spent the entire day there and still feel like there could never be enough time to completely enjoy all these wonderful primary documents.
Here are some photos of my favorite documents:
1. Signed Portrait of Mother Jones.
Mother was known for her all-black, proper (but old-fashioned) ensembles. It is no surprise that as a successful and presumably talented seamstress she would take pride in her appearance, even when she was on the front lines of a brutal strike. That being said, she did not care much for society or for fashion. She once wrote in Miners Magazine on April 1, 1915:
“I watched the fashionable women come and go. Nearly all of them, if you asked them, would tell you proudly that they belonged to society.... the word society, as applied to women of today, stands for idleness, fads, extravagance, and display of wealth.... the idle rich woman who parades her finery before the hungry and poverty-stricken is a modern inquisitor turning the thumb-screws of envy and despair into the very vitals of those who are in reality her sisters.” (Foner, 468-69)
[Left, Thomas and Elizabeth Morgan collection,
Box No. 2, Folder 32,
Illinois History and Lincoln Collections,
University Library at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]
2. “Protest Against Law and Courts: Flaunt Socialism at Labor Meeting." from the Denver Republican, Denver, Colorado, Friday Morning, February 3, 1911.
The fragment of this article pictured here is one of my favorites. Mother Jones called the lack of regulation and ability for wealthy industrialist to monopolize entire towns at the expense of the worker an "economic disease." The full article can be accessed in the Morgan collection, but in two separate folders, the other half is in Box 1, Folder 12.
At the beginning of the article, a mass meeting was assembled, protesting against "government by injunction." Former Gov. Charles S. Thomas spoke to the workers. This was also at a time when he was making a bid for senator. His statements were measured and he was hesitant to speak outright against the courts which upheld the injunctions against strikers. Then, "‘Mother’ Jones filled in and the bulk of the audience was more in sympathy with the ‘Molly Pitcher’ style of the gray-haired agitator than with the carefully prepared epigrams of Mr. Thomas..." The workers wanted to hear their passion in the soap-box speeches of their leaders.
I also must comment here on the reference to Mother's "Molly Pitcher" style. A popular story of the American Revolution is that of Molly Pitcher, who fought in place of her husband when he had fallen in battle. The problem is that she did not exist. She was synthetic creation, one woman representing the stories of many (Berkin, xi). Celebrating Molly Pitcher is an easy and superficial way of acknowledging and re-framing women’s participation to fit into modern sensibilities. It allows us to “include” women in the history, but only as an anomaly. The women Molly Pitcher represented faded back into their pre-war roles, essentially erasing any memory of them. Mother Jones (and the women of the labor movement which he persona represents) also suffered from a cultural amnesia after her death. I think it is interesting that this unnamed reporter used a fictitious persona, Molly Pitcher, to add to the growing air of legend that "Mother" embraced.
3. “The Worker: An Organ of the Socialist Party”
This is an article published by a socialist paper in New York. I couldn't discern a date or author, but it has an impassioned explanation of why we celebrate May Day, which I have used in my script for the tour.
Mother believed that ordinary people have the capacity to control and manage their own economic destinies. The more she witnessed the oppression of the working people, the further she was pushed towards militant trade unionism and socialism. Chicago became home, again, during a time when her personal philosophy started to be radicalized. And the city was a great home base for it was the most radical city in the nation by the late 19th century. Mother launched a campaign for Socialism in Chicago in 1898 and was a key contributor a socialist paper, “Appeal to Reason”. Her effort also led to the folk song about her, “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain.” Hers and other socialist orators' message would take hold of any audience. People wanted to listen to something stronger than balanced and measured phrases of politicians.
`````
Works Cited:
Philip S. Foner, Editor. Mother Jones Speaks: Collected Speeches and Writings, Monad Press, New York, 1983.
Berkin, Carol. Revolutionary Mothers: Women In The Struggle For America's Independence. Published by Alfred A. Knoff. 2005.
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| Hand-written letter from Mother Jones next to its response from John H. Walker, who was at this time president of the State Federation of Labor in Springfield, Illinois. I assumed that my Catholic School education would prepare me for even the most old-fashion style of cursive writing, but I have found Mother's writing mostly illegible. [John H. Walker Papers, Box No. 20, Folder 181, Illinois History and Lincoln Collections, University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] |
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| [Thomas and Elizabeth Morgan collection, Box No. 2, Folder 29, Illinois History and Lincoln Collections, University Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign] |
1. Signed Portrait of Mother Jones.
“I watched the fashionable women come and go. Nearly all of them, if you asked them, would tell you proudly that they belonged to society.... the word society, as applied to women of today, stands for idleness, fads, extravagance, and display of wealth.... the idle rich woman who parades her finery before the hungry and poverty-stricken is a modern inquisitor turning the thumb-screws of envy and despair into the very vitals of those who are in reality her sisters.” (Foner, 468-69)
 |
Box No. 2, Folder 32,
Illinois History and Lincoln Collections,
University Library at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]
2. “Protest Against Law and Courts: Flaunt Socialism at Labor Meeting." from the Denver Republican, Denver, Colorado, Friday Morning, February 3, 1911.
The fragment of this article pictured here is one of my favorites. Mother Jones called the lack of regulation and ability for wealthy industrialist to monopolize entire towns at the expense of the worker an "economic disease." The full article can be accessed in the Morgan collection, but in two separate folders, the other half is in Box 1, Folder 12.
At the beginning of the article, a mass meeting was assembled, protesting against "government by injunction." Former Gov. Charles S. Thomas spoke to the workers. This was also at a time when he was making a bid for senator. His statements were measured and he was hesitant to speak outright against the courts which upheld the injunctions against strikers. Then, "‘Mother’ Jones filled in and the bulk of the audience was more in sympathy with the ‘Molly Pitcher’ style of the gray-haired agitator than with the carefully prepared epigrams of Mr. Thomas..." The workers wanted to hear their passion in the soap-box speeches of their leaders.
I also must comment here on the reference to Mother's "Molly Pitcher" style. A popular story of the American Revolution is that of Molly Pitcher, who fought in place of her husband when he had fallen in battle. The problem is that she did not exist. She was synthetic creation, one woman representing the stories of many (Berkin, xi). Celebrating Molly Pitcher is an easy and superficial way of acknowledging and re-framing women’s participation to fit into modern sensibilities. It allows us to “include” women in the history, but only as an anomaly. The women Molly Pitcher represented faded back into their pre-war roles, essentially erasing any memory of them. Mother Jones (and the women of the labor movement which he persona represents) also suffered from a cultural amnesia after her death. I think it is interesting that this unnamed reporter used a fictitious persona, Molly Pitcher, to add to the growing air of legend that "Mother" embraced.
3. “The Worker: An Organ of the Socialist Party”
This is an article published by a socialist paper in New York. I couldn't discern a date or author, but it has an impassioned explanation of why we celebrate May Day, which I have used in my script for the tour.
Mother believed that ordinary people have the capacity to control and manage their own economic destinies. The more she witnessed the oppression of the working people, the further she was pushed towards militant trade unionism and socialism. Chicago became home, again, during a time when her personal philosophy started to be radicalized. And the city was a great home base for it was the most radical city in the nation by the late 19th century. Mother launched a campaign for Socialism in Chicago in 1898 and was a key contributor a socialist paper, “Appeal to Reason”. Her effort also led to the folk song about her, “She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain.” Hers and other socialist orators' message would take hold of any audience. People wanted to listen to something stronger than balanced and measured phrases of politicians.
On March 26, 1903, Mother spoke in front of the largest assembly of the Socialists of Chicago to date. The hall was packed to hear Mother Jones and Father McGrady speak. The turnout was impressive and seemed to give Mother renewed hope. She said:
"I feel that we are nearing the end of our fight, because this magnificent gathering tells me the workers are at last awakening to a sense of their duty." (Mapping Mother Jones)
Mother Jones was claiming to be 73 then, though she was probably a lot younger. She claims her birthday was May 1, 1830. But, she was mostly likely born in August of 1837, according to Cork County baptismal records. But “Mother Jones” the persona, decided that her own birthday.
But why May 1st? It seemed only appropriate that Mother's birthday would fall on May Day.
The article reads:
“All over the civilized world workingmen and workingwomen are meeting and marching on the First of May, bearing aloft the Red Flag of Socialism, singing the songs of revolution … [resolved] to transform this world of war and hunger into a world of plenty and peace.
"What is it that May Day stands for? Is it peace? Yes. And it is also war. Is it self-sacrifice? Yes. And it is also self-assertion. Is it the vision of the future? Yes. and it is also the realization of those visions the the deeds of to-day. In two phrases we sum up the meaning of the First of May - the Class Struggle and the International Solidarity of Labor….
"Working[people] are learning to think and act together to resist the aggressions of their masters…. All are working[people], … all now under the same yoke of wage-slavery…. That is what May Day stands for - comradeship among the workers of the world ….”
It is safe to say that I was in full geek-mode at the archives and can't wait to go back. Comrades, Unite!
`````
Works Cited:
Philip S. Foner, Editor. Mother Jones Speaks: Collected Speeches and Writings, Monad Press, New York, 1983.
Berkin, Carol. Revolutionary Mothers: Women In The Struggle For America's Independence. Published by Alfred A. Knoff. 2005.
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