When Jo (Charles
Joseph Antoine) Labadie was born, in 1850, much of Michigan was
wilderness and the U.S. was largely pre-industrial. By the time he
died, in 1933, the state of Michigan was one of the most highly
industrialized in the country, due to the automobile industry. In
between, Jo Labadie had played an important role in determining how
workers and owners were to relate to each other in the modern
industrial world.
As a believer in the power (and the right) of individuals to
determine their own fate, Jo Labadie was responsible for organizing
the first significant labor union in Michigan, the Knights of
Labor. As a champion of freedom and the common man, he had his own
printing press at his disposal and used it effectively to share his
views. As an active author and organizer, he met and corresponded
with many other people who were also actively working for human
rights and workers' rights.
Through his activist interests, his labor organizing, his printing
and writing, and his far-flung correspondence, Jo Labadie
accumulated a sizable collection of books, pamphlets, newspapers,
magazines, manuscripts, and memorabilia. He credited his wife,
Sophie, for preserving much of this material. By the time he was
60, Jo was interested in finding an institution (documents
134,
135) that would accept his collection and make it available for
future generations. Even though friends at the University of
Wisconsin (
150,
151) tried to convince him that his collection should go there,
Jo wanted it to stay in Michigan and was very pleased when the
University of Michigan Board of Regents accepted the Labadie
Collection for the University Library in 1911.
In the nearly 90 years that the Labadie Collection has been at the
University of Michigan, it has grown to many times its original
size through both gifts and purchases. It now contains some 40,000
books, 800 current periodicals, and 20,000 pamphlets, and many
collections of manuscripts from both people and organizations, as
well as photographs, posters, and memorabilia. Topics covered have
expanded backward to earlier 19th century radical movements and
forward to the present, as well as sideways to incorporate the
right side of the political spectrum. Our aim is always to gather
materials that capture the ideas of radical social and political
movements directly from the participants, just as Jo Labadie's
collection captures his ideas and those of his comrades.
If Jo Labadie could see the collection that
bears his name today, and could see the many students, faculty,
and scholars who use its materials, would he be pleased? I think
so. During the regular school term, over half the users of the
Special Collections Library are undergraduate students here at the
University of Michigan. Jo would surely be pleased by that. Each
year, several new books, articles, and television documentaries
appear that have used materials from the Labadie Collection. He
would probably be astonished, but pleased, by that. Thanks to the
strength of current Labadie holdings, we are able to continue to
build by adding collections of archives and personal papers each
year. I think Jo would wish he could be here to delve into those
new collections himself.
After 90 years, the University of Michigan remains grateful to
Jo Labadie for the donation of his collection, and proud of the
fact that we have built his original gift into one of the leading
libraries documenting radicalism in the world. Please join us in
celebrating the 150th anniversary of Jo Labadie's birth
by enjoying this exhibit celebrating his life and work.
--Peggy Daub, Head, Special Collections Library