Welcome to the International Woodworkers of America Archive!
Located at the Kaatza Station Museum and Archives in Lake Cowichan British Columbia, the IWA Archive holds the records of Canada’s largest woodworkers’ labour union, covering the time period from the union’s inception during the 1930s through to its amalgamation with the United Steelworkers in 2004. The collection includes the records of IWA Canada and its predecessor organizations, as well as several IWA local unions, including the 1-80 (Duncan), 1-217 (Vancouver), and the 1-71 (Courtenay). The archive also houses an impressive collection of 1930s and 1940s forestry and labour photographs taken by Wilmer Gold, and generously loaned to the Museum and Archives by USW Local 1-1937.
This blog’s purpose is to both document the creation of the archive, and to tell the epic history contained within these records!
Latest from the Blog
- The Wilmer Gold Photo Collection: Diversity, Labour Activism, and Community in the Cowichan ValleyThe finding aid for the Wilmer Gold Photo Collection is now available online through our website. Although the photos themselves are not yet available online, an inventory of what is available at the museum can be viewed here, and inquiries sent to kaatzaarchives@shaw.ca. This blog post contains just a small sample of the 1,500-photo collection.Continue reading “The Wilmer Gold Photo Collection: Diversity, Labour Activism, and Community in the Cowichan Valley”
- ‘Sometimes Strikes are Sort of Like Some Wars’: Letters to Jack Munro During the 1986 StrikeHenry here- I’m back in the Archive, woo! It’s been a while since I contributed anything to the I.W.A. Archive blog. However, upon returning, I found these freshly archived letters so interesting that I had to write about them. This blog post builds on John Mountain’s December 2019 “Digging into History”, which provided background onContinue reading “‘Sometimes Strikes are Sort of Like Some Wars’: Letters to Jack Munro During the 1986 Strike”
- “’Give a Shantyboy Whisky and His Head Will Go ‘Round’: Liquor and Logging on the British Columbia Coast”, by Kaden WaltersHello readers! It’s been a quiet last couple of months on the blog, however, this doesn’t reflect the great deal of work that has gone on around here. Since my last post in January, I have spent the following few months away from the archive to focus on university, but Henry has been here aloneContinue reading ““’Give a Shantyboy Whisky and His Head Will Go ‘Round’: Liquor and Logging on the British Columbia Coast”, by Kaden Walters”
The International Woodworkers of America Archive 