Images(4)

Armband, Mourning

Object number2017.97.18

MediumCanvas; Fabric; Elastic; Paint; Brass

Credit LineGIft of the Graphic Communications Conference-International Brotherhood of Teamster's Local 24M

DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 4.125 x 5.5 x 4.5 in. (10.5 x 14 x 11.4 cm)
InscriptionsFront of armband and pin have text "Worker's / Memorial Day / April 28th / Pittsburgh, PA".
MarksReverse of pin has text "AFL-CIO-CLC / UNION USWA LABEL / LOCAL 3403".

Armband has printed white union logo in the viewer's bottom left corner.
Historical NotesArmband worn on April 28th as memorial for those killed on the job. Part of a collection from Local 24 of the Graphic Communications Conference-International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The national union descends from the National Typographical Union which formed in 1852 and became the International Typographic Union in 1869. The union splintered in the late 1890s/early 1900s into several unions representing pressmen, bookbinders, stereotypers/electrotypers, lithographers, and platemakers, before slowly merging back together over the years. In 1983, the Graphic Communications International Union formed from the merging of the Int. Printing and Graphics Communication Union and the Graphic Arts International Union. Finally in 2005, the GCC union merged with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to create the present-day organization. Local 24 started in the early 1900s as a group of Lithographers in the Pittsburgh area. In 2016, they downsized their offices and moved from Uptown to Three Mile Run, and in the process, donated their records and this collection of artifacts. Most of the material donated was made by the union such as buttons, posters, stickers, flat product sheets, and two printing sheets that show the change in printing technology from raised letters to flat sheets.

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