Roberta Wood Papers
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Abstract
Roberta Wood (1949-) has served as Secretary Treasurer of the Communist Party since 2007. A lifelong rank and file union activist, Roberta co-founded the steelworker women's caucus in the in the Chicago/Gary district of the Steelworkers union. In 1976 she was elected the first female member of USWA Local 65's Executive Board. Following the closing of US Steel's South Works mill, Roberta worked until retirement as an electrical instrumentation mechanic in a municipal sewage treament facility. She served several years as labor editor of the People's Weekly World, forerunner to the People's World. The Roberta Wood Papers consists of materials collected by Wood over the course of her decades of labor organizing and political activism. Much of the collection documents Wood's early communist activism, with particular emphasis on her work with the Young Workers Liberation League (YWLL). Included in her YWLL records are fliers, publications, organizing documents, and meeting notes and minutes. This collection also includes Wood's notes from a party-related political education program/workers school; documentation from Wood's involvement in the Coalition of Labor Union Women; documents from her time organizing with the CPUSA's Southern California District; and notes and slides from the World Assembly of Builders of Peace Meeting in Warsaw, Poland in 1977; as well as documents given to her by Al Hanover and leftist ephemera and publications. Materials also include financial statements, publicity, and planning materials from the Labor Education Fund's tribute for Florence Reece and the Ernesto De Maio Tribute Committee's tribute for Ernie De Maio, both in the 1970s. The collection also contains an oral history with Wood conducted in 2012, and biographies of numerous leaders in the labor, civil rights, and peace movements, collected for the Unity Center's (likely unpublished) Honor Roll and Golden Book of the Working Class.
Biographical Note
Roberta Wood (1949-) has served as Secretary Treasurer of the Communist Party since 2007. A lifelong rank and file union activist, Roberta co-founded the steelworker women's caucus in the in the Chicago/Gary district of the Steelworkers union. In 1976 she was elected the first female member of USWA Local 65's Executive Board. Following the closing of US Steel's South Works mill, Roberta worked until retirement as an electrical instrumentation mechanic in a municipal sewage treament facility. She served several years as labor editor of the People's Weekly World, forerunner to the People's World.
Source: Communist Party USA. "Roberta Wood." http://www.cpusa.org/new-biography-2 (accessed January 30, 2024).
Arrangement
Materials are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor.
Scope and Contents
The Roberta Wood Papers consists of materials collected by Wood over the course of her decades of labor organizing and political activism. Much of the collection documents Wood's early communist activism, with particular emphasis on her work with the Young Workers Liberation League (YWLL). Included in her YWLL records are fliers, publications, organizing documents, and meeting notes and minutes. This collection also includes Wood's notes from a party-related political education program/workers school; documentation from Wood's involvement in the Coalition of Labor Union Women; documents from her time organizing with the CPUSA's Southern California District; and notes and slides from the World Assembly of Builders of Peace Meeting in Warsaw, Poland in 1977; as well as documents given to her by Al Hanover and leftist ephemera and publications. Materials also include financial statements, publicity, and planning materials from the Labor Education Fund's tribute for Florence Reece and the Ernesto De Maio Tribute Committee's tribute for Ernie De Maio, both in the 1970s. The collection also contains an oral history with Wood conducted in 2012, and biographies of numerous leaders in the labor, civil rights, and peace movements, collected for the Unity Center's (likely unpublished) Honor Roll and Golden Book of the Working Class.
Subjects
Donors
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Roberta Wood Papers; TAM 626; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Roberta Wood in 2012; additional materials were donated in 2014, December 2023, and March 2025. The accession number related to these gifts are 2012.082, 2024.011, and 2025.052.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Materials have been rehoused into archival quality folders and slide protectors. Folder titles added by the archivist are indicated with square brackets. In 2024, an accretion was rehoused in archival boxes and folders, and incorporated into the collection's inventory as Boxes 2-3. In 2025 an accretion was rehoused in archival boxes and folders, and incorporated into the collection's inventory as Box 4.
