Union Banners


Labor union banners from the collection of Scott Malloy appear in the Printed & Manuscript Americana auction on September 30th. A painted silk banner for the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen has bold gilt lettering. This California Local, 498, was founded in 1911. It merged with the United Food and Commercial Workers in 1979.


A banner for the Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America for Minnehaha Lodge No. 299 is circa 1920s or 30s. Minnesota Socialist leader Carl Skoglund was a mechanic in the non-union Pullman rail yard in Minneapolis, and became a founder of this lodge when the federal government assumed control of the yard during World War I. He was blacklisted on the railroads after an unsuccessful 1922 strike, and was later a leading figure in founding the Socialist Worker party. 


Amalgamated Meat Cutters, estimate: $2,000 to $3,000. Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America, estimate: $1,500 to $2,500. 

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