Scope and Contents:
This collection contains newspapers, clippings, biographical materials, ephemera, and correspondence collected by Bertha Bradley Moss, the sister of Alexander Bradley. Materials include eight issues of
The Progressive Miner, five issues of
The Litchfield News-Herald, three issues of the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (including a pictorial supplement), two issues of
The American Miner, one issue of the
Illinois State Journal, and one issue of the
Mount Olive Herald, as well as various clippings from these and other newspapers. The newspapers in this collection are organized chronologically and the clippings are organized alphabetically by title. This collection also contains biographical materials such as handwritten biographies, funeral notices, clippings, and writings by Alexander “General” Bradley and Mary G. Harris “Mother” Jones, who were both famous union organizers and labor activists. This collection also contains various photographs, poems, songs, and ribbons, as well as a correspondence series, which consists of 11 letters from 1918 to 1946 addressed to Bertha Bradley Moss from various senders. Many pieces of correspondence include the original envelope addressed to Moss along with other items enclosed such as clippings and calling cards.
Biographical/Historical Context:
Bertha Bradley Moss was born in Staunton, Illinois, in 1884. Throughout her childhood, her older brother Alexander "General" Bradley (1866-1918) worked as a coal miner in Illinois. She wrote about growing up with Bradley and watching him organize Illinois workers to join the nationwide United Mine Workers strike in 1897. Later in life, Moss actively donated and took part in the Mother Jones Monument Committee. After her death in 1946, Moss was buried in the Union Miners Cemetery, where her brother is also buried.
The Progressive Miners of America (1932-1999) was a coal miners’ union that was organized in downstate Illinois. As a response to a 1932 United Mine Workers’ contract proposal which reduced workers’ wages, the Progressive Miners of America broke away from the United Mine Workers of America and formed their own union. The union issued a weekly newspaper called the Progressive Miner. In 1999, the Progressive Miners of America formally dissolved.
Abstract 
Submit request (Aeon)
