Vicky Starr papers

Scope and Content

Correspondence, research files, newsletters, financial papers, newspaper clippings, sound recordings, and other papers of Victoria Starr, a women's rights and labor union activist from Chicago (Ill.). Vicky Starr was involved in several labor and progressive organizations, such as the Chicago Women's Liberation Union and the United Packinghouse workers. Starr worked in the Chicago stockyards during the 1930s, and later worked as a secretary at the University of Chicago, where she organized the clerical workers union into Local 743 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Because of her activism, Starr was featured in the books Rank and File (by Alice and Staughton Lynd, 1974), The American Dream (by Studs Terkel, 1980), and First Person America (by Ann Bank, 1980) as well as the 1976 documentary film: Union Maids. Starr was also known as Stella Nowicki and Victoria Kramer. The collection documents her activism and includes materials related to the women's liberation movement, trade unions, the University of Chicago, and workers' rights as well as biographical information. Also included are several audio recordings.