This series includes subseries with files on the following published and unpublished manuscripts: Subseries A: Maritime Solidarity: Pacific Coast Unionism 1929-1938: Published as a book by the Pacific Coast Maritime History Committee in 1998. Files include earlier drafts with unpublished segments on maritime labor in the early 1900s to World War I. Subseries B: The Concern of All: Tacoma Working People and Their Unions, 1883-1895: Sponsored by the Pierce County Central Labor Council and researched and written by Ottilie in the early 1980s. Manuscript details the early history of Tacoma labor unions. Subseries C: Against the Current: A Social Memoir, Ottilie’s unpublished autobiography, completed around 2001. Research files in Sub-Subseries 1 contain photocopies of primary sources and notes related to her parents, Alfred and Clara. It is clear from the format of the materials and dates on several items that this research was conducted during a later time period and presumed to be related to research for Chapter 1 of this memoir and not Alaska Homestead.Subseries D: Alaska Homestead, an unpublished biography of Ottilie’s parents, Alfred Silverthorne Kepner and Clara ​​Reissenweber Kepner and their life in Alaska, told in the first person using letters passed between the couple and oral history interviews conducted by Ottilie. Ottilie completed the book in 1947 and was unsuccessful in getting it published. Subseries E: Nome, Alaska’s Early Union Movement: An unpublished manuscript on the early 20th century history of labor organizing in Nome, Alaska prior to World War I. Ottilie researched the book in the 1980s, including visiting Alaska for several research trips which are documented in this subseries. She completed the manuscript in 1996. Subseries F: The Sailors' Union of the Pacific, published in 1942. Although originally credited to Peter B. Gill as the primary author, Ottilie was actually co-author of the book, a process she describes in her autobiography on pages 143-148 and 153 as well as the Preface of Maritime Solidarity. Additional evidence of Markholt’s authorship can be found in the Administrative Files sub-subseries containing correspondence and records of payment for her work as well as the Research Files and Drafts sub-subseries containing notes, outlines, and manuscript drafts.

The remaining three subseries contain administrative files, research materials, and drafts of articles, essays, bibliographies, and other writings directly related to Seattle and Tacoma labor history, other labor history-related topics not specific to Seattle or Tacoma, and other research and writing, including an unpublished novel called Walk Into the Ghetto; a high school term paper; poems, some personal and others directly related to Washington labor and politics; reflections on her personal life, possibly journal entries; and two articles published in 1966 and 1967 issues of Negro Digest (later re-named Black World) on the role of white progressives in the Civil Rights Movement.

This series contains branch office files, including meeting minutes, bylaws, correspondence with members and international leadership, and reports; financial records, including statements and reports; membership and dues files, including Ottilie’s personal member and delegate cards as well as IWW stamps and stamp booklets; drafts of manuals as well as branch publications, including leaflets, pamphlets, and flyers as well as public relations material; event planning materials, primarily related to IWW organizer, Frank Cedervall’s speaking tour and the One Big Union Revival Tour with Utah Phillips; international convention minutes and proposed resolutions; copies of the Industrial Worker newspaper and One Big Union Monthly magazine; and subject files of primary and secondary sources created by or about the IWW, including newsletters from other branches, primarily in the Pacific Northwest region. IWW stickerettes, also known as “silent agitators”, can be found in Subseries E: Publications and Public Relations as well as Subseries I: Subject Files.

This series contains office files of the labor council, including meeting minutes, flyers and handouts, correspondence, and officer election materials. Also included are records of the council’s Education Committee, which she chaired, including meeting minutes, drafts of the Labor Educator newsletter, and inventories and bibliographies created by Ottilie regarding labor history resources maintained by the labor council as well as planning and publicity materials for labor history-related projects and events. Project and event files include drafts, graphics, correspondence, meeting minutes, flyers, and handouts regarding publication of the illustrated booklet To Live in Dignity: Pierce County Labor, 1883-1989 featuring written contributions from 32 affiliated local unions and the Pierce County Central Labor Council Picture Project, an exhibit of 50 poster-sized historical images documenting labor in the county. These two projects were coordinated in conjunction with broader efforts to celebrate the centennial of Washington’s statehood in 1989. Ottilie was a member of the Labor Centennial Booklet Committee and also helped to coordinate the pictorial exhibit. Also included are records from the annual Solidarity Day event which Ottilie co-founded as well as May Day, Labor History Month, and the annual Ralph Chaplin Memorial at Calvary Cemetery held on Labor Day.

This series includes constitutions and bylaws of the local; general office files, including financial records, correspondence, and membership information; pamphlets and flyers publicizing the union and related organizing activities; records of the 1962 international convention; collective bargaining agreements with various employers whose staff were represented by Local 23; and files directly pertaining to Ottilie’s membership and officership as Secretary Treasurer. Records prior to 1965 display the union’s earlier name, the Office Employees International Union (OEIU).

Correspondents in this series include IWW writer and activist Ralph Chaplin, Jr. who Ottilie was close friends with, labor historian Archie Green, and longshoreman T.A. “Tiny” Thronson as well as friends and family members, including her second husband Halvor Markholt, son Bob and his daughter Anneke; elected officials; political organizations; and letters to the editor submitted to publications. Also includes other family papers, including several photographs of family members as well as school papers of Ottilie’s and her sons Bob and Lee, travel memorabilia, drawings, biographical material written about Ottilie, and news clippings and other material documenting Bob and Lee’s involvement with their local 4-H program and rodeo competitions as teens and Bob’s later work as a meat cutter and his local, worker-owned meat shop.

This series includes proposed curriculum, lesson plans, and reading suggestions as well as packets from labor studies workshops. There are also several files from Bob Markholt’s labor studies courses at the Tacoma Community College in the 1970s and notes and publicity material from labor history talks given by Ottilie. Some of these materials may be related to efforts of the Pierce County Central Labor Council to integrate labor studies into community college curriculum, but it is unclear, so this is broken out as its own series.

Records of the Tacoma NAACP in Subseries A relate primarily to newsletter drafting while Ottilie held the position of Editor during the 1960s. The Three Stars Education Club records in Subseries B contain bylaws as well as financial records of the organization. The bylaws suggest that the club was formed by members of the Tacoma-Olympia Branch of the IWW. Financial records indicate that Ottilie was in charge of the bookkeeping and that the club was active from the early 1970s into 2001.