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Heidi Durham papers and oral history interviews, 1937-2017

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Durham, Heidi
Title
Heidi Durham papers and oral history interviews
Dates
1937-2017 (inclusive)
Quantity
1.57 cubic feet (2 boxes)
Collection Number
6264 (Accession No. 6264-001)
Summary
Papers and other materials of one of the first female electricians for Seattle City Light and labor activist
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

No restrictions on access to paper-based materials. No user access copy is currently available for the audio cassettes. The DVD-R can be previewed onsite in the Special Collections Reading Room during open hours. Contact Special Collections for more information or to inquire about reproductions.

Request at UW

Languages
English
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Biographical Note

Heidi Durham (1953-2015) was a participant in Seattle City Light's Electrical Trades Trainee (ETT) Program in the early 1970s, and was one of the first women to be admitted to an apprenticeship program in City Light's skilled trades. When the City eliminated the Electrical Trades Trainee Program punitively for the activism of the programs director and the participants, Durham was one of the plaintiffs in a civil rights complaint which restored the program's participants ability to get skilled craft training and continued employment.

Heidi Durham was born and raised in San Pedro, California in 1954, and moved to Bellingham, Washington in 1971 to attend Western Washington University. She moved to Seattle in 1973 and joined Radical Women, a socialist feminist organization led by Clara Fraser.

Durham began working in the food service industry. In 1974, Fraser was tasked with creating a recruitment and training program for female electrical workers at Seattle City Light, the Electrical Trades Trainee (ETT). Durham was recruited in a competitive application process and, at 21, became the youngest of the 10-member ETT program. As one of three Radical Women members among the group, Durham played a leading role in the struggle for gender and race equity at the utility, where she co-founded the Employee Committee for Equal Rights at City Light (CERCLE) in 1983, and in her union, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 77.

Following a landmark verdict on behalf of the women in January of 1976, Durham became one of the first women admitted to City Light’s Line Worker apprenticeship program.

Durham worked on the line crews until suffering a broken back in a near-fatal fall from the top of an electrical pole in 1977. Durham was partially paralyzed but fought to continue working in the field, returning to City Light as a Junior Power Station Operator. When she retired in 2004, she held the title of Senior Power Station Operator.

Through her longtime leadership in Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party, Durham participated in various political causes. In 1984, Durham co-founded the Ad Hoc Committee for Fair Employment and Open Housing, which successfully organized community support to defend and strengthen Seattle anti-discrimination laws.

Durham was also a writer. In 1982, she wrote The War on the Disabled: Adding Insult to Injury and co-authored Women Workers: Sparkplugs of Labor with Megan Cornish in 1990.

In 1991, Durham campaigned for City Council on the Freedom Socialist Party ticket. That same year, she was named Active Advocate of the Year, along with fellow ETT pioneer Megan Cornish, by Washington Women in the Trades. In 2004, Durham was a member of the Seattle Organizing Committee for the Million Worker March on Washington, D.C. and was a featured speaker at the event. Durham died in August of 2015 at the age of 62.

Biography Sources:

Belew, Ellie. 2019. High voltage women: breaking barriers at Seattle City Light. Seattle: Red Letter Press (Forthcoming: March 2019)

Grant, Nicole. “Heidi Durham: Electrical Trades Trainee (ETT) Program, Seattle City Light” Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project. https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/durham.htm

Grant, Nicole. “Challenging Sexism at City Light: The Electrical Trades Trainee Program” Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/citylight.htm (Data accessed January 2018).

https://socialism.com/fs-article/farewell-to-heidi-durham-revolutionary-feminist-and-fighter-for-the-oppressed/ Seattle Times https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/seattletimes/obituary.aspx?n=heidi-durham&pid=175821675

Related Resources:

Casey, Conor. “How Minority Men and Tradeswomen Won Justice on the Jobsite.” Lecture, Museum of History and Industry History Café, Seattle, February 21, 2018. https://tinyurl.com/JusticeJobsite

Casey, Conor “Justice on the Jobsite: Collections on Labor Organizing of Minority Men and Tradeswomen at the University of Washington Libraries' Labor Archives of Washington and Special Collections" Pacific Northwest Quarterly. Summer 2018 Issue.

Belew, Ellie. 2013. Bringing power to the people: the history of IBEW Local #77.

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Content Description

Materials relating to the Electrical Trades Trainee Program at Seattle City Light and the subsequent discrimination case by most of the ETT against City Light. Also includes files on the history of City Light as a utility, ETT program head Clara Fraser and her discrimination case against City Light. The collection includes materials on the Employee Committee for Equal Rights at City Light (CERCL) as well as subject files on the 10 members of the ETT program. Oral history interviews done by Nicole Grant with Durham, and fellow ETT trainees and Radical Women members Megan Cornish, and Teri Bach are included in audio cassette and video DVD formats. The collection includes newclippings about Durham and the history of the ETT program and subsequent lawsuits.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Creator's copyrights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries Special Collections.

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Administrative Information

Related Materials

Clara Fraser papers (Collection 3187)

Megan Cornish papers (Collection 6259)

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 77 (Collection 5569)

George Hammer papers (Collection 6276)

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 

  • Description: Chronologies for Electrical trades trainees case
    Dates: 1973-1996
    Container: Box/Folder 1/1
  • Description: Draft history of electrical trades trainees case
    Dates: 1982
    Container: Box/Folder 1/2
  • Description: City Light early history
    Dates: 1937-1993
    Container: Box/Folder 1/3
  • Description: Clara Fraser
    Dates: 1970-1980
    Container: Box/Folder 1/4
  • Description: Clara Fraser retirement
    Dates: 1986
    Container: Box/Folder 1/5
  • Description: City Light walkout
    Dates: 1974
    Container: Box/Folder 1/6
  • Description: Post-walkout organizing
    Dates: 1974-1975
    Container: Box/Folder 1/7
  • Description: Bill of rights and responsibilities
    Dates: 1974-1975
    Container: Box/Folder 1/8
  • Description: Hiring of electrical trades trainees
    Dates: 1974
    Container: Box/Folder 1/9
  • Description: Hoax leaflet - redbaiting
    Dates: 1974
    Container: Box/Folder 1/10
  • Description: Harassment
    Dates: 1974-1975
    Container: Box/Folder 1/11
  • Description: City Light managers
    Dates: 1980
    Container: Box/Folder 1/12
  • Description: Electrical trades trainees legal case
    Dates: 1975
    Container: Box/Folder 1/13
  • Description: Electrical trades trainees fight
    Dates: 1974-2017
    Container: Box/Folder 1/14
  • Description: Legal materials from trainees' injunction hearing
    Dates: 1975
    Container: Box/Folder 1/15
  • Description: Electrical trades trainees case victory
    Dates: 1976
    Container: Box/Folder 1/16
  • Description: Electrical Trades Trainee Program
    Dates: 1974-1979
    Container: Box/Folder 1/17
  • Description: Trainee Program (part 1 of 2)
    Dates: 1973-2017
    Container: Box/Folder 1/18
  • Description: Trainee Program (part 2 of 2)
    Dates: 1973-2017
    Container: Box/Folder 1/19
  • Description: Office of Women's Rights findings in ETT case
    Dates: 1975
    Container: Box/Folder 1/20
  • Description: Electrical trades trainees case settlement
    Dates: 1976
    Container: Box/Folder 1/21
  • Description: Clara Fraser case
    Dates: 1974-1979
    Container: Box/Folder 1/22
  • Description: Clara Fraser case
    Dates: 1980-1982
    Container: Box/Folder 1/23
  • Description: Clara Fraser case
    Dates: 1983
    Container: Box/Folder 1/24
  • Description: Clara Fraser case victory
    Dates: 1983
    Container: Box/Folder 1/25
  • Description: City Light and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers correspondence
    Dates: 1974-1981
    Container: Box/Folder 1/26
  • Description: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers correspondence Local 77
    Dates: 1974-1990
    Container: Box/Folder 1/27
  • Description: Non-discrimination clause in contract
    Dates: 1981
    Container: Box/Folder 1/28
  • Description: Songs and skits
    Dates: 1980
    Container: Box/Folder 1/29
  • Description: Heidi Durham apprenticeship evaluations
    Dates: 1976-1977
    Container: Box/Folder 1/30
  • Description: Heidi's fall
    Dates: 1977-1981
    Container: Box/Folder 1/31
  • Description: Heidi's draft letter to Dan Haw from "group"
    Dates: 1978
    Container: Box/Folder 1/32
  • Description: Human Rights Department complaint
    Dates: 1983-1984
    Container: Box/Folder 1/33
  • Description: Gamma Vision, human relations training project
    Dates: 1984-1985
    Container: Box/Folder 1/34
  • Description: Employee Committee for Equal Rights at City Light (CERCL)
    Dates: 1983-1988
    Container: Box/Folder 1/35
  • Description: Sherrie Holmes / CERCL
    Dates: 1986
    Container: Box/Folder 1/36
  • Description: Employee Committee for Equal Rights at City Light (CERCL)
    Dates: 1987
    Container: Box/Folder 1/37
  • Description: Employee Committee for Equal Rights at City Light (CERCL)
    Dates: 1991-1994
    Container: Box/Folder 1/38
  • Description: CERCL vs. City Light
    Dates: 1984-1989
    Container: Box/Folder 1/39
  • Description: CERCL letter to Randy Hardy
    Dates: 1985
    Container: Box/Folder 1/40
  • Description: Teri Bach
    Dates: 1980-2005
    Container: Box/Folder 1/41
  • Description: Marilyn Bircher
    Dates: 1980-1993
    Container: Box/Folder 1/42
  • Description: Jennifer Gordon
    Dates: 1975
    Container: Box/Folder 1/43
  • Description: Daisy Jones
    Dates: undated
    Container: Box/Folder 1/44
  • Description: Lori Lakshas
    Dates: 1976-1984
    Container: Box/Folder 1/45
  • Description: Kathleen Merrigan
    Dates: 2017
    Container: Box/Folder 1/46
  • Description: Letha Neal
    Dates: 1983-2016
    Container: Box/Folder 1/47
  • Description: Jody Olvera
    Dates: 1974
    Container: Box/Folder 1/48
  • Description: Patty Wong
    Dates: 1974-1980
    Container: Box/Folder 1/49
  • Description: Margie Wakenight/Bellinger
    Dates: 2017
    Container: Box/Folder 1/50
  • Description: Ad hoc Committee for Fair Employment and Open Housing
    Dates: 1983-1986
    Container: Box/Folder 2/1
  • Description: Electrical trades trainees' retirement
    Dates: 2004-2005
    Container: Box/Folder 2/2
  • Description: City Light press coverage
    Dates: 1986
    Container: Box/Folder 2/3
  • Description: Electrical Trades Trainee Program 25th anniversary
    Dates: 1999
    Container: Box/Folder 2/4
  • Description: Reference material on equal employment
    Dates: 1969-2018
    Container: Box/Folder 2/5
  • Description: Political ideology / gay pride
    Dates: 1995-1997
    Container: Box/Folder 2/6
  • Description: Racism
    Dates: 1981-1993
    Container: Box/Folder 2/7
  • Description: Nina Firey case
    Dates: 1983-1989
    Container: Box/Folder 2/8
  • Description: Affirmative action
    Dates: 1978-1979
    Container: Box/Folder 2/9
  • Description: Affirmative action
    Dates: 1989-1992
    Container: Box/Folder 2/10
  • Description: Seattle, City Light affirmative action statistics
    Dates: 1972-1979
    Container: Box/Folder 2/11
  • Description: Heidi Durham writings
    Dates: 1981-2000
    Container: Box/Folder 2/12
  • Description: Articles by and about Heidi Durham
    Dates: 1987-2007
    Container: Box/Folder 2/13
  • Description: Radical Women writings on working women
    Dates: 1962-2010
    Container: Box/Folder 2/14
  • Description: Women's participation in unions
    Dates: 1974-1976
    Container: Box/Folder 2/15
  • Description: Press clippings, leaflets
    Dates: 1975-1995
    Container: Box/Folder 2/16
  • Description: Interview of Heidi Durham by Nicole Grant and Trevor Griffey
    Video recording on DVD-R
    Dates: 2005
    Container: Box/Folder 2/17
  • Description: Interviews of Megan Cornish and Teri Bach
    Audio recording on 90-minute audiocassette
    Dates: 2005
    Container: Box/Folder 2/18
  • Description: Heidi Durham on KCMU radio -- Deregualtion and the threat of privatization
    Audio recording on 90-minute audiocassette
    Dates: 1994
    Container: Box/Folder 2/19


2019 (Last modified: 1/31/2020)

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