Guide to the Steffi Domike Papers, 1946-2009 AIS.1997.20

Arrangement

Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Steffi Domike Papers
Creator
Domike, Steffi
Collection Number
AIS.1997.20
Extent
77.17 Linear Feet (includes 721 video cassettes, 129 cassette tapes, 72 film reels, 1 oversize box and 1 tube)
Date
1946-2007
Abstract
Steffi Ronder Domike worked as an electrician's assistant at Clairton Coke Works where she belonged to the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) Local 1557 and was a union and equal rights activist. After being laid off in 1982 during the wave of steelworker lay offs in the Monongahela Valley, she became a filmmaker and went on to document steel industry labor movements of the Pittsburgh area, including the 1892 Homestead Strike and the community impact of the closing of U.S. Steel's National Duquesne Works in the 1980s. This collection contains correspondence, newsletters, minutes, reports, and articles about steelworker local unions and the steel industry during the 1970s and 1980s. Materials relating to the oral history project Crashin' Out: Hard Times in McKeesport and the documentary film/book The River Ran Red include grant proposals, research articles, publicity articles, and archival images. Production films from Women of Steel and The River Ran Red are also included. Additional materials were processed and added to the collection in October of 2011 which include materials relating to the various productions Domike was involved in as a producer and/or director. Also included are materials that document Domike's exhibits and installations, her involvement in the Battle of Homestead Foundation, and SubRosa, as well as research materials.
Language
English .
Author
Zachary L. Brodt.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Business Number: 412-648-3232 (Thomas) | 412-648-8190 (Hillman)
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections

Biography

Steffi Domike spent most of her early years in Santiago, Chile while her father worked for the United Nations. After returning to the United States, she eventually moved to the Pittsburgh area to work as an electrician's apprentice at United States Steel's Clairton Coke Works. During her tenure there, she emerged as an active member of USWA Local 1557 and represented the local in the USWA District 15 Civil Rights Committee. In 1979, she ran for recording secretary of the local. Domike was involved in Steelworkers Stand Up, a newsletter which described problems and spread notice of important union events at the Clairton Coke Works and other mills. She also played an active role in women's rights within the steel industry by contributing to Women of Steel newsletters and organizing meetings prior to the 1976 USWA International Constitutional Convention in which amendments regarding union women's rights were to be presented. After being laid off in 1982 with thousands of other steelworkers, Domike joined the Mon Valley Unemployed Steelworkers Committee ("Steelworkers" was later removed) and their St. Peter's Church Food Bank, located in McKeesport. She also enrolled in the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Filmmakers to study filmmaking. With three other women from the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee (MVUC), Domike used student interviewers to create an oral history project and book called Crashin' Out: Hard Times in McKeesport which compared the decline of the steel industry in the 1980s with the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Domike and three other MVUC committee members also produced Women of Steel, an award-winning 1985 documentary about the lives of three women steelworkers. Other film and television projects include: a film about three women who choose to become single mothers, Life without Father, Out of this Furnace: A Walking Tour of Thomas Bell's Novel, an exposé of the Atlantic coastal community of Nicaragua called Nicarribe, the instructional program, Win-Win Bargaining, and the WQED TV series Labor's Corner. Probably her most notable film is the 1992 documentary The River Ran Red. Co-produced with Nicole Fauteux, this film documents the conflict between the steelworkers and the Carnegie Steel Company and Pinkerton Guards at Homestead in 1892. The film is complemented by a collection of source readings, compiled by Domike and Fauteux, with the same title.

Domike continues to work as an artist and activist and has created a board game with Lisa Freeland which takes a critical look at the Patriot Act. She was also part of an interactive history documentary called Terminal Time, and has created various works of art on feminist, environmentalist, and labor themes.

Scope and Content Notes

These files reflect Steffi Domike's participation in United Steelworkers of America Local 1557 while working as an electrician's apprentice at U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works. They also document her activities after being laid off in 1982. She worked with the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee and as a filmmaker and producer. Some of the collection's manuscript materials include correspondence, newsletters, minutes, reports, and articles about local steelworkers unions, rank and file movements, and the international steelworkers union during the 1970s and 1980s. Materials relating to the oral history project Crashin' Out: Hard Times in McKeesportand the documentary film/book The River Ran Red include grant proposals, research articles, publicity articles, archival images, scripts, artwork, and promotional materials. A large array of films and shows produced or written by Domike make up the larger part of this collection. There are film reels, videos, photographs, negatives, and slides pertaining to local labor issues and the production of works likeWomen of Steel and The River Ran Red. There are also audio cassettes of interviews and audio tracks used in the production of her works.

Significant changes have been made to the organization of the collection as a result of accruals in 2010 and 2011. These changes may affect previously cited material, particularly in series pertaining to audio visual material and The River Ran Red.

Arrangement

This collection is divided into 14 series:

Series I. The USX Clairton Coke Works, 1946-1979

Series II. Women of Steel

Series III. The State of the Steel Industry, 1975-1979

Series IV. Edward Sadlowski Campaign, 1976-1978

Series V. Mon Valley Food Bank, 1982-1983

Series VI. Crashin' Out: Hard Times in McKeesport, Oral History Project

Series VII. The River Ran Red

Series VIII. Committees, Rallies, and Strikes, 1977-1984

Series IX. Audio/Visual Materials

Series X. Personal Material, 1982-2009

Series XI. Production Materials, 1986-1999

Series XII. Projects, 1983-2006

Series XIII. Research Materials, 1973-2009

Series XIV. Oversize Materials, 1912-2000

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Accruals

Additional gift made on March 4, 2010.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Steffi Domike on June 9, 1997.

Preferred Citation

Steffi Domike Papers, 1946-2009, AIS.1997.20, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Previous Citation

Steffi Domike Papers, 1946-2009, AIS.1997.20, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh

The files relating to Domike's participation in labor unions and her files relating to filmmaking were originally separated into two different collections. This collection, AIS.1997.20, reflects the unification of collections AIS.1997.20 and parts of AIS.1984.20. This collection has also been cited as Papers of Steffi Domike, 1946-1994, ue199720, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh.

Processing Information

Zachary L. Brodt in July 2007. Additions by Emily Hikes and Jennifer Needham in 2011.

Copyright

Property rights reside with the creator, Steffi Domike. For information about permission to reproduce or publish, please contact Steffi Domike. Materials copied or obtained from other archives are for reference use.

Existence and Location of Originals note

In the course of researching for The River Ran Red, Domike and Fauteux acquired photocopies of many articles and newspapers, as well as reproductions of photographs, from various other repositories including the Library of Congress, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, and the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

Related Material

Crashin' Out: Hard Times in McKeesport prepared by the McKeesport Oral History Project, Mon Valley Unemployed Committee is available at the Archives Service Center under call number F159 M2C72 1983.

Records of the Mon Valley Unemployed Committee, AIS.2002.02, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

A microfilm reel from the former collection AIS.1984.20 contains press releases and clippings regarding McKeesport's economic struggles in the 1980s.

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • United Steel Workers Association
    • Steel Workers Organizing Committee (U.S.)
    • Battle of Homestead Foundation (Pa.)
    • Pittsburgh Teachers Institute (Pa.)
    • Summer Youth Employment and Training Program (U.S.)
    • Mon-Valley Unemployed Committee
    • Pittsburgh Film-Makers Inc.
    • Steel Valley Authority of the Mon Valley
    • United States Steel Corporation. Clairton Works
    • United Steelworkers of America. Local 1557 (Clairton, Pa.)

    Personal Names

    • Domike, Steffi
    • Sadlowski, Edward

    Geographic Names

    • Clairton (Pa.)
    • Pittsburgh (Pa.)
    • Allegheny County (Pa.)

    Occupations

    • Filmmakers

    Genres

    • Photographs
    • Newsletters
    • Minutes (Administrative records)
    • Betacam (TM)
    • Film (Performing arts)
    • Slides (Photographs)
    • Audiocassettes
    • Videotapes
    • Video recordings (physical artifacts)

    Other Subjects

    • Iron and steel workers -- Labor unions -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Labor unions -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Steel industry and trade -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Industrial relations -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Labor disputes -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Labor movement -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Strikes and lockouts -- Steel industry and trade -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
    • Personal papers
    • Women labor leaders -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Labor
    • Woman labor union members -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Women
    • Women in the labor movement -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Women motion picture producers and directors
    • Gender mainstreaming -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsurgh Region
    • Sex discrimination against women -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh Region
    • Reproductive rights -- United States

Container List