Guide to the Daniel W. Hannan Papers and Photographs c1940s-1999
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Daniel W. Hannan Papers and Photographs
- Creator
- Hannan, Daniel W.
- Collection Number
- MSS 701
- Extent
- 0.5 linear feet (2 boxes)
- Date
- c1940s-1999
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This collection has been made accessible as part of an NHPRC-funded Basic Processing grant.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
History
Daniel Walsh Joseph Hannan was born in 1921 and began working at the US Steel's Clairton Coke Works plant in Clairton, Pa., at the age of 18. In 1943, he left the plant to begin basic military training at the Military Police Training School in Kansas and then at Fort Jay, New York, where he became a Private First Class. Hannan was assigned to the 518 Military Police Battalion and participated in the Normandy invasion in 1944. He was involved in the Battle of the Bulge on December 1944 as a military traffic director, and in 1945 his unit captured the Nazi concentration camp in Buchenwald, Germany. After the war he was awarded five battle stars, five campaign ribbons, a meritorious unit citation, as well as an honor by the French government for his participation in the invasion of Normandy.
After being discharged from the army, Hannan became an activist for improving labor conditions at US Steel's Clairton Coke Works plant. Hannan served as president for the local union 1557 United Steelworkers of America (USWA) from 1967 to 1973. As union president, he and other US Steel union representatives formed the Steelworkers' Black Lung Committee and testified to the U.S. Congress on the health and safety of coke plant workers. Hannan was a member of the Steelworkers Negotiating Committee from 1968 to 1971 and testified before the Allegheny County Air Pollution Board and the Pennsylvania State Committee, helping to enact the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970 under the Nixon administration. The following year Hannan was honored by the Pittsburgh Jaycees as their "Man of the Year." In 1973, he was promoted to the USWA Safety and Health Deapartment and in 1979 won the National Safety Council award.
Daniel W. Hannan married his wife Lucille in 1943 while on a three-day pass before being shipped overseas for the war. In 1999, Hannan and a few family members visited Utah Beach in France where Hannan had disembarked nearly fifty years prior.
Scope and Content Notes
The Daniel W. Hannan Papers and Photographs are housed in two boxes. The first box contains Hannan's autobiography which outlines his life and includes photographs of his time during the war and news articles concerning his involvement with the United Steelworkers of America. Several news articles and publications document Hannan's participation in USWA union and his term as its president. Photographs within this box depict Hannan's military service, including photos of the Buchenwald concentration camp, USWA meetings in Pittsburgh, the 518 Military Police Battalion, and Hannan's return to Normandy in 1999 with his family. A declassified history of the 518 Military Police Battalion (1946) documents the movement of Hannan's unit during World War II.
The first box of the collecton also contains honors Hannan received which consist of a signed photograph from former president Bill Clinton, and letters and certificates from the French government, the National WWII Memorial, the Group Against Smog and Pollution, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The second box of the collection contains Daniel Hannan's personal papers, including postcards, letters, photographs, memorabilia booklets, a publication on Utah Beach, and Hannan's enlistment identification card from his time in the army. The papers also include various articles and photocopied handwritten accounts of Hannan's war experiences, and drafts of Hannan's autobiography. United Steelworkers of America publications and letters (c. 1970s-1990s) document Hannan's activities concerning the health and safety of coke plant workers.
Conditions Governing Access
None
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift from Daniel W. Hannan in 2000.
Archives accession # 2000.0176
Preferred Citation
Daniel W. Hannan Papers and Photographs, c1940-1999, MSS 701, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Sarah Ecklund on 1/9/12.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Subjects
- United Steelworkers of America.
- U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works (Clairton, Pa)
- Daniel W. Hannan
- Pittsburgh (Pa.)
- Clairton (Pa.)
- World War II--France.
- World War II--Germany.
- Safety regulations--law and legislation.
- Mine safety--Law and legislation--United States.