Memory Work Research Initiative (MWRI)

The Memory Work Research Initiative (MWRI) at the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) engages community partners, activists, scholars and students in a thoughtful process of collecting, preserving and sharing the rich history of organizing in Southern California. The MWRI strives to establish collaborative modes of remembrance grounded in the IRLE’s commitment to advancing quality education and employment for all.

The MWRI began over 10 years ago as the “Justice for Janitors History Project,” when IRLE and Labor Center staff partnered with SEIU Local 1877 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their 1990 strike in Century City. The new initiative helped the union organize and selectively digitize the records housed in the basement of their union hall and conducted nearly 20 oral history interviews, all of which were subsequently donated to UCLA Library.

The MWRI has since collaborated on similar archival projects with community partners including UNITE-HERE Local 11, the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) and Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE). Materials from these collections and others donated to us by our partners comprise the basis of the Power from the Past website, as well as the Memory Work Video Collection and IRLE Photo Collection, available through Flickr.

If you are interested in building your organization’s archives or contributing to our Memory Work Research Initiative, contact us at IRLEarchive@irle.ucla.edu.