Label-Consciousness

This page of union emblems is from a 1900 issue of the Piano, Organ and Musical Instrument Workers’ Official Journal. I came upon it by accident, so it’s hard to know if it would have caught my eye in the same way, had unions not been so in the news these days.

The union label originated in 1869 when the Carpenter’s Eight-Hour League in San Francisco used a stamp to identify products from mills employing men on the eight-hour day. Other, non-unionized mills, operated with a 10-hour workday.

The individual union labels below, are from The New York State Archives, and from the Labor Archives and Research Center of San Francisco State University. For more about the history of union labels, and the “hand-in-hand” symbol of the AFL-CIO, check out the site of art historian, Kim Munson.

Cigar Dealers Association of America

Associated Master Barbers of America

Greater New York Watchmakers Association

Suspender Maker's Benevolent Union

United Photographic Employees Local Industrial Union

Hebrew Butcher Workmen Union No. 1 of New York

International Brotherhood of Firemen and Oilers

Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers

Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers

American Brotherhood of Cement Workers

Professional and Technical Engineers, International Chemical Workers Union

International Printing Pressmen and Assistants Union of America

Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers

Typographical Union

International Brotherhood of Bookbinders

Laundry and Dry Cleaning International Union

International Jewelry Workers Union

International Glove Workers of America

Piano, Organ and Musical Instrument Workers International Union of America

Carriage and Wagon Workers International Union

Coopers International Union

Farmers and Market Gardners Union

United Brewery Workmen

Ephemera Out of Egypt

The Egyptian Museum, which dramatically served as the backdrop for the recent events in Tahrir Square, reopened last week, along with the Pyramids, and other archeological sites in Egypt.

I’m not sure exactly what kind of renovation has taken place over the last 20 years, but in 1991, my visit to the Egyptian Museum was unlike any other museum experience I’d ever had. I had already seen The Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition at the Met Museum some years earlier. The boy king’s New York debut, which famously introduced the phenomenon of the “blockbuster” museum show, came complete with elaborate sets, advance ticket sales, and long lines.

In Cairo, I was wandering amongst the same artifacts, but without the special effects and the hype. I’m pretty sure that everything I found fascinating about the experience--the quiet emptiness, the dank mustiness, the wood cabinets with drawers of artifacts, the atmospheric dust glistening in shafts of sunlight--would leave any museum director, curator, or conservator, cringing and infuriated. But for me, and a handful of other tourists, it was like we were literally “discovering” the treasures some archeologist had dug out of the ground. Very 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.'


I was only in Egypt for three days, so it was necessary to fly in order to visit Luxor and Valley of the Kings.

I can't seem to part with this translucent onion-skin receipt.

You can't help but drink lots of water.

Year of the Tiger

Chinese New Year will start Sunday, most definitely, with a bang.





This proof sheet was for sale on eBay!



To see more firecracker labels try flickr groups here and here. There are also lots of labels at Crackerpacks.