COAL MINING AND UNION ACTIVITIES PROJECT Fries, retired coal miner from Gillespie, Illinois, discusses union activities. He recalls the violence of the mine war, Mulkeytown march, Progressive Miners of America, United Mine Workers Union, sit-down strike at Wilsonville, Illinois, and working conditions for miners. He also recalls his service as a Representative in the U.S. Congress (1937-1941) and his term as sheriff of Macoupin County. References are made to gangsters in Benld, bootlegging, John L. Lewis, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

2 tapes, 150 mins., 70 pp. Interview by Nick Cherniavsky and Barbara Herndon, 1973 OPEN See collateral file: interviewer's notes, newspaper article on the history of Benld, list of the Madison County Coal Mine Inspector reports, and a box list from the SIU-Edwardsville Archives of the Frank Fries Collection. See also F915.2*