The collection, which spans 1870s-1960s (bulk dates 1880s-1930s), chiefly includes correspondence with fellow workers in the labor movement, publishers and writers for anarchist, socialist, and labor journals, and a wide circle of friends, some letters being also addressed to Mrs. Labadie, manuscripts of his articles, speeches, and poems, photographs, and personal documents. The Family series also contains a folder of correspondence relating to the donation of this collection to the University of Michigan Library. Joseph Labadie's activities within the labor movement in Detroit, his anarchist philosphy, as well that of the many correspondents he had, and early Detroit history is welldocumented in this collection. The Joseph Labadie Papers are separated into three series: Correspondence (Incoming); Family (correspondence between family member, outgoing correspondence, autobiographical notes, journals, family histories, biographies, scrapbooks, etc.); and Works (Labadie's titled and untitled essays, articles, columns, letters to the editor, and poetry). The Correspondence consists of 4.25 linear feet of incoming letters, mainly to Joseph Labadie. The files are arranged alphabetically (see Boxlist) with folders for principle correspondents interfiled with general alphabetical headings. Letters from Herman Kuehn to Labadie comprise .25 ft. and are kept in a separate box. The Family series consists of correspondence between family members, both immediate and extended, copies of some of Jo Labadie's outgoing correspondence, autobiographical notes, labor and other organizational membership cards, biographical notes and character sketches by Agnes Inglis, copies of legal briefs for a civil case Jo and Sophie were involved in with a relative, descriptions of Bubbling Waters, the Labadie's summer and retirement home, photocopies of Jo's scrapbooks, his account book and address books, a journal, and materials relating to the donation of Jo's materials to the University of Michigan. The Works series consists of titled essays, untitled essays, miscellaneous fragments of Labadie's writings, drafts of letters to the editors of various newspapers, drafts of his long-running column, "Cranky Notions," and his poetry. The last item in the collection is a videotape copy of a silent feature film made in 1925 on location at the Labadie's property at Bubbling Waters. Some reels of the film are not included, but the forest fire scene is believed to have been filmed at Bubbling Waters. This is the last known extant film relating to the Labadie Family. More information on the film is available upon request.
Born in 1850 in Paw Paw, Michigan, Charles Joseph Antoine Labadie was the son of a poor French family. As a young man, Jo learned the printing trade, then traveled throughout the Midwestern and Eastern states, eventually returning to Michigan, where he married his cousin Sophie Archambeau in 1877 and became active in the Socialistic Labor Party. In 1878, he organized the Michigan chapter of the Knights of Labor. Labadie meanwhile gained a reputation for his labor journalism. He eventually was influenced by the individualist anarchist Benjamin R. Tucker, and denounced the Knights of Labor for its position against anarchists during the Haymarket trial. Labadie's outspoken style was tempered by his dapper appearance and polite manner. He was once fired from his job at the Detroit Water Department by the Commissioner who was opposed to having an anarchist on the government payroll. Such an outcry was heard from prominent Detroiters that his job was reinstated two weeks later. Jo continued to print poetry and essays, and kept up an immense correspondence with many anarchists, and other radicals and labor leaders.
Sophie Labadie, a school teacher and devout Catholic, taught Jo to write well and saved everything he wrote or printed. The Labadies religious differences did not interfere with their relationship. They were lovingly devoted to each other until their deaths. The Labadies raised two daughters, Laura Euphrosine and Charlotte Antoinette, and a son, Laurance Cleophis. The papers of Laurance, who was also an anarchist, were donated to the Labadie Collection after his death in 1975. After 1912, Jo and Sophie spent their summers at Bubbling Waters, a 40-acre plot of land near Wixom, Michigan. There Jo printed his poetry and essays. His actor-brothers, Hubert and Oliver, bought adjoining land where they produced Michigan's first feature films. In 1911, Jo donated a large portion of his collection of radical and labor documents to the University of Michigan Library. Upon his death in 1933, and after the death of Laurance Labadie in 1975, the remainder of his writings, correspondence, and personal library was given.
Jo and Sophie are buried in Parkview Memorial Cemetery in Farmington, Michigan.
Source: Anderson, Carlotta. All-American Anarchist: Joseph A. Labadie and the Labor Movement (Wayne State University Press, 1998).
The collection is organized in three series: Correspondence (Incoming), Family (correspondence between family members, outgoing correspondence, autobiographical notes, journals, family histories, biographies, scrapbooks, etc.), and Works (Labadie's titled and untitled essays, articles, columns, letters to the editor, and poetry). Material is chiefly written to or by Jo Labadie, but a sub-portion is related to Sophie Archambeau Labadie.