Document Record

Creator

Wright, Alexander Whyte, 1845-1919.

Title

Alexander Whyte Wright : Knights of Labour correspondence and miscellaneous items
Alexander Whyte Wright : three letterbooks, 1890-1895

Identifier

lac_mikan_97957
MG 29 A 15
Papers
Labour
Correspondence
oocihm.lac_mikan_97957

Document source

Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada

Language

English

Description

Alexander Whyte Wright (1845 - 1919) was a labour leader and politician, though he started out as a journalist and newspaper editor in the 1870s. His career in journalism began with the Guelph Herald and progressed to editorial positions with the Orangeville Sun, the Stratford Herald, County of Perth Advertiser, and the Guelph Herald. Wright was a Conservative and prominent advocate of the National Policy, and used his position in the media to promote his beliefs. However, he also endorsed currency and labour reform. He ran as a candidate in the Ontario provincial election of late 1886. During this period of the 1880s, Wright became a prominent Knights of Labor leader, first in Toronto and then in the United States, becoming secretary of the order and editor of the Journal of the Knights of Labor from 1889 to 1893. After the Knights of Labor’s collapse in 1893, he served as a royal commissioner to investigate sweatshop labour for the Tory federal government in 1895. He edited a Toronto Tory labour paper called the Toronto Lance from 1909 to 1914. In 1912, he became manager of the Toronto Fire Brick Company Limited. In 1914, he was made vice-chairman of the Ontario Workmen's Compensation Board. Today, Wright is considered to be “an important Canadian example of a mediator who linked the working class and the traditional political party,” according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
This collection comprises of correspondence concerning the Knights of Labor in 1892 and 1893, a printed report to District Assembly 125 on the 1893 General Assembly, and miscellaneous items.
No finding aid is available.

URL

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_97957