White Lung Association Records

White Lung Association Records

Asbestos

Bethlehem Steel Corporation

Iron and steel workers

Nonprofit organizations

Steel industry and trade

Labor movements and organizing

Maryland--Baltimore

Occupational safety

Shipbuilders

Maryland

Founded in 1979 by James (Jim) Fite, the White Lung Association (WLA) was a worker-led nonprofit based in Baltimore devoted to occupational and public health and safety, specifically regarding asbestos. It operated as an advocacy group for shipyard workers, steelworkers, autoworkers, and construction workers who sought to reform the ways industries, corporations, government, labor unions, and medical providers handled asbestos exposure and, later, asbestos abatement. 

The WLA actively worked with government agencies at the local, state, and federal levels to establish regulations that protect the public from asbestos exposure, particularly in public schools, government buildings, and other public facilities. Jim Fite and other WLA members actively conducted thorough asbestos testing and inspections, provided information and educational resources about asbestos (the material) and the health effects of asbestos exposure, trained workers in safe abatement and disposal, and provided information and support regarding ongoing asbestos exposure litigation.

White Lung Association Records, Special Collections & Archives, University of Baltimore

1979 - 2005

Digital collection created by Jessica Elizabeth Douglas (2026)

To the extent that they own copyright, the donor has assigned the copyright of this collection to the University Foundation. However, copyright for some items in this collection are held by their respective creators.

The collection was donated by Jim Fite to the University of Baltimore Foundation on December 23, 2015. Records received by Ben Blake and Aiden Faust on January 16, 2018.

Related materials include the James (Jim) Fite Oral History (R0171-JFI), also housed at UBalt's Special Collections & Archives. 

Jim Fite was also interviewed by the Baltimore Voices Company, a theater project connected to the Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project, in 1981. This interview can be found here. 

The Baltimore Voices Company Records (R0020-BVC) and the Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project Records (R0014-BNHP), both housed at UBalt's Special Collections & Archives, are mostly digitized and available for public research through the Special Collections & Archives database. The Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project (BNHP) includes over 300 oral history interviews with locals from seven different regions of Baltimore, all conducted between 1977 and 1982. The Baltimore Voices Company Records include oral history interviews of both individuals and groups, as well as "forums"— group discussions related to specific topics such as Labor and Education. 

Image/jpg

.pdf

English

R0156-WLA

The White Lung Association Records document the history and work of the non-profit Baltimore-based organization between 1979 and 2005. Materials in the collection include organizational correspondence, WLA Newsletters, WLA training manuals and 8x10” transparencies, legal case files and related documents, project file notebooks, subject file/clipping notebooks, and audiovisual materials, including photos, VHS tapes, and DVD discs. Topics of note documented in the collection include labor history, workers' rights, steel and shipyard workers and trade, asbestos health risks, and more

Collection is open for research.

clippings files

correspondence

photographs

reports

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [Document name, date; collection name; series number, box number, folder title]; University of Baltimore Special Collections and Archives. https://archivesspace.ubalt.edu/repositories/2/resources/207

106.71 Linear Feet (112 containers)

The collection was donated by Jim Fite to the University of Baltimore Foundation on December 23, 2015. Records received by Ben Blake and Aiden Faust on January 16, 2016. The collection was inventoried by Jim Fite, 2017-2018.

The collection was donated by Jim Fite to the University of Baltimore Foundation on December 23, 2015. To the extent that they own copyright, the donor has assigned the copyright of this collection to the University Foundation. However, copyright for some items in this collection are held by their respective creators.