Ben Hamper papers.

The collection is comprised of newspaper clippings in photo albums, manuscripts, and columns by Ben Hamper, reviews of his book Rivethead, and realia. The records date from 1972 to 2005, with the bulk falling between 1983 and 1998.

Ben Hamper (Ben Eagan Hamper III), a Michigan author, was born in Flint, MI to a Catholic family with many ties to the General Motors assembly line. He worked the GM assembly line in Flint from 1977-1988. For many years Ben Hamper wrote for Michael Moore’s Flint Voices. In addition, he was a correspondent on several of Moore’s TV projects. Ben also hosted and wrote for Take No Prisoners (1989-1998), a Flint local TV show. When Michael Moore went to California to be editor of Mother Jones, he asked Ben Hamper to write a column for the magazine. After the first two issues were produced and the third was being readied for the press; the owner asked if Moore was going to publish Hamper’s column. Upon answering yes, Moore was fired on the spot. Hamper appeared in many of Michael Moore’s TV productions and films. He had a cameo role in Canadian Bacon, written, directed, and produced by Michael Moore. He wrote Rivethead: Tales From the Assembly Line, published in 1991, which is an autobiographical account of his time on the GM assembly line. It became a bestseller about the time that Michael Moore’s Roger & Me was released. Matt Dillon was tapped for the screenplay for the movie based on Rivethead, but it never went past the conceptual phase.