The papers of Charles Heymanns cover the years 1885-1990, but the bulk of the collection dates from 1934 through the 1970s, the years in which Heymanns was most active in the labor movement. The collection documents one man's union career as president of Sheboygan Local 18545, leader of a seven-year strike at Kohler, organizer for the AFL and AFL-CIO, regional director, and participant in other labor-oriented political activities. Although the materials thoroughly document Heymanns' career, they offer little insight into his personal life. Indeed, they suggest that Heymanns, a single man, had little life apart from his commitment to the labor movement. This impression is reinforced by a lengthy interview with Heymanns which is part of the SHSW's Wisconsin Labor Oral History Project.
The collection consists of 1934-1941 KOHLER STRIKE RECORDS, AFL AND AFL-CIO FILES, 1954-1965 STRIKE RECORDS, PERSONAL FILES, SUBJECT FILES, and PHOTOGRAPHS.
1934-1941 KOHLER STRIKE RECORDS include meeting minutes of the Sheboygan Labor Council and correspondence, outreach materials, financial records, legal records, and strike material from Federal Labor Union 18545. The local's records fall into two categories: files created by Heymanns as president and a few files created by Rudolph Renn, union secretary and chairman of the strike committee. Heymanns was increasingly absent from Sheboygan after 1935 first to raise funds for the local and later as a state organizer, and Renn's correspondence provides important coverage for two of these years. Unfortunately, neither man was responsible for keeping the most important official records; except for two 1934 meetings there are no minutes in the collection and no true financial records.
The series contains two scrapbooks which are only available on microfilm. The first scrapbook consists of local and national clippings about the 1934-1941 strike. The second scrapbook, which is quite small, contains clippings regarding events in Sheboygan.
Also included in this series are photographs, newspaper clippings, copies of speeches and a poster related to the Wakefield-Engelmann Memorial Pickets. These annual marches honored Lee Wakefield and Henry Engelmann, the two strikers who were shot and killed by Kohler special deputies on July 27, 1934.
AFL AND AFL-CIO FILES include a run of Heymanns' weekly organizer reports, handbills, and merger materials. The reports offer a thorough portrait of the work of a twentieth century union organizer, and they illustrate the extent of Heymanns' commitment to his work. For over 25 years, six days a week (he rarely took time off for any reason), Heymanns traveled throughout the state to organize workers, charter new locals, and offer whatever assistance was needed. The reports supplement the weekly organizers' reports which are part of the records of the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor held by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Only reports not part of the WSFL records are included in the Heymanns collection.
Heymanns began working as an organizer in a period of intense competition between the AFL and the CIO. As the handbills from this period illustrate, AFL organizing focused more on discrediting the CIO (and vice versa) than on any other issue. The handbills document organizing efforts throughout Wisconsin, but especially at the Kohler Company and the Four Wheel Drive Company. The decade of the 1950s was, in contrast, a period of historic mergers; the AFL and the CIO in 1955, and the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor and the Wisconsin State Industrial Union Council in 1958. This period is represented in the collection by microfilmed clippings and programs from merger meetings in Appleton, Dane County, Dodge County, Janesville, La Crosse, Manitowoc, and other Wisconsin communities.
As head of Region XII Heymanns was also active in the AFL-CIO's Committee on Political Education (COPE). COPE activities included endorsing candidates; soliciting support for those candidates through the media, direct mail, and phone banks; registering voters; and fundraising. The collection includes by-laws, minutes, press releases, publicity materials, and correspondence from the 6th, 8th, and 9th districts, Sheboygan and Milwaukee, and the state committees. The Sixth District is most extensively documented, with the collection containing a nearly complete run of minutes from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. Heymanns' COPE correspondence includes letters to union members and registered Democrats soliciting their support for endorsed candidates and letters of congratulation from Heymanns to various elected officials. Some of this involvement with particular candidates is reflected in the SUBJECT FILES.
The 1954-1965 KOHLER STRIKE FILES reflect Heymanns' continued monitoring of events at that company during his career as a statewide organizer and regional director. The series includes valuable information about the second Kohler strike, the Kohler Workers Association, and the boycott and other support provided to UAW Local 833 by other Wisconsin unions. The strike materials consist mostly of correspondence and microfilmed clippings, but there is also a run of Daily Strike Bulletins that is nearly complete for 1954, although only scattered for 1955 and 1959. The legal records consist of the lengthy brief presented by Local 833.
The chronologically-arranged PERSONAL FILES include family material; correspondence to and from family, friends, and union associates; microfilmed biographical clippings; and information on testimonial dinners and other social events Heymanns attended. They complement the information about Heymanns in the Organizers Weekly Reports.
The SUBJECT FILES are mostly correspondence and heavily weeded clippings, with a scattering of speeches, newsletters, and printed material. The materials were collected by Charles Heymanns over several decades, and the quality of documentation varies widely from folder to folder. The alphabetically-arranged files cover a variety of topics. Many of the folders pertain to prominent politicians to whom Heymanns sent clippings and letters. Their responses were sometimes personal, but more often they are brief and business-like. Most interesting are those pertaining to Senator Henry Jackson, for whom Heymanns was the local campaign coordinator in 1968. Additional topics include the American Party and its leader Ed Hou-Seye (only available on microfilm), which was apparently closely monitored by Heymanns; labor leader, politician, and fellow Wisconsin organizer Andrew Biemiller; the construction of La Crosse Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman; and migrant farm workers whose organization by Jesus Salas of Obreros Unidos was actively supported by Heymanns. About the Sheboygan Labor Council the collection includes a long run of minutes that cover much of the 1970s. The collection also includes printed minutes of the Milwaukee County Labor Council which are not available elsewhere in archival hands.
The PHOTOGRAPHS series are primarily of a public relations nature, documenting Heymanns' involvement in state, local and national union activities. They primarily date 1947-1970 and show groups of people at labor meetings and events. About half are identified by event. These include conventions of the International Council of Fabricated Metal Workers (1947-54), the American Federation of Hosiery Workers (1963), and the AFL-CIO; a 1968 Retail Clerks state convention; officers of the Rubber Workers (1964) and the Smith Steel Workers D.A.L.U. 19806 (1970); and several local labor conventions and Labor Day events. Also present is one photograph of Heymann's father and brother from the early 1920s and one showing six hunters eating dinner in a rustic cabin.
