The records of the Cigar Makers' International Union, Local 162 provide information about the union's membership, its financial condition, the productivity of its members, its distribution of benefits, and its involvement in the labor movement, especially for the period from 1895 to about 1920. The collection also includes papers pertaining to the business of cigar maker Peter Rutten from 1944 to 1969. The collection is arranged in three series: Correspondence, Corporate Records of Local 162, and Peter Rutten's papers.
The CORRESPONDENCE includes general correspondence, which consists primarily of printed circulars from other CMIU locals and other unions requesting strike support and donations for disabled workers; routine mailings pertaining to conventions and important political issues from the Trade Union Liberty League, the Wisconsin Blue Label League, the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, and similar organizations; and a small amount of correspondence pertaining to job placements of individual cigar makers and their applications for union membership. The general correspondence spans the years from 1893 to 1927, but is concentrated most heavily for the years from 1916 to 1919. The correspondence series also includes printed circulars from the CMIU headquarters in Chicago consisting of requests for approval of strikes by other CMIU locals and information about changes in cigar prices.
Among the CORPORATE RECORDS are records from the Office of the Secretary-Treasurer including incomplete election records, financial records showing the union's receipts and expenditures, and detailed membership records. The membership ledgers, 1882-1927, show the dates of initiation and retirement as well as dues, loans from the union, and benefits received for each member. The applications provide information about the age, number of years of experience, and apprenticeship as a cigar maker, and past involvement in union activities for applicants from 1896 to 1907. The records of unemployment and sickness benefits generally show the period of affliction and the amount of money received from the union.
Among the records of the Finance Committee are records showing the amount of money paid for travel loans and out-of-work benefits, and financial statements and audit reports providing recapitulations of expenditures, receipts, dues, and any changes in the union's membership. The Label Custodian's ledger and monthly reports provide especially good documentation of the number of cigars produced by union members. The ledger shows the name, place of business, factory number, number of employees, and number of cigars produced by each member, 1905-1919, while the monthly reports show aggregate figures for the number of labels ordered for all members.
The Miscellaneous Records include printed mailings pertaining to a general strike in support of Thomas J. Mooney in 1919; disparate records consisting of applications for registration of trade marks, a certificate of membership in the Wisconsin State Federation of Labor, 1903, a report of a strike, 1918, reports of the state of the cigar trade, 1914 and 1920, and a copy of an installation form; and dues books for the union's longest term members, William Kraus, Mose Lannoye, and Peter Rutten.
The PETER RUTTEN PAPERS document Rutten's cigar manufacturing business in Green Bay. They include income, expense, and sales ledgers showing the costs for boxes, cellophane, freight, tax stamps, and tobacco, and the sales of various brand name cigars; reports of the production of various classes of cigars; records of materials received and shipped; permits; and records of tax stamps required by the federal and state government for tax purposes. The small amount of miscellaneous records include correspondence pertaining to supplies of leaf tobacco, a few clippings about Rutten and the cigar business in Green Bay and Milwaukee, and Rutten's personal income tax returns.
Two cartons of materials including bills and receipts, weekly label orders, empty envelopes, duplicate and multiple copies of materials in the collection, printed materials, and other miscellany were not processed and were returned to the Neville Public Museum.
