The collection documents Tempo's history as a networking group for Milwaukee's female
executives and business women from its founding in 1975 until 1995. The bulk of the
collection deals with membership, administration and programming issues. Files often contain
minutes, reports and correspondence from various committees, publicity and program
information, as well as newsletters, fliers, brochures and miscellaneous clippings related
to the group. Users should note that specific information is often incomplete because of
fragmented or short span dates for certain topics. In contrast, Tempo's monthly newsletters
and board of director's minutes, as well as its annual membership roster offer the most
complete coverage of the collection's span dates.
Specific information on the organization's selective membership and screening criteria can
be found in the Membership Committee Support file, as well as in various board of director's
minutes. Documentation regarding individual members can be found in the yearly membership
roster; while early editions tend only to list members' names, job titles and places of
employment, latter issues, from 1988 on, offer brief self-written biographies of members.
The membership applications from 1978 to 1986 offer more detailed biographical information
on prospective members' education, job descriptions and career histories. While the Tempo
collection focuses on the group as a women's organization, a change in the by-laws in 1993
opened membership to men who were supportive of Tempo's mission. Except for a brief mention
in the twentieth anniversary video tape, little documentation of this change is found in the
collection.
Details on the governance of Tempo are available in the board of director's minutes, as
the board exercised oversight over all aspects of the organization's activities. Though
incomplete and fragmentary in nature, the executive committee meeting minutes, and the board
of director's committee reports also offer insight into the group's administration. Tempo's
goals, missions and constitution can be found in the by-laws file, as well as in the
membership rosters (which also list board and committee members). The group's mission and
organizational planning are outlined, although incompletely, through several files related
to strategic planning, which cover such topics as the refinement of Tempo's mission and
membership. Similarly, the Retreats folder and the Administrative Planning Retreat, 1990
cassettes focus on administrative debates about membership retention and participation.
Specific, but limited financial information is found in the financial statement reviews,
while more general financial data is found in the year end balance sheets. Additional, but
fragmentary, financial information can also be found in the newsletters, the budgets, and in
the board of directors' minutes.
Networking opportunities for members, a primary goal of the Tempo organization, centered
around the bi-monthly luncheon meetings which featured guest speakers; these are well
covered in the collection through the program committee, program fliers, and luncheon
speakers files which contain notes, brochures and fliers, as well as correspondence with
prospective speakers and guests. Several files, including the Tempo as a Resource Committee
and the seminars files offer limited information on how the organization sought to foster
personal and career advancement for its members. The national speakers file contains fliers,
brochures, committee notes and correspondence related to Tempo's annual public meeting which
featured nationally known speakers. The Mentor Awards file contains similar material, but
focuses on the annual awards given by Tempo in recognition of fostering career development
in the greater Milwaukee area.
Documents relating to Tempo's anniversaries also shed light on the organization and
include two video tapes, produced for the fifth and twentieth anniversaries of Tempo's
founding, which summarize the history, mission, programming and makeup of the organization.
In addition, the twentieth-year anniversary video contains interviews with several past
presidents of Tempo. The tenth anniversary file, in turn, contains brochures, correspondence
and fliers outlining the organization's anniversary planning as well as its history.
The Wilcox-West Bending Savings Company correspondence file contains legal correspondence
regarding a dispute over payment for printing costs between the organization and the
printer's receivers.
