Summary Information
Journeymen Stone Cutters' Association. Madison Local: Records
1921-1940
- Journeymen Stone Cutters' Association. Madison Local (Wis.)
Mss 357
0.4 c.f. (2 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Records of the Madison, Wisconsin, local of the Journeymen Stone Cutters' Association, including International constitutions and bylaws, communications from the International to the local, correspondence of Secretary-Treasurer William Krinkey, membership applications, minutes, records of dues, and travelling cards. Reference is made to strikes, wages, and jurisdictional disputes between stone cutters and other construction unions.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00357 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
The Journeymen Stone Cutters Association of North America, a union which represented laborers working with cutstone, was organized in 1853. By 1907 the international, which was located at Indianapolis, Indiana, became affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and in 1968 merged with the Laborer's International Union. The Madison local was established about 1901, and records indicate that it went out of existence about 1941 amid jurisdictional squabbles with other construction unions, such as the Bricklayers, Masons and Plasterers International, concerning various types of stonework. There also appears to have been a decline in the available work of a type previously done by the union. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin building is an excellent example of cutstone work.
Scope and Content Note
These records, 1921-1940, represent a period of rapid growth within the union movement, adverse economic conditions, and the threat of competing unions together caused much hardship and conflict. The collection, which includes constitutions and bylaws; correspondence, 1928 to 1940; membership applications; minutes and records of dues, 1921 to 1930, and 1938 to 1939; and travelling cards, has been arranged in one alphabetical file by type of document.
The Constitutions and Bylaws are those of the international union for the years 1923, 1929, and 1938. Copies of these and of earlier revisions are in the State Historical Society Library.
The correspondence file, 1928-1940, has been divided into three segments dictated by subject of the letter. The general correspondence, January 1928 to June 1940, consists of letters and circulars from the international to the local, as well as some copies of letters originating in the local. Topics discussed include conferences, contracts, membership, wages, strikes, depression, Wisconsin Federation of Labor, inter-union conflicts over jurisdiction, working conditions, and minutes of the executive board. A special guide to the letters dealing with the conflict between the bricklayers and the stonecutters over jurisdiction has been inserted into the file following a letter from William Krinkey to W. Mitchell, January 5, 1938. The second segment contains correspondence dealing with financial matters from 1928 to 1939. Included are references to annual statements, expenditures, dues, and audits. The third group of letters, covering the period April 5, 1939 to June 28, 1939, concerns the 1939 election of the executive board of the Journeymen Stonecutters Association. Included are lists of candidates and a sample ballot.
A folder of membership applications for the 1920s provides an example of the initiation fees, age of members, etc.
The two volumes of minutes and record of dues, 1921 to 1939, provide an account of the general business affairs of the local.
Also included is a folder of Travelling Cards distributed over the period 1909 to 1939. These were a record of paid dues carried by the laborer to other locations as proof of his standing in the union. They supplement the record of dues.
Related Material
Constitutions and Bylaws of the Journeymen Stone Cutters Association of North America. Copies are in the Wisconsin State Historical Library.
The Laborers International Union is located in Washington, D.C. Their archives has material on the Stone Cutters Association of North America.
Official Circular of the Stonecutters. The Historical Society Library has issues from 1942 to 1967.
Reynolds, Lloyd G. and Charles Killengsworth. Trade Union Publications, vol. 1. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1944, p. 224.
Stone Cutters Journal published by the international. The Historical Society has issues from 1900 to 1942.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Duane Krinkey, Madison, Wisconsin, February 21, 1975. Accession Number: M75-78
Processed by J. Clasper (Intern) and Joanne Hohler, July 27, 1975.
Contents List
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Constitutions and Bylaws
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Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
2
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General
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Financial
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Elections
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Membership Applications
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Minutes and Record of Dues
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Volume No. 1
: Contains list of members admitted between 1921 and 1938; record of dues paid, 1921-1927, 1929-1932, 1938-1939; minutes of meetings, September 26, 1921 to August 5, 1926; record of expenditures and credits, September 1921 to October 1925, June 1926 to June 1927, 1929-1930, and 1938-1939.
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Volume No. 2
: Contains minutes, August 19, 1926 to May 21, 1930 and July 28, 1938 to October 16, 1939.
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Travelling Cards
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