Although the records of the George Walter Brewing Company do not completely document any single area of the company's operation, they do provide a useful record of many aspects of a typical small brewing business. Included in the collection are a small amount of material on the company's history; correspondence; administrative, financial, and legal records; building plans; a publicity file; and an award.
The historical background material consists of a one-page sketch of the history of the brewery, 1958; and a short research paper on the company's history prepared for a 1975 University of Wisconsin-Madison History Department course.
The collection lacks an extensive general correspondence file; the correspondence, 1907-1973, is a composite of several smaller files. Arrangement is chronological, and both incoming and outgoing letters are included. They consist mainly of official correspondence with government agencies, especially with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the Internal Revenue Service; and of letters concerning company stock and legal business. A few cover letters concerning property taxes, mortgages, and brewer's notices are filed in other series, with the records to which they pertain. Of special interest are a November 25, 1933 offer of Charles Kulnick of Berlin, Wisconsin, to buy the brewery, and the company's rejection; a letter of June 23, 1952 from the Small Brewers' Association, with extensive comments on the quality of Adler Brau; and letters of 1972 and 1973 concerning the sale of the brewery property to the City of Appleton.
The administrative records date from 1903, when the business became incorporated as the George Walter Brewing Company. Included are articles of incorporation, by-laws, and amendments to them, 1903-1920 and 1945; and minutes, 1903-1974. The minute books contain reports of monthly directors' meetings and annual stockholders' meetings; through 1921 annual reports and other detailed financial information were also included. Also found in the Administrative Records are copies of resolutions, 1912 and 1937, transcribed from the minutes; and a book of stock certificates issued from 1920 to 1926 and cancelled between 1921 and 1970.
The financial records consist of an account book; appraisals; balance sheets; a file of promissory notes; property tax bills and receipts; and sales comparisons of small breweries. The account book provides itemized monthly financial reports from November 1957 to March 1969 as well as detailed annual profit and loss statements and statements of assets and liabilities from 1957 to 1968. Similar monthly and annual reports from 1903 to 1921 are included in the minute books. The collection also includes lengthy appraisals made of the brewery's property for insurance purposes in 1907 and 1947; balance sheets, which list assets and liabilities for the years 1952 through 1971; a file, 1894-1949, of promissory notes and other material relating to out-standing debts owed to the company and to George Walter before the brewery's incorporation; and a number of property tax bills, receipts, and related forms concerning the assessed valuation of the company's holdings, 1912-1972. The sales comparisons of small breweries are monthly summaries, December 1954 - February 1967, and annual totals, 1953-1966, of all forms of beer sales by the George Walter Brewing Company and other small Wisconsin breweries.
The legal records consist largely of documents concerning real estate holdings, forms submitted in fulfillment of government requirements, and contracts with the labor union which represented the brewery's employees. The Abstracts of Title, 1889 and 1891, are records pertaining to lots in the City of Appleton owned by George Walter. The many Deeds, 1880-1944, reflect Walter's real estate holdings, as well as those in the Appleton area which the brewery later acquired; other property dealings of the company are documented by the Land Contracts, 1914-1970, and Mortgages and Satisfactions of Mortgages, 1912-1948. The Brewer's Notices, 1938-1972, are copies of forms which the company submitted to notify the Internal Revenue Service of changes in operation, such as addition or renovation of buildings or equipment, election of new officers, or increases in amount of beer brewed. The I.R.S. also required forms describing the labels used on bottles, cans, and kegs of all sizes; the returned forms, including sample labels, are filed as Label Approval Certificates, 1953-1969. The Union Contracts, 1946-1967, are copies of agreements which the company made with Brewery Local Union No. 290 and the International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers of America. The Miscellaneous legal records include papers relating to lawsuits, judgements, sales contracts, and legal fees.
The building plans, 1938-1966, are blueprints and other architectural drawings of the brewery property.
The publicity file, 1938-1973, consists of advertisements for Adler Brau and other companies' beers, and articles about the George Walter Brewing Company and the Walter brothers, mainly from the Appleton Post-Crescent.
The Brewers' Association of America presented an award to the company in 1955, in recognition of an increase in sales.
