The collection consists of records documenting 42 years of union activity at the Niagara paper mill. Although entitled “United Paperworkers International Union Records,” the collection consists almost entirely of the files of the Paper Mill Workers' Union, a predecessor organization. The bulk of the material dates from 1949 to 1969. More recent records are particularly incomplete, although it is anticipated that additional records still in union hands will ultimately be deposited with the Historical Society.
The material is divided into seven categories: Bargaining, Elections, Labor-Management Relations, the National Federation of Independent Unions, the National Labor Relations Board, the Wisconsin Industrial Commission, and General Subject Files. The collection consists primarily of correspondence between union officials and the officers of Kimberly-Clark Corporation, labor organizations, and labor-related government agencies such as the National Labor Relations Board. The collection contains a sizable amount of material relating to collective bargaining, such as copies of several labor-management agreements and related correspondence. Also of interest are files on grievances and the union's sick leave review board that illustrate day-to-day operations. The collection is arranged alphabetically by filing unit and chronologically thereunder.
Conspicuously absent are constitutions and by-laws, financial records, and minutes of meetings. Nonetheless, the records do describe much of the evolution, organization, and day-to-day functioning of the unions at the Niagara paper mill.
