Scope and Content Note

This microfilm was produced by the International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers. The records cover most of the years from 1906, the year of the organization of the International Brotherhood, to 1957. Files for a few years are missing. These are indicated in the contents list below. The reels as received were numbered with a designation that first notes the year and then 1P, the next reel has the year then 2P, etc. Each year starts over with 1P.

A spot check of the 284 reels in the collection reveals that the following generalizations may be made:

1. The material is arranged in order, by years.
2. Within each year, the material is arranged by subject, in alphabetical order.
3. Within each subject the material is arranged chronologically.
4. The bulk of the material is correspondence -- correspondence, for instance, between officers in the international union, between those officers and local unions, between the international union and other unions and organizations, between the international union and individual companies, and between the international union and governmental agencies.
5. There are occasional financial records, such as bills and receipts, but these seem to be mainly in connection with correspondence.
6. In the general files are often speeches given at conferences.

The contents list below records information exactly as it appears on the label for each reel. For example, the description for Reel 5P of 1934, actually reads as follows on the container for the reel:

1934/5P	1. Local Unions-Sandusky
	2. Local Unions-Vancouver
	3. Unions-Addy, J.
	4. Unions-Sheep Shearers Union of N. Am.
	5. Government-United States

The numbers 1 to 5 are called Microdex numbers and seem to have no other function that to serve as a convenient way of grouping the material so that divisions occur in the papers with some regularity. There are no subtitles except as they happen to occur at a Microdex number. Referring to the above reel, the material it contains could be described in more detail thus:

Reel	Year	Contents
1934/5P	1934	1. and 2. Local Unions-from Sandusky to the end of the alphabetical listing. Also misc. materials relating to local unions.
1934/5P	1934	3. and 4. Unions-other than IBPSPMW, beginning with J. Addy, as the first of the alphabetical listing. Also other organizations with which IBFSPMW had correspondence.
1934/5P	1934	5. Government-correspondence with U.S. Govt. agencies.