The records of the Press Connection document the survival struggles of an unusual strike newspaper. The records are best on the Press Connection's financial operations, providing good documentation for examining the frequent allegation that the paper collapsed because of its inability to compete as a business. The records also include complete files of the board and the production council, the two bodies chiefly responsible for management and editorial decision-making at the paper. This documentation illuminates not only the editorial history of the paper, but also the attempts of the staff to operate as a worker-managed cooperative. For more information on the editorial history of the paper, the microfilmed collection of the paper, which is available in the SHSW Library, is the best source.
The records are organized as Background Material, Minutes and Administrative Records, Financial Records, Stock Records, Advertising Records, Circulation Records, Personnel Records, Miscellaneous Records, and Reporters' Research Materials.
BACKGROUND MATERIAL consists of microfilmed clippings about the Connection and the strike which spawned it, a University of Wisconsin student paper which analyzed communications at the paper, a file containing examples of material sent to supporters, a newsletter published by the cooperative, and memorabilia. Among the memorabilia is a handmade book containing strikers' signatures, examples of promotional material, a copy of the issue containing the H-Bomb story, a picket sign, and a colored Mike Konopacki cartoon used in Press Connection advertisements.
MINUTES AND ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS are the most important documentation in the collection concerning decision making at the Press Connection. Included are minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors and the Production Council, which was responsible for day-to-day operation of the paper, and of the Circulation Department's weekly meetings. The board minutes generally include all proposals and reports that were presented. Also in the file are an agenda, election results, and proposals from the second general membership meeting on January 7, 1980. This series also contains by-laws and articles of incorporation of the Newspaper Unity Committee, the predecessor of the Connection.
STOCK RECORDS include correspondence, ledgers, and lists of stockholders, all of which document not only the segment of the community that supported the strikers by becoming stockholders but also the complex system used to monitor payments. Original purchase agreement forms for the general membership (#41-188 only), the staff, and the $1,000 club are available in microfilmed form only. Also included here are monthly bank statements of the escrow account set up to protect shareholder investments.
FINANCIAL RECORDS have been been heavily weeded to remove routine detail such as bills and receipts, although sample accounts payable materials have been kept to document the large amounts spent on attorney fees and publicity. Monthly statements, ledgers, and other standard accounting records document well the newspaper's economic difficulties and financial position. The fundraising material included here contains information on pledge drives and the sale of a book of political cartoons by Mike Konopacki. Also filed here are ledgers and other financial records concerning the job printing shop which was maintained for several months after suspension of publication.
The CIRCULATION RECORDS have been similarly weeded, and again sample records have been retained for their evidential value. Most useful here is the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) report volume which contains daily circulation figures for 1978 and 1979. Among the contents of the file entitled Circulation Department Bulletin Board are several important memoranda concerning the worker management structure of the Connection.
The PERSONNEL RECORDS contain important background information on workers through applications, insurance forms, and payroll records. Also included is information on the ways in which some employees supplemented their small wages with unemployment benefits or with donations.
MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS includes contracts with several printers, leases and subleases, equipment inventories, interoffice communications (in the general correspondence file), and insurance information.
The REPORTERS' RESEARCH MATERIALS, which primarily consist of publicity material and press releases related to amateur and professional athletics, are unquestionably only a small portion of similar research material used by Press Connection writers. Although the file fails to indicate how such material was utilized by the staff, it has been retained for journalism researchers as a representative sample of public relations material of the period.
