The records of the Oshkosh Brewery are one of the largest collections of brewery records held by the Historical Society. Although they are an incomplete collection which leave many important aspects of the company's history undocumented, they provide an important complement to other historical records at the Society concerning the operation and ultimate demise of many of Wisconsin's smaller brewers. Unlike the records of the Potosi Brewing Co., a comparable collection held by the Society, the Oshkosh Brewery collection includes only limited executive correspondence, Board of Directors minutes, or other papers concerning the development and implementation of corporate policy. However, also unlike the Potosi collection, the Oshkosh operation is represented with an extensive group of financial records which permit researchers to reconstruct an unusually complete picture of the company's economic status. As a result researchers can examine, for example, the company's situation during Prohibition when it turned from beer to soft drinks and malt syrup, but information on the development and impact of these changes is virtually nonexistent. In addition to the administration of the company, other areas which are under-represented in the collection include advertising and labor relations.
The collection dates from the company's incorporation in 1894, with the bulk of the collection covering the 1950s and 1960s. The records include articles of incorporation and bylaws, minutes, correspondence, ledgers and journals, audits and tax returns, reports and statements, contracts, blueprints, and artifacts organized into three series: Background Material, Correspondence, and Financial Records.
The BACKGROUND MATERIAL includes historical miscellany and information on the formation of the company in 1894. Present are two souvenir editions of the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern, correspondence relating to the company's anniversary in 1956, and newspaper clippings. Also listed here is an assortment of labels, letterhead stationery, two photographs, beer cans, bottle caps, and other artifacts, the originals of which are available in the Visual and Sound Archives at the Historical Society. Photocopies of these items are included with the papers.
Records on the 1894 merger include the original articles of incorporation with amendments and bylaws, handwritten minutes of a few stockholders meetings (which include a list of property each partner brought to the merger), treasurer's reports, contracts, and miscellaneous records of the Oshkosh Colytic Egg and Storage Co. and the Gilt Edge Realty Co., both apparently subsidiaries of the brewery. Unfortunately, additional minutes of the Board of Directors still in existence when the records were donated to the Society in 1979 were retained by company officers and are unavailable.
CORRESPONDENCE exists only for the years 1953-1966, with the years 1953-1957 most extensively covered. The correspondence is arranged as a chronologically-arranged general file and as a separate file of correspondence with trade and business organizations. The majority of the general correspondence is that of company president Arthur L. Schwalm, vice president Earl S. Horn, and treasurer Lorenz Kuenzl and later in the 1960s, of president David V. Uihlein and brewmaster Wilbur M. Strottman. There is also a separate file for Earl S. Horn which consists of letters exchanged with his sister Lucile H. Otto and other relatives who were holders of Oshkosh Brewing Co. stock; it contains information on the general status of the company, sales figures, future plans, and news of corporate officers. Only a few letters concern personal matters or his family's other investments.
The general correspondence covers a wide variety of topics. Company officers frequently wrote their representative in Washington, D.C., about the reduction of taxes, regulation of taverns, the needs of small businesses, and labor matters. A large portion of the general correspondence pertains to relations with suppliers of brewing products and manufacturers of office equipment. There is also some correspondence with insurance companies concerning machinery and workers' injuries and with freight companies and local taverns.
Also prominently documented in the general correspondence are the company's public relations efforts, although some additional coverage of this topic occurs with the financial records. Included here are communications with advertising and printing agencies about the printed materials used in marketing Chief Oshkosh beer and with local radio stations concerning radio advertising. There are also requests for Chief Oshkosh advertising items, for tours of the brewery, and for information about the brewing industry and the promotional contests sponsored by the company. The correspondence also refers to the company's participation in community affairs and its contributions to individuals, organizations, and institutions.
The trade association correspondence consists of files on the company's involvement with several state and national trade associations and with the Associated Industries of Oshkosh. The AIO files, which are particularly interesting, contain surveys on wages and conditions in the Oshkosh labor market as well as a strike manual prepared for members in 1964. The correspondence with the national and state brewers' organizations concerns conferences, taxation, and proposed legislation. The U.S. Brewers Association files include some promotional kits prepared for tavern owners.
The FINANCIAL RECORDS of the Oshkosh Brewing Co. include statements, audits and tax files; ledgers and journals; and records on property, promotion, sales, distribution, production, and employment. These records are arranged alphabetically by type.
Of the financial records, the most generally useful are the summary records such as audits (1933-1969), state and federal tax returns (1912-1970), trial balances (1898-1966), and financial statements (1949-1970). The state and federal income tax returns are unusually complete. Also useful although more detailed are the general ledgers which provide transaction data for the majority of the company's history. A separately-filed set of sales ledgers include records on direct sales to customers (1913-1966) and to distributors (1917-1966). In addition to the summary records, the collection also includes a variety of useful comparative financial data, the majority of which appears to have been assembled during Uihlein's tenure as head of the company. Unfortunately, records pertaining to the sale and final disposition of assets in 1971 are not included.
In addition to the accounting files the collection includes financial and statistical files on other aspects of the company's operations such as records pertaining to distribution, employment, inventories, property, and promotion.
The distribution records include federal and state label registration forms containing sample beer labels, lists of distributors, some comparative data, and correspondence.
Employment records consist of payroll journals for the general workforce and for company managers and salesmen and an earnings record of summarized data arranged by department. Other than these files, there is no other biographical information in the collection about its employees. Also with the employment records is an alphabetical subject file which contains background information and some correspondence pertaining to labor matters. Very little in this section pertains to collective bargaining, although the workforce was unionized before the turn of the century. There is, however, a file of final contracts (1930-1970) with Local Union #90 Brewery, Soft Drink, and Distillery Workers.
Production records include statistical data and product inventories as well as some files pertaining to quality control. The records, some apparently maintained by the production department and others kept by the brewmaster, contain entries of various types for materials used in brewing and for various stages of the brewing process. Quality control records include metered
readings of alcoholic content, sampled reports from the chemical firm retained by Oshkosh to monitor quality, FDA approvals, and other information.
The promotion records include little of the actual advertising produced for the company, but there is some correspondence and reports from agencies which the brewery hired to study its market and to raise sales and information about several public relations campaigns including contests, the Chief Oshkosh, and activities surrounding the company's 90th anniversary. Of special note are scripts for television ads and lyrics for radio jingles with comments on the projected target audience.
Property records consist of appraisals and inventories, both arranged by time period and both becoming increasingly detailed and comprehensive during the documented period. Of note is information on a bar operated by the company in 1898, lists of bottle beer customers in that same year (with the 1923 list), detailed and extensive inventories of the J. Glatz and Son and the Horn and Schwalm plants, and an inventory for the Oshkosh Colytic Egg and Storage Co. The property records also include blueprints and floor plans of the Oshkosh Brewing Co., floor plans for two taverns apparently owned by the brewery, and maps indicating the location of brewery properties.
