The records are organized as CONSTITUTIONS AND BY-LAWS, MINUTES, CORRESPONDENCE, PUBLICITY, and MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS.
The CORRESPONDENCE is divided into incoming and outgoing correspondence. The early incoming correspondence is incomplete, although it includes some important material such as a long letter from attorney Joseph A. Padway commenting on the 1938 contract offer of the Kenosha School Board. The later material consists of routine business from the American Federation of Teachers and the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers, the Superintendent of the Kenosha Schools, the Kenosha Education Association, and from other Kenosha union organizations. The correspondence of the 1980s consists primarily of letters from elected officials. Scattered information concerning contract negotiations and the legal cases that arose from the 1965 certification election are included in the incoming correspondence.
The outgoing correspondence, which was written by the corresponding secretaries, is more complete for the early years of the organization, providing useful insights into the local's advancement of its members' interests and its involvement in the political situation in Kenosha during the early 1940s.
PUBLICITY is a special strength of the records. Included are runs of two newsletters and an extensive file of press releases and clippings. (The clippings are available only on microfilm.) Also included are drafts and notes for speeches delivered by Virginia Tenuta, a long-time officer of the local; printed radio editorials; a few photographs; and miscellaneous mailings.
The MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS include financial records, and minutes of the Kenosha AFL-CIO. There are no treasurer's reports in the KTU collection; the monthly receipt and expenditure ledgers are the only documentation of this aspect of the local's history. The ledgers exist only for the period 1938-1957. There are also no true membership records in the collection, although there is a dues register in this section that covers the years 1966-1980, a list of members in the minutes volumes covering the years 1938-1950, and scattered membership lists in the post-World War II outgoing correspondence. Although not complete, these lists adequately identify the individuals who chose affiliation with a labor union rather than a professional organization. The dues register also allows for an examination of changes that took place as a result of KTU's minority bargaining status. This section also includes an incomplete run of the KEA newsletter and minutes of the Kenosha AFL-CIO and its predecessor, the Kenosha Trades and Labor Council.
