The records of the Fruit Growers Cooperative are arranged in six series: Administrative Records, Financial Records, Sales and Marketing Records, a General Correspondence and Subject File, Miscellaneous Records of Other Companies, and Motion Pictures. Two of the most important subseries, minutes and audits, are complete and could provide a researcher with detailed information on the co-op's operations.
The first series, ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, covers the entire life of the organization. These records include Materials Relative to the Organization of the Cooperative, Minutes, Annual Reports to the Secretary of State, Growers and Stockholders Records, and Miscellaneous materials which touch on labor relations, World War II price regulations, pensions, and insurance. The two major subseries are Minutes and Growers and Stockholders. The former is organized chronologically, and is complete for the life of the co-op. The minutes are principally from the Board of Directors meetings, but minutes of special and annual meetings of the stockholders are interfiled in the general chronology. The minutes from 1933 until the early 1950s are the most extensive. For this period, they include correspondence, financial reports, and membership lists. After 1950 the practice of keeping such materials in the minute book slowly faded until the books held minutes only. As a result, the fine documentation of executive affairs declined during the last twenty years of the co-op's existence. The Growers and Stockholders subseries is somewhat complicated by the fact that the two groups are so intertwined. In co-ops, the grower (or consumer) is also the stockholder and owner. Although it was possible to be a grower and not a stockholder, or a stockholder but not a grower, most of the co-op's owners were also its producers. This interaction is best illustrated by the files which deal with production and stock figures, and with cherry stock credits. Although incomplete, this subseries includes lists of stockholders and their shares in the co-op for most of its life.
The second series, FINANCIAL RECORDS, includes a complete set of Audits, a nearly complete set of Federal Tax Records, and numerous other materials such as the Cost of Pack (production), Forecasts of Financial Requirements, the 1940-1951 General Ledger, and the Trial Balance from the early 1960s. In addition, the collection is graced with excellent sets of Appraisals and Asset Records. The combination of the appraisals, the asset records, the audits, and the tax records should provide the researcher with detailed information on production, profits and losses, and the composition and value of the co-op's equipment and buildings. The series is arranged in alphabetical order.
The SALES AND MARKETING RECORDS are sketchy at best. Most interesting are two small files, Improvement of Sales and Manager, John Smith, which touch upon attempts to build the flagging sales of the co-op shortly before it folded. This series is arranged as a subject file. The greatest quantity of material relates to the Great Lakes Cherry Producers Marketing Co-op, a co-op geared specifically to marketing cherries, and to which some of the Fruit Growers Co-op members belonged.
The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE AND SUBJECT FILE series begins with a few folders which date prior to 1967. The most interesting of these deals with the Building and Plant, and includes plant layouts and specifications. These materials should contribute to any study of the co-op's production system. Prior to 1967, correspondence was not regularly retained. Thus, although this series makes up the majority of the collection, it covers the last six years of the co-op's existence almost exclusively. Material dated from 1967 through 1972 is organized by year and thereunder alphabetically. A complete folder list is included to aid the researcher in finding pertinent material.
The final paper series, MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS, includes records of the Sturgeon Bay Corporation (apparently a subsidiary of the Fruit Growers), Pulaski Company, and General Miscellany.
The MOTION PICTURES series includes two public relations films on cherry production and processing.
