The Hanna Papers consist of BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, CORRESPONDENCE AND SUBJECT FILES and SPEECHES AND WRITINGS.
Although the CORRESPONDENCE AND SUBJECT FILES series originally contained some identifiable, organic files, the majority of the boxes were received in the Archives in a very disorganized condition. The correspondence, for example, consisted of some organized and appropriately labeled files (now labeled as the chronological correspondence, 1960-1966), but much other correspondence was disorganized and often not even foldered. This material was arranged in the Archives into personal and union-related categories. The personal correspondence includes financial matters and many handwritten cards and letters from friends, family, and close professional associates.
The subject files in the series document Hanna's duties for the union and his relationship with Patrick Gorman as well as some personal activities and interests. The union activities range from researching and writing a book-length biography of Gorman to shipping clothing to the secretary-treasurer left behind during an overseas trip. Hanna's duties are most concisely represented in the weekly reports that describe his daily activities and expenditures. These reports exist only for the years 1960 to 1969. The schedule information in the weekly reports is complemented by desk calendars which were retained only for the years not represented by the reports. Although the desk calendars are generally quite sketchy in comparison with the weekly reports, those for 1964 and 1969-1970 are almost diary-like in character.
The subject files include many folders filed under the Gorman heading. Here may be found direct exchanges between the two men as well as copies of some Gorman correspondence and memoranda that were circulated to Hanna for purely informational purposes. Gorman's typed green memos and “verbal bouquets” are particularly useful for documenting their personal relationship. Also here are extensive files on travel by Gorman and several fundraising testimonials that Hanna managed. Almost an entire carton documents Hanna's position (originally on Gorman's behalf) on the Eugene Debs Foundation. These files include minutes, correspondence with Ned Bush, and information on the annual Debs Award. The award files include photographs and a recording of A. Philip Randolph, recipient of the 1967 award.
The Hanna Papers suggest little involvement with the day-to-day activities of the International Union. The exception to this concerns the 1975 strike of Milwaukee Local 248. Perhaps because he was from Wisconsin, Hanna had a special role in the strike negotiations which is well documented in the papers.
Hanna also served as the AMC representative to union activities at the Smithsonian in 1976. The files about this responsibility include paper files and photographs of butchers at work on the Mall. The original collection included numerous cartons of routine documentation concerning Hanna's management of the union's automobile fleet. Only policy correspondence and memoranda have been retained on this topic, however. Finally, and perhaps most curiously among the AMC material, is the collected research materials about Krebiozin, a topic which appears to have been a special interest for Gorman.
Hanna's personal interests are represented in the Subject Files by several folders on the Madison Urban League (MUL) of which he was president. However, perhaps because he resided in Chicago at the same time, few items relate to Hanna's personal involvement with MUL. Instead, the documentation consists chiefly of mimeographed minutes and reports mailed to him. Because no similar organizational records were held by the Archives when the Hanna papers were appraised and reaccessioned in 2001, Hanna's files were retained. More important are correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and attendance lists for the Workers Education Bureau and the Religion and Labor Fellowship, two Madison labor organizations with which Hanna was associated as a founder. The School for Workers documentation, with which he was also involved, consists only of songbooks. The folder “Madison Labor Correspondence” contains several isolated items: a 1949 letter to Nathan Feinsinger from Hanna on behalf of the Wisconsin State Branch of Butchers and a 1954 invitation from Hanna to form a Madison Industrial Council. Neither organization is elsewhere represented in the collection, nor is there any documentation relating to Hanna's graduate research on collective bargaining done while an employee at the Oscar Mayer plant in Madison or to his membership in the Madison AMC local.
In part reflecting the political position of the Meat Cutters union, Hanna was involved in the anti-Vietnam War and the civil rights movements, but these activities are only hinted at by the paper documentation. The collection does include many candid photographs that he took at the 1971 March on Washington of Bella Abzug, Jesse Jackson, John Kerry, Coretta Scott King, and others. Black and white photographs are the only documentation about Hanna's trip to Guyana in 1955. Elsewhere Hanna appears in photographs with various union leaders such as Whitney Young.
The SPEECHES AND WRITINGS series is arranged alphabetically by type. The most important and extensive files are the speeches, the radio scripts, and the editorial files on his book, Picket and the Pen: The Pat Gorman Story, but there are also articles, pamphlets, and a deck of labor history playing cards, the research for which was an early project assigned to Hanna by Gorman. The labor history cards each bear the portrait and a brief biography of leaders in the organized labor movement. The supporting documentation consists of correspondence and draft biographies. The articles consist of clipped materials from The Butcher Workman, but the file is probably only a small portion of Hanna's contributions to the magazine, since he worked for the Butcher Workman at one time as a feature writer. The union pamphlets include “The Steward and His Job” (revised, 1959) and two pamphlets about inspection written for the Poultry Department: “Congress Should Probe Sick and Diseased Poultry” (1954) and “Check That Chick: Protect Your Health” (1955).
The radio scripts, approximately 1/2 cubic foot of paper, are among the most important documentation in the collection. They consist of typescripts, mainly 1941-1942, of the Workers Service Radio Program, a statewide Wisconsin WPA project. Although the scripts are unsupported by administrative papers, Hanna appears to have been identified with many, perhaps all of the programs, as producer, researcher, and, sometimes, on-the-air host. The scripts document programs that focused on labor and cooperative topics that aired under several program titles on stations WIBA, WHA, and WFHR. Many prominent Wisconsin labor leaders, as well as rank and file workers appeared as guests on these programs. The card index files identify programs broadcast by other radio stations that are not represented by the scripts. Again, because of the lack of supporting documentation the connection of these broadcasts to the Wisconsin School for Workers is unknown, although there is a single 1938 script for a program in which Hanna appeared that is identified as a School for Workers production.
Hanna's public speaking is represented by final drafts and by one recorded speech. They are of interest not only for the content of the remarks made both independently and for AMC, but also for his themes and manner of presentation. One clipping in the biography file from The Oratory of Negro Leaders, 1900-1968 by Marcus Boulware ranks Hanna as one of the leading Black speakers in the country and an interview with George Vukelich describes his oratorical training at Tuskegee Institute. Unfortunately for these research purposes, the papers include only one recording of Hanna, a 1969 talk to the South Dakota Farmers Union.
The largest part of the Speeches and Writings series consists of correspondence and draft materials for Picket and the Pen: The Pat Gorman Story, which Hanna co-authored with Joseph Belsky in 1960. The correspondence includes many exchanges with Max Raddock, and many reader comments.
The draft materials are not complete. Instead of beginning with an initial draft, the documentation appears to begin at the galley stage, normally the final stage of production, that were subsequently extensively revised. From this point on in the editorial process, the collection includes various categories of revisions, which are roughly arranged as handwritten notes, lengthy chapter revisions, shorter miscellaneous revisions, and insertions which tend to be shorter still. Most are linked to the galleys by an internal numbering system. This material was retained primarily as evidence of text added or deleted from the book, because Hanna's bibliography and footnotes indicate only limited use of the AMC records. The printed book is an inscribed copy in the Wisconsin Historical Society Library.
Other books with which Hanna was involved include Fifty Golden Years; Friendly Chats on This and That (1968); and “Mr. Amalgamated” (circa 1976), a selection of Gorman's poetry and writings, all of which Hanna edited for publication. All of these are available in the Wisconsin Historical Society Library, and there is no documentation about their creation in the papers.
