The collection contents can be better understood after a brief review of the collection
history. Early in the International's existence records were successively kept in the
basements of Homer Call (secretary-treasurer, 1897-1917) and Dennis Lane (secretary
treasurer, 1917-1942) where they deteriorated because of the poor conditions. It is reported
that when Patrick Gorman became secretary-treasurer in 1942 he found that many of the early
records literally disintegrated when he picked them up.
In the 1970s the International hired a records management consultant to improve
organizational efficiency. He recommended destruction of many of the pre-1968 records. After
this, relatively few non-current records survived. Jim Cavanaugh, an archivist for the
Wisconsin Historical Society, visited the AMCBWNA headquarters in Chicago prior to its
merger with the Retail Clerks. Pressed for time, Cavanaugh concentrated on the
administrative office and the research department. After his survey, a large quantity of
records from those offices were transferred to Madison for microfilming. Because of
insufficient financial resources, the files were filmed exactly as they had been organized
by the International; this accounts for the somewhat confusing reverse chronological
arrangement of the records on the film. The Research Department files received by the
Historical Society at this time consisted solely of contracts. Because of their volume, a
10% sample was filmed. The originals of all of the microfilmed materials were destroyed.
After the initial shipment no representative from the Historical Society visited the union
headquarters, so it is not known what records were transported from Chicago to Washington,
D.C. In the following years the United Food and Commercial Workers initiated transfer of
additional records to the Historical Society, not only records of the AMCBWNA, but also
records of other internationals with which the meatcutters had previously merged (the United
Packinghouse Workers of America, the United Leather Workers International Union, and the
International Fur and Leather Workers Union), as well as records of the Retail Clerks and
the United Food and Commercial Workers itself. Many of these records arrived disorganized
and poorly identified. The Archives attempted to accession the records under the proper
organizational name, but some records, in particular the film, photographs, and sound
recordings, were not adequately identified to do this. In 2001-2003 the AMCBWNA records were
reviewed and some records were shifted to and from the collection. It is still possible that
additional misidentified records were overlooked. It is not known if additional AMCBWNA
still remain in the UFCW headquarters in Washington, D.C.
A similar confusion prevails with regard to the provenance of the film, sound, and
photographic portions of the collection. Some of the sound and practically all of the
photographic collections are unprocessed and inadequately identified. Preliminary
inventories for these materials may be found in the collection's Case File. The film created
by and about the meatcutters has been processed and assigned individual call numbers.
