Scope and Content Note

The records of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America are far from complete. Briefly stated, the collection contains virtually no records from the International's early years, and even for the more recent past, many functions and activities are incompletely documented, and some are not represented at all. The library of the State Historical Society compensates in part for this weakness; its collections include published constitutions, international convention proceedings, a complete run of the Butcher Workman, and the newsletters of many locals.

This finding aid to the AMCBWNA collection describes the processed portion of the collection as well as nine accessions of the unprocessed additions. These records are described below in five series: ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, DEPARTMENTAL FILES, AUDIO RECORDINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER VISUAL MATERIALS, and FILM AND VIDEOTAPES.

The ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS consist of International Executive Board Files, Convention Files, Local Correspondence, and Subject Files, available only on microfilm; and additional unfilmed Administrative Records in the unprocessed portions.

The DEPARTMENTAL FILES document the Fur and Leather Department; Packinghouse Department; Poultry, Seafood & Food Processing Department; Research Department; Retail Department; and the Washington, D.C. office. Coverage varies for each department, and except for the Research Department contract files, this series is in the unprocessed portions of the collection and has not been microfilmed. In general, the International's departments, where most day-to-day matters were handled, are documented incompletely, and some offices such as membership and education are not represented at all.

Only some of the AUDIO RECORDINGS in the collection are described in this finding aid. They include speeches, interviews, statements, memoranda, and off-the-air recordings. Many are only incompletely identified. A number of the audio recordings concern Iowa Beef Processors (IBP) and its impact on the meatpacking industry. These recordings also document activites of Skip Niederdeppe and Louie Anderson, staff of the Packinghouse Department. The recordings include radio news stories about the violent Dakota City strike, IBP annual meetings, speeches by IBP executives, and interviews with various workers detailing aspects of the slaughtering and meatcutting process. The majority of the AMCBWNA audio recordings are, however, unprocessed and unidentified.

PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER VISUAL MATERIALS, largely unprocessed, include images of union members and officials, union activities, strikes, and conventions, as well as industry operations. Formats include 35 mm, 4x5-inch, and 5x7-inch negatives; 35 mm transparencies; photo albums; and loose prints, as well as a small quantity of ephemera and drawings.

FILMS AND VIDEOTAPES received with the records have been processed. Included is footage of national conventions and conferences; speeches and remarks by leaders Patrick J. Gorman, Thomas Lloyd, and Harry Poole; views of the International Headquarters in Chicago; activities at local headquarters in Texas and California; political and recruiting film; and miscellaneous other visual documentation. Of special interest is the speech by Academy Award-winning actor Harold Russell at the 1956 National Democratic Convention about his experiences as a member of AMCBWNA and speeches and remarks by Hubert Humphrey, Edward Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, and Eugene McCarthy.

ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS: Processed Records

The processed paper records of the AMCBWNA are only available as microfilm. The ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, which make up the largest portion of the processed part of the collection, document the union from the perspective of its executive board and its international officers, primarily Earl Jimerson, Patrick Gorman, and Thomas Lloyd. As a result, the processed portion of the AMCBWNA collection is best at documenting high-level policymaking rather than day-to-day activities of individual members, local unions, or even the departments of the international organization. The records of the executive board provide the most comprehensive and concise coverage. However, because of the record practices described above, most of the earliest administrative records have been lost. Of special importance are the Executive Board minutes, which begin in 1920, and the chronologically-arranged bulletins, which were mailed to various categories of the membership (for example, certain bulletins went to all executive board members, others went to all district officers, still others went to all local presidents, and finally some went to the entire membership). For the documented period, the bulletins provide an excellent summary of the union's activities and issues.

Convention files, which cover only the years 1948 to 1976 are also files created by the executive office, rather than official convention records. The files cover arrangements and planning, but contain little about proceedings. That type of policy information can be found in the published convention proceedings in the Historical Society Library.

The microfilmed Local Correspondence of the administrative office is arranged as AMCBWNA locals, Packinghouse locals, and Fur and Leather locals, with the AMCBWNA files being the most extensive. Little correspondence for either the UPWA or the Fur and Leather Workers that predates their respective mergers is included. In general, this section consists of exchanges of the International executive secretary with the locals; it is not a comprehensive file of all contacts of the headquarters with a particular local. Topics of concern to the executive office include strikes, important disciplinary cases, and contract matters. Additional correspondence concerning individual locals can be found throughout the records. Except for their different provenance, the distinguishing characteristics of each of these sets of local correspondence is not clear. Following the secretary's local correspondence and similar to it, is a separate file regarding the issuance or withdrawal of charters.

The Executive Office Subject Files are the heart of the processed portion of the AMCBWNA collection, and they cover the full range of union concerns although not the union's entire history. The subject files are actually three overlapping files, each of which is alphabetically arranged. Subject File #1 covers 1919 to 1952, Subject File #2 covers 1937 to 1972, and Subject File #3 covers 1962 to 1979. Subject File #1 is the smallest, and it primarily dates from the post-World War II years. This file includes information on relations with the AFL and its Union Label Trades Department, various central district and state labor organizations of the AMCBWNA; the War Labor Board and the National Labor Relations Board, and negotiations with the Retail Meat Dealers Association and with Swift, Armour, and other national meatpackers.

Subject File #2, the largest subject file, is organized as a flat file, with each individual, organization, and subject entered directly under its own name. Once again, the files contains extensive information on contacts with George Meany, the AFL-CIO, and its Food and Beverage Trades Department. These contacts focus on internal disputes and negotiations with various national meatpackers. This period also witnessed complex relations with other international labor organizations such as the International Union of Food and Drink Workers and particularly with the internationals with which AMCBWNA eventually merged: the Fur and Leather Workers and the Furriers Joint Council of New York, the United Packinghouse Workers of America, and the Retail Clerks International Union. There is also correspondence with the Teamsters, particularly regarding joint organizing efforts during the 1950s. Additional files concern mergers between various AMCBWNA locals and their relations with their respective local employers. Major topics here include wages, benefits, the Amalgamated Labor Life Insurance Company, the National Labor Relations Board and the U.S. Department of Labor, proposed labor legislation, and various charities. Many files concern the internal operations of the International such as construction of the new Chicago headquarters and programs of the Education Department.

The third subject file covers most of the same topics as File #2, although this file is arranged first into broad alphabetical subject categories, such as associations, legislation, and professional services, and then alphabetically into more specific topics. Once again the AFL-CIO, its Industrial Union Department, and the resolution of internal disputes between locals of various internationals is a major issue. Charitable interests, which had previously included the state of Israel and various Jewish organizations in the United States, expand to include interests in the civil rights movement, the war in Vietnam, and cancer research. Contract negotiations here include not only the major packers, but also national grocery store chains. The concern for wages appears in extensive files on the wage-price freeze and the Economic Stabilization Program of the Nixon Administration. Subject File #3 indicates an increased concern with public relations, and there are materials concerning the officers' involvement with the publication of Butcher Workman.

ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS: Unprocessed Records

The unprocessed paper records described here consist of three accessions, M79-516, M80-118, and M84-042. Each accession has been arranged to correspond to the overall organization plan of the collection, and each accession is included in the contents list based on its intellectual content. Additional unprocessed accessions that include additional sound recordings, and additional paper records are not described in this finding aid.

Accession M79-516 , 1960-1979.
Quantity: 9.0 cubic feet (21 flat boxes)

Scrapbooks, 1960-1979, of clippings about the international,various locals, and the businesses in which its members were employed. Several miscellaneous volumes have been photocopied for preservation, but the remainder, which form an almost continuous run from 1969 to 1979 were received from a clipping service. This accession is listed on the contents list as part of the unfilmed ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS.

Accession M80-118 , 1903-1979.
Quantity: 46.2 cubic feet (32 records center cartons, 2 flat boxes, 28 card boxes, 24 archives boxes, and 1 oversize folder)

Unfilmed ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS such as audits, International Executive Board minutes and bulletins, subject files, AMCBWNA publications, and a few files identified as “historical records” because of their early date. Additionally, there are DEPARTMENTAL FILES of the Fur and Leather Department, the Packinghouse Department, the Poultry Department, the Research Department, the Retail Department and the Washington, D.C. Office.

Within the unfilmed ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, the “Historical” files consist of correspondence received by John T. Joyce, a Chicago organizer, from early leaders Michael Donnelly, Homer T. Call (1905-190), and various locals; Joyce's statistical reports on cattle killed, “hours made,” and the prevailing wages for particular jobs (1904); and miscellaneous other material. Also included are published proceedings of a national meeting of cattle butchers in 1903. Although these early records are limited, they coincide with the disastrous national strike of 1904, which the union barely survived. This section also includes transcripts of the Samuel Alschuler arbitration hearings, printed rulings, and two clipping scrapbooks that detail the development of the 1921 strike, a strike that has been described as “an ignominious defeat that approached the disaster of 1904.” (Labor Unions, 1977).

The unfilmed administrative records also include several poorly defined internal card indexes. Index #1 includes personal names and organizations on blue cards and subject entries on white cards. Index #2 lists employers and subjects.

Minutes of the International Executive Board dating from 1920 to 1969 were microfilmed as part of the processed collection after which the originals were discarded. In 2002 a second run of IEB minutes was found among the unfilmed records that carried the coverage through 1979. These records are filed here and are not available on microfilm. In addition to the minutes themselves, some meetings for the 1969-1979 period are documented by agenda materials and draft items.

The subject files in this accession are an amalgam of material from various sources. Some files are comprised of materials overlooked during the earlier microfilming; other material consists of information removed by Hilton Hanna to his own papers for his research about Patrick Gorman. Most folders contain only a few documents, with the most extensive being the material on the Peyton Strike in Texas. Also of special interest is Gorman's personal notebook on the 1956 merger. Following the subject file are publications arranged alphabetically by title and subject. This file ranges from published histories (Our First Sixty Years) to Christmas cards sent by the union leadership; a few issues of the rare title Research Reporter to conference materials and numerous brochures dealing with retirement and pensions.

The remainder of the accession consists of DEPARTMENT FILES documenting the International's Fur and Leather, Packinghouse, Poultry, Research, and Retail department and the Washington, D.C. office. Coverage varies for each department, and none are fully covered. It is possible that additional departmental files were moved to Washington, D.C. and are still in existence. The DEPARTMENTAL FILES are arranged alphabetically by department name. Thereunder, the order varies.

The Fur and Leather Department records represent the leadership of Abraham Feinglass (1910-1981), who was head of the department from 1955, when the International Fur and Leather Workers Union became part of the AMCBWNA, to about 1965. About half of these records were received at Historical Society in an unfoldered condition, and, as a result, their arrangement was established by the Archives. The papers consist of Feinglass' correspondence with Patrick Gorman and other leaders of the International, but there is also extensive correspondence and reports from local organizers and officers. The files are particularly strong on Feinglass' management of the trusteeship of the Furriers Joint Council of New York; on negotiations with shoe manufacturer Endicott Johnson Corporation; and on organizing in Winnipeg, Montreal, and other Canadian localities. Feinglass also had numerous contacts within the fur business such as the Fur Information and Fashion Council and numerous individual manufacturers. Documentation about the internal operation of the Fur and Leather Department is incomplete, but there are detailed reports about several annual conferences. Well represented locals include #87F and #213L in Los Angeles, #29L, #54F, #63L, and #88. The papers also include personal correspondence, some of which concerns Feinglass' friends and his interests in the civil rights movement and numerous Jewish organizations.

The Packinghouse Department is represented by 1.8 cubic feet feet of files of Vice President Jesse Prosten and Skip Niederdeppe about master agreement negotiations in 1967 and 1975. Clearly, this is only a small portion of the negotiation files that once existed. The 1967 files include corrrespondence, minutes, memoranda, and draft agreements for Hygrade, Swift, and Wilson. The 1975 files primarily document preparations for the negotiations that took place at the Packinghouse Conference, rather than the negotiations themselves. Also included is a file of materials about the attempt to organize the Iowa Beef Packers (IBP) plant at Emporia, Iowa, and carbons of general outgoing correspondence, 1975-1978.

Poultry Department records were created by S.W. (Shirley) Barker, director of the department during the late 1950s, and Jasper Rose and Steven Coyle, two later vice-presidents. Although the records span the period from the mid-1950s to the dissolution of AMCBWNA, they are not complete. The Barker files consist of correspondence about negotiations with Armour, Denison, and Swift, and with many locals regarding contracts, grievances, arbitration, and strikes. The documentation is strong on organizing in the South and on the union's support for federal compulsory poultry inspection laws. The Rose and Coyle files are less complete. They document negotiations with Swift, Tyson, Campbell Soup (and its Swanson & Sons subsidiary), and F.M. Stamper (owner of Banquet brand products). Of special note are files on a representation election at American Home Products that was contested with the United Mine Workers Union and on joint negotiating with the Teamsters at Stamper. There is also information on the joint committee of the AFL-CIO's Industrial Union Department that negotiated with Campbell Soup. Two additional folders concern southern organizing. Locals that are well documented here include #127, #199, #231, #271, #340, #405, #431, #454, #480 (and the Texas Broiler Association), and #700, for which Coyle was acting president.

The alphabetical subject files of Marvin W. Hook, head of the Retail Department, include correspondence with Patrick Gorman, other International leaders, and with numerous AMCBWNA locals that included retail workers. Among the most extensive are the files on his management of the Local #88 trusteeship. Also included is background information on departmental conventions and correspondence with retail employers such as the Kroger Company Hook's position required extensive involvement with the Retail Clerks International Union with which the meatpackers eventually merged. These files, however, are about pre-merger litigation concerning jurisdictional disputes. Hook's correspondence includes exchanges with RCIU leader James Selfredge.

The Washington, D.C. office files cover only the years 1971 to 1979, and even these are incompletely covered. Included are a few subject files and a chronological file of the outgoing correspondence of Arnold Mayer. There are also mass mailings distributed to the leadership on national legislative issues and copies of Mayer's congressional testimony (1974-1979). The subject files concern food stamps, wage and price controls, and sugar tariffs.

DEPARTMENTAL FILES: Unprocessed Accession M84-042 , 1960-1979.
Quantity: 46.6 cubic feet (44 records center cartons, 5 archives boxes, and 2 flat boxes)

This accession consists of additions from the Research Department to the DEPARTMENTAL FILES series. These paper records divide into three sections: correspondence with locals, a classified reference file, and a subject file. The Research Department is the best documented of all of the international's organizational units. The local correspondence is arranged by local number, with the former Packinghouse locals and Fur and Leather locals following the AMCBWNA locals. Much of this correspondence is concerned with contracts. Although a few files date to as early as the 1940s, the majority of the local correspondence concerns the 1960s and 1970s. The well documented locals include #7, #34, #55, #56, #78, #81, #88, #115, #117, #127, #173-174, #195, #227, #282, #301, #304, #327-328, #340, #342, #347, #371, #405. #421, #424, #425, #427, #444, #448, #464, #545, #551, #563, #569, #590, #627, #653, and #657.

The original purpose of the Research Department's classified file was to organize background materials for use in the departmental publications, to inform the leadership about labor issues, and for other reference purposes. Information of a general, background nature has been weeded, with the remaining documentation largely consisting of material created by AMCBWNA itself. This material is arranged in its original classification scheme so that topically related papers are filed in proximity to related material. Major topics of concern are contract analyses and surveys conducted by the department on matters such as wages, benefits, and employment patterns.

Although they contain many similar files, the subject files differ from the classified files in that they also include documentation about internal operations. Here researchers will find the most extensive documentation in the collection about collective bargaining. These files date from the post-World War II era to 1960 and include records on relations with the War Labor Board and the National Labor Relations Board. Also filed here is information and some printed transcripts of International conferences and relations with major employers in the meat cutting and grocery store industries.

DEPARTMENTAL FILES: Contracts and Agreements

Listed in the contents list with the unprocessed Research Department records are the 87 reels of processed and microfilmed local union contracts. The contracts are the only portion of the DEPARTMENT FILES that are available on microfilm. They date primarily from the 1960s and 1970s, and they represent a 10% sample of the total quantity received by the Archives. In addition to the 10% sample, the microfilm includes all contracts received for Wisconsin locals and contracts for a small number of locals filmed at the request of the International.