The Cardijn Bookstore records were received by the archives in two parts, designated here as Part 1: Original Collection and Part 2: 1995 Additions.
Part 1 can be described as a small, somewhat fragmented manuscript collection documenting the operations of the bookstore. Along with the separately-cataloged Cardijn Center records (call number Milwaukee Mss BR), the collection gives a good picture of the center and its many programs. For the period prior to 1961 there is, however, a degree of overlap between the two collections, and researchers should be prepared to consult both.
PART 1 is arranged into Cardijn Center Files, Bookstore Files, Financial Records, and Miscellaneous Files.
The Cardijn Center Files includes by-laws, articles of association, information on the purposes of the Center, and a small quantity of material concerning Center meetings; program files including correspondence, circulars, topic lists, and class materials for the Center's general social action forums and for its Social Studies programs; reports and miscellaneous correspondence of Father Beix and other Center administrators; newsletters, brochures, clippings, and publicity material; and the YCW Come Unity newsletter and miscellaneous information of the Milwaukee Young Christian Workers Federation. Of special note is the 1957 correspondence that invited Senator John F. Kennedy to speak at one of the Center's forums.
The Bookstore Files include articles of association, by-laws, stock certificates, lists of directors, and legal materials; annual meeting reports; book lists, catalogs, and advertising materials; and miscellaneous correspondence.
The Financial Records include documentation on both the Center and bookstore. Included are monthly figures of Center receipts and expenditures, financial reports, records of Center pledges and donations, and some fund-raising material.
The Miscellaneous Files include correspondence, obituaries, and clippings concerning a celebration marking the 20th anniversary of the death of Father Beix, information on Cardinal Cardijn, and photographs. The photographs include portraits of Father Beix, and views of the Center, the bookstore, the bookmobile, and employees and volunteers. Also included are two papal certificates presented to Father Beix, and an architectural front elevation and crude rendering of a bookstore storefront renovation. Xerox copies of the photographs are filed with the papers, and the original prints are located in the Visual Materials Archive in Madison.
PART 2, the 1995 Additions, consists of a procedures manual, correspondence, and financial records of the bookstore (1949-1985); and personal papers of Florence Weinfurter. These records are arranged similarly to those in Part 1, into Cardijn Center Files, Bookstore Files, Financial Records, and Personal Papers of Florence Weinfurter. This last category includes correspondence, especially with Weinfurter's friend, Nina Polcyn Moore; a transcript of an interview with Weinfurter; and clippings and informational files on The Catholic Worker movement and Dorothy Day, whom Weinfurter knew.
