These records were separated from additions to the records of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers international union donated to the Historical Society by the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, Textile Division. The Branch 139 records, apparently, came to the international's office when the Royersford Needle Works closed and the local was dissolved. The collection contains fairly extensive but incomplete runs of several kinds of routine records, including business and financial records, incoming correspondence, some contracts and arbitration findings, and photographs.
Monthly business meeting Minutes are complete from the Branch's inception to 1947. Like those for the Branch Relief Association, they cover routine business with occasional mention of discussion. Both Branch and Branch Relief Association Bylaws are included. Detailed Financial Records exist for 1937 through 1953. Incoming Correspondence, although it covers only the four-year period 1949-1952, illustrates the local's relationships to the AFHW and other labor organizations, and to federal agencies.
The Contracts and Arbitrations file contains items that complement the international's files on Branch 139 which begin with 1947; the branch file covers 1937-1947. The international's correspondence files contain arbitration hearings for Branch 139 during the 1960's; arbitration hearings from the office of the industry's Impartial Chairman in the branch file are dated 1947. Miscellaneous Records include membership applications and related forms, Union Label campaign materials, and delegate credentials for state and national conventions.
Photographs include images of meetings and social activities of the branch. They also include images of a visit by George Baldanzi to Harvard University in 1945, and a visit by John F. Kennedy to a textile plant in New Bedford, Mass., in October 1958.
