Local 3271 included archivists, librarians, and curators employed by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and several SHSW archivists were officers of the local and instrumental in the deposit of these records in the Archives. As a result of this background, the collection held by the Archives is unexpectedly incomplete in some aspects. While there is documentation about the organization of the local, the initial representation elections, and the response of state employees to their newly-won right to bargain collectively, relations with WEAC are seldom represented and there is no documentation in the collection on the final re-affiliation of the 3271 membership with that union. Involvement in the grievance and arbitration process and in reclassification, a major aspect of the local's work, are documented only fragmentarily.
The records include constitutions and by-laws, correspondence, minutes, financial reports, membership records, draft contracts and bargaining notes, and surveys. Records are organized in seven series: Background Material, Correspondence, Membership and Financial Records, Administrative Records, Bargaining Records, Arbitration and Grievance Records, and Miscellaneous Files. Printed contracts and newsletters, which are essential sources for studying the history of the local, are available in the Wisconsin Historical Society Library.
BACKGROUND MATERIAL consists of the original constitution and revisions adopted during the period from 1975 to 1983, a brief history, and background information concerning the American Federation of Teachers and Wisconsin state employees' right to bargain collectively.
The CORRESPONDENCE is a combined file of material from several officers. The general category of the series includes material dating to 1973 that refers to the activities of Larry Allwardt and John H. Stevens, executive director of the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers, in the initial representation elections. This election process is also documented by numerous mimeographed form letters sent to members and prospective members, while legal documents relating to this process are filed in GRIEVANCE AND ARBITRATION RECORDS. Also included in the correspondence are letters of Steward Sherman Ansell concerning grievances litigated in 1974. Beginning in 1975 the correspondence is largely that of Allwardt and Margaret Liebig, president and secretary, respectively. Later files consist increasingly of mimeographed memoranda sent to officers and membership rather than true officers' correspondence. The year 1985, the last year represented in the correspondence, consists of the files of Executive Director Connie Salveson. Correspondence of Treasurer Karen Baumann, covering the period 1974-1976, is separately foldered following the general correspondence.
MEMBERSHIP AND FINANCIAL RECORDS consists of monthly reports and ledger sheets which together provide adequate coverage of the local's financial picture for most of its history. The local's annual financial reports and budgets are included with the annual meeting records. Membership is documented by payment cards and sheets, which cover the period 1974 through 1982, as well as by a few miscellaneous lists and printouts.
The ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS are the most important source of historical information about the local. This section consists chiefly of minutes arranged alphabetically by the name of the governing body. Most important are the minutes and agendas of the annual meetings, the Executive Board, and the Representative Council, with other bodies and individuals being represented less completely by notes, minutes, and directories.
BARGAINING is represented by the largest quantity of material in the collection, even though there is virtually no information concerning either the 1983 or 1985 contracts. Despite the extent of the bargaining documentation, this section is of limited utility because few of the draft proposals are dated and because of cut-and-paste methods used for revision. On the other hand, the bargaining notes are dated, but they are handwritten and very rough. The bargaining files are arranged chronologically by contract year and then alphabetically by document type. Included in the series are correspondence, surveys of membership bargaining wishes, drafts of contract proposals put forward by the union and by management, handwritten notes for bargaining sessions, and mimeographed reports of progress. The final printed contracts are available in the SHSW library.
Based on status lists included in the series, the ARBITRATION AND GRIEVANCE RECORDS very incompletely document what was a major activity for the union. Included are forms, correspondence, legal documents, lists, a large number of AFT defense fund applications, and correspondence regarding a small number of specific litigations.
The MISCELLANEOUS FILES contain extensively weeded documentation about the participation of 3271 members in the annual WFT conventions, information concerning the 1976 Lightfoot and the layoff of union members as a result of closing of several state institutions in 1976, and drafts of a position paper on the place of non-teachers in 3271.
