Title: Kenosha Union Label Council Records
Inclusive Dates: 1936-1970

Creator:

• Kenosha Union Label Council (Wis.)

Call Number: Parkside Mss 21

Quantity: 1.0 c.f. (3 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the Archives & Area Research Center, Library/Learning Center, University of Wisconsin-Parkside; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Parkside Library / Parkside Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Records of an organization formed by Kenosha union locals to encourage businessmen to stock union-made merchandise and to persuade citizens to buy only products which bore union labels. Most of the records were kept by Frank R. Stella in his capacity as secretary and treasurer. Included are correspondence, communications from national unions and the Union Label Trades Department, constitutions, a directory, minutes, scattered financial records, a few delegate files from conventions, and a lengthy run of the Kenosha Union Label Directory and Purchasing Guide, published by the Council to raise money and to promote the patronage of union businesses.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-pks0021

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In 1936, delegates from eighteen local unions formed the Kenosha Union Label League to encourage businessmen to stock union-made merchandise and to persuade citizens to buy only products which bore union labels. The Union Label Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor granted the League a certificate of affiliation on February 11, 1937. Hortwick Dahl, president of the Kenosha Trades Council, was the first president of the League. Frank R. Stella served as treasurer in the early l940's and as secretary from 1942 until the dissolution of the organization in 1970. About 1950, the organization changed its name to the Kenosha Union Label Council.

The Union Label Council received lists of union-made products from unions throughout the United States as a result of its affiliation with the Union Label and Service Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. It published the Kenosha Union Label Directory and Purchasing Guide annually in an effort to maintain financial independence and to promote the patronage of businesses handling union-made merchandise or employing union labor. The directory featured advertisements from local businessmen approved by the Council; a list of officers, meeting times, and locations of local unions; lists of city, county, state, and national elected officials; and illustrations of various union labels.

The bulk of the records of the Kenosha Union Label Council are those kept by Frank R. Stella in his capacity as secretary and treasurer. They are arranged in three series: Correspondence and Communications from National Unions; Minutes and Records; and Union Label Directories.

In the CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS FROM NATIONAL UNIONS series one folder contains the Charter of Affiliation with the Union Trades Department of the AFL, February 11, 1937 and copies of the Department's constitutions, 1909, 1934, and 1955, its Official Directory, 1964-1965, and a list of products from the Ladies Auxiliary of the Union Label Department. Two folders of correspondence, 1937-1967, contain letters from the Union Label Trades Department, a list of union-made products from various unions throughout the United States, information on strikes and boycotts, and a letter (April 14, 1967) from U.S. Congressman Henry C. Schadeberg to Stella congratulating him on his career and active participation in the Union Label Council. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically. An additional folder of correspondence, printed material, and dues receipts, 1950-1969, is arranged chronologically.

MINUTES AND RECORDS consists of minutes of business meetings, 1936-l968; treasurer's cash books, 1939-1945 and 1954-1970, listing receipts and expenditures; one treasurer's record book, 1939-1945, listing receipts only; delegate and attendance records, 1937-1949; delegate credentials containing certificates from local unions for their delegates to the League, 1936-1959; and miscellaneous papers, 1938-1968. The latter includes auditing reports, 1937-1941; a contract of the Kenosha Federation of Musicians, November 17, 1946; annual financial reports, 1962 and 1965-1967; a list of members of the Shop Card Committee, 1959; an undated list of receipts; posters, publicity materials, and clippings; and minutes from the Wisconsin AFL-CIO convention, October 7, 1968.

The UNION LABEL DIRECTORIES file contains a collection of the Kenosha Union Label Directories and Purchasing Guides, 1938, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1948, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1959, and 1961 to 1970.

For related collections see: American Federation of Musicians (AFL), Local 59; Brotherhood of Railway Clerks, Lodge 1063; International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 95; United Association of Journeymen, Plumbers and Steamfitters; United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Local 161; and Frank R. Stella.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Frank R. Stella, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1974, 1981, and by Leon Applebaum, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1985. Accession Number: M75-013, 81-574, 81-653, 85-560

Processing Information

Processed by Margaret Hedstrom and John Fleckner, November 1976; additions processed by Menzi Behrnd-Klodt, January 1987.

	Series: Correspondence and Communications from National Unions
Box   1 Folder   1	Charter, 1937 and Materials from Union Label and Service Trades Department (AFL-CIO), , 1909, 1934, 1955, 1964-1965
	Correspondence, 1937-1967
Box   1 Folder   2	A-I
Box   1 Folder   3	K-Z
Box   3 Folder   14	Correspondence, Printed Matter, Dues Receipts, 1950-1969
	Series: Minutes and Records	⇧
	Minutes
Box   1 Folder   4	1937-1949
Box   1 Folder   5	1949-1959
Box   3 Folder   15	1942, 1959-1968
Box   2 Folder   6	Treasurer's Cash Books, October 1, 1939-March 1945; January 18, 1954-December 8, 1970
Box   2 Folder   7	Treasurer's Record Book, 1939-1945
Box   2 Folder   8	Delegate and Attendance Records, 1937-1949
Box   2 Folder   9	Delegate Credentials, 1936-1959
Box   2 Folder   10	Miscellaneous Papers, 1938-1968
	Series: Union Label Directories	⇧
Box   2 Folder   11	1938, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1948, 1955
Box   2 Folder   12	1965-1970
Box   3 Folder   13	1951, 1953, 1959, 1961-1963