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United Transportation Union. Lodge 1293: Records, 1917-1974

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Summary Information

Title: United Transportation Union. Lodge 1293: Records

Inclusive Dates: 1917-1974

Creator: United Transportation Union. Lodge 1293 (Altoona, Wis.)

Call Number: Eau Claire Mss AF

Quantity: 2.4 c.f. (1 record center carton, 2 archives boxes, and 2 flat boxes)

Repository: Housed at the Area Research Center, William D. McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Library-Archives Division

Archival Locations: UW-Eau Claire McIntyre Library / Eau Claire Area Research Ctr.

Abstract: Records of a labor union representing employees of the eastern division of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railroad. Included are minutes, 1917-1923, 19321959; correspondence; membership and attendance records; monthly treasurer's reports and information on claims; and miscellaneous communications received from the Grand Lodge of the union. The union was organized in Altoona in 1917 as Local 888 of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen; when merger formed the United Transportation Union in 1968, it became Local 1293. Only a small portion of the documentation in the collection relates to the local's history as a member of the United Transportation Union.

Language: English

Search Terms/Subject Terms

  • Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroad
  • Labor unions—Wisconsin—Altoona
  • Railroads—Employees—Labor unions—Wisconsin
  • Railroads—Wisconsin—Employees
  • Altoona (Wis.)
  • Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Lodge 888 (Altoona, Wis.)

Biography/History

The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, formerly the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen, was organized by eight train service employees at Oneonta, New York, September 23, 1883. From its inception the union has endeavored

To unite the Railroad Trainmen; to promote their general welfare and advance their interests, social, moral, and intellectual; to protect their families by the exercise of a systematic benevolence very needful in a calling so hazardous as ours.... (Walter McCaleb, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, New York, 1936, p. 51)

In February, 1917, an organizational meeting was called at Altoona, Wisconsin by A.F. Whitney, vice president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. The purpose of the meeting was to establish a lodge of the brotherhood with jurisdiction over members employed on the eastern division of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha Railroad (except for yardmen at the Twin Cities). The lodge became Local #888, popularly known as the Chippewa Valley Lodge.

In 1968, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, along with the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, and Switchmen's Union of North America, merged to form the United Transportation Union (UTU). At this time, Local #888 became Local #1293, UTU.

Scope and Content Note

The records of the United Transportation Union, Local 1293, formerly Local 888 of Altoona, Wisconsin, span the years 1917 to 1974 and are arranged alphabetically by subject. They provide an informative, although somewhat sketchy, account of the activities of the local, with the emphasis on the period before the formation of the UTU. For this period, the records include fairly complete minutes, membership records, and financial records. There is little general correspondence, however, although there are minutes, circulars, and other communications from the Grand Lodge of the union. Virtually the only records documenting the post-merger period consist of monthly treasurer's reports and fragmentary correspondence concerning member benefits.

Administrative/Restriction Information

Acquisition Information: Presented by the Union, via Gerald A. Hagen, Altoona, Wisconsin, 1974-1978.

Accession Number: M74-284, M78-264

Processing Information: Processed by John Pfeil and John Fleckner, 1977; additions processed by Carolyn J. Mattern, 2001.

Contents List

Box 3
Folder 2
Attendance records, 1917-1935

Claims
Box 1
Folder 1
Through 1952
Box 1
Folder 2- 19
1953-1970
Box 1
Folder 20- 21
Correspondence, General, 1917-1918, 1922-1924

Elections
Box 1
Folder 22
General chairman, 1954-1974
Box 1
Folder 23
Local, 1954-1974
Box 1
Folder 24
Financial report, 1917
Box 1
Folder 25, 48
Five Day Week, 1949-1952, 1958
Box 1
Folder 26
General Committee (Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha), Minutes, 1917-1933
Box 1
Folder 27
Grand Lodge (Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen), Circulars, 1915-1923
Box 1
Folder 28
Jurisdiction, 1948, 1952-1953

Membership
Box 1
Folder 29
General application records, 1917-1929
Box 1
Folder 30
Anderson, Arthur N., 1952-1957
Box 1
Folder 31
Cole, George E., 1952-1970
Box 1
Folder 32
Coyle, Frank W., 1951
Box 1
Folder 33
Eckert, Anton F., 1953-1959
Box 1
Folder 34
Fehrenbach, George J., 1948-1966
Box 1
Folder 35
Fogle, E.D., 1963-1972
Box 1
Folder 36
Gilchrist, Theodore J., 1953, 1964, 1966, 1975
Box 1
Folder 37
Larson, Henry, 1947-1970
Box 1
Folder 38
Ludvigson, William, 1943
Box 1
Folder 39
Marvin, Jerry C., 1944, 1955-1961, 1972
Box 1
Folder 40
McKeeth, Robert E., 1971, 1975
Box 1
Folder 41
Mulvaney, William H., 1958-1975
Box 1
Folder 42
Olsen, Carl F., 1946-1971
Box 1
Folder 43
Price, G.K., 1950, 1961
Box 1
Folder 44
Robertson, Matt, 1960-1972
Box 1
Folder 45
Rock, George M., 1953-1969
Box 1
Folder 46
Rouskey, George N., 1954-1957, 1970
Box 1
Folder 47
Thomas, M.P., 1964
Box 2
Folder 1
Membership record book, 1951-1965, and Cash book, 1949-1957

Minutes
Box 3
Folder 1
1917-1923
Box 3
Folder 2
1932-1944
Box 3
Folder 3
1944-1959
Box 1
Folder 49
Miscellaneous records, undated
Box 1
Folder 50
Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen, 1950-1953, 1960-1965
Box 1
Folder 51
Organizing on Omaha, 1954-1955, 1962-1964
Box 1
Folder 52
Public Service Commission, 1953
Box 1
Folder 53
Reports of the General Chairman (Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Omaha), 1929-1933
Box 1
Folder 54
Retirement refund, 1954
Box 1
Folder 55
Rotary board, 1949-1956
Box 1
Folder 56
State Income Taxes, Minnesota and Wisconsin, 1962
Box 1
Folder 57
Strike dependents, 1962
Box 1
Folder 58
Strikes, 1946-1964
Box 1
Folder 59
Treasurers information, 1965-1967

Treasurer's monthly statements
Box 1
Folder 60- 62
1952-1954
Box 4
Folder 1- 11
1955-1965
Box 5
Folder 1-5
1966-1970
Box 5
Folder 6
Working conditions, 1958-1961
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