BRICKLAYERS, MASONS AND CEMENT BLOCKLAYERS UNION LOCAL NO.1:
An Inventory of Its Records at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Bricklayers, Masons and Cement Blocklayers Union. Local No. 1., creator. | |
| Title: | Local No. 1 records. | |
| Dates: | 1882-1950. | |
| Abstract: | Minute books (1884-1912), account books (1886-1897), membership lists (1894-1950), and a scrapbook of routine correspondence (1888-1897). The minutes discuss union business, strikes, activities of the St. Paul Trade and Labor Assembly, relations with other unions, labor legislation in Minnesota, prison labor, members working on nonunion jobs, the amalgamation of two St. Paul bricklayers unions (1897), and sickness and death benefits. | |
| Quantity: | 3.0 cubic feet (4 boxes, including 18 volumes). | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description section for shelf location. |
HISTORICAL NOTE
On May 25, 1882, the National Union of Bricklayers of the United States of America issued a charter to Local 1, St. Paul. By 1885, when the bulk of these records begin, the union had become the Bricklayers International Union, Local 1 (St. Paul), a member of the Bricklayers and Masons International Union of America.
In 1890 a rival union was organized in St. Paul, the National American Bricklayers Union, Local 1. The two merged in December 1891, retaining the Bricklayers International Union name. A further change occurred on January 12, 1893, when it became the Bricklayers Benevolent Union, Local 1 (St. Paul).
Bricklayers, Masons and Cement Blocklayers Union Local 1 (St. Paul) was the organization's title at the time these records were donated to the Minnesota Historical Society. The Society holds no records that indicate when that name change took place.
Historical information was taken from the collection.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The papers document the history and development of the local, including its operational and fiscal structures and its interactions with other unions at the local, national, and international levels.
The papers are arranged chronologically within each section unless otherwise noted in the individual description found on the following pages.
ARRANGEMENT
These documents are organized into the following sections:
| Correspondence and Related Materials (undated and 1882-1992) | ||
| Traveling Cards (1889-1892, 1898) | ||
| Certificates of Deposit (1890-1892) | ||
| Secretary's Records Books (1882-1950) |
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Bricklayers, Masons and Cement Blocklayers Union Local No. 1 Records. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 7360; 9948; 10,248
Processing Information:
Processed by: Cheryl N. Thies, April 1988
Catalog ID number: 990017174730104294
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
CORRESPONDENCE AND RELATED PAPERS
This section includes letters, financial and legal papers, reports, meeting notices, and resolutions. The correspondence includes letters between local officers, international officers, and members and covers such topics as local and international rules, resolutions, and financial decisions; doctor's statements attesting to individual members inability to work; Cooperative Hall Board semiannual reports; auditing committee reports; lists of union members delinquent in their dues or accused of "scabbing" (working for nonunion companies) and/or agitation; requests for membership information and traveling cards; and validation of members' traveling cards.
Major correspondents include local officers A. J. Reis, Adolph Guino, Christ Froburg, and Edward Christian and international officers Patrick Murray, Alex Darragh, Thomas O'Dea, and A. J. McDonald.
The following paragraphs highlight additional events or topics in this section.
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 1 | Undated and 1882-1886, 1889. | |||||||||||
| 1882 charter (photocopy) and letters concerning relations with the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly and the Minneapolis Bricklayers International Union, Local 2 (1889). | |||||||||||||
| 1890. 3 folders. | |||||||||||||
| Letter from U.S. Senator C. K. Davis concerning a proposed law to regulate labor employment in the construction of public buildings (March 26), certificate deputizing Local 1 member William A. Marshall to install a union in Duluth (Aug. 25), and a request from the Duluth union for a list of St. Paul scabs (Nov. 22). | |||||||||||||
| 1891. 2 folders | |||||||||||||
| Letters from Minneapolis Local 2 concerning wage scales, from the international office pertaining to money owed by Local 1 for strike funds, and from other cities requesting Local 1 members to stay away due to an overabundance of bricklayers in those areas. | |||||||||||||
| 1892. | |||||||||||||
| Minutes of a joint meeting of the Contracting Masons Association and Local 1 concerning job bidding and wages (Feb. 10) and a letter from Senator Davis pertaining to eight hour legislation (March 18). | |||||||||||||
| 1893, 1898-1912. | |||||||||||||
| Complaints against individual members for disobeying union rules (1899, 1902, 1909) and an apprentice indenture contract (Feb. 1909). | |||||||||||||
TRAVELING CARDS
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 1 | Traveling cards, 1889-1892, 1898. | |||||||||||
| Certificates validating an individual's union membership. Issued by a member's home union, they were deposited with another local when the individual had cause to work in its area. Includes name, home union number, and city. | |||||||||||||
CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 1 | Certificates of deposit, 1890-1892. | |||||||||||
| Issued by Local 1, these certificates state the Local 1 had received a traveling card issued from another local and requests validation of said card by that local. | |||||||||||||
SECRETARY'S RECORDS BOOKS
| Minute books, 1884-1903, 1907-1912. 6 volumes. | |||||||||||||
| Minutes of regular weekly meetings. Includes lists of officers, proposed members, apprentices, and members accepted on traveling cards; committee reports; reports on pending legislation; and financial data. Topics covered include payment of sick benefits, Trade and Labor Assembly activities, loans to members, organization of the summer picnic and autumn ball, elections, fines levied against and the ejection of members accused of scabbing, length of work day and the hourly wage, and international and local scab lists. There are also numerous references to various St. Paul buildings under construction. A few of the minutes are in German. | |||||||||||||
| 1. July 3, 1884-Dec. 30, 1885. | |||||||||||||
| Notification to the international union that St. Paul was overrun with bricklayers (April 1885), declaration of the first Monday in September as a union holiday (Aug. 1885), and debate over the eight-hour day (Nov.-Dec. 1885). Also a member list (undated) and officer roll call (Nov. 1885). | |||||||||||||
| 2. Jan. 14, 1886-Nov. 21, 1889. | |||||||||||||
| Demand for nine hours of work/nine hours of pay (April 1886), negotiations with the stonecutters' union (1887), and Labor Day parade preparations (Aug. 1889). Also includes lists of officers (1886-1889) and new members (1887-1888). There are no minutes for July 1889. | |||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 2 | 3. Dec. 4, 1889-Aug. 10, 1893. | |||||||||||
| Formation of the rival St. Paul union (Aug. 1890); financial support for a Federation of Labor lobbyist at the state capitol (Feb. 1891); recommendation stemming from a joint meeting of the Trade and Labor Assembly, the international local, and the national local that the two locals merge (Dec. 1891); creation of a grievance committee to settle difficulties between the two locals (Jan. 1892); resolution supporting the eight hour day legislation before Congress (March 1892); and revision of the constitution (June 1892-March 1893). | |||||||||||||
| 4. Aug. 17, 1893-March 3, 1898. | |||||||||||||
| Strike during construction of the St. Paul post office building (Nov.-Dec. 1893), threat of a strike against all contracts over wages (March-April 1894), boycott of Washburn-Crosby Milling Company flour (May 1894), the governor's declaration of Labor Day as a legal holiday (Aug. 1894), a five-month discontinuance of sick benefits (Nov. 1894), and support of legislation requiring that only Minnesota labor (Feb. 1895) and materials (June 1897) by used in construction of the new state capitol. | |||||||||||||
| 5. March 17, 1898-March 12, 1903. | |||||||||||||
| Shop steward reports from all major construction jobs (1900), votes to withdraw from the State Federation of Labor (May 1901), and the Building Trades Council (Sept. 1902), and the employment of a detective to collect names of members employed at nonunion construction jobs (June 1902). | |||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 4 | 6. Oct. 31, 1907-Aug. 22, 1912. | |||||||||||
| Meetings with Minneapolis Local 2 to set a wage scale (1907), investigation of the Twin City Bricklayers College (Nov. 1908, Jan. 1909), employment of a union doctor (May 1910), and a copy of the constitution and bylaws (March 1911). | |||||||||||||
| Recording Secretary's copybooks, 1886-1897. 6 volumes. | |||||||||||||
| Basically rough drafts of the minutes books (Vols. 1-6). There are some content differences, however, including several sets of minutes not found in the minute books. Therefore, the researcher should consult both sets of volumes. | |||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 2 | 7. Dec. 1886-June 1889. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 3 | 8. Aug. 1889-March 1891. | |||||||||||
| 9. March 1891-Aug. 1892. | |||||||||||||
| 10. Aug. 1892-June 1893. | |||||||||||||
| 11. June 1893-July 1894. | |||||||||||||
| 12. Sept. 1894-May 1897. | |||||||||||||
| Minute Book: National American Local Bricklayers Union, Local 1 (St. Paul), 1890-1891. | |||||||||||||
| Minutes of this rival union's weekly meetings. The basic contents are the same as those described for volumes 1-6. Special events or subjects include the vote against joining the international union (March 1890), incorporation (Nov. 1890), the vote against merger (Feb. 1891), adoption of the new charter (March 1891), and details of the merger with the international local (Dec. 1891). There are minutes for August 1 through October 17, 1891. | |||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 4 | Membership book, 1890-1950. | |||||||||||
| Records individual member's name, address, age, permanent home, marital status, and beneficiaries. Pages 106-293 are blank. | |||||||||||||
| Daybooks, 1886, 1889, 1890-1897. 2 volumes. | |||||||||||||
| Actually weekly accounts of receipts and disbursements. The entries for Jan. 3, 1891 through Jan. 1, 1895 are contained in both volumes. Volume 16 also contains minutes of an October 1887 meeting (p. 352). | |||||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 3 | 15. 1891-1897. | |||||||||||
| Box | |||||||||||||
| P6 | 4 | 16. 1886, 1889, 1890-1895. | |||||||||||
| Account books, 1882-1887. 2 volumes. | |||||||||||||
| Kept by individual member. There is no index for either volume. Entries record dues, sick and boilermakers taxes, credit, and reasons for leaving, i.e.. death, withdrawal, ejection, or taking out a traveling card. | |||||||||||||
| The first 25 pages of volume 17 were also used as a scrapbook for such materials as member certificates, correspondence, and national circulars (July-Sept. 1889). Volume 18 also contains lists of expelled members (1886-1887). | |||||||||||||
| 17. 1882-1886. | |||||||||||||
| 18. 1886-1887. | |||||||||||||
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Bricklayers -- Labor unions -- Minnesota.
- German Americans -- Minnesota.
- Labor and laboring classes -- Minnesota.
- Labor Day.
- Labor disputes -- Minnesota.
- Labor laws and legislation -- Minnesota.
- Strikebreakers.
- Strikes and lockouts -- Construction workers -- Minnesota.
- Wages -- Bricklayers -- Minnesota.
- Places:
- Saint Paul (Minn.) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
- Persons:
- Christian, Edward.
- Darragh, Alex.
- Davis, Cushman K., 1838-1900.
- Froburg, Christ.
- Guino, Adolph.
- McDonald, A. J.
- Murray, Patrick.
- O'Dea, Thomas.
- Reis, A. J.
- Organizations:
- Bricklayers International Union -- Local No. 2 (Minneapolis, Minn.).
- Contracting Masons Association (Saint Paul, Minn.).
- St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly (St. Paul, Minn.).
- Twin City Bricklayers College (St. Paul, Minn.).
- Occupation:
- Apprentices -- Minnesota.
- Bricklayers -- Minnesota.
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