Inventory of the Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125 Records, 1879 - 1970, predominantly 1902 - 1970

Processed by The Labor Archives & Research Center staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou

Labor Archives and Research Center

San Francisco State University

480 Winston Drive

San Francisco, California 94132

Phone: (415) 564-4010

Fax: (415) 564-3606

Email: larc@sfsu.edu

URL: http://www.library.sfsu.edu/special/larc.html

Inventory of the Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125 Records, 1879 - 1970, predominantly 1902 - 1970

Accession number: 1986/086

Labor Archives & Research Center

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, California

Contact Information:

Labor Archives & Research Center
San Francisco State University
480 Winston Drive
San Francisco, California 94132
Phone: (415) 564-4010
Fax: (415) 564-3606
Email: larc@sfsu.edu
URL: http://www.library.sfsu.edu/special/larc.html

Processed by:: The Labor Archives & Research Center staff
Encoded by:: Xiuzhi Zhou

Descriptive Summary

Title: Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125 Records,

Date (inclusive): 1879 - 1970,

Date (bulk): predominantly 1902 - 1970

Accession number: 1986/086

Creator: Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union

Extent: 5 cubic feet and 1 oversize volume

Repository: San Francisco State University. Labor Archives & Research Center

San Francisco, California 94132

Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Center's online catalog.

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives & Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Labor Archives & Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125 Records, 1986/086, Labor Archives & Research Center, San Francisco State University.

Introduction

The collection consists of records, primarily minutes, of the Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125 and its predecessors. The collection also includes bank records, dance cards and banquet programs, arbitration agreements, and constitutions and by- laws. The records date primarily from 1902 to 1970. This was originally two unions, one for men and one for women, which joined in 1917. The records, especially those that deal with the merger, give valuable information on gender-related labor issues such as the lives of working women, and the relative power of women in consolidated unions. The collection was donated by Graphic Communications, Local 583 in 1986. The collection was originally processed in 1987 by Helen Austin Duell, and reprocessed in 1989 by Leon Sompolinsky.

History

Prior to 1917, two separate unions existed. The Bindery Women's Union Local 125 organized in 1902. The International Brotherhood of Bookbinders Local 31 traces its genesis back to the Journeymen Bookbinders' Association of the Pacific Coast adopting its first Constition and By- laws in 1875. In July 1917 their merger formed one union, the Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125. The men's local included these skills: book binders, paper rulers, paper cutters, and folding machine operators. Women did only bookbinding except for bronze work. The Bindery Workers Union Local 21, of Palo Alto, CA, organized in 1947 representing Stanford University Press employees. Local 21 voted to merge with Local 31- 125 in 1969.

Scope and Content

The fifth volume is a membership ledger and the remaining volumes are minutes. The agenda of the minutes typically include interaction with other unions, new business, and finances. The financial statement includes membership dues and expenses. Beginning with 1927 membership ledgers and the minutes were bound in the same volumes. The early membership ledgers show that many of the members had Irish names.

Volumes 3 (1910-1918) and 6 (1906-1917) include the merger negotiations of the two locals. At first the women were reluctant to consolidate and demanded that they be allowed to retain their particular line of work, that men not be allowed to go on their machines, that women not be allowed to bronze, that they be taken in with equal voting rights, that they retain their regular holidays, and that they "retain a self supporting woman in the office." A joint committee was established and it was decided that the vice president was to be a woman, that two out of four elected executive committee members were to be women, and that an equal number of men and women would be sent as delegates to the Allied Printing Trades Council and the Labor Council. The Joint Committee granted most of the women's demands except that women were not given an equal vote on the election of officers, finances and strikes. On these issues they were given half a vote. The women's local agreed to merge but protested that they wanted equal votes on strikes because they felt that the issue of strikes was of "equal interest to all." They did not succeed in this demand. Women who lived far away were excused from attending regular meetings at night. Minimum wages and hours were set for both with men earning more. Loose pages in volume 6 relate to the merger and include letters from the Labor Council relating to the restriction of the immigration of "coolies."

Many of the women felt that the merger put them at a disadvantage for they gave away the control of their union and they were restricted to less skilled labor. The later volumes include some discussion of health issues and maximum hours of work a day. Other volumes also give information on wage and hours negotiation and relations with local and national labor movements.

Material Cataloged Separately

Photograph negatives found in the collection have been transferred to the Archives' photograph subject collection and may be located in the folder titled Bookbinders and Binderywomen.

Container List

Series I: International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, Local 31; Minutes

Box-folder 1/Vol. 1

International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, Local 31; Minutes 1903-1907

Box-folder 1/Vol. 2

International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, Local 31; Minutes 1907-1910

Box-folder 1/Vol. 3

International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, Local 31; Minutes 1910-1918

Box-folder 1/Vol. 4

Executive committee, International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, Local 31; Minutes 1912-1920

SERIES II. Bindery Women's Union, Local 125; Minutes and Membership Ledgers

Box-folder 1/Vol. 5

Bindery Women's Union, Local 125; Membership Ledger 1902-1905

Box-folder 1/Vol. 6

Bindery Women's Union, Local 125 Minutes. 1906-1917

Additional Note

April and May 1917 entries as well as loose pages relate to merger and Labor Council letters on immigration.

Series III. Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes

Box-folder 2/Vol. 7

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1918-1927

Box-folder 2/Vol. 8

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1927-1934

Box-folder 2/Vol. 9

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1934-1937

Box-folder 2/Vol. 10

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1938-1942

Box-folder 2/Vol. 11

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1942-1947

Box-folder 3/Vol. 12

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1947-1952

Box-folder 3/Vol. 13

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1952-1955

Box-folder 3/Vol. 14

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1955-1959

Box-folder 3/Vol. 15

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1959-1962

Box-folder 4/Vol. 16

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1962-1966

Box-folder 4/Vol. 17

Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1966-1970

Series IV. Bindery Workers Union Local 21; Minutes

Box-folder 4/Vol. 18

Bindery Workers Union Local 21; Minutes 1947-1969

Series V. Bookbinders And Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Executive Committee, Minutes

Box-folder 4/Vol. 19

Executive committee, Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes, vol. 1 1939-1942

Box-folder 4/Vol. 20

Executive committee, Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes, vol. 2 1942-1945

Box-folder 4/Vol. 21

Executive committee, Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1945-1948

Box-folder 4/Vol. 22

Executive committee, Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1948-1951

Box-folder 5/23

Executive committee, Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1951-1954

Box-folder 5/24

Executive committee, Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1954-1957

Box-folder 5/25

Executive committee, Bookbinders and Bindery Women's Union, Local 31-125; Minutes 1957-1961

Series VI. Arbitrations and Agreements

Box-folder 5/1

Bookbinders Local 31 and Employing Bookbinders Association of San Francisco 1904

Box-folder 5/2

Pressmen's and Assistant's Union #24, Bookbinder's and Bindery Women's Union #31- 125 and Printer's Board of Trade, Franklin Printing Trades, Association Employing Bookbinder's Association 1922

Box-folder 5/3

Local 31-125 and the Printers Board of Trade, Franklin Printing Trades Assn. 1923

Box-folder 5/4

International Bookbinder's Union Locals 18, 32, 41, the St. Louis Bindery Women's Local 55 and named firms of the City of St. Louis, Missouri 1910

Series VII. Financial Records

Box-folder 5/5

Account books:

Hibernia Savings and Loan Society 1918-1922

San Francisco Savings and Loan Society 11918-1934

Brotherhood National Bank 1927-1937

Anglo-California Trust Company 1928-1937

Bank of America 1933-1939

Series VIII. Constitutions

Box-folder 5/6

International Brotherhood of Bookbinders 1910-1930

Box-folder 5/7

Bookbinders' and Bindery Women's Unions 1879-1933

Box-folder 5/8

Bookbinders' Beneficial Association 1902 & 1905

Box-folder 5/9

Bookbinders' Local 35, Sacramento, CA 1911

Box-folder 5/10

Articles of Association of the Employing Printers' Association of San Francisco 1927-1940

Series IX: Ephemera

Box-folder 5/11

Bookbinders' and Bindery Women--Dance Cards and Banquet Programs 1885-1928

Box-folder 5/12

International Brotherhood of Bookbinders #25, Chicago -- cards 1904

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