New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17 COLLECTION
(Mss 49)
Inventory
Earl K. Long Library
University of New Orleans
October 2000
Summary
Size: 64 items, including 20 bound volumes
Geographiclocations: New Orleans, La.
Inclusive dates: 1852-1957
Bulk dates: 1852-1946
Summary: Bank deposit books; constitution, bylaws, and minutes; convention proceedings; union contracts; union histories; ledger book; publications; miscellaneous items.
Related collections: New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17 Collection, Addendum 1 (Mss 96)
Source: Gift, 1974
Access: No restrictions
Copyright: Physical rights are retained by the Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans.
Citation: New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17 Collection, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans
Historical Note
On April 25, 1852, 115 representatives of fifteen New Orleans printing offices assembled at Commercial Exchange Hall “to consider “such measures as would promote the interests and general welfare of the printers of the city of New Orleans.” A constitution for the fledgling organization was drafted quickly, and on May 2, 1852, the New Orleans Typographical Union was launched. Its purposes were “the maintenance of a fair rate of wages, the encouragement of good workmen, the relief of members, and to use every means which may tend to the elevation of Printers in the social scale of life.” This statement of purpose was later amended to read, “The objects of this Union shall be the maintenance of a fair rate of wages; the encouragement of a thorough apprenticeship system as the best means of making good workmen; the relief and burial of members, and the elevation of members of the craft in the social scale of life.” Gerard Stith (d. 1880), then foreman of the composing room of the New Orleans Daily Picayune and later mayor of New Orleans, served as the union's first president. The organization was incorporated as on May 30, 1853.
Over the years, the New Orleans Typographical Union withstood the ravages of yellow fever, the vagaries of war and politics, the local introduction of the linotype machine in 1891, and other obstacles as it strove to ensure equitable wages and fair treatment for its members. The oldest trade union in New Orleans, it is affiliated with the International Typographical Union, the Louisiana AFL-CIO, and the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO council.
Sources:
Conrad, Glenn R., ed. A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography (2 vols.; [s.l.]: Louisiana Historical Association in cooperation with the Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana, 1988), II: 771-772.
Heald, Thomas N. “History of New Orleans Typographical Union from May 2, 1852 to Jan. 1, 1901” (unpublished manuscript), 1901 (quotations).
List of Series
I. Bank Deposit Books
II. Contract and Scales of Prices
III. Ledger Book
IV. Minutes
V. Miscellany
VI. Publications
Container List
Series I. Bank Deposit Books.
49-1 Whitney National Bank of New Orleans. March 28, 1933 - March 30, 1940.
Whitney National Bank of New Orleans. April 29, 1940 - July 10, 1946.
Constitution and Bylaws.
See Publications, Constitution . . . (49-18), Constitution . . . (49-19). For First Constitution and Bylaws and Revised Constitution and Bylaws (also proposed amendments, 1873) see Minutes, Record Book No. 1 . . . (49-4); Miscellany, Revised Constitution and Bylaws... (49-15).
Series II. Contract and Scales of Prices.
49-2 Contract and Scale of Prices. May 1, 1940: Columb Printing Co., E. B. Coste Linotyping Co., Conner Lazenby, A. W. Hyatt Stationery Co., Ltd., Montgomery-Andree Printing Co., Paragon Printing Co., Pioneer Printing Co., E. P. Rivas, Robinson Linotyping Co., Rogers Printing Co., Vieux Carre Printery, Woods Printing Co. (Includes letter from Thomas F. Griffin, Director, Bureau of Statistics, International Typographical Union to D.J. Dismukes, Secretary, New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17, August 7, 1940).
Contract and Scale of Prices. November 19, 1941: Archer & Bayer Printing, Palfrey, Rodd-Pursell, Co., Ltd.
Series III. Ledger Book.
49-3 Miscellaneous disbursements and receipts, January 1927 - May 1939.
Series IV. Minutes.
Attachments include bulletins, clippings and correspondence.
49-4 Record Book No. 1, April 1852 - December 1858.
49-5 Record Book No. 2, January 1859 - July 1875.
49-6 Record Book No. 3, July 1875 - June 1892.
49-7 Record Book No. 4, July 1892 - December 1896.
49-8 Record Book No. 5, January 1897 - April 1901.
49-9 One Volume, May 1901 - December 1903.
49-10 One Volume, January 1904 - December 1906.
49-11 One Volume, January 1907 - November 1908.
49-12 One Volume, December 1908 - December 1912.
49-13 One Volume, July 1908 - August 1925.
49-14 One Volume (unbound), January 1913 - March 1923.
Series V. Miscellany.
49-15 Act of Conveyance of lot no. 31, Greenwood Cemetery, New Orleans, to Wm. Geo. Pearce, March 25, 1913.
Heald, Thomas N. “History of New Orleans Typographical Union from May 2, 1852 to Jan. 1, 1901” (unpublished manuscript), 1901.
Letter from New Orleans Newspaper Publishers to Typographical Union No. 17. December 26, 1914.
Report of Delegate L. T. Roschuni to New Orleans Typographical Union on the Seventieth Annual Convention of the International Typographical Union (Kalamazoo). August 18, 1925.
49-15 A Resolution: Adopted and Signed by the Mechanical Departments of the Times-Picayune Publishing Company on July 14, 1934.
Revised Constitution and Bylaws (holographic manuscript), March 4, 1853.
Working Card, A. W. Brewerton. New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17, 1873 - 1874.
Series VI. Publications.
49-16 Ben Franklin Foundation. Formal Opening and Dedication of School Printing. Chicago: International Typographical Union, [1940].
49-17 Brevier, Linafont. Tramography; Reminscenes of a Rovin' Printer, 1913 to 1917. Glendale, Cal., 1954.
49-18 Constitution and Bylaws of New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17. New Orleans, 1860, 1864, 1869 (2 copies), 1874, 1883, 1888 (3 copies), 1892, 1906, 1926.
49-19 Constitution, Bylaws, and General Laws, International Typographical Union and Union Printers' Home. Indianapolis: International Typographical Union, 1906.
49-20 84th Convention, International Typographical Union (New Orleans). 1940.
49-21 Forty-Ninth Session, International Typographical Union (Washington, D.C.). 1903.
International Typographical Union Bureau of Education. I.T.U. Lessons in Printing. Indianapolis: International Typographical Union, [n.d.]
49-25 Display Composition: Simple Display. 1945.
49-28 English for Printers: How to Master It. 1952.
49-29 Imposition and Lockup: Secrets of Stonework. 1957.
49-27 Newspaper Advertising: How to Make Layouts and Set Ads. 1945.
49-26 Newspaper Practice: Principles and Practice. 1945.
49-30 Linotype Keyboard Operation: Methods of Study and Procedures for Setting Various Kinds of Composition on the Linotype. Brooklyn: Mergenthaler Linotype Co., 1940.
49-22 Report of Proceedings of the Thirty-Second Annual Session of the International Typographical Union (New Orleans). Washington, D.C., 1884.
49-31 Rogers, John R. Linotype Instruction Book: A Detailed Description of the Mechanism and Operation of the Linotype with Instruction for Its Erection, Maintenance, and Care. Brooklyn: Mergenthaler Linotype Co., 1929.
49-23 The Signal Oil. Milneburg, La., February 1911.
49-24 International Typographical Union Bureau of Education, Teletypesetter: A Manual of Instruction. [Indianapolis]: International Typographical Union, n.d.
49-32 Tracy, George A. History of the Typographical Union. Indianapolis: International Typographical Union, 1913.
Index Terms
New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17
Unions—Louisiana—New Orleans