Missouri State University Libraries
Records of the International Typographical Union (ITU), Local 158
Volume: 3.25 cubic feet
Dates: 1924-1987
Provenance
The majority of the records of the ITU, Local 158, were transferred from Neal Moore to the Ozarks Labor Union Archives prior to 1985.
Copyright
This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Tile 17, United States Code).Access
The collection is unrestricted. Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be obtained from the Department of Special Collection and Archives. Citations should be as follows: Identification of the item, box and folder number, International Typographical Union, Local 158, Department of Special Collections and Archives, Missouri State University.
Biography/Historical Sketch
International Typographical Union, Local 158
While typographical workers forming associations known as “chapels” is almost as old as printing itself, modern trade unions did not occur until the late 1840s. In Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 3rd, 1852, the National Typographical Union was founded, which became the International Typographical Union (ITU), with the admission of Canadian printing locals in 1869.
Originally the ITU was a comprehensive industrial union with membership drawn from all phases of the printing process. Technological developments at the end of the 1800s resulted in increased job specialization, which in turn led to segregation of union jurisdiction. The International Brotherhood of Bookbinders (IBB) was founded in 1892. Pressure formed within the ITU for a separate pressmen's union, and the International Printing Pressmen Union of North America (IPPU) was founded in 1889. By 1897, they had added the Assistants to form the IPPAU. The International Stereotypers' and Electroplater's Union (IS&EU) was formed in 1902. By the time the International Photoengraver's Union (IPEU) was formed in 1904, four separate unions represented the portion of the printing trade outside the composing room. However, of these unions, the ITU remained the strongest and most stable union until the mid 1900s.
The United Typothetae of America (UTA) was founded to represent the interests of printshop owners in response to the demand by the ITU for a nine-hour work day in the late 1880s. This organization continued to block the ITU’s efforts to reduce working hours in the book and job shops until 1897, although the use of labor saving machinery made the eight hour, six day week standard in newspaper shops.
In 1899, the first contract negotiated industry wide was signed by the UTA, ITU, IPPAU and the IBB. The nine hour day was to become standard in book and job shops on November 21, 1899. In 1902, a lasting agreement was reached with the American Newspaper Publishers’ Association and it was followed by an agreement with the Printing Industry of America, another employers’ group.
On March 1st, 1886, twelve printers in Springfield, Missouri, chartered the International Typographical Union (ITU), Local 158. In 1892 a strike was called in Springfield by the Local 158 to force the employers to increase the pay scale. The strike was won. Difficulties remained until a new union, the International Allied Printing Trades Association, was begun. This was an inter-union agency that helped to protect the union workers by controlling and promoting the use of the union label.
The ITU was a fraternal organization designed to benefit its members in many ways. Members paid monthly dues for which they received strike and death benefits, a pension plan, technical training and apprenticeship programs. They also maintained the Union Printer's Home for the Aged and Sanitorium for Tuberculars in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for their distressed members in need of medical care.
The ITU negotiated contracts between workers and their employers to help ensure decent wages for reasonable working hours with safe and healthy working conditions. In Springfield, when they could not reach an agreement and a strike did occur, as in the strike of 1949-1954, Local 158 banded together as a brotherhood and supported each other with assistance from other unions across the country showing that the International Typographical Union, in its heyday, was truly a fraternal organization.
In 1953, the strike-idled Local 158 subsidized and manned the presses of the Daily News-Digest in Springfield. Many had been out of work since the strike began in July of 1949. The newspaper later became the Springfield Advertiser, but it folded after a few years.
Local 158, which began with 12 members in 1886 and rose to an average of 25 during the late 1940s, declined to less than a dozen active members by the 1970s. This nationwide declining membership due to advancing technology led to the ITU merger with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in 1986. Prior to this merger the ITU, Local 158, was one of the oldest unions in Springfield, Missouri.
Allied Printing Trades Council
Included in the collection are the records of the Allied Printing Trades Council of Springfield, a union association affiliated with the International Typographical Union, Local 158.
Printers have been known to use a union label, called a “bug”, which signifies that all aspects of the work, from typesetting to finishing, were performed by union labor. The Allied Printing Trades union label is the most common “bug”, and it contains several important pieces of information. The lower arc contains the geographic region, which may be a city ("New York") or a broader area ("Northern California"). Coupled with that location is a shop name or number. The number is permanently assigned when the shop is organized. A regional list of union shops, indexed by shop name and number, is available from the local Printing Trades Council. A national database is also now available online. The union label is a copyrighted symbol and is occasionally accompanied by a © symbol.
Printers used this “bug” as early as October 15, 1891, when it appeared at the head of the editorial column of the Compositors’ (ITU) Typographical Journal. The first known use of a bug in commercially-produced documents was by the IPPAU in May 1893. The union label has at least five purposes.
- It is a protection against anti- or non-union shops that might otherwise profess union working conditions.
- It can be part of a public-relations campaign to induce customers to buy union made products.
- It is a sign of good workmanship and quality standards.
- It is badge of union prestige to attract new members.
- It is warning against trespass by competitive unions.
In 1897, under the pact with Pressmen and Bookbinders, the Compositors agreed to a design for a new Allied Printing Trades Council label. Of course, this was not seen as an entirely positive activity by the management side of the industry. In 1899, the UTA passed a resolution deprecating the use of the union label by its members, and encouraged them to stop putting the label on work produced in their shops. In 1911 all five unions in the trade (ITU, IBB, IE&SU, IPP, and IPEU) formed the International Allied Printing Trades Council (IAPTC) as an inter-union agency to control and promote the use of the union label. By 1939 the Allied label was in general use throughout the printing trade and took precedence over the individual labels of the five internationals.
The Springfield council of the International Allied Printing Trades Association (IAPTA) appears to have worked closely with Local 158 until the 1970s when they discontinued their membership due to lack of financial resources and apparent lack of confidence in the organization.
Sources
International Typographical Union, Local 158 Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Missouri State University.
James J. Murphy Scrapbooks, 1893-1919. #5260. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives,
Cornell University Library.
http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/KCL05260.html
Profiles of American Labor Unions, Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Research, 1998, p.313, 358.
Scope and Content
The collection includes material on the International Typographical Union, Local 158, and a small amount of material from the Allied Printing Trades Council of Springfield.
Documentation during the strike of 1949 to 1954 is extensive. The daily minutes, combined with the communication and financial records, give one a good view of the inner workings of this union during a traumatic time period and how they banded together as a brotherhood.
Included in the material are the records on Bernard Ellis, who served as secretary-treasurer for Local 158 for 5 years and how he embezzled $2,296 from the union.
The information spans 1924 to 1987 with the majority of the material coming from the 1950s and 1960s. The collection is divided into nine series, as outlined below.
Series I: Constitutions and Bylaws: Constitutions and Bylaws of Local 158 ranging from 1951 to 1969.
Series II: Contracts and Agreements: The Contracts and Agreements between Local 158 and various local businesses from 1946 to 1972.
Series III: Minutes: Monthly minutes from 1955 to 1973, with daily minutes during the strike of 1949 to 1954. Also included are the picket line roll call sheets from 1949 to 1954.
Series IV: Correspondence: Primarily communication with the International Typographical Union headquarters and other ITU locals. Many letters are from men in this field seeking news on employment opportunities. Correspondence pertaining to the Union Printers Home, the pension plan, and the merger of ITU with the Communication Workers of America are also included, ranging from 1938 to 1987.
Series V: General: Information related to the strike of 1949 to 1954. Records of the misappropriation of funds by Bernard Ellis and the restitution records from 1951 to 1956. Sick pay, pension and mortuary benefit records from 1943 to 1974.
Series VI: Publications: Pamphlets, forms, and flyers from 1951 to 1956, along with the newsletter and magazine of the International Typographical Union from 1985 to 1989.
Series VII: Membership: Applications for membership from 1945 to 1968 and membership registers for Local 158 from 1924 to 1970.
Series VIII: Financial: Bills, finance related correspondence, receipts and disbursements ledgers, monthly reports, quarterly audits and tax records from 1936 to 1969.
Series IX: Allied Printing Trades Council: Contracts and agreements between the International Allied Printing Trades Association and local businesses for 1951 and 1953 to 1956, minutes of the Allied Printing Trades Council of Springfield from 1941 to 1955, and correspondence from 1949 to 1960. Finance records consisting of bills, bank statements, finance related correspondence, and the receipts and disbursements ledgers ranging from 1948 to 1957.
Container List
The container list for this collection is available in PDF format. Adobe Reader is required to view the container list.
