Chicago Tribune. Labor relations. Strike of 1947-1949 records

When three unions struck against the Tribune Company on July 18, 1985, a search was begun for the records of the November 24, 1947/September 18, 1949 Chicago Typographical Union strike. Harold Grumhaus, who was assistant production manager at the time of the 1947/1949 strike, was reached by phone and said that a complete file had been kept in Grumhaus' office by Dick Gossett.

The file could not be found until late in August, 1985, when Bruce Cerling reported the discovery of four unidentified file cabinets in two storerooms in the Tribune Tower. Upon excavating the cabinets, one drawer was found to be labeled "strike;" but the cabinets were locked and there was no key. Ann Stupur arranged to have a key made, and on September 9 the four cabinets were moved to the Tribune Company Archives storeroom.

Material from the "strike" drawer was processed during the next 10 days into five manuscript boxes. (See the 1985-09-20 summary in the XI-310 Vertical File.) The rest of the material, including one cabinet which would not open even with the key, was left for later processing.

In May 1986 a locksmith opened this cabinet and it was found to contain a great deal more strike material in a state of some disarray. Material that seemed of high priority was processed immediately and the collection expanded to eight boxes. (See the 1986-05-19 summary in the XI-310 Vertical File.) Later in the year the rest of the material was processed; the Antrim business manager files (#50-6) were separated from the Park and Grumhaus (production) files (#36-2), and the collection expanded to eleven boxes.