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Perry S. Melton papers, 1935-1987

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Melton, Perry S., 1907-1992
Title
Perry S. Melton papers
Dates
1935-1987 (inclusive)
Quantity
12 linear feet of shelf space
Collection Number
MC 252 (collection)
Summary
Perry Melton was a long time Kalispell labor union leader. This collection is organized into subgroups for Perry Melton's personal files; the Central Trades and Labor Council of Kalispell and Flathead County; the Painters Union #975; the Flathead Metal Trades Council; the Northwest Montana Building and Construction Trades Council; the Hotel, Restaurant and Bar Tenders International Union Locals 312 and 603; the Montana State Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); the Treasure State Labor Journal; and the United Textile Workers Union (North Carolina only). There are minor files concerning Melton's involvement with the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association, his service as a Flathead Valley Community College trustee, and his work with the Montana Committee for the Humanities.
Repository
Montana Historical Society, Library & Archives
Montana Historical Society Research Center Archives
225 North Roberts
PO Box 201201
Helena MT
59620-1201
Telephone: 4064442681
Fax: 4064445297
mhslibrary@mt.gov
Access Restrictions

Collection open for research. .

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Perry Sanders Melton was born in Cambridge, Kansas, on February 6, 1907, the son of Elisha Reuben "Rube" Melton and Lilly Melton, while the Melton's were gradually working their way west from their home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western Virginia. They arrived in Kalispell, Montana, when Perry was a year old. As a school boy, Perry was involved in sports, drama, journalism, and the Boy Scouts. He graduated from Flathead County High School in 1924. Accompanied by several friends he travelled by car across the country in late 1925 and early 1926 to visit relatives in Virginia. On his return to Montana he worked for several years as a seasonal Forest Service employee in what later became the Bob Marshall Wilderness, served in the National Guard, and worked odd jobs. In 1933, in an incident that was to haunt him in later life, Melton was arrested for selling homemade chokecherry wine to several Indians. He pleaded guilty and served 40 days in the Cascade County jail. He was eventually pardoned by President Richard Nixon. In the mid 1930s Perry began an apprenticeship with his father as a house painter. The senior Melton was one of the founders of the Kalispell local of the Painters Union. After Perry qualified as a journeyman painter, he became active with the union and in 1938 was elected its secretary. He held that post until 1951 and then again from 1958 until the local merged with the Missoula local in 1973. Perry Melton was one of the founders of the Kalispell Central Trades and Labor Council and served as its secretary-treasurer from its founding in 1937 until 1951 and then again in the 1970s. Melton also served from 1964 to 1974 as secretary for the Northwest Montana Building and Construction Trades Council. In 1955 Melton lost a bitterly contested election against James S. Umber for leadership of the Montana State Federation of Labor. His bootlegging arrest in 1933 became a central issue in the campaign. In 1951 Perry Melton accepted a job with the United Textile Workers of America as an organizer in North Carolina. The three years he spent as a union organizer and radio commentator in the South strongly influenced his views on the labor movement, politics, and human rights. In 1938, seeing the need for an independent labor-oriented press in Montana, Melton convinced the Kalispell Trades and Labor Council to publish the Flathead Labor Journal. The following year the title was changed to the Treasure State Labor Journal to reflect the wider audience the paper had acquired. In December 1950 the Council sold the paper to Melton. Two years later he in turn sold it to the Kalispell Laborers Union who attempted briefly to publish it. The Laborers sold the paper to the State Federation of Labor which terminated publication in January 1955. In 1967 Melton was one of the founders of Flathead Valley Community College. He served on its Board of Trustees until his retirement in 1979. He was briefly removed from the Board in 1973 when the issue of his 1933 arrest again surfaced. When the state Supreme Court determined that his conviction was only a misdemeaner he was restored to his position on the Board. From 1978 to 1980 Melton served on the board of the Montana Committee for the Humanities. In 1934 Perry Melton married Luella Wicklund. She became his life partner in all his work and a union activist in her own right. She was active in the Retail Clerks Union and in the Hotel, Restaurant Employees and Bartenders Union. She helped edit the Labor Journal and helped campaign for Flathead Valley Community College. After her death in 1979, Melton founded the Luella Melton World of Work Memorial to promote labor education materials at the College library. The couple had four children: Pearl, John, Perry Jr., and Emily. Perry Melton died March 28, 1992 in Kalispell.

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Content Description

This collection is organized into ten subgroups. The Perry Melton subgroup consists of biographical materials; family and general correspondence (1944-1984); speeches; and subject files (1939-1987) including files on his campaigns for head of the Montana State Federation of Labor-AFL-CIO, his work as a Flathead Valley Community College trustee, his service on the Montana Committee for the Humanities, and his membership in the Pacific Northwest Labor History Association. The Central Trades and Labor Council of Kalispell and Flathead County subgroup includes general correspondence (1937-1981) primarily with the national and state AFL-CIO and with affiliated local unions; financial records (1938-1975); minutes (1939, 1946-1967); organizational materials (1937-1979); subject files (1938-1977) concerning the work of the Council in coordinating union activities in Kalispell; and miscellany, including a file of Group Research, Inc. reports on right-wing groups. The Flathead Metal Trades Council subgroup (1954-1959) includes general correspondence, financial records, minutes, and organizational materials. The Northwest Montana Building and Construction Trades Council subgroup (1953-1975) includes general correspondence, financial records, legal documents, minutes, organizational materials, and subject files concerning the Council's work coordinating construction industry labor activities in northwestern Montana. The Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers, Local 975 subgroup consists of general correspondence (1939-1973); financial records (1935-1974) including dues remittances from employers, and individual members' dues ledgers; legal documents (1946, 1954-1972); minutes (1935-1969, 1974); organizational materials (1953-1974); subject files (1939-1974) concerning contract negotiations with employers, public service work, and organizing campaigns. The Brotherhood of Painters, Decorators and Paper Hangers (Montana State Conference of Painters and Allied Crafts/Montana District 59) subgroup (1958-1978) includes general correspondence, financial records, organizational materials, and printed material. The Hotel and Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union, Locals 312 and 603 subgroup (1940-1982) includes general correspondence, financial records, legal documents, minutes, organizational materials, printed materials, and subject files. The Treasure State Labor Journal subgroup (1940-1955) includes general correspondence, financial records, and a subject file on the sale of the Journal The Montana State Federation of Labor / Montana State AFL-CIO subgroup (1947-1982) consists primarily of circular letters and copies of audits, minutes, etc. provided to local unions. There is also a file on the merger of the Montana State Federation of Labor and the Montana Industrial Union Council in 1956 to form the Montana State AFL-CIO. The United Textile Workers of America subgroup (1951-1955) consists of Perry Melton's correspondence files, weekly work reports, and miscellany as an organizer and radio commentator for the union in North Carolina.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist.

Preferred Citation

Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged by subgroup series. Some material housed in Archives map case. See inventory below for more information.

Location of Collection

13:2-4

Acquisition Information

Acquisition information available upon request

Separated Materials

Artifacts, photographs, and printed material transferred to the Museum, Photo Archives, and Library respectively.

Related Materials

List of material tranferred to the University of Montana Mansfield Archives found in box 28 folder 4.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Conservatism
  • Labor Day
  • Labor disputes--Montana
  • Labor relations--Montana
  • Labor unions--Hotels, taverns, etc.--Montana
  • Labor unions--Metal-workers--Montana
  • Labor unions--Painters, industrial
  • Labor unions--Textile workers
  • Libraries--Montana
  • Newspaper publishing--Montana
  • Painting,Industrial--Montana

Personal Names

  • Melton, Perry S., 1907-1992 (creator)

Geographical Names

  • Flathead Lake (Mont.)
  • Glacier National Park (Mont.)
  • Glacier View Dam (Mont.)
  • Hungry Horse Dam (Mont.)
  • Kalispell (Mont.) --Newspapers
  • Kalispell (Mont.)--commerce
  • Knowles Dam (Mont.)
  • Libby Dam (Mont.)
  • North Carolina - Commerce
  • Paradise Dam (Mont.)

Finding aid prepared by MHS staff
2004

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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