Carpenter's Union Local 1605 was chartered in Moscow, Idaho on April 8, 1903, while eight miles to the west, and across the state line, Carpenter's Union Local 313 was chartered in Pullman, Washington, on May 1, 1903. The two unions remained separate until April 1957 when they combined, retaining the 313 number.
At its strongest membership of the union rose to 475 paying members, but by 1981 this had dwindled to just 100. In addition to serving union men, the local also sponsored an apprenticeship training program which was training 12 young men in 1981.
In 1954 the locals voted to affiliate with the Spokane District Council. Most of the work in the area was Union, but there were still problems. Each legislative session had seen an attempt to pass "right to work" legislation which required many hours of work by union members to defeat. Little Goose and Lower Monumental dams on the Lower Snake River are in Local 313's jurisdiction and were union built.
At the conclusion of World War II the landlords in Moscow refused to rent the local a hall in which to hold meetings. For nearly two years meetings were held in homes, garages, and shops belonging to members. A rental hall was leased in 1947, and occupied until 1969. In that year the union purchased the property of Merton B. Waterman at 308 South Asbury for $16,000. Then in 1961 it purchased from Harold and Dorothy Berg their property at 325 West Third for the sum of $25,000. In 1969 three adjacent lots belonging to Jennie M. Waterman and Everett M. Lynn were purchased for $16,000. In 1962 the Moscow Chamber of Commerce awarded Local 313 a plaque in recognition of the improvements made on the property, which included, expansion, upgrading, and the construction of a paved parking lot. The hall also provided meeting space for Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls and other craft unions.
The ladies auxiliary met until 1972 when the four remaining members voted to surrender their charter.
The records of Carpenters Union #313 and #1605 span the years 1903 to 1989, with the bulk of the material covering the years 1940 to 1979.
The records include administrative material such as minutes of meetings, financial records, and constitutions and bylaws, as well as correspondence, publications, and other material of a general nature. Also included are the records of the ladies carpenter auxiliary.
Most of the records are for local union 313, both before and after it combined with local 1605, but some of the records are for LU 1605. Records not identified with a local number are for 313, the records for LU 1605 are so identified.
Some material in this record group was in labeled folders, but most was loose in the boxes. The basic received order was retained, and with very little rearrangement could be easily divided into three series, Administrative Records, Alphabetical Files, and Ladies Auxiliary.
The Administrative records, 1903-1987, include constitutions and bylaws for local, district, and the national union, minute books for Moscow local 1605, treasurer's records, financial secretary's records, and the abstract of title for the Asbury & Third Street property. The day books record the names of members, dues paid, and union expenses. A few books for LU 313 are lacking, and in some cases there are two books covering the same period, but there is no duplication of information, and no explanation has been found for this anomaly. Duplicate deposit slips, which are normally discarded, were retained in this collection since deposits were not entered in the check register, nor are they listed in the monthly expense books. Bank statements and paid checks were also retained when check registers were not present. The monthly billings, 1973-1987, are computer generated lists of members the last page of which lists the number of members for the month and the amount due national headquarters.
The Alphabetical files, 1910-1989, include agreements, applications for membership, information on the apprentice program, building fund data, correspondence, information on the consolidation of LU 313 and LU 1605, personnel material such as hiring and job referrals, and publications such as the quarterly newsletter. The CCG and CCD notebook appears to be a monthly membership record listing applications, initiations, withdrawals, deaths, etc. The steward's reports are weekly reports by the steward for each job listing the men working and how many days each worked. The reports for 1963 were not in any order, but the ones for 1979-1984 were in order by job. The "Current Jobs" notebook is an alphabetical list of jobs with the names of the men sent, while the "Dispatch Record Book" is a chronological listing of men sent to the jobs. The "Password and Quarterly Circular" is a newsletter published by the national headquarters containing general union news and a numerically coded password to be used for entry to meetings. Although the collection contains issues from 1938 to 1983, there are very few issues prior to 1968. The work dispatch orders were very numerous, and since the information is available in other forms, these were sampled by keeping every 10th item. The final item in this series is what appears to be the hiring hall registration book, 1970-1989. It is an unbound volume containing over 394 pages, each containing the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of union members seeking employment. Notations are made by some names as to where the person was sent to work, if an exam has to be taken, and other similar information.
The final series contains the records of the Ladies Auxiliary, 1926-1972. These are in the same order as the union records, and include constitutions, directories, financial records, applications or membership, correspondence, and newsletters.
Among the items removed from the collection were multiple copies of printed by-laws, blank registration cards, invoices and utility bills, dues receipt books (dues and receipt number are entered in the Daybooks), and computer generated reports which included Washington, Idaho, and Montana unions. Copies of published Idaho labor laws were removed from the collection and will be checked against other holdings in Special Collections. In all the collection was reduced by 6 cubic feet.
The records of the Moscow-Pullman Carpenters Local 313 were donated to the University of Idaho Library by union member Bob Thyberg in January 1991.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.