Correspondence, 1938 - 1939, 1938-1939

The Hartford Workingmen's Sick Benefit Association Collection has several strengths. It features a complete run of meeting minutes for 47 years, most of these in English. Although the minutes don't always reflect the nature of the discussions about the issues that were discussed, the secretaries kept all of the correspondence received by the Association. The correspondence, both internal and external, reflects the daily controversies that arose, such as members who felt that they were being discriminated against in payments, or members who had grievances against other members, and the disposition of each letter is often traceable. The minutes also show the number of members in attendance at the meetings and record new members and resignations, enabling one to trace the growth and shrinkage of the Association.

The minutes and correspondence also give an excellent view of the networking that took place among the various organizations in the Jewish community. The correspondence provides valuable new information about some of these other organizations, and this material has been appropriately cross-referenced.

Of course, the documents of the Association portray the less Socialized nature of America in the first half of this century. One senses the difficulties of living in a society where there was no paid sick leave and where banding together with others could be a matter of financial survival.

The meeting minutes and membership applications give interesting data about the members' occupations. There are also numerous notes from physicians describing the illnesses and length of sick leave for members, but there are probably not enough of these to provide any meaningful statistics.