East Bridgewater Alliance #311 record books

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Scope and content note

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Summary Information

Repository

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Title

East Bridgewater Alliance #311 record books

ID

4003

Date [inclusive]

1896-1921

Extent

0.4 Linear feet ; 1 box (containing 2 volumes)

Author

Finding aid prepared by Weckea D. Lilly.

Language

English

Abstract

Comprising this collection is a pair of detailed manuscript record books, 1896-1921, maintained by East Bridgewater Alliance #311, Bridgewater, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. It was an affiliate of the Alliance Cooperative Supply Company, a farmers' Populist joint-stock cooperative society. The first volume is the alliance secretary's related account book, with an added list of 228 members' names, 1910-1921. The second volume contains meeting minutes, 1896-1920.

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Scope and content note

Formed in the late 19th century in Bridgewater, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, the East Bridgewater Alliance #311 was an affiliate of the Alliance Cooperative Supply Company, a farmers' Populist joint-stock cooperative society. This collection consists of two volumes from the alliance. The first (Volume 1) is an an account and membership book, 1910-1921; while the second (Volume 2) contains meeting minutes, 1896-1920.

Volume 1 contains several parts primarily revealing members’ fees and dues paid to the society. There are some however that also show the township in which they lived. Not all members lived in Bridgewater, Susquehanna County. Others hailed from Franklin Forks, New Medford. The volumes opens with an index (alphabetically arranged from A to W) showing some 138 members. Members who left the organization were also recorded in the index either as deceased, demitted, or dropped. Since the index corresponds to the section that immediately follows the index, the cause of death is sometimes listed on the record.

Further, Volume 1 also presents individual members’ payment history by page (dated from 1901 to 1911) and linked to the index. There are also three other sections that follow including the “Secretary Statement of Dues and fees collected 1912 up to” (beginning in 1911), and “Membership enrollment fees and dues paid” (from 1913 to 1916), and closing with a “Record of recent admissions.” Excepting the last section recorded here, each of these appear to be listed in alphabetical order within the year. The latter section also records the Post Office, or township from which the member hailed. The majority of the membership, by this account, came from Montrose and New Milford. Others included Alford, Brighton (now, New Brighton a western PA province in Beaver County, near West Bridgewater, PA), Brooklyn, Clifford, Fairdale, Gibson, Hearst Lake, Kingsley, Morganza (also a western province near the current West Bridgewater in Beaver County), and Scranton. Note that these latter sections do not correspond to the index.

In Volume 2 are recorded minutes of the East Bridgewater Alliance #311 dating fom 1896 to 1920. Their meetings were primarily concerned with increasing membership, debates on the investigation of new members, and obtaining collections from members whose fees had been late or unpaid. Their surplus fees after paying county (and most likely state and national dues) were invested in stock. The organization elected new officers annually, and they were installed during an annual meeting. The presidents were: F. H. Sichler (1896), B. B. Freeman (1897 and 1898), W. C. Curtis (1899), F. H. Sichler (1900), W. C. Curtis (1901), Horton Reynolds (1902 7 1903), B. B. Freeman (1904), A. J. Curtis (1905-1918), Glenn Mead (1919), and Horton Reynolds (1920). The minutes themselves were taken by several different individuals: N. R. Jewett, H. N. Tiffany, Horton Reynolds, and Paul W. Cameron. The last meeting is recorded on December 31, 1920, and it final inscriptions show the coming year’s elected officers: Merle Tingley (President), Kenneth Norris (Vice President), Paul Cameron (Secretary and Treasurer), Helen Norris (Chaplain), Mable Decker (Lecturer), John Decker (Steward), Herbert Decker (Inside Door Keeper), and Orlin Green (Outside Door Keeper).

In addition, contained with the box holding the two volumes is the alliance's embossing seal.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania , July 2016,

Access restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Provenance

Purchase, 2005.

Accession number 2005.014b.

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Controlled Access Headings

Geographic Name(s)

• Susquehanna County (Pa.).

Personal Name(s)

• Valentino, Carmen D.

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Collection Inventory