Part Of
Men's Clothing Manufacturers' Association of Ontario fonds
Level
Fonds
ID
Fonds 31
Source
Archival Descriptions
Part Of
Men's Clothing Manufacturers' Association of Ontario fonds
Level
Fonds
Fonds
31
Material Format
textual record
graphic material
sound recording
Date
1919-1988
Physical Description
3.15 m of textual records
459 photographs
1 audiocasette
Admin History/Bio
The Men's Clothing Manufacturers' Association of Ontario (MCMAO) was formed and incorporated in 1919 under the name of the Associated Clothing Manufacturers. The Association's primary mandate was the representation of its membership in negotiations with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and later, the Toronto Joint Board of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union. The MCMAO membership was comprised of the manufacturing firms of men's clothing in Toronto and Hamilton and inlcuded companies such as Tip Top Tailors, Empire Clothing and Shiffer-Hillman among others. The Association was also involved in furthering the interests of the clothing industry in Ontario and with all matters pertaining to the clothing business in which the Association's membership was interested. The MCMAO was a represented member of the Apparel Manufacturers' Associatoin of Ontario and the Apparel Manufacturers' Council of Canada. The MCMAO ceased operation around 1989.
Custodial History
There is no information on the acquisition of these records. They came into the Archives in the early 1990s but the original source from the Association is unknown. The records were stored at the OJA's offsite storage location until 2008, when they were transferred to the OJA vault for processing.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of records documenting the Association’s role in negotiations with the employee’s union on behalf of their membership, as well as their work in lobbying senior levels of government on such matters as labour relations, tariffs and taxes, and other issues related to the production of men’s and boys’ garments. The records include legal documents; executive and committee meeting minutes; financial records; arbitration, mediation and negotiation reports and correspondence; collective agreements; labour statistics; general correspondence files; parliamentary briefs, submissions and reports; and seminar photographs. There are also files related to specific bodies that the Association collaborated or corresponded with, such as the Toronto Club of Clothing Designers. Of particular interest are the files of the Overseas Garment Workers Commission, which documents the Associations' role in helping bring over Jewish refugees and other Displaced Persons as tailors and garment workers.
The fonds has been divided into twelve series: Legal; Board of Directors meeting minutes and agendas; Executive Committee / Executive Board meeting minutes and agendas; Annual and general meeting minutes and agendas; Negotiations Committee; Finance Committee; Public Relations Committee; Labour Relations Committee; Other committee meeting minutes and agendas; General correspondence; Parliamentary briefs, submissions, reports and correspondence; and Seminars.
Name Access
Men's Clothing Manufacturers' Association of Ontario
Subjects
Clothing trade
Access Restriction
Partially closed. Researchers must receive permission from the OJA director prior to accessing some of the records.
Related Material
Queen’s University Archives holds records of the MCMAO dating from 1920 to 1969. These records appear to have originated from the same source and at one point the collection had been split in two. The fonds at Queen’s is complementary to the OJA’s fonds and together, the two fonds provide a complete picture of the MCMAO and its work.
Library and Archives Canada holds the records of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America fonds.
Creator
Men's Clothing Manufacturer's Association of Ontario (1919-1989)
Accession Number
2008-12-4
Source
Archival Descriptions