Scope and arrangement
The Henry Günther material on brewers' guilds dates from 1881 to 1897 and documents the professional organizations of German-American brewers in New York state and the United States in the late 19th century.
Vereinigten Staaten Braumeister-Bundes [Master Brewers' Association of the United States, a predecessor to the Master Brewers Association of the Americas] is represented by items documenting annual conventions. An 1888 letter from W. L. Jaques of the Murray Hill Hotel in New York City conveys to Henry Günther the hotel's inability to house all attendees of the yearly convention. A menu from the 1895 convention banquet, held in Baltimore, Maryland, is present. A souvenir book from the 1897 convention, held in Detroit Michigan, lists the officers of the organization and the program for the convention, and also features short articles on and advertisements for local brewers and brewers' suppliers in Detroit and throughout the Midwestern United States.
A book of minutes (Protokollbuch) of the Vereins der Vereinigten Braumeister der Stadt New-York u. Umgegend [Master Brewers Association of New York and Vicinity] contains entries from 1881 to 1898. The volume documents the founding of the guild, with its constitution, by-laws, meeting minutes, member and officer lists, and an accounting of the guild's finances and Henry Günther's presidency. The primary focus of discussion in many of the meetings represented is the length of the workday, workweek, and other labor issues affecting local breweries. Translations are present for the first entries of the volume.
Most materials in the collection are in German.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by guild name.