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Records of a lumber and lumber products business in northeastern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan, founded by Robert Connor and continued by his descendants, and of related companies a...
Records of a lumber and lumber products business in northeastern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan, founded by Robert Connor and continued by his descendants, and of related companies and subsidiaries. Included are the records of the Connor Lumber and Land Company, Connor Forest Industries, and the R. Connor Company; and business and personal correspondence of family members and company executives William D. Connor, Sr.; William D. Connor, Jr.; Gordon R. Connor; and Richard M. Connor. Prominent correspondents include Robert M. La Follette, Jr., Irvine L. Lenroot, Joshua Johns, Melvin Laird, Sr., Dean Witter, and poet Lew Sarett.
Documented are land acquisition; logging; plant operations and production; legal matters concerning the Forest Crop Act of 1927; depression-era business activities, reflected in the 77-B bankruptcy files of the R. Connor Co.; an organizing struggle in the late 1930s between the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (A.F.L.) and the International Woodworkers of America (C.I.O.) and a 1938 strike; establishment of the Marathon County Railroad and the Laona and Northern Railroad; and the diversification of the companies' operations. Relatively brief records document company operations of a bank, farms, stores, an insurance agency, and the Laona Public Service Utility. Material on the Connor family, as well as the related Brown, Roddis, Laird, Modrall, Rhyner, and Witter families, is included. Also present is information on family members' involvement in local and national political affairs, civic activities, and tourism promotion and the Land O'Lakes Association.