University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archives Department.

Barnett family.

Family and business papers, 1906-1971.

Milwaukee Manuscript Collection 21

.6 cubic ft. (1 archives boxes and 1 small archives box)

ABSTRACT: Family and business records documenting nearly three generations of a Jewish family's life in Milwaukee. Isaac Barnett, who founded the family's textile business, was a Lithuanian immigrant who settled in Milwaukee in 1902. After working as a junk dealer for several years, he founded the Barnett Woolen Mills around 1913. The business papers describe the company's 1938 bankruptcy and subsequent reorganization, but provide few details regarding the business' size or annual production. The family papers include some genealogical information and letters written after World War II between Israel Barnett and the family's European cousins: Rabbi Saul Schenker, who had survived imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp, and Jenny Trachtenberg, both of whom were then living in France.

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: There are no access restrictions on the materials, and the collection is open to all members of the public in accordance with state law. However, the researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).

SCOPE AND CONTENT: The collection consists of family and business records documenting nearly three generations of a Jewish family's life in Milwaukee, from 1906 to 1971. It consists of two series: Family and Business records.

The Family series includes letters between Israel Barnett and his family's cousins, Rabbi Saul Schenker and Jenny Trachtenberg, who were living in France following World War II. Much of the correspondence between Barnett and Schenker, a Nazi concentration camp survivor, is concerned with Schenker's efforts to immigrate to the United States. Brief translations accompany the letters written in Yiddish. Genealogical information can be found in letters regarding Israel and Sarah's efforts to secure derivative citizenship paper, clippings and family mementoes, and the file dealing with plans for the Israel Barnetts' 50th wedding anniversary in 1958. A scrapbook and clippings dealing with Jewish religious affairs is also included in this series.

The Business records series contains legal documents of the woolen mill's 1938 reorganization including an appraisal and property inventory. The correspondence of the mill and the Muskego Company are concerned with financial matters, letters to and from other mills and textile manufacturers, company employees and sales representatives. The mill's efforts to sell saddle blankets to cowboys are also described through correspondence. Financial records include claims following the 1938 bankruptcy, and accounting system plan developed in 1919, the 1930 price list and a 1936 property tax assessment. No information regarding the company's size or annual production is included. This series also includes weaving ideas and patents and some actual wool samples.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: The histories of the Barnett family and its business, the Barnett Woolen Mills are closely interrelated. A Barnett family member headed the company from its founding in the early 20th century until it final dissolution in 1971.

Isaac Barnett, the company's founder, left Lithuania for the United States in 1886 when he was 30 years old. Barnett first settled in Monroe, Wisconsin, and then moved to Milwaukee in 1902. Isaac's first job in Milwaukee was that of a junk dealer. The Wright's Milwaukee City Directories of 1902-1909 list the occupations of Isaac and his son, Israel, as simply "junk," "junk dealer," or "peddlar." The company's stationery of the era is a bit more descriptive. It states: "I. Barnett & Son. Scrap Iron, Metals, Rubbers and Rags; Hides Tallow and Furs: A Specialty."

The Barnetts' woolen business was organized by 1913 when the Milwaukee City Directory lists Isaac's occupation as "carbonize wool;" the 1916 directory lists him as a "manufacturer [of] wool shoddy." The I. Barnett Woolen Mills is first mentioned in the city directory of 1919, which lists company officers as Isaac Barnett, president; Harry Nathan (Isaac's son-in-law), vice president; and Israel Barnett, secretary-treasurer.

In its early days, the Barnetts' junk business was located at various addresses in Milwaukee, including 5th Street, 4th, Street, Oregon Street, and later Virginia Street. The Woolen Mill was established on Muskego Avenue in Milwaukee.

Isaac Barnett died in 1930 at the age of 74. He had been a former president and trustee of Milwaukee's Congregation Beth Israel, and a member of B'nai B'rith. Besides his wife Mary, Isaac was survived by three daughters; Rose (Mrs. Ed) Kupper, Flora (Mrs. Harry) Nathan, and Anne (Mrs. John) Callen; as well as son Israel. After his father's death, Israel became company president. Isaac Barnett Woolen Mills filed for bankruptcy in April 1938. Israel's wife, Sarah (nee Selensky), and his son Philip took the first steps toward reorganizing the business in September 1938. They repurchased the company's equipment from the Milwaukee Employees Pension Association and signed a lease for the same Muskego Avenue building. By 1945, Philip and Sarah had expanded the company's partnership to include Philip's sisters, Dorothy Perlman and Eva Perlman, as well as Israel.

Following the reorganization, the company did some business--principally real estate dealings--under the name, The Muskego Company. The exact relationship between the Barnett Woolen Mills and the Muskego Company is not clear from collection papers. The Wisconsin Secretary of State's Corporation Division states that the Muskego Company was dissolved in 1971; the Woolen Mills was never listed with the state as a corporation.

COLLECTION CITATION: This collection should be cited as:

Barnett family. Family and business papers, 1906-1971. Milwaukee Manuscript Collection 21. Wisconsin Historical Society. Milwaukee Area Research Center. Golda Meir Library. University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.

RELATED COLLECTIONS:

Congregation Beth Israel (Milwaukee, Wis.). Records, 1900-1956, 1966. (Milwaukee Manuscript Collection CY)

Founding Industries of Wisconsin (Survey project). Records, 1880-1993. (UWM Manuscript Collection 41)

ACQUISITION: Gift of Philip Barnett in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1979 (accession numbers M79-118, and M79-145).

PROCESSING: Processed by Susan Steinwall, and J. Hohler in February 1981.

MARC RECORD SEARCH TERMS: The following terms were used in the online bibliographic MARC record to this collection:

Holocaust survivors--Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Isaac Barnett Woolen Mills.
Jews--Wisconsin--Milwaukee--History.
Merchants, Jewish--Wisconsin--Milwaukee.
Milwaukee (Wis.)--Families--History--Sources.
Milwaukee (Wis.)--Manufacturers.
Muskego Company.
Wool industry--Wisconsin--Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION 21	BOX	FOLDER
Business, Advertisements, 1963, undated	2	1
Business, Correspondence, Bankruptcy and Reorganization 1938, 1940	2	2
Business, Correspondence, General, 1912-1913, 1916, 1924-1925, 1928, 1930, 1934, 1936, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1947-1949, 1951-1952, 1954, 1959, 1961-1962, 1971, undated	2	3-4
Business, Correspondence, Hondo Saddle Blanket Marketing, 1963-1964	2	5
Business, Correspondence, Muskego Company, 1942, 1944, 1946, 1950-1954	2	6
Business, Dye House Blueprint, 1918	2	7
Business, Elevator Operating Permits, 1912, 1948, 1952	2	8
Business, Financial and Legal, Bankruptcy, Claims and Inventory, 1938	2	9
Business, Financial and Legal, Debts to Family Members, 1928, 1932-1933, 1937, undated	2	10
Business, Financial and Legal, General Accounting and Cost System Plan, 1919	2	11
Business, Financial and Legal, Miscellaneous, 1942, 1948, 1951, 1963-1964	2	12
Business, Financial and Legal, Philip Barnett Investment Account, 1938-1942	2	13
Business, Financial and Legal, Price Lists and Specifications, 1930, undated	2	14
Business, Financial and Legal, Reorganization, Partnership, 1935, 1938, 1941, 1945, 1955	2	15
Business, Financial and Legal, Tax Assessment and Bills, 1936, 1941	2	16
Business, Notes and Miscellanous, 1948, 1951, 1963, undated	2	17
Business, Personnel, Miscellaneous, 1948, 1963	2	18
Business, Personnel, Tax Withholding Forms Returned by Post Office, 1947	2	19
Business, Stationery, 1929, undated	2	20
Business, Weaving Ideas, Patents of Other Mills, 1949, 1955-1956, undated	2	21
Business, Wool Samples, 1921, 1949	2	22
Family, Correspondence, 1906, 1924	1	1
Family, Correspondence, Israel Barnett, and Other Family Members, 1944-1946, 1953, 1958, 1967-1969, undated	1	3
Family Correspondence, Israel Barnett and Rabbi Saul Schenker and Jenny Trachtenberg (Barnetts' European Cousins), 1947-1950, undated	1	2
Family, Correspondence, Philip Barnett, 1969	1	4
Family, Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary Party Plans for the Israel Barnetts, Including Lists of Family and Friends, 1958	1	5
Family, Landscape Blueprint, 1945	1	6
Family, Mementos, Newspaper Clippings, 1919, 1925-1927, 1929-1931, 1942-1946, 1950, 1952, 1955-1956, 1965-1968, undated	1	7
Family, Miscellaneous Writings, 1907, 1922, 1924, 1947-1948, 1950, 1954-1958, undated	1	8
Family, Scrapbook, Clippings, Religious, 1906-1907, 1913, 1915, 1921-1923, 1935, 1948, 1951, undated	1	9