Consumer Reports. Institutional records, 1912-2018

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Restrictions:
Collection is restricted. Some materials are closed to researchers by donor request for 25 years from the date of production.
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Summary

Creator:
Consumer Reports (Firm)
Abstract:
Consumer Reports is a product testing and consumer advocacy nonprofit organization based in Yonkers, N.Y., founded in 1936 as Consumers Union. Consumer Reports institutional records includes all materials received from the Consumer Reports Archives which were not segregated and processed into individual collections (persons, departments and other entities, genre-based collections). The collection includes records of lesser-documented departments, committees, task forces and special-purpose groups, along with institutional reference files that document corporate anniversaries; grounds and facilities maintenance; relations with external organizations in the consumer advocacy and cooperative movements; and the history of Consumers Union as well as that of more general consumer interests as they developed through the 20th century. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.
Extent:
35.0 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English, Spanish.
Collection ID:
RL.12000

Background

Scope and content:

The collection includes annual reports; articles; bylaws and certificates of incorporation; clippings; correspondence and memoranda; employee directories and manuals; financial and tax records and reports; meeting and conference materials; and other printed materials. Topics addressed include environmental justice; health care and health insurance; the history of Consumers Union from the employee strike and separation from Consumers' Research in 1935; household economic budgets and credit availability; political issues (including Great Depression recovery; World War II-era consumer policy, price controls and rationing; and Cold War-era allegations of communist influence); product standards and safety; and western regional office operations. Individuals and organizations represented include Chester Bowles, Colston Warne, Consumers' Research, the International Organization of Consumers' Unions, League of Women Shoppers, Mildred Brady, National Bureau of Economic Research, National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, National Consumers League, New York Office of Consumer Counsel, and the Office of Price Administration.

Biographical / historical:

Consumer Reports is a product testing and consumer advocacy nonprofit organization based in Yonkers, N.Y., founded in 1936 as Consumers Union. The organization's name changed to Consumer Reports in 2012.

Acquisition information:
The Consumer Reports. Institutional records were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift from Consumer Reports in 2019.
Processing information:

Processed by Richard Collier, Oct. 2022;

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2019-0130, 2019-0173, 2020-0017, 2021-0003.

Arrangement:

Organized into the following series: Administration; Anniversaries; Committees, Departments, Other Entitities; History Files; Organizations; Statements, Testimonies, etc.; Manuals and Training Materials; Printed and Published Materials.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is restricted. Some materials are closed to researchers by donor request for 25 years from the date of production.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Consumer Reports. Institutional records, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1r15b