American Federation of Musicians. Local No. 368, Reno, Nevada Records

The collection is relatively complete for the period 1960-1984, and well represented from a financial aspect for the years 1930-1960. All activities of the Union can be documented through the minutes, alphabetical files, stewards' reports, grievances, and collective bargaining series. Not only do these records chronicle one facet of organized labor in Reno but they also pull together in one location, documentation about the entertainment industry in Reno, particularly in casinos, through the stewards' reports and collective bargaining series.

The arrangement of this collection follows the original order as created by the Union. One of the largest series, the Alphabetical Files, contains both correspondence and subject files which would normally be divided into separate series. Correspondence is located in several sections within the alphabetical files; some may be found under "Correspondence" and some under the name of the sender, such as "AFM-Correspondence" or "President's Files-Correspondence." The content of the correspondence files is both local and national in scope, as the Local often referred issues and conflicts to the parent body for resolution or clarification. Other correspondence between the Local and individual member's deals with day-to-day operations, rules, regulations, and other details of Union membership.

These records provide evidence of the evolution of casinos in Reno, Nevada, and, in particular, the type of entertainment they offered to visitors. In general, the trend was a change from many casinos offering their visitors "big name" entertainment, to only a few operating such venues. This change in the entertainment industry had repercussions on the local economy, professional musicians, and the Musicians' Union as well. Casinos with showrooms hired "house bands" to provide the accompaniment for their headliners; as showrooms closed and casinos economized, fewer positions were available to union members and less income accrued to the Union from work dues.

One of the most important topics featured in this collection is that of the role of trade unions in Reno. The labor movement in Reno has a spotty history; strong in the years prior to the Great Depression of the 1930s and weaker since then. Nevada's status as a "right to work" state complicates the Union's goal to make the Reno entertainment industry a "union shop." Collective bargaining issues in this collection clearly illustrate those goals, as the casino industry tried numerous times to weaken the Union by refusing to bargain collectively, or by asserting that the Union could not legally represent musicians. Both the Alphabetical Files, Series 2, and Collective Bargaining Agreements, Series 3, provide illustrations for these trends.