Catalog of Manuscript Collections

Creator: Lewis Osterweis & Sons; Osterweis family Extent: ca. 20,000 items Description: Cigar manufacturers and dealers in leaf tobacco, the firm of Osterweis and Oppenheimer was established ca. 1860 by Lewis Osterweis (1836-1916) and his brother-in-law, Joseph Oppenheimer (1835-1878). It was reorganized as Lewis Osterweis & Sons around 1878 and operated by Osterweis, his wife Caroline (Oppenheimer) Osterweis (1840-1921), their sons, Max (1866-1911) and Gustave (1870-1920), and other family members until 1954 when its assets were sold to F.D. Grave & Son. The collection contains correspondence, business and family historical materials, personal and estate papers, investment records, government correspondence, regulations, and bulletins, federal and state tax returns and related correspondence, financial records, factory production and inventory records, commercial forms including invoices, statements, bills of lading, receipts, and shipping memos, personnel files, advertising and promotional materials, and photos, relating to the Osterweis family and all aspects of the tobacco and cigar industry in New Haven and Connecticut, including the manufacture and distribution of cigars, Cuban suppliers at the turn of the century, Connecticut tobacco growers, brokers, and middlemen, tobacco products and wholesalers and retailers, labor relations, government guidelines, effect of World War II on production, and price and wage controls. It also includes historical materials and books of Gustave's son, Rollin G. Osterweis; documents relating to the family's other business, I. Strouse Corset Company (later Strouse Adler Corset Company); correspondence, deeds, and other papers reflecting property ownership in Texas and New Haven, West Haven, and East Hartford, CT information pertaining to Jews in New Haven and Carolina Osterweis's activities in Jewish charitable organizations; records concerning employment of the handicapped; records of Oklahoma oil and gas investments; and sample books of cigar bands and wrappers. Also included are correspondence, regulations, bulletins, and other materials of US Dept. of Commerce, US Dept. of Labor, Federal Trade Commission, Connecticut Dept. of Labor and Factory Inspection, Internal Revenue Service, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division, Cigar Makers' International Union of America, International Cigar Machinery Co., Cigar Manufacturers Association of America, and other agencies and organizations. Other persons represented include Lewis's grandson, Harry Lewis Osterweis, who managed the company during its last years; Dayton Osterweis, brother-in-law of Gustave; Louis M. Ullman, relative and executor of the estates of Lewis and Gustave Osterweis; and other members of the Osterweis, Oppenheimer, and Ullman families. Research Topics: Tobacco and cigar industry in New Haven; labor relations, seen in union activity and an increase in government guidelines in this area; effect of World War II on production, prices, and wages; post-war government price and wage controls; Jewish life in New Haven