Select Records of the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce

Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library

Summary Information

Repository:
Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library
Creator:
Bridgeport Area Chamber of Commerce
Title:
Select Records of the Bridgeport Area Chamber of Commerce
ID:
BHC-MSS 0206
Date [inclusive]:
1915-1960
Physical Description:
1.5 Linear Feet
Language of the Material:
English .
Abstract:
The Bridgeport Area Chamber of Commerce was founded between 1915 and 1916, when the city itself was a major industrial center of Connecticut. With good profits, high employment, and a desire to attract more business, the organization was founded in order to accomplish these goals and to prove that Bridgeport was a desirable place to have a business. This collection contains minutes, showing the inner workings of the organization, as well as a subject file which reflects the organization's interests from its founding into the 1960s.

Preferred Citation

Select Records of the Bridgeport Area Chamber of Commerce (BHC-MSS 0206), Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library.

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Biographical / Historical

The Bridgeport Area Chamber of Commerce was founded between 1915 and 1916, when the city itself was a major industrial center of Connecticut. With good profits, high employment, and a desire to attract more business, the organization was founded in order to accomplish these goals and to prove that Bridgeport was a desirable place to have a business. Many members throughout the years were a part of the large Bridgeport industrial players, such as the Warner Brothers Company, Bridgeport Brass, AVCO Lycoming, and others. A junior chamber of commerce was also created for smaller and younger businesses.

A 1920 Bridgeport Life article (found in the newspaper clipping collection, box 150), accuses the early incarnation of the Chamber of Commerce of being focused on increasing the profit and pocketbooks of these industrial players rather than equitably promoting the city and creating business opportunities for all. The Chamber of Commerce would go on to organize all manner of promotions and events in order to correct this, promoting businesses through events like Air Mail Week in the 1930s, hosting dinners and events with noteworthy speakers, and regular luncheons for members for networking purposes.

Sometime in the 1970s, the Bridgeport Area Chamber of Commerce began to drift in focus from the city of Bridgeport proper to the outlying areas. This is likely in part due to the city's deindustrialization, as many former manufacturers chose to leave the city and pay a cheaper workforce overseas. This deindustrialization also contributed to Bridgeport's economic decline and higher crime rate and the perception that the city is unsafe, a reputation that has remained with the city into the 2010s and beyond.

In 1982, the group renamed itself as the Business/Industry Council of the Bridgeport Economic Region. It is unclear, but likely, that the Bridgeport Regional Business Council is a continuation of the same organization. If not, it fills the same niche of promoting businesses, big and small, in Bridgeport and greater Fairfield County.

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Scope and Contents

The material provides some insight into how the organization worked, but does not cover all functions. Minutes in series I are more helpful in understanding the general function of the organization, whereas series II contains highlights of work the Chamber of Commerce was interested in from its' founding into the 1960s.

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Arrangement

Material in series I contains minutes. Series II contains subject files arranged alphabetically.

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Administrative Information

Publication Statement

Bridgeport History Center, Bridgeport Public Library

Bridgeport History CenterBridgeport Public Library925 Broad StreetBridgeport, CT 06604Business Number: 203-576-7400 (Extension: #7)URL: https://bportlibrary.org/hc/

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Controlled Access Headings

  • Manufacturing industries
  • Chambers of commerce

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Collection Inventory

Series I, Minutes

Title/DescriptionInstances
Minutes, 1915-1956
Box 1 folder 1-2
Minutes, 1957-1960
Box 2 folder 1

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Series II, Subject files

Title/DescriptionInstances
Air mail, 1938-1939
Box 2 folder 2
Air mail week, 1938
Box 2 folder 3
By-laws, 1953
Box 2 folder 4
Bridgeport Ordnance District, 1918-1919
Box 2 folder 5
Bridgeport income, population, etc., 1957
Box 2 folder 6
Chamber policies, undated
Box 2 folder 7
Chance Vaught, 1947-1952
Box 2 folder 8
Chance Vaught clippings, 1950-1953
Box 2 folder 9
Chase aircraft, 1948-1950
Box 2 folder 10
Bridgeport-Stratford facts and history, 1924-1926
Box 2 folder 11
Chronology, 1915-1936
Box 2 folder 12
Crawford, George, undated
Box 2 folder 13
Financial statements, 1948-1959
Box 2 folder 14-15
Luncheon schedule, 1941-1942
Box 2 folder 16
Manufacturers division, 1955
Box 3 folder 1
Manufacturers, list of, 1959
Box 3 folder 2
More houses for Bridgeport, 1916
Box 3 folder 3
Planning council, 1943-1946
Box 3 folder 4
Port development brief, 1944
Box 3 folder 5
Port development, 1944-1954
Box 3 folder 6
Returns and tabulations, Industrial Dispersion Committee, 1952-1953
Box 3 folder 7
Publications, 1945-1946
Box 3 folder 8
Radio stations, 1948
Box 3 folder 9
Sikorsky Aircraft property, 1953-1955
Box 3 folder 10
Smoke Nuisance Committee, 1947-1950
Box 3 folder 11

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