The archives of the Danish Union of Commercial and Office Clerks (HK) in ABA contain 56 organizational archives, divided into 652 archive boxes and 150 loose volumes, and 8 private archives, divided into 20 archive boxes.

By Jesper Jørgensen

The union’s archive, HK Copenhagen’s archive and the Copenhagen branches’ archives make up the largest part of the collection. In addition, there are archives from HK’s unemployment fund, HK Youth, national associations/clubs and industry clubs, company clubs, provincial branches and youth groups and associated persons.

Axel Gundel, HK’s first chairman. ca. 1900

Archive overview

The archives have come to ABA on several occasions. HK Copenhagen has handed over in February 1991, June 1992 and most recently in May 2003 in connection with the move from Gyldenløvesgade/Nyropsgade to Artillerivej 30. Andersens Boulevard 50 in favor of Weidekampsgade 8.

National archives (unions, unemployment funds and youth)
National associations/clubs and industry clubs
Copenhagen, branches
Copenhagen, clubs
Provinces, branches and clubs
Individuals
Minutes and reports (associations and branches)
Anniversary publications before 1980
Anniversary publications 1980-
Trade magazines
Photographs, Posters and Banners

HK Copenhagen

The Copenhagen branch of HK dates back to the first actual trade union for commercial and office assistants, Forbundet af danske Handelsmedhjælpere af 1897, which was founded by a small group of young tradesmen in Copenhagen. In 1911, the union changed its name to Handels- og Kontormedhjælperforeningen i København (HK København). The governing body of HK Copenhagen has been the Board of Representatives, where the Copenhagen branches have been represented.

Joint board for the Copenhagen branches, 1906.

The 89-box archive contains minutes from the Board of Representatives and the Executive Committee, court cases, apprentice cases, correspondence, agitation material, subject-related cases, membership lists and accounts. The archives cover the period 1897-1998.

HK Copenhagen Archives
In 1899, the first Copenhagen branches were founded for:

Over time, more branches were added:

Book and Paper (1914)
Hardware (1915)
Insurance (1916)
Electricity and Lighting (1917)
Soap and Perfume (1918)
Cigar and Tobacco (1918)
Weighing, depreciation and forwarding (1925)
Municipal Office- (1929)
State Office Department (1937).

HK and HK Copenhagen have reorganized the structure of the organizations on several occasions, which has meant that most Copenhagen branches no longer exist in their original form. For example, the old Central Department, which was founded in 1912, is today continued as:

Department 1/Industry

The archives of the departments vary in size. While Department 8 – Office Department is the largest and contains 188 archive boxes, the smallest archive, the Electricity and Lighting Assistants Department, consists of only 1 volume. The content is typically material from general meetings, minutes from board meetings, correspondence cases, correspondence with clubs and collective agreement material.

The union

At a delegates’ meeting on 23-24 September 1900 for local associations of commercial and office assistants (including the three Copenhagen branches), the Central Organization of Danish Commercial and Office Assistant Associations was founded. In 1922, the organization changed its name to Dansk Handels- og Kontormedhjælperforbund and in 1953 it was given its current name, Handels- og Kontorfunktionærernes Forbund i Danmark. Key events in the union’s history include joining LO in 1932, the first collective agreement with DA in 1948, the division into union sectors in 1988 and the merger with Grafisk Forbund in 2000.

The union’s main board, 1925

Federation of Commercial and Clerical Employees in Denmark Archive
Compared to HK’s size, the union’s archive is relatively small, consisting of 57 archive boxes and 132 loose volumes. The reason for this is that the union carried out extensive discarding of the material itself before handing it over to ABA. Like other union archives, the archive therefore does not contain large collections of member files. Just as, for example, the union’s various committee work is not represented to any significant extent. On the other hand, the archive contains fine collections of material from the congresses, minutes from the Executive Board and Executive Committee meetings, circulars issued by the union, material from the Nordic cooperation, material on the working environment, the union’s laws and special subject-related cases. The material extends from the foundation of the union until 2002.

Read more:
Jonna Duch Christensen & Søren Federspiel: Fra flipproletar til lønarbejder. HK’s history 1900-2000. HK 2000.

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