The Association was founded in 1911, with impetus coming from Jacob F. Brown of Brown and Adams, wool merchants, and growing out of an Interstate Commerce Commission hearing on wool freight rates. Membership included wool brokers and importers, top makers, waste and noil dealers, and others in related fields. The association was established to improve business conditions, create uniformity in business transactions, promote communications between members, arbitrate disputes, and promote the interests of the industry before the government and the public.
Activities included drawing up a Code of Fair Competition as a result of the passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933. Government insistence on a national code from the whole wool trade led to the formation of the National Wool Trade Association, with input from the BWTA and other regional groups. In 1934, the association, through the agency of the Wool Advisory Committee of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, participated in the formation and operation of the Wool Finance Corporation, established to take unsold wool on consignment to help stabilize the market and increase wool prices. The BWTA also addressed the problem of wool promotion and helped establish the Associated Wool Industries in 1935 to promote wool consumption through advertising.
From the description of [Business records]. 1911-1972. (American Textile History Museum Library). WorldCat record id: 48960638
