The collection documents Parke, Davis and Company, one of the largest and oldest pharmaceutical firms in America.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents Parke, Davis and Company, one of America's oldest and largest drug makers. Parke, Davis had the first research laboratory in the American pharmaceutical industry. The company played a major role in the development of some of the principle new drugs of the twentieth century and pioneered the field of drug standardization. They were one of the first American firms to produce antitoxins, hormones, and other biologicals. They introduced new and important drugs such as adrenalin, dilantin, chlorenpleniol, and other antibiotics. They also did important research on vitamins, disinfectants, and pencillin.
The collection contains complete documentaion of all the research activities done, including research laboratory notes, correspondence, and published papers. The collection also contains corporate, financial, advertising and sales materials, photographs, and audiovisual materials. The collection is important for those researchers interested in the history of public health, the history of biologicals, pharmaceutical manufacturing and business history.
Arrangement:
Collection is divided into 13 series.
Series 1: Corporate Materials, 1887-1951
Series 2: Financial Materials, 1880-1970
Series 3: Employee/Personnel Materials, 1900-1989
Series 4: Advertising/Sales Materials, 1868-1980
Series 5: Photographs, 1866-1992
Series 6: Notebooks, 1908-1968
Series 7: Control Department Records, 1884-1931
Series 8: Formulas, 1882-1967
Series 9: Equipment Data Files, 1922-1978
Series 10: Publications, 1968-1988
Series 11: Research Materials, 1920-1978
Series 12: Drawings, 1911-1971
Series 13: Addenda, 1867-1970
Series 14: Audio Materials, 1956-1957
Historical:
Parke, Davis and Company traces it's origins to Samuel Pearce Duffield (1833-1916), a physician and pharmacist. Duffield was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and his family moved to Detroit when he was an infant. Duffield graduated from the University of Michigan in 1854 and he attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, latter leaving for Germany where he studied chemistry and sought treatment for his eyesight. He subsequently earned a Doctor of Philosophy from Ludwig University at Giessen in Germany. Duffield returned to Detroit in 1858 and established a retail drugstore with a strong interest in manufacturing pharmaceuticals. Duffield sought financial partners for his retail and manufacturing venture with A.L. Patrick and Francis C. Conant. Both men retracted their investments and Duffield met Hervey Coke Parke (1927-1899), a native of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Duffield and Parke formed a formal partnership in 1866. George S. Davis, a third partner and traveling salesman previously with Farrand, Sheley and Company, was added 1867. Augustus F. Jennings joined the company as a partner to head manufacturing. The company became known as Duffield, Parke, Davis, & Jennings Company. Duffield withdrew in 1869 and the name Parke, Davis & Company was adopted in 1871. The company incorporated in 1875 and began planning world-wide scientific expeditions to discover new vegetable drugs such as Guarana, Bearsfoot, Eucalyptus Globulus, and Coca. The company first showed a profit in 1876, and the first dividend paid to shareholders in 1878 and dividends paid until mid-1960s. Research was a major activity of the company.
In 1907, Parke, Davis and Company bought 340 acres in northeast Avon Township, Michigan, and called it Parkedale Farm. The farm was dedicated on October 8, 1908, and included sterilization rooms and a vaccine propagating building. By 1909 the farm included 200 horses, 25 to 50 cattle, 150 sheep, and employed 20 men. The horses produced the antitoxin for diphtheria and tetanus, the cattle produced a vaccine for smallpox preventatives, and the sheep made serum. Only the healthiest animals were used and all were well cared for. Exotic plants were also grown on the site and used for drugs. Parke-Davis' chief products were antitoxins and vaccines as well as farm crops for feeding the animals. The farm continued to produce vaccines for diphtheria, scarlet fever, tetanus, smallpox, anthrax, and in the 1950s, the Salk polio vaccine.
Due to a weakening financial position, the company became susceptible to take-over, and was purchased by Warner-Lambert in 1970. Warner Lambert, was then acquired by Pfizer in 2000. In 2007, Pfizer closed its research facilities in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Source
Rochester Hills Museum at Voon Hoosen Farm (last accessed on September 29, 2021 https://www.rochesterhills.org/Museum/LocalHistory/ParkeDavisFarm.pdf)
Parke, Davis and Company. Parke-Davis At 100...progress in the past...promise for the future. Detroit, Michigan, 1966.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Alka-Seltzer Documentation and Oral History Project (NMAH.AC.0184)
N W Ayer Advertising Agency Records (NMAH.AC.0059)
Cover Girl Advertising Oral History Documentation Project (NMAH.AC.0374)
Garfield and Company Records (NMAH.AC.0820)
Albert W. Hampson Commercial Artwork Collection (NMAH.AC.0561)
Ivory Soap Advertising Collection (NMAH.AC.0791)
Kiehl's Pharmacy Records (NMAH.AC.0819)
Alan and Elaine Levitt Advertisement Collection (NMAH.AC.0303)
Medical Sciences Film Collection (NMAH.AC.0222)
Norwich Eaton Pharmaceutical, Inc. Collection (NMAH.AC.0395)
Procter & Gamble Company Product Packaging Collection (NMAH.AC.0836)
Sterling Drug Company Records (NMAH.AC.772)
Syntex Collection of Pharmaceutical Advertising (NMAH.AC.0821)
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Medicine (NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.Medicine)
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Patent Medicines (NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.PatentMedicines)
Materials at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Smithsonian Libraries Trade Literature Collection
Trade catalogs related to Parke, Davis & Co.; Warner-Lambert; Pfizer Pharmaceuticals; and Pfizer, Inc.
Materials at Other Organizations
Detroit Public Library, Special Collections
Parke, Davis & Company records, 1892-1959
Scrapbook of clippings, 1929-44; Excursions & Announcements, 1892-1902; and company newsletters.
University of California San Francisco
Drug Industry Documents was created by the University of California San Francisco Library in collaboration with faculty members C. Seth Landefeld, MD and Michael Steinman, MD. Originally established to house documents from an off-label marketing lawsuit against Parke-Davis (United States of America ex rel. David Franklin vs. Parke-Davis), the archive has grown to include documents from additional sources illustrating how the pharmaceutical industry, academic journals and institutions, continuing medical education organizations and regulatory/funding agencies operate in ways that are detrimental to public health.
Separated Materials:
Division of Medicine and Science, National Museum of American History
The division holds objects related to Parke, Davis that primarily include containers (boxes and glass bottles) that held phamrmaceuticals, biologicals (vaccines), crude drugs, and herb packages. See accessions: 1978.0882; 1982.0043; 1982.0043; 1984.0351; 1985.0475; 1988.3152; 1991.0415; 1992.3127; 2001.3066; 2012.0165; and 2018.5001.
Provenance:
The initial collection of approximately 185 cubic feet was donated by the Warner-Lambert Company, through Jerry A. Weisbach, Vice-President and President of the Pharmaceutical Research Division, on February 3, 1982.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Armed Forces Search this
Extent:
1 Cubic foot (3 boxes and 1 oversized folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Typescripts
Passports
Albums
Books
Cartoons (humorous images)
Christmas cards
Comic books
Newsletters
Panoramas
Personal papers
Photograph albums
Photographs
Posters
Ration books
Scrapbooks
Telegrams
Place:
Minidoka
Manzanar
Idaho
Amache (Calif.)
California -- 1940-1950
Date:
1900s-1993
Scope and Contents:
The collection is an assortment of souvenirs and memorabilia, which have survived the years since World War II. Many of them, Christmas cards, high school graduation programs, notes to friends, snapshots, and photographic prints in the form of dance programs reflect the interests and concerns of all teenagers. There are camp newsletters and Japanese passports, identification cards, ration books, meal passes, posters; a photograph album contains both family photographs and a record of achievements of members of the Kamikawa family. There is a transcript of a taped interview with Mrs. Kamikawa, who was nearly 90 in February 1982, the time of the interview. A book, Lone Heart Mountain by Estelle Ishigo, portrays in text and sketches life in the relocation centers.
The collection has been filed under the name of each donor rather than by subject such as passports, newsletters, photographs. With very few exceptions the material is in good condition. The historical sketch of the Matsumoto family tree in the photograph album is badly damaged.
Arrangement:
1 series, arranged alphabetically by donor.
Biographical / Historical:
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States went to war. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing the military to exclude "any and all persons" from designated areas of the United States to protect the national defense. Thus, without the imposition of martial law, the military were given authority over the civilian population.
Under this order, nearly 120,000 men, women and children of Japanese ancestry, nearly two thirds of who were United States citizens, were forced out of their homes and into detention camps in isolated areas of the west. Many of them spent the years of the war living under armed guards, and behind barbed wire. Children spent their school days in the camps, young men left to volunteer or be drafted for military service. The War Relocation Authority administered the camps.
This collection of documentary materials relates to the involuntary relocation of Japanese Americans was collected by the Division of Armed Forces History in connection with the exhibit
A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the United States Constitution at the National Museum of American History in 1988. The donors either were members of the Japanese American Citizens League or reached through the League. Interesting and revealing information is available about a few of the donors. They were primarily teenagers or young adults at the time of the relocation and the materials in the collection reflect their interests and concerns. Juichi Kamikawa, who had completed a year of college in Fresno, California, graduated from the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. after the war and became a respected artist. His family record is one of distinction in both Japan and the United States for several generations. Masuichi Kamikawa, his father, received the Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Japanese Emperor for outstanding contributions to the cultural heritage of Japan. Among achievements cited were his work in merchandizing and banking in Fresno, California. Mary Tsukamoto is one of the contributors to the video conversations in the exhibit. She is a retired teacher who was 27 years old in 1942 and a long time resident of Florin, California. Along with her entire family, she was sent to the center at Jerome, Arkansas. Mabel Rose Vogel taught high school at one of the camps, Rowher Center, Arkansas.
Related Materials:
The Division of Armed Forces History (now Division of Political and Military History) will have additional documents collected for the exhibit, A More Perfect Union, described above, that may be useful. Another collection on this topic in the Archives Center is collection #450, the Gerald Lampoley Collection of Japanese American Letters, 1942 1943, a collection of six letters written by Japanese Americans to their former teacher. Researchers may also refer to the records of the War Relocation Authority, Record Group 210, or those of the United States Commands, 1947 , Record Group 338, in the National Archives. Further, the National Headquarters of the Japanese American Citizens League in San Francisco, California, and the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California, maintain related collections.
Provenance:
Donated by a number of Japanese Americans, many of whom are members of the Japanese American Citizens League, headquartered in San Francisco. This material was acquired for inclusion in the exhibition, A More Perfect Union, described above, but was not placed on display for one reason or another. In certain instances, items in this collection were omitted from the exhibit if they were considered too fragile or too sensitive to prolonged exposure to light. It is possible that related items, currently on display, ultimately will be transferred to the Archives Center; if this occurs, it would be useful to distinguish between the two groups of exhibited and undisplayed materials. Transferred from the Division of Armed Forces History, June 1988.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow. Collection located at off-site storage area.
Viewing film portion of collection requires special appointment, please inquire; listening to LP recordings only possible by special arrangement. Do not use original materials when available on reference video or audio tapes.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection documents the activities of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation of Beverly, Massachusetts, manufacturers of shoe machinery equipment. The collection consists of engineering records, legal records, research and development records, employee/personnel records, correspondence, company catalogs, product literature, advertising materials, photographs, and moving images.
Scope and Contents:
This collection is among the largest and most complete bodies of business records in the holdings of the Archives Center. The records document in considerable detail the firm's engineering department and research and development efforts in shoe making machinery and in related technical areas, especially during World War II and as it attempted to diversify its activities after the war. There is detailed information, much of it on microfilm, about the leasing of United Shoe Machinery (USM) machines. The records also provide insight into the USM's culture of corporate paternalism, including its athletic and relief associations and its industrial school. The collection is rich in visual materials depicting both the machines made by the firm and the employees and the facilities.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into seventeen series.
Series 1: Historical and Background Materials, 1901-1985
Series 2: Executive Records, 1927-1987
Subseries 2.1: United Shoe Machinery, 1927-1975
Subseries 2.2: Emhart Corporation, 1976-1987
Series 3: Correspondence, 1890, 1901-1915
Series 4: Wilson Palmer Files, 1925-1952
Series 5: Research and Development Department Records, 1914-1980
Subseries 5.1: Background, 1947-1974
Subseries 5.2: Financial Information, 1947-1975
Subseries 5.3: Reports, 1962-1973
Subseries 5.4: Facilities, 1947-1975
Subseries 5.5: Personnel, 1942-1979
Subseries 5.6: Labor, 1961-1970
Subseries 5.7: Subject Files, 1943-1977
Subseries 5.8: Project Files, 1914-1968
Subseries 5.9: New Development (ND) Project Files, 1924-1970
Subseries 14.6: Quarter Century Club News, 1977-1987
Subseries 14.7: H.E. Smith & Company Catalogs, 1898-1930
Series 15: Product Literature, 1952-1979
Series 16: Advertising and Marketing Materials, 1902-1981
Series 17: Photographs, 1907-1960s
Subseries 17.1: Employees, 1907-1981
Subseries 17.2: Equipment/Products, 1961-1972
Subseries 17.3: Factories/Buildings, 1920s-1960s
Subseries 17.4: Trade Shows, 1954, 1968-1973
Subseries 17.5: Miscellaneous, undated
Subseries 17.6: Postcards, 1906-1938
Subseries 17.7: Prints from Glass Plate Negatives, undated
Subseries 17.8: Albums, 1915-1950s
Subseries 17.9: Film Negatives, 1956-1958
Subseries 17.10: Glass Plate Negatives, 1915-1923
Series 18: Audio-Visual Materials, 1934-1972
Biographical / Historical:
The United Shoe Machinery Company was formed in 1899 by the consolidation of the most important shoe machinery firms in the industry: Goodyear Shoe Machinery Company; Consolidated McKay Lasting Machine Company; and McKay Shoe Machinery Company. By this merger, conflicting patents were eliminated and patents supplementing each other were brought under United control to permit their prompt combination in a single machine or process. To ensure efficiency, the new company also continued the practice previously followed by its constituent firms of renting machinery that it manufactured instead of selling it. The authorized capital of the new company was twenty five million dollars. After the 1899 merger, United grew quite rapidly. In 1903, it began construction of a new factory in Beverly, Massachusetts about thirty-five miles from Boston. At its peak, this company employed 9,000 workers and produced eighty-five percent of all shoemaking machines in the United States. By 1910, it had an eighty percent share of the shoe machinery market with assets reaching forty million dollars, and it had acquired control of branch companies in foreign countries.
In 1911, the first of three civil anti-trust suits was brought against United by the United States government. It charged that the 1899 merger had restrained trade and violated the Sherman Act. The Massachusetts District Court ruled that the 1899 merger was not an attempt to restrain trade, only an attempt to promote efficiency. The court also said that the five companies that were merged to form United were not competitive with each other. The government appealed to the Supreme Court, which only affirmed the District Court's verdict.
In 1917, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation, incorporated in 1905, absorbed the United Shoe Machinery Company. The United Shoe Machinery Corporation had its headquarters in Boston and its main manufacturing plant in Beverly, Massachusetts.
The second government suit was brought against United Shoe in 1915. The government claimed that United Shoe's leasing system restricted the shoe manufacturer to exclusive use of United Shoe's products and that it was a violation of the newly enacted Clayton Act. The Massachusetts District Court ruled in favor of the government. The Supreme Court, hearing United Shoe's appeal case, only affirmed the District Court's ruling. In 1923, United modified its leasing policy.
The last government suit against United was filed in 1947 and charged United with monopolizing the trade, manufacture, and distribution of shoe machinery from 1923 to 1947. During this period, United had bought all shares, assets, and patents of twenty one companies that dealt in the shoe machinery manufacture. The court ruled that United had clearly violated the Sherman Act, and United was forced to modify its leasing policies and restrict its purchases of other shoe machinery businesses and its acquisition of patents. In 1968, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation changed its name to USM Corporation. In 1976, United Shoe Machinery Company merged with Emhart Industries and produced the modern-day Emhart Corporation.
In 1989, in order to resist a two billion dollar takeover attempt by a New York investment group (which included oil heir Gordon P. Getty), Emhart merged with Black & Decker Corporation. The merged company operates from Black & Decker's headquarters in Towson, Maryland. The company headquarters in Farmington, Connecticut, were closed in June 1989.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
Lynn Historical Society & Museum, Lynn, Massachusetts
Small volumes and pamphlets of shoe and shoe-related industry businesses in Lynn, Massachusetts, including miscellaneous articles and histories on the shoe industry in Lynn, manuals, catalogs, broadsides, patents, handbooks, patterns, price lists, brochures, and legal materials. Businesses represented include Beaudry Machine Company, Beckman Machine Company, Bresnahan Shoe Machinery Company, George W. Emerson & Company, Hamel Shoe Machinery Company, Gregory & Read Co., David Knox & Sons Machinery Company, Krippendorf Kalculator Company (manufacturers of a mechanical device to compute pattern values), Peerless Machinery Company, Quarmby & Hilliker, Machine Builders, Swain, Fuller Manufacturing Company, W.J. Young Machinery Company, and George J. Kelly, Inc. (maker of shoe polish).
United Shoe Machinery Company Records, 1915-1974
Materials assembled by Edward F. McCarthy, director of USM research, including notebooks, diagrams, manuals, brochures, catalogs, code sheets, flow charts, price lists, handbooks, lectures, directories, lexicons, catalogs of other firms, personal notebooks on shoe construction (1927-1931), factory visits to other shoe companies, and production of leading manufacturers (1939-1960), and floor directory of the plant; ledgers listing machines shipped and returned from the Lynn and Puerto Rico plants (nine volumes, 1935-1974); and machine development materials, including patents, chiefly those of Edward Quinn.
Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) Salem, Massachusetts
An accession in 1987 of institutional archives, includes publications, photographs, advertisements, lectures, scrapbook of shoes made for United Shoe Machinery Corporation of Beverly, Massachusetts, shoes from which are in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum (87020).
The United Shoe and Machinery Company Collection contains a large quantity of the company's patents, most of which pertain to the production and manufacture of shoes. Additionally there are patents for golf balls, nail guns, and magnetic closures. The majority of the remaining materials are Quarter Century Club documents ranging from financial and membership records, to pictures and other ephemera. The remainder of the collection consists of miscellaneous objects including sample knives and knife parts from the Booth Brothers Company.
University of Connecticut, Dodd Center
Emhart Corporation Records, undated, 1883-1989
Emhart Corporation was a multinational company located in Farmington, Connecticut. Prior to its 1989 merger with Black & Decker, Emhart operated in over one hundred countries with a worldwide work force of 30,000 employees. Emhart's products included machines for the manufacture of glass bottles and shoes; filling, sealing and packaging machinery; security systems; electronics; chemical products; metal fasteners; rubber processing equipment; and consumer and do-it-yourself products. Brand name products included True Temper® hardware and sporting goods, and Price Pfister® plumbing fixtures. Emhart's domestic roots went back to the American Hardware Company, founded in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1902.
Beverly Public Schools (Beverly, Massachusetts)
Beverly Public Schools/Beverly trade school records, 1909-1995
Materials relating to the establishment and operation of the Beverly trade schools, including trustee minutes, annual reports, curriculum journals, correspondence, photographs, programs and ephemera, and calendars.
Cornell University, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
[United Shoe Machinery Company, of New Jersey, et al. court proceedings], 1911-1917
United Shoe buildings and properties
The Cummings Properties now owns and leases "the Shoe."
Separated Materials:
Materials at National Museum of American History
The Division of Work and Industry holds artifacts related to the United Shoe Machinery Corporation. Some artifacts include a drafting table (1989.0259.349), tool chest (1989.0259.348), and molds for shoes, shoe heels, shoe welts, threads, needles, awls, and show wax.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by United Shoe Machinery Corporation, through Kevin Cochrane on November 20, 1987.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Gloves must be worn when handling unprotected photographs and negatives. Special arrangements required to view materials in cold storage and audio visual materials. Using cold room materials requires a three hour waiting period, reference copies do not exist for audio visual materials. Arrangements must be made with the Archives Center staff two weeks prior to a scheduled research visit. Contact the Archives Center at 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Cooper-Bessemer Corporation (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) Search this
Former owner:
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Search this
Extent:
27 Cubic feet (68 boxes, 1 map-folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Advertising
Airbrushing
Cashbooks
Correspondence
Catalogs
Drawings
Financial records
Letterpress copybooks
Photographs
Price lists
Newsletters
Trade literature
Date:
1870-1961
Summary:
These records document the activities of the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, and Grove City, Pennsylvania, manufacturers of steam, gas, and oil engines, compressors, and furnaces.
Scope and Contents note:
These records document the activities of the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, manufacturers of steam, gas, and oil engines; compressors; and furnaces through correspondence, financial materials, trade literature and photographs.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into eleven series.
Series 1: Background Materials, 1895-1944
Series 2: Correspondence, 1866-1961
Series 3: Financial Materials, 1888-1929
Series 4: Newsletters, 1917-1942
Series 5: Product and Sales Materials, 1870-1961
Series 6: Advertising Materials, 1921-1945
Series 7: Printed Materials, 1902-1953
Series 8: Photographs, 1881-1930s
Series 9: Air Brushed Photographs/Renderings, 1909-1930s, undated
Series 10: Glass Plate Negatives, 1906-1913, undated
Series 11: Drawings, 1906-1944
Biographical / Historical:
C. & G. Cooper Company was founded by Charles (1811-1891) and Elias Cooper (1814-1848) in 1833 in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Situated in Central Ohio, abundant supplies of coal, iron and natural gas were available to the Cooper brothers as well as proximity to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad lines. Previously, the brothers opened a coal mine in 1832 and then a foundry for casting metals. Their principal products were plows, carding machines, and special power machinery. In 1848, Elias Cooper died and Charles Cooper sold an interest in the Company to T.L. Clark and the firm changed its name from to C. & E. Cooper to Cooper & Clark. In 1852, John Cooper (1824-1916), the younger brother of Charles and Elias, joined the company and became known as Coopers & Clark. T.L. Clark retired in 1853 and the company became C. & J. Cooper.
In 1852, the company built its first blowing engine and with the growth of the railroad system and a demand for railroad equipment, the company responded with manufacturing steam locomotives. In 1865, F.L. Fairchild (d. 1912) joined the company as a partner and the firm became known as C.& J. Cooper & Company. J.C. Debes, a mechanical engineer formerly of the George H. Corliss Works, began working for the company in 1865 designing Corliss engines that came to market in 1869. Corliss engines would become a principal product of the company by 1886. Colonel George Rogers (son-in-law of Elias Cooper) joined the company when John Cooper retired and the name once gain changed to C. & G. Cooper & Company. By 1881, Desault B. Kirk (son-in-law of Charles Cooper) and son, C.F. Cooper (d. 1894) along with E.H. Fairchild and B.F. Williams became active partners in the company. In 1929, Cooper merged with Bessemer Gas Engine Co. of Grove City, Pennsylvania, to form Cooper-Bessemer Corporation. Cooper Machinery Services is the current equipment manufacturer for Cooper-Bessemer engines.
During World War One and World War Two, the company made munitions—steel shells, special purpose lathes, surface grinders and multiple-head cutting off machines—to aid the Allies. Its work contributed to faster and more efficient production for the war effort and earned it the Maritime "M" and Army/Navy "E" Awards. Over the years, the company's products included: simple and compound Corliss engines, gas and diesel engines, rolling mill engines, marine engines, compressors, and power units for ice and refrigeration, cotton-ginning and oil-milling.
Sources
Cooper Machinery Services (last accessed on April 12, 2022 https://www.cooperservices.com/our-company/heritage/cooper-origins/the-history-of-cooper-bessemer/)
C. & G. Cooper Company, Seventy-Five Years of Engine Building, Mount Vernon, Ohio, 1900.
100 Years of Power, Cooper-Bessemer, 1833-1933, 1933.
Related Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Trade Literature Collection
Includes Cooper-Bessemer Corporation, Chapman Engineering Company, and Hope Engineering and Supply Company.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by the Cooper-Bessemer Corporation, through Robert S. Warren, Manager of Advertising and Public Relations, in 1965 and 1969.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Information Technology and Communications Search this
Harris Automatic Press Company, Dayton, Ohio Search this
Extent:
6.5 Cubic feet (13 boxes and 5 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Photograph albums
Newsletters
Photographs
Blueprints
Catalogs
Date:
2003 - 2003
1889 - 1995
Summary:
Collection documents the Harris Automatic Press Company, manufacturers of a printing press with an automatic feed primarily through drawings and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The collection contains photographs of the presses, factory and employees; a scrapbook of presses, 1915; drawings; trade literature and catalogs; the Harris Impressions newsletter; blueprints of the presses; and histories of the company.
Arrangement:
Collection is arranged into three series.
Series 1: Background Materials, 1889-1995
Series 2: Drawings, 1896-1929
Series 3: Photographs, 1921-1968; 2003
Biographical / Historical:
In 1890 jewelers and tinkerers Alfred and Charles G. Harris developed a new printing press with an automatic feeder. Their first press was a revolutionary breakthrough, delivering ten times what a pressman could feed by hand. The Harris Automatic Press Company was responsible for many printing innovations during the early 1900s including the first commercially successful offset lithographic press and the first two-color offset press. The company became one of the world's largest and most successful manufacturers of printing equipment.
Harris-Seybold Company (later Harris Intertype) of Cleveland, Ohio manufactured high-quality sheetfed offset lithographic printing presses. The Harris Automatic Press Co. of Niles, Ohio (the original company name) designed and built the first commercially successful sheetfed offset lithographic printing press in 1906. It was sold to the Republic Banknote Company (later became part of U.S. Banknote Corporation) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shipped on July 26, 1906. This printing press was retired in August 1940, rebuilt by Harris and donated to the Smithsonian Institution. From 1906 to 1976, Harris manufactured thousands of lithographic printing presses in various models and sizes along with various designs of bindery equipment. They were leaders in offset lithography technology. Many of the sheetfed offset lithographic presses presently being manufactured use some form of the early Harris innovations. In 1957, the company name was changed to Harris Intertype Corporation and in 1974 the name was changed to Harris Corporation. At this time the company was comprised of several electronic divisions in addition to the printing equipment divisions. The company stopped production of sheetfed lithographic printing presses in 1976. The corporate offices moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Melbourne, Florida in 1978 where Harris Corporation is still located. Harris Corporation disposed of its printing equipment plants in 1984 in a leverage buyout. Heidelberg (Germany) purchased some of the printing manufacturing plants in the late 1990s.
Provenance:
Collection donated by GSS Printing Equipment.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
A collection of greeting cards, pictorial maps, and travel diaries by artist Ernest Dudley Chase. Chase created greeting cards for Clara Holland during their courtship and later marriage. The cards were hand painted by Chase in water color with cut- paper details. Many of the cards include romantic letters or poems composed by Chase.
Scope and Contents:
A collection of greeting cards given by artist Ernest Dudley Chase to Clara Holland in the years during their courtship and marriage, pictorial maps drwan by Chase, and nine travel diaries. The cards were hand-painted by Chase in water color with cut-paper details. Many of the cards include romantic letters or poems composed by Chase.
Series 1, Greeting Cards, circa 1937-1966, consists of hand crafted, personally designed cards that Chase created for his wife Clara Holland. The cards generally include a very affectionate sentiment or on occasion a poem. The cards were done in water color and embellished with cut-paper details and calligraphy. Also included are Monday Morning Letters that Chase wrote to his wife Clara whom he called his "Lovely Little Lady" or "L.L.L."
Series 2, Maps (pictorial), 1935-1947 and undated, consists of maps designed and signed by Chase featuring meticulous illustrations of famous landmarks, flora, fauna and other features.
Series 3, Travel Diaries, 1924-1937, consists of nine volumes of bound, typescript travel diaries maintained by Chase from his travels, to Alaska, the Mediterranean, Carribean, Germany, Holland, Central Europe, Sicily, France, England, Scotland, and Ireland. The diaries are arranged chronologically.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series.
Series 1, Greeting Cards, circa 1937-1966
Series 2, Maps (pictorial), 1935-1947 and undated
Series 3, Travel Diaries, 1924-1938
Biographical / Historical:
Ernest Dudley Chase was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1878 but is most associated with the town of Winchester, Massachusetts where he was a well known artist. Chase created a unique body of work, an array of views of various Winchester homes and buildings and whimsically illustrated maps. After attending the Lowell Textile School and the Vesper George Art School in Boston, Chase joined the Butterfield Printing Company in 1900. In 1906, he joined the printing firm of W.T. Sheehan in Boston. He began his own greeting card company in 1908, Des Arts Publishers which eventually became Ernest Dudley Chase Publishers. In 1921, Chase Publishers was purchased by Rust Craft. Chase worked at Rust Craft until 1958 in the position of vice president of creative design. His other duties at Rust Craft included advertising manager and editing the company's newsletter The Rustler and the greeting card industry periodicalThe Greeting Card.
Chase married three times. His first marriage was to Idelle Clark and his second marriage was to Wilhelmina Graham. In 1937, Chase married for a third time to Clara Holland. On all holidays and special occasions, he gave his wife, Clara elaborately crafted, personally designed cards in which he generally included a very affectionate sentiment or on occasion a poem. One of Chase's hobbies was creating enormous greeting cards, gathering thousands of signatures on them and sending them to United States presidents or other famous persons around the world. Chase also enjoyed traveling and documenting his travel experiences in diaries.
According to the book Winchester Artists by Ellen E. Knight, Chase produced more greeting cards than anyone in the United States. He authored the first definitive history of the greeting card business,The Romance of Greeting Cards, which was published in 1926. Chase retired from Rust Craft in 1958 and died in 1966.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Norcross Greeting Card Collection (AC0058)
Olive Leavister 19th Century Handmade Valentine Collection (AC0396)
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Greeting Cards (AC0060)
Provenance:
The greeting cards were donated to the Archives Center in 2005 by Ernest Dudley Chase's stepson, Fred, and Frances Holland. Fred Holland donated pictorial maps in July, 2010 and travel diaries in September, 2010.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Electricity and Modern Physics Search this
Extent:
0.75 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
Container:
Box 1
Box 2
Box 3
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Scrapbooks
Notebooks
Manuscripts
Newsletters
Date:
1909-1918.
Scope and Contents note:
This collection traces the training and employment of an early electrical engineer. It includes 4 manuals filled with Berger's lab training at Stevens and G.E., a lecture notebook, two business correspondence scrapbooks, an industrial power data reference book, and a group of G.E. technical newsletters.
Biographical/Historical note:
Berger served as a General Electric Company electrical engineer, a William Gordon Corporation contractor, and eventually began his own electrical design firm. He was educated in 1910 at the Stevens Institute, and enrolled in the General Electric continuing education program at Lynn, Mass.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
