Otis Company Records

Collection Number: 6822

Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:
Otis Company Records, 1889-1952
Collection Number:
6822
Creator:
Otis Company
Quantity:
0.2 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Correspondence .
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Otis Company, Boston, Mass. Records, 1890-1940, include miscellaneous papers concerning Palmer Company, 1890-1930, and Ware Company, 1922-1927, including mill histories, strike of 1922, etc.; also payroll for Boston Manufacturing Company, 1889-1892; Bliss Fabyan price list, 1899; Nashua Manufacturing Company production costs, 1843-1922.
Language:
Collection material in English

ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY

The company, located in Boston, was a cotton manufacturer formed in 1839. It acquired various other companies including the Columbian Manufacturing Company, the Ware Manufacturing Company, and the Boston Duck Company.
COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Includes a typescript of a speech, 1915, by George E. Tucker, agent at Ware, about the history of the Otis Co. and the town of Ware, Mass.; and a typescript of a speech by R.C. Newell, agent at the Palmer Mill (Palmer Manufacturing Co.), about the history of that mill. Also includes correspondence, 1922-1927; clippings, 1924-1940, about the history of the textile industry; payrolls, 1882, 1883, 1889, 1892-1893, from the Boston Manufacturing Co.; a production cost memo for 1843-1922 of the Nashua Manufacturing Co., Nashua, N.H., etc. Also contains material from the Appleton Co., Anderson, S.C., including a pamphlet describing employee health and life insurance benefits, a broadside, 1952, entitled: Why I will vote against the C.I.O.; and a copy of a speech by S.M. Beattie at the annual meeting, 1937, of the Cotton Manufacturers' Assoc. of South Carolina.
PROVENANCE:

American Textile History Museum Collection, gift of Charles B. Nichols.
PROCESSING INFORMATION:

Order as created by ATHM was kept. Folder number 7 seemed to have been skipped so folders were renumbered upon processing at Kheel.
PROVENANCE:

American Textile History Museum Collection, gift of Charles B. Nichols.
SUBJECTS

Names:
Brown, Joseph.
Lord, Thomas.
Parks, Luther.
Wright, John S.
Appleton Company.
Boston Duck Company.
Boston Manufacturing Company.
Columbian Manufacturing Company.
Cotton Manufacturers Association of South Carolina.
Gilbert and Stevens.
Hampshire Company.
Kilburn, Lincoln & Son.
Nashua Manufacturing Company.
Otis Company.
Palmer Manufacturing Company.
Phoenix Company.
Three Rivers Manufacturing Company.
Ware Manufacturing Company.
Wright and Whitman.

Subjects:
Business records
Cotton manufacture
Health insurance
Industries
Life insurance
Manufacturers' agents
Mill agents
Textile industry
Textile machinery industry
Textile printing
Textile workers
Wages
Woolen and worsted manufacture
Financial records
Mill treasurers
Negro cloth
Sheeting (Textile fabric)

Geographic Subjects:
Ware (Mass.)

Form and Genre Terms:
Correspondence

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Access Restrictions:
Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.
Restrictions on Use:
This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.
Cite As:
Otis Company Records #6822. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library.
RELATED MATERIALS

Related Collections:
6576: Columbian Manufacturing Company Records
6935: Ware Manufacturing Company Records
CONTAINER LIST

Container
Description
Date
Box 1 Folder 1 1926
Format: Graphics
Chart of growth and development of various mills that became the Otis Company, 1804-1926. Approximately 1926.
Box 1 Folder 2 1915
Format: Graphics
Given by George E. Tucker and agent at Ware. Includes a history of Ware and the inclusive mills that made up Otis Company.
Box 1 Folder 3
Format: Text
Speech given by R.C. Newell an agent at Palmer. Undated.
Box 1 Folder 4 1890
Format: Text
Regarding mill enlargements at Palmer Manufacturing Company.
Box 1 Folder 5 1922-1927
Format: Text
Contains two letters regarding a strike at Ware from July 7-8,1922. Also includes notice of the Fleitman Company's purchase of the Underwear business from Otis in February 1927.
Box 1 Folder 6 1922
Format: Text
List production costs at the Nashua Manufacturing Company from 1843-1922. Approximately 1922
Box 1 Folder 7 1924-1941
Format: News clipping
1924-1925; 1936-1941. Many items undated.
Box 1 Folder 8 1937
Format: Text
June 4, 1937
Box 1 Folder 9 1889-1893
Format: Text
Pages torn from a ledger
Box 1 Folder 10 1899
Format: Text
Bliss Fabyan & Company. Denim list is undated.
Box 1 Folder 11 1932
Format: Text
December 29, 1932
Box 1 Folder 12 1937-1952
Format: Text
Flyer entitled "Why I will vote against the CIO" (1952) and a brochure on the benefits provided by the Appleton Company (1937). The flyer was made before vote at the Owen Corning Fiberglass Corporation.