Sanford E. Thompson Papers
Collection Number: 5615
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives, Cornell University Library
Title:
Sanford E. Thompson Papers,
1888-1978
Collection Number:
5615
Creator:
Thompson, Sanford E.
Quantity:
8.5 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Articles, first drafts, patents, photographs,
papers (documents).
Repository:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and
Archives, Cornell University Library
Abstract:
Personal, professional and business correspondence,
notebooks, pamphlets, newletters, manuscripts, and experimental data and
results.
Language:
Collection material in English
Sanford E. Thompson, construction engineer, scientific management practitioner, and
consultant, is best known for his application of Frederick W. Taylor's principles of
scientific management to various construction and manufacturing problems, in an
effort to develop accurate methods of management planning. Born on February 13, 1867
in Ogdensburg, NY, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where
he studied civil engineering and chemistry. He held several positions as engineer
and superintendent of construction at a variety of plants until 1896, when he
started consulting work. Between 1917 and his death in 1949 he was a partner in the
Thompson and Lichtner Company, a management and engineering consulting firm.
Thompson also served in a number of governmental posts between 1921 and 1943.
The papers include routine job measurement forms; charts; notes and reports;
correspondence with management theorists, including Frederick W. Taylor and Frank
Gilbreth; and publications and reports by Thompson. Papers of Frederick W. Taylor,
contained in the Thompson papers, pertain generally to Taylor's and Thompson's
collaborative efforts in the building trades (1892-1915).
The professional papers include routine job measurement forms; charts; notes and
reports; correspondence with management theorists, including Frederick W. Taylor and
Frank Gilbreth; and publications and reports by Thompson. Papers of Frederick W.
Taylor, contained in the Thompson papers, pertain generally to Taylor's and
Thompson's collaborative efforts in the building trades (1892-1915). Thompson's
papers include charts, notes, reports, time cards, job instructions, and computation
sheets pertaining to consulting work in job design, operations management, and work
measurement studies for the following companies: Moosehead Paper Co. (1889-1890);
Manufacturing Investment Co. Paper Mills at Appleton, Wisc. and Madison, Me. (1892);
Mt. Tom Sulphite Pulp Co., Mt. Tom Mass. (1893); Umbagog Papers Mills (collaborative
study with Frederick Taylor on work measurement, 1892); Tabor Foundry (operating
under Taylor production system, 1914-1915); Forstmann Woolen Company (1939-1940);
Schwarzenback Huber Weaving Company (1928-1938); and Ludlow Textile Manufacturing
Company (1915).
Also, notes and drafts for books on marketing and scientific management (1940);
reports on spinning mills (1936), defense production (1941), and unemployment and
emergency measures for the construction trades (1921); correspondence pertaining to
Thompson's work with the U.S. secretary of war on operations management and planning
(1917); letters to E.C. Harwood and John Maynard Keynes on economics, unemployment
and the Depression (1934-1935); professional certificates; MIT notebook (1888-1889);
notebook on experiments (1896); a contract between Thompson and Taylor for
collaboration on work measurement and construction studies (1895); press releases;
and notes, brochures, and clippings on economics, engineering, marketing, and
military spending.
The correspondence series includes Thompson's correspondence with various
manufacturers and suppliers of machinery and work measurement devices; with the
Boston Society of Civil Engineers on programs (1894-1948); with the Midvale Steel
Company, Philadelphia, on Taylor's production system (1895); with Frank Gilbreth on
concrete studies, construction, publications, and various work measurement studies
(1897-1905); with Carl Barth (Bethlehem Steel Company) on Taylor's operation
research (1902); with Frederick W. Taylor on concrete and work measurement studies
(1915); with Mrs. Frederick W. Taylor on a biography of Taylor (1923); with William
Danforth (Ralston Purina Company) on marketing, productivity and wages (1933); with
E.C. Harwood (director, American Institute for Economic Research) on national
economic policies (1934-1935); open letters to President Franklin D. Roosevelt on
the economy (1934); and correspondence with Ordway Tead (Harper and Brothers) on the
biography of Taylor (1936-1938). Also, letters on personal matters, consulting work,
speaking engagements, publications (1892-1949), and three letter press books of
outgoing letters to various manufacturers and suppliers, and some letters to
Gilbreth and Taylor on construction, concrete, and work measurement studies
(1903-1905).
The publications series includes notes, rough drafts, and correspondence regarding
the production and publication of Reinforced Concrete Bridges (John Wiley, 1939),
written in collaboration with Edward Smulski. Also, articles and supporting
documents pertaining to various issues in economics, marketing, management, and work
measurement. The subjects include scientific management, productivity, wages,
unemployment, profit, cost accounting, production, purchasing, management and
marketing in the apparel, construction, textile, and rubber industries, engineered
marketing, technological change, defense production (1941), and post-war cost
reduction (1944). Also included is a speech on the Salvation Army (1939), a speech,
with program, from a "Symposium on Frederick W. Taylor" (Boston, 1933); and charts,
notes, and drafts on chapters for an unpublished book on marketing (ca. 1946).
The Thompson & Lichtner Company files include statements and reports on company
policy; promotional letters and brochures; and notes and reports on the following
topics: job design, work measurement, bricklaying (1902), marketing, management,
finance, Hoover's approach to economic problems (1930), an opinion survey of
retailers and manufacturers (1946), productivity, post-war costs (1946) and various
personnel management issues. Also, publications of the Thompson & Lichtner
Company, and scattered letters concerning routine business matters, including
letters regarding Thompson's appointment to various associations and organizations.
Correspondence between Thompson and Frederick W. Taylor concerns personal matters and
Thompson's career plans (1892-1893), as well as the conduct of experiments,
technology, work measurement and publications on coal, plastering, bricklaying, pig
iron, and concrete and soils studies conducted by Taylor and Thompson (1892-1914).
Also, correspondence of Carl Barth concerning the Bethlehem Iron Works experiments
(1901-1903); and Frank Gilbreth concerning the reinforced concrete experiments
(1904-1906).
Materials pertaining to Thompson and Taylor's concrete studies include notes, letters
and reports on experimental procedures, specifications for pouring and mixing and
strength testing (1909).
Soil and grass experiments were conducted by Thompson and Harold Van Du Zee for
Taylor (1909-1915). Documents include graphs, charts, diagrams, computation sheets,
and notes and instructions from Taylor on conduct of the experiments. Also,
correspondence between Thompson and Van Du Zee on the conduct of the experiments,
and the work measurement studies directed by Taylor (1909-1915).
Additional documents pertaining to Taylor include notes, reports and data on pig iron
experiments (1901), work measurement studies, and a job design study conducted by
Taylor for the Philadelphia Civil Service Commission (1912-1914); articles by Taylor
on scientific management and profit sharing (1909-1912); photographs and diagrams of
machinery and testing instruments; Taylor patents (1897-1902); Industrial Management
(photocopy of book by Taylor and Morris Cole) (1909);correspondence of Taylor with
Frank Gilbreth on concrete experiments (1908); National Consumers League on
productivity and work measurement (1910-1912); and a letter to Richard A. Feiss on
Taylor's visit to the Joseph & Feiss Company (1915); correspondence of Gilbreth
and H.K. Hathaway on their meetings with Thompson and Taylor; notes and letters of
the Stevens Institute of Technology regarding Taylor's professional papers (1963);
and a document (upon Taylor's death) establishing Carl Barth, Morris Cooke, James M.
Dodge and H.K. Hathaway as collaborators in Taylor's work in scientific management
(1915).
Names:
Barth, Carl.
Danforth, William.
Feiss, Richard A. (Richard Albert), 1878-1954
Gilbreth, Frank Bunker, 1868-1924.
Harwood, E. C. (Edward Crosby), 1900-1980
Hathaway, H. K. (Horace King), 1878-1944
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.
Keynes, John Maynard, 1883-1946.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano),
1882-1945.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
Taylor, Frederick Winslow, 1856-1915.
Tead, Ordway, 1891-1973
Thompson, Sanford E. (Sanford Eleazer),1867-1949
Van Du Zee, Harold.
Bethlehem Iron Works.
Boston Society of Civil Engineers.
Forstmann Woolen Company.
Ludlow Textile Manufacturing Company.
Midvale Steel Company.
National Consumers' League.
Ralston Purina Company.
Salvation Army.
Schwarzenback Huber Weaving Company.
Thompson & Lichtner Company, inc.
Umbagog Paper Mills.
United States. War Department
Subjects:
Business cycles -- United States.
Concrete construction.
Concrete testing.
Construction industry -- United States --
Management.
Construction materials--Research.
Depressions--1929--United States.
Foundries--United States--Management.
Hosiery industry--United States--Management.
Industrial engineering--United States.
Industrial management.
Industrial management -- United States.
Industrial mobilization -- United States.
Industrial productivity--United States.
Management science.
Marketing -- United States.
Methods engineering.
Paper industry--United States--Management.
Profit-sharing--United States.
Rubber industry and trade--United
States--Management.
Scientific management.
Textile industry--United States--Management.
Unemployment--United States.
Wages--United States.
Work design.
Work measurement.
World War, 1939-1945--Economic aspects--United
States.
Business consultants.
Form and Genre Terms:
Articles.
First drafts.
Patents.
Photographs.
Papers (documents)
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:
Sanford E. Thompson Papers #5615. Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation
and Archives, Cornell University Library.
Sub-Series 1. R.W. Taylor/Sanford Thompson Correspondence, 1892-1915
Sub-Series 2. Taylor/Thompson Experiment Documents 1905-1915
Sub-Series 3. A. Miscellaneous Taylor Files 1892-1963
Sub-Series 3. B. Publications
Sub-Series 2. Taylor/Thompson Experiment Documents 1905-1915
Sub-Series 3. A. Miscellaneous Taylor Files 1892-1963
Sub-Series 3. B. Publications
|
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | 1947 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | 1895 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | 1936 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 5-7 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 14 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 15 | 1892-1893 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 16 | ||
|
includes photographs
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 17 | ||
|
newspaper articles
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 18 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 19 | ||
|
Includes correspondence with John Maynard Keynes
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 20-23 | ||
| Box 1 | Folder 24 | 1888-1889 | |
|
MIT
|
|||
| Box 1 | Folder 25 | 1889-1890 | |
|
Moosehead Paper Co.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 1 | 1892 | |
|
Manufacturing Investment Co. - Paper Mills at Appleton, Wisconsin and
Madison, Maine
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 2-3 | 1893 | |
|
Mt. Tom Sulphite Company, Mt. Tom, Massachusetts
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 4 | 1896 | |
| Box 2 | Folder 5 | 1941 | |
| Box 2 | Folder 6 | 1940 | |
| Box 2 | Folder 7 | 1931-1932 | |
| Box 2 | Folder 8 | ||
|
Includes payroll records, time records, etc.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 9 | ||
|
Rate Forms
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 10 | ||
|
Weaving Rate Forms
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 11-12 | ||
|
Miscellaneous Charts
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 13 | ||
|
Miscellaneous Forms. Includes expense schedules, earning charts, etc.
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 14 | ||
|
Miscellaneous
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 15 | ||
|
Weaving Data
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 16 | 1936 | |
| Box 2 | Folder 17 | 1936 | |
|
Diagrams
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 18 | 1914 | |
| Box 2 | Folder 19-21 | 1915 | |
| Box 2 | Folder 22 | 1896 | |
|
Originals
|
|||
| Box 2 | Folder 23-25 | 1921 | |
| Box 2 | Folder 26 | ||
| Box 3 | Folder 1 | 1914 | |
|
Includes information of time studies
|
|||
| Box 3 | Folder 2-4 | 1915 | |
| Box 3 | Folder 5 | 1915 | |
| Box 3 | Folder 6-11 | ||
| Box 3 | Folder 12-14 | 1914 | |
| Box 3 | Folder 15-18 | 1915 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 1-4 | 1915 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 5-7 | 1916 | |
|
February 10, l916
|
|||
| Box 4 | Folder 8 | 1914-1917 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 9 | 1916 | |
| Box 4 | Folder 10 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 1 | 1892-1893 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 2 | 1894 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 3 | 1895 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 4 | 1896 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 5 | 1897-1899 | |
|
includes correspondence with Frank Gilbreth
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 6 | 1901-1904 | |
|
includes correspondence with Frank Gilbreth
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 7 | 1901-1904 | |
|
illegible
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 8 | 1905 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 9 | 1905 | |
|
includes correspondence with Frank Gilbreth
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 10 | 1907-1914 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 11 | 1915-1917 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 12 | 1923 | |
|
Thompson's copy of a letter to Mrs. F.W. Taylor, regarding a book on the
life of F.W. Taylor
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 13 | 1927 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 14 | 1930-1931 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 15 | 1932 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 16 | 1933 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 17-18 | 1934-1935 | |
|
includes correspondence with E.C. Harwood, Director, American Institute
for Economic Research
|
|||
| Box 5 | Folder 19 | 1936-1938 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 20 | 1939 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 21 | 1941 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 22 | 1942 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 23 | 1943 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 24 | 1945-1947 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 25 | 1948 | |
| Box 5 | Folder 26 | 1949-1952 | |
| Box 6 | Folder 1 | 1903 | |
|
includes correspondence with F.W. Taylor, Frank Gilbreth
|
|||
| Box 6 | Folder 2 | 1903-1904 | |
| Box 7 | Folder 1 | 1904 | |
|
includes correspondence with F.W. Taylor, Frank Gilbreth
|
|||
| Box 7 | Folder 2 | 1905 | |
|
includes correspondence with F.W. Taylor, Frank Gilbreth
|
|||
| Box 8 | Folder 1-2 | 1932 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 3 | 1936 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 4-5 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 8 | Folder 6-7 | 1930 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 8-9 | 1928 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 10 | 1925 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 11 | ||
| Box 8 | Folder 12-13 | 1933 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 14 | 1932 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 15-17 | 1933 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 18 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 8 | Folder 19 | 1927 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 20 | 1924 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 21 | 1933 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 22 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 8 | Folder 23-24 | 1945 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 25 | 1932 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 26 | ||
| Box 8 | Folder 27-29 | ||
| Box 8 | Folder 30 | 1940 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 31 | ||
| Box 8 | Folder 32 | 1940 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 33 | 1932 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 34-35 | 1939 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 36 | 1944 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 37 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 8 | Folder 38 | 1931 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 39 | 1925 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 40 | 1939 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 41 | 1927 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 42 | 1931 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 43 | 1941 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 44 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 8 | Folder 45 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 8 | Folder 46 | 1936 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 47 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 8 | Folder 48 | 1931 | |
| Box 8 | Folder 49 | 1926 | |
| Box 9 | Folder 1-19 | ||
|
Includes manuscript, diagrams, drafts, etc.
|
|||
| Box 10 | Folder 1-23 | ||
|
Includes index, footnotes, notes, etc.
|
|||
| Box 11 | Folder 1-3 | ||
|
typed manuscript
|
|||
| Box 11 | Folder 4-19 | 1946-1947 | |
|
Includes notes for the book, chapters, etc.
|
|||
| Box 12 | Folder 1 | ||
| Box 12 | Folder 2 | 1930 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 3 | 1932 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 4 | 1946 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 5 | 1937 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 6 | 1946 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 7-12 | 1902-1908 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 13 | 1930-1947 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 14 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 12 | Folder 15 | ||
|
Includes information on job evaluation, problems of management, etc.
|
|||
| Box 12 | Folder 16 | 1928 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 17 | 1938 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 18 | 1944 | |
| Box 12 | Folder 19 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 12 | Folder 20 | 1946 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 1 | 1891-1893 | |
|
Includes letter of advice from Taylor to Thompson
|
|||
| Box 13 | Folder 2 | 1894 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 3-4 | 1895 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 5-8 | 1896 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 9 | 1897 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 10 | 1901-1903 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 11-12 | 1904 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 13 | 1905 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 14-17 | 1906 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 18 | 1907 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 19-22 | 1908 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 23 | 1908 | |
|
illegible
|
|||
| Box 13 | Folder 24 | 1911 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 25 | 1913 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 26 | 1914 | |
| Box 13 | Folder 27 | ||
|
illegible
|
|||
| Box 14 | Folder 1-16 | 1907 | |
|
Contains data pertaining to these experiments. Included are letters,
notes, etc. Some are illegible
|
|||
| Box 15 | Folder 1-5 | 1910 | |
|
Correspondence - S. Thompson with H. Van DuZee
|
|||
| Box 15 | Folder 6 | 1912-1915 | |
|
Correspondence - S. Thompson with H. Van DuZee
|
|||
| Box 15 | Folder 7 | ||
|
Charts, diagrams, no date
|
|||
| Box 15 | Folder 8-13 | 1909 | |
|
Computation sheets, instructions
|
|||
| Box 15 | Folder 14-19 | 1910 | |
|
Computation sheets
|
|||
| Box 15 | Folder 20 | 1911 | |
|
Computation sheets
|
|||
| Box 15 | Folder 21-22 | 1912 | |
|
Computation sheets
|
|||
| Box 15 | Folder 23 | ||
|
Includes general notes, instructions of F. W. Taylor, etc.
|
|||
| Box 16 | Folder 1 | 1906-1912 | |
| Box 16 | Folder 2 | 1911-1914 | |
| Box 16 | Folder 3 | 1891-1892 | |
|
Manufacturing Instruments Company letters
|
|||
| Box 16 | Folder 4 | 1901-1914 | |
|
Includes correspondence with Frank Gilbreth.
|
|||
| Box 16 | Folder 5 | 1915 | |
| Box 16 | Folder 6 | 1915 | |
|
March 11, l915. Letter refers to Taylor's visit to Feiss factory.
Written a few days prior to Taylor's death.
|
|||
| Box 16 | Folder 7 | 1915 | |
|
May 11, l915. Carl Barth, Morris Cooke, James Dodge, H.K.
Hathaway
|
|||
| Box 16 | Folder 8 | ||
| Box 16 | Folder 9 | ||
| Box 16 | Folder 10 | 1892 | |
| Box 16 | Folder 11 | 1912-1913 | |
| Box 16 | Folder 12 | 1913-1914 | |
| Box 16 | Folder 13 | ||
| Box 16 | Folder 14 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 16 | Folder 15-17 | ||
|
Vol. 10, #6; Vol. 11, #2-5; Vol. 12, #1,6; Vol. 13, #1,3,5
|
|||
| Box 16 | Folder 18 | ||
|
no date
|
|||
| Box 16 | Folder 19 | 1978 | |
| Box 17 | Folder 1-10 | 1909 | |
| Box 17 | Folder 11 | ||