(For information on doing general business history research, please visit www.newberry.org/collections/businesshistory.html.)
A.C. McClurg & Co. Records, 1873-1967, bulk 1910-1950.
12 cubic ft. (25 boxes)
Correspondence, contracts, royalty statements, record books, a scrapbook, and other materials from the A.C. McClurg publishing company, which was established in Chicago in 1872.
Subjects: Printing and Book Arts; Business
Call Number: Midwest MS A.C. McClurg (formerly Mab)
Collection Stack Location: 3a 41 10
Finding Aids:
Inventory: Online.
Andruss, William B. (William Benajah). Diary and commissions, 1855-1876.
0.1 cubic ft. (8 items)
Amboy, Lee County, Ill., merchant and operator of a daguerreotype studio. Diary, Mar. 10, 1855 - Apr. 3, 1856, documents Andruss' daily activities, travel, photography business, and emigration via Bellevue, Mich., with his family to Amboy. Also seven commissions and appointments to public office in Lee County, 1860-1877.
Subjects: Business; Family
Call Number: VAULT Ayer MS 3002
Collection Stack Location: Vault 26 2
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Apthorp, Charles. Correspondence, 1738-1751, bulk 1738-1739.
21 letters (0.2 cubic ft.)
Letters to London merchant John Thomlinson, mainly related to the financial arrangements, sale, and shipment of merchandise to Boston. Apthorp was born in England in 1698 and educated at Eton College. He was later appointed by the English government as paymaster and commissary of the land and naval forces quartered in Boston. Apthorp also became one of the most distinguished merchants in Boston during the 1730's until his death in 1758.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: VAULT box Ayer MS 27
Collection Stack Location: Vault 27 3
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Ayer Manuscripts information file available.
**Additional Apthorp-related MS: Ayer MS 28, 698, 898.**
Barker, James Madison, 1886-1974. Papers, 1920-1970.
49 cubic ft.
Chicago businessman, director of Sears Roebuck and chairman of Allstate, and Newberry Trustee, 1948-1965. Barker's papers consist of documents, letters, speeches, and essays regarding the Newberry and his Chicago and overseas business activities; personal diaries; and information about the Barker family, including the family newsletter, "The Lake," which documented daily family activities and observations of Chicago life.
Subjects: Business; Family; Newberry Library
Call Number: Midwest MS Barker
Collection Stack Location: 3a 54 8-12; 3a 54 14
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Bentley, R. Ford (Robert Ford), 1909-1994. Papers, 1910-1988.
2.5 cubic ft.
Personal, family, and professional papers including: photographs and genealogical materials relating to Robert Ford Bentley, Chicago marketing and advertising executive with the Miehle Printing Press and Manufacturing Co.
Subjects: Business; Family; Printing and Book Arts
Call Number: Wing Modern MS Bentley
Collection Stack Location: 3a 52 3
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Inventory: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Blatchford, E.W. (Eliphalet Wickes), 1826-1914. Papers, 1836-1914, bulk 1880-1914.
10 cubic ft.
Chicago lead pipe manufacturer, co-executor of Walter L. Newberry's will, and first president of the Newberry Library Board of Trustees, 1892-1914. Papers include letters, notes, documents, photographs, scrapbooks and clippings relating to his family, his business ventures, his work at the Newberry, and his involvement with Chicago social, charitable and educational organizations.
Subjects: Business; Family; Newberry Library; Religion
Call Number: Archives 02/15/01 (formerly Bl)
Collection Stack Location: 4a 6 9
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Summary and photocopies of catalog cards: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Catalog cards: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Inventory: Guide to the Newberry Library Archives.
Blue Sky Press. Records, 1900-1917.
0.5 cubic ft.
Business records of the press, which was in operation (mainly in Chicago) during the first decade of the 20th century. Also correspondence dealing with the dispersal of the press.
Subjects: Business; Printing and Book Arts
Call Number: Case Wing oversize Z 311 .B623
Collection Stack Location: 4 8 15
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Summary: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Bohan, Thomas F. Documents regarding the reprint publication of the General directory and business advertiser of the city of Chicago for the year 1844, 1930-1933.
0.1 cubic ft.
Small collection of documents of Thomas F. Bohan, national advertising manager for the Chicago Daily News. Includes correspondence, contracts, financial statements, and a copyright registration certificate. Also a contract, never completed, with Roussey Publications of Chicago, Ill. to reprint the directory; and purchase orders with Adolph Kroch and the Economy Book Store for copies of the reprint.
Subjects: Business; Printing and Book Arts
Call Number: VAULT Wing MS 30
Collection Stack Location: VAULT 38 3
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Bowen Bros. Records, 1867-1876.
0.1 cubic ft.
Letters, orders, and personal drafts of Bowen Bros., an early Chicago company. The firm appears to have been founded in the early 1860s by Chauncey T., George S., and James H. Bowen, along with others, selling dry goods. By the late 1860s the focus of Bowen Bros. had shifted to real estate and the firm Brown, Whitman & Winslow had taken over the dry goods business. After the 1871 fire the firm joined with Enos Brown & Co. Included in the records are correspondence from Zion's Co-Operative Mercantile Institution, in Utah; business letters to the affiliated firms Bowen, Hunt & Winslow, and George S. Bowen; and a large number of letters to Enos Brown & Co.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: Midwest MS 153
Collection Stack Location: 3a 35 3
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Selected catalog cards: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Summary: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Brown, D. Tilden (David Tilden), 1822-1889. Papers, 1841-1897.
0.5 cubic ft.
Manuscript journal of physician David Tilden Brown, April 1, 1841-Nov. 22, 1847, with partial transcription, kept while Brown was in medical school in New York City. Also, a few pen sketches, three architect's drawings of Sheppard Asylum in Baltimore, MD, a Sheppard Asylum Fifth Annual Report, 1897, two clippings, and a photo of Dr. Brown ca. 1865-1870.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: Midwest MS Brown D
Collection Stack Location: 3a 37 2
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Inventory: Online.
Brown, D. Tilden (David Tilden), 1822-1889. Papers, 1848-1866 (bulk 1849).
59 items.
Letters, receipts, contracts, maps, and drawings pertaining to Brown's activities in Nicaragua around 1848-1850. Brown traveled to Central America in 1849 planning to establish a cheaper and faster commercial route west from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean across the isthmus of Nicaragua. Brown and several associates formed the Compan~i´a de Vapores de Nicaragua and, on March 14, 1849, negotiated the first treaty with General Jose´ Trinidad Mun~oz for exclusive rights to steamship travel up the San Juan River and across Lake Nicaragua.
Subjects: Business, Indians and the West
Call Number: VAULT oversize Ayer MS 1819
Collection Stack Location: Vault
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Charles H. Kerr Company. Records, 1885-1999.
35 cubic ft.
Business records (financial, stock, and customer order files), manuscripts, photographs, author information, and publishing, production, and promotion information for the Charles H. Kerr Company, the oldest labor and socialist publishing house in the United States. The collection also includes some information about The Socialist Party, The Proletarian Party, unions, and radical organizations, primarily in the United States.
Subjects: Business; Social Action
Call Number: Midwest MS Kerr (formerly Kerr)
Collection Stack Location: 3a 40 9-11
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog .
Inventory: Online.
Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy Railroad Company. Records, 1855-1975.
5,000 cubic ft.
Archives mainly documenting the 19th-century operations of the Burlington and its component railroads. Founded in 1855 by Boston capitalist John Murray Forbes, the CB&Q operated mainly in the Midwestern and Rocky Mountain states. The "Burlington System" was also responsible for encouraging emigration and town development, topics well documented in the records. There is also significant 20th-century material, including the correspondence of CB&Q president Ralph Budd and material on tourism and the Zephyr passenger trains.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: CB&Q.
Collection Stack Location: 4a 16-27
Finding Aids:
Summary: Online.
Inventory: Available in the library (Ref HE 2791 .C6425 and Supplements).
Modern Manuscripts information file available.
Chicago Businessmen's Orchestra. Records, 1941-1962.
0.1 cubic ft.
Correspondence, clippings, and programs of this orchestra composed of men (and later women) working in Chicago business firms. The orchestra was active from 1923 into the 1980s. Correspondents include Percy Grainger, Edward L. Ryerson, Frederick Stock, and Rafael Kubelik.
Subjects: Business; Clubs and Organizations; Music
Call Number: Midwest MS 154
Collection Stack Location: 3a 35 3
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Catalog cards for selected items: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Summary and photocopies of catalog cards: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Chicago Daily News, Inc. Records, 1875-1978.
60 cubic ft.
Correspondence, photographs, staff information, promotional materials, legal papers, interviews, memoranda, stylebooks, artifacts, and many other records of the Chicago Daily News. Chicago's first penny daily and most popular newspaper until 1918, the Daily News was purchased by the Field Corporation in 1959, and continued publication until its absorption by the Sun-Times in 1978. Information on the beginnings of the WFLD television station (owned by the Field Communications Corporation) also included.
Subjects: Business; Journalism
Call Number: Midwest MS Field Enterprises
Collection Stack Location: 3a 41 9-14; 3a 42 11-14
Finding Aids:
Inventory: Online.
Chicago Reader. Records, ca. 1970-2005.
50 cubic ft.
Accounting records, subscription reports, editorial correspondence, articles in manuscript, and other records of the Chicago Reader. An alternative-press weekly published since 1971 and distributed primarily on Chicago's north side, the Reader focuses on the arts and cultural events, city politics, and literary journalism. Includes extensive photograph collections for music, drama, dance, neighborhood news, columns, and feature articles.
Subjects: Business; Journalism
Call Number: Midwest MS Chicago Reader
Collection Stack Location: 3a 23 8-12; 3a 55 1-8
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Chicago Sun-Times. Records, 1900-1980.
203 cubic ft.
Correspondence, memoranda, photographs, promotional materials, legal papers, stylebooks, copies of notable editions, artifacts, and many other records of this newspaper. The Sun-Times was formed in 1947 from a merger of the Times-the city's first tabloid-and the Sun, launched by Marshall Field III's Field Enterprises in 1941. Much of the collection consists of the papers of Milburn P. Akers, Emmett Dedmon, and other Sun-Times staff. Some records of the Times and the Sun also included.
Subjects: Business; Journalism
Call Number: Midwest MS Field Enterprises
Collection Stack Location: 3a 41 9-14; 3a 42 11-14
Finding Aids:
Inventory: Online.
Crooks, Ramsay, 1787-1859. Correspondence, 1822-1836, bulk 1822.
6 items (0.1 cubic ft.)
Correspondence of this fur trader, a manager for John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company (and later owner of a part of the business). The subject matter includes purchasing of skins, reception of trade goods in Philadelphia, and operations of the firm's Western Department in St. Louis. Correspondents include Samuel Abbott, Robert Stuart, James Kennerly, and Augustin Grignon.
Subjects: Business; Indians and the West
Call Number: VAULT box Ayer MS 201
Collection Stack Location: VAULT 27 3
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Ayer Manuscripts information file available.
**Additional Crook MS: VAULT box Ayer MS 1, 3, 472, 596, 3133; VAULT Ayer MS 18.**
Dawes, E. C. (Ephraim Cutler), b. 1840. Papers, 1836-1905, bulk 1855-1895.
4 cubic ft.
Letters, diaries, mementos and scrapbooks of Union Army officer (1st lieutenant and adjutant, major, 53rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry) and industrialist Ephraim Cutler Dawes, covering his military service (in Tennessee, Mississippi, and in Sherman's advance against Atlanta, until he was wounded on May 28, 1864. Also documents Dawes' activities in the rail and coal industries. Includes a letter from P. H. Sheridan.
Subjects: Business; Civil War; Family
Call Number: Midwest MS Dawes (formerly Daw).
Collection Stack Location: 3a 38 10
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Catalog record for copies of diaries and letters, 1861-1863
Catalog record for Diary, 1862-1865
Inventory: Online.
Dousman, Hercules L. (Hercules Louis), 1800-1868. Papers, 1808-1857, bulk 1840-1857.
52 items (1 box).
Wealthy Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, fur trader and regional investor. Correspondence, agreements, powers of attorney, accounts, promissory notes, etc., of Hercules Dousman, primarily relating to his fur trade business. Additional items include a ms. Dakota-English vocabulary, a volume of accounts with named Indians, the printed act of incorporation of the American Fur Company (1808, with certification by N.Y. governor Marcy, 1839), and a packing list of Joshua Palen's fur trade goods (1822).
Subjects: Business; Indians and the West
Call Number: VAULT Ayer MS 18
Collection Stack Location: VAULT 25 1
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Epstein, Dena. Root & Cady research collection, 1858-19--.
2 cubic ft.
Correspondence, clippings, documents, and card files. From 1858 to 1871 Root & Cady was Chicago's leading music publisher, remembered nationally for publishing the patriotic songs of George Frederick Root, Henry Clay Work, and others during the Civil War. Compiled by music scholar Dena J. Epstein, the material provides information on songs, composers, and competing firms. Also included are publication lists for Boston publishers absorbed by Root & Cady, such as Henry Tolman, Russell & Richardson, and G. P. Reed.
Subjects: Business; Music
Call Number: Midwest MS Epstein
Collection Stack Location: 3a 42 2
Finding Aids:
Summary: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Fairbank-Graham family. Papers, 1827-1945.
25 cubic ft.
Letters, diaries, photographs, journals, genealogical materials, business correspondence and documents centered around Helen Graham Fairbank and Nathan Kellogg Fairbank of Chicago, their parents and children. Letters and documents document the business activities of Chicago industrialist Fairbank and New York and Maryland industrialist John Andrew Graham, travel to Europe and South America, Eastern schooling, Lake Geneva summers, and civic activities including the Chicago Symphony, and Chicago clubs. The Carpenter and Beeckman families are also represented.
Subjects: Business; Family; Women
Call Number: Midwest MS Fairbank-Graham
Collection Stack Location: 3a 38 14; 3a 57 1
Finding Aids:
Partial inventory: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Field Enterprises. Records, 1858-2007, bulk 1950-1975.
110 cubic ft.
Administrative, promotional, and legal materials, correspondence, photographs, and artifacts of Field Enterprises, the umbrella conglomerate under which the Chicago Daily News, the Chicago Sun and Times company, the Chicago Sun-Times, and Field Communications Corporation eventually fell. (See also abstracts under Chicago Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times).
Subjects: Journalism
Call Number: Midwest MS Field Enterprises
Collection Stack Location: 3a 41 9-14; 3a 42 11-14
Finding Aids:
Inventory: Online.
Flentye, Henry. Papers, 1852-1915.
0.5 cubic ft. (1 box)
Documents dealing with Henry Flentye's considerable land purchases in Chicago, Northfield, and Jefferson, including one autograph document from Walter Loomis Newberry, Aug. 2, 1858. Also builder's specification and architect's drawings for Flentye's home in Jefferson.
Subjects: Business; Family
Call Number: Midwest MS Flentye (formerly Fle)
Collection Stack Location: 3a 39 11
Finding Aids:
Selected catalog cards: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Summary: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebook.
Griffith, James Shores. Papers, 1882-1971.
0.2 cubic ft.
Two binders containing records of the Brotherhood of Painters, Paper Hangers and Decorators of America, Local No. 147, 1882-1971, including records of wages of Mr. Griffith's grandfather, Griffith's own 1909 apprentice contract, records of union dues payments, notices of periodic wage and by-law changes, union assessments, elections, and other union activities. Also contains a fiftieth and seventy-fifth anniversary souvenir booklets, and a pamphlet entitled "Survey of Working Conditions in the Painting Trade in Chicago, 1929-1934," by J.A. Runnberg. Collection also includes a typescript history of the Painters District Council #14 (1950), and Griffith's tickets from the 1933 Century of Progress.
Subjects: Business; Social Action
Call Number: Midwest MS Griffith
Collection Stack Location: 3a 39 5
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
H.T. FitzSimons Company, Inc. Records, 1920-1950.
9 cubic ft.
Manuscript and printed music and some miscellanea of this Chicago music publisher, along with the papers of Rossetter G. Cole, a prolific Chicago composer. Cole bequeathed his papers to Harry T. FitzSimons; his manuscript and printed music, writings, clippings, programs, miscellanea, and collections of calling cards, postcards, and autographs make up a large portion of this collection. A small amount of Harry FitzSimons' correspondence is also present. The FitzSimons Co. was purchased in 1983 by the Fred Bock Music Companies.
Subjects: Business; Music
Call Number: Midwest MS FitzSimons
Collection Stack Location: 3a 39 11-12
Finding Aids:
Summary and Inventory: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Harris family. Papers, 1837-1957.
21 cubic ft.
Letters, diaries, photographs, daybooks, ledgers, school papers, genealogical material, and memorabilia centering on Norman Wait Harris, founder of the Harris Bank of Chicago, and his wife, Emma Gale Harris from New Hampshire, and their parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren. Major families represented include Harris, Gale, Bent, Wingate, and MacLean. Collection includes the daybooks of New Hampshire physician Jonathon Greeley Gale, whaling ship logs, 19th century letters from the Bent family on the Iowa frontier, the courtship and husband/wife correspondence of Emma Gale Harris and Norman Wait Harris, and Stanley Gale Harris and Muriel Bent Harris, and letters of Dorothy Bent Lane written from various foreign embassies, 1917-1950. There are also student papers and correspondence, diaries, and many photographs of family members, Yosemite in 1900, and Lake Geneva, 1910-1915.
Subjects: Business; Family; Women
Call Number: Midwest MS Harris family
Collection Stack Location: 3a 39 2-3
Finding Aids:
Inventory: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
How, Fisher. Papers, 1836-1842.
0.1 cubic ft. (1 folder)
Correspondence and documents relating to the creation and ownership of a land company in Steuben County, Indiana of which Fisher How (sometimes spelled Howe) of New York City was a shareholder and director.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: Midwest MS 83
Collection Stack Location: 3a 35 3
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Illinois Central Railroad Company. Records, 1851-1972, bulk 1851-1906.
1,000 cubic ft.
Archives of this Chicago-based company which built a north-south railroad line in Illinois, then expanded to include the upper Midwest and South. The IC was chartered in 1851 after the Federal Land Grant Act and had its origins in an 1830s Illinois-sponsored program of internal improvements. The records include nearly complete correspondence files for company presidents in the 19th century, including a great deal of material for Stuyvesant Fish; materials documenting day-to-day operations, construction, and right-of-way, including maps and large-scale "track books"; information on operations during the Civil War and on Chicago's growth and lakefront development; and records of a number of subsidiary and incorporated lines.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: IC
Collection Stack Location: 4a 28-32; 4a map case
Finding Aids:
Summary: Online.
Inventory: Online.
Modern Manuscripts information file available.
Iowa Land Company and Iowa Rail Road Land Company. Records, 1855-1913.
0.5 cubic ft. (1 box)
Records relating to 19th century Iowa railroad and land companies, and the town of Clinton, Iowa. Includes maps, reports, and other documents kept by Massachusetts stockholders, of the Iowa Land Company, the Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska Railroad, the Iowa Railroad Land Company, and associated companies.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: Midwest MS Iowa
Collection Stack Location: 3a 35 1
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Inventory: Online.
Kehl School of Dance. Records, ca. 1940-ca. 1990.
72 cubic ft.
This Madison, Wisconsin dance school was founded by dancer Frederick W. Kehl in 1880. Kehl's Dancing Academy introduced thousands to the art of dance throughout Wisconsin, and the school is currently in its 4th generation of dancers and dance teachers from the Kehl family. Records include costume looseleaf notebooks, dance routines, music and programs, photographs, and audio material.
Subjects: Business; Dance; Women
Call Number: Dance MS Kehl
Collection Stack Location: 3a 26 5-9
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Kendall, Milo. Papers, 1845-1907.
12 cubic ft.
Vermont native who settled in Princeton, Bureau County, Illinois, in 1846 and practiced law there for over sixty years. Papers include extensive records of Kendall's legal practice, family correspondence, and real estate records. In addition to serving as a record of affairs of law in the town and county, the legal records document Kendall's forty-year relationship with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad for whom he secured the right-of- way through the county. There is at least one Civil War speech, and there are broadsides, pamphlets and other materials regarding Princeton affairs and local politics.
Subjects: Business; Family
Call Number: Midwest MS Kendall
Collection Stack Location: 3a 40 8
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Lawson, Victor Freemont, 1850-1925. Papers, 1860-1931, bulk 1885-1925.
60 cubic ft.
Editor and publisher of the Chicago Daily News who made his newspapers a vehicle to promote Progressive reform. Lawson's papers include numerous letterpress copybooks of outgoing letters, and there are over 4,000 letters addressed to him, containing a wealth of information on business, union labor, and national and municipal political reform movements, and such organizations as the Fresh Air Fund, Chicago Commission on Race Relations, and Chicago Home Rule League.
Subjects: Business; Journalism; Social Action
Call Number: Midwest MS Lawson (formerly La)
Collection Stack Location: 3a 40 13-14; 3a 41 12-14
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Inventory: Online.
MacLean family. Papers, 1898-1954.
4 cubic ft. (4 boxes)
Extensive correspondence between Pearl Emma Harris MacClean, M. Haddon MacLean, a Harris Bank executive, their children, and members of their extended family, which details the life and travels of a wealthy Chicago family mainly during the first three decades of the 20th century. Also includes courtship letters and honeymoon papers, a cashbook and notebook kept by Pearl Harris as a child, photographs, M. Haddon MacLean's correspondence regarding personal financial affairs, the Harris Bank, and religion (with Rev. Ernest F. Tittle of Evanston), and some Harris family documents.
Subjects: Business; Family; Religion; Women
Call Number: Midwest MS MacLean
Collection Stack Location: 3a 57 8
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
McNally family. Papers, 1788-2001.
27 cubic ft.
Letters, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, cemetery records, wills, and obituaries of several generations of the family of Andrew McNally I of Chicago, founder of the Rand McNally Co., a publishing firm specializing in cartography. There is much material concerning Andrew McNally I, his Chicago home, and especially his Windermere Ranch in what became La Mirada, California, including the ranch's olive oil plant and McNally's efforts to promote settlement in the area. Also extensive materials relating to Civil War general Emmons Clark (grandfather of Margaret Clark McNally) and the Vilas family, who operated Chicago businesses and had a summer estate in Thousand Islands, New York.
Subjects: Business; Civil War; Family
Call Number: Midwest MS McNally family
Collection Stack Location: 3a 30 2
Finding Aids:
None. Collection Available by appointment only.
Metcalf, Isaac Stevens. Papers, 1832-1903.
18 cubic ft.
Letters, diaries, daybooks, scrapbooks, and business documents of Isaac Stevens Metcalf, a Bowdoin College graduate from Milo, Maine, Illinois Central Railroad division engineer, and DuQuoin, Illinois resident, his wife Antoinette Brigham Putman Metcalf (originally of New Hampshire), their parents, and children. Included are many letters written from college, family letters, ICRR business correspondence with R.B. Mason and other records of railroad construction, and records of a private business partnership - the DuQuoin Coal Company. Families represented include Metcalf, Putnam, and Rich.
Subjects: Business; Family; Women
Call Number: Midwest MS Metcalf
Collection Stack Location: 3a 32 13
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Nebenzahl, Kenneth, 1927-. Records, 1961-1984.
62 cubic ft.
Records of Chicago bookseller Nebenzahl dating from 1961-84. Records include correspondence, stock, travel, and sales records.
Subjects: Business; Printing and Book Arts
Call Number: Midwest MS Nebenzahl
Collection Stack Location: 3a 57 12-14
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Ohio Company (1786-1796). Records, 1787-1800, bulk 1787-1793.
35 items (0.5 cubic ft.)
Minutes, correspondence, accounts, receipts, powers of attorney, and lists of Ohio Company agent Benjamin Heywood, a former Continental Army officer and Worcester, Mass. resident. The Ohio Company was formed by Revolutionary War officers to raise capital for acquisition and settlement of federal lands northwest of the Ohio River. Lands were settled slowly, but in 1788 the firm was successful in founding Marietta, Ohio under the leadership of Rufus Putnam. The records include, among other things, subscriber lists detailing military service and correspondence with company treasurer Richard Platt.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: VAULT Ayer MS 3091
Collection Stack Location: VAULT 26 1
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Ayer Manuscripts information file available.
Parkhurst Press. Records, 1864-1962, bulk 1890-1949.
1 cubic ft.
Massachusetts job printer during the first half of the 20th century. Collection includes juvenile printing efforts of Tommy Parkhurst, ephemera from the Press, including tickets, labels, blotters, announcements and letterhead. There is also correspondence and records relating to the running of the press.
Subjects: Business; Printing and Book Arts
Call Number: Wing Modern MS Park
Collection Stack Location: 3a 52 12
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Pearce, Christopher Gardner, 1811-1882. Papers, 1839-1851.
1 cubic ft. (2 boxes)
Mississippi and Ohio River steamboat owner and captain, and resident of Cincinnati, Ohio. Collection consists mainly of correspondence between Pearce and his wife, Jane Ann Sackett Pearce, which includes news of Pearce's river trips and of home and family. Many letters highlight Mrs. Pearce's fear that her husband would be involved in a fire, wreck, or other riverboat disaster.
Subjects: Business; Family; Women
Call Number: Midwest MS Pearce (formerly Pe)
Collection Stack Location: 3a 41 1
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog card: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Catalog cards: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Summary: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Polish Women's Alliance. Records, 1898-ca. 1979.
80 cubic ft.
Records of a national fraternal organization headquartered in Park Ridge, Illinois, for Polish-American women that provided insurance and other financial services for its members. Includes constitutions and bylaws, insurance applications, indexes and rosters, loan records and other materials providing individual genealogical information for Polish-American women.
Subjects: Business; Women
Call Number: Midwest MS PWAA
Collection Stack Location: 3a 26 12-14; 4a back right
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Pullman Company. Records, 1867-1981.
2,500 cubic ft.
Records of this railroad sleeping-car operator and manufacturer. The Pullman Company (originally Pullman's Palace Car Company) revolutionized rail travel, dramatically increased employment opportunities for African Americans who served as porters on its cars, and had a significant impact on the American labor movement. Records for the entire firm are included until the mid-1920s division into operating and manufacturing companies; after that date, records mainly chronicle the activities of the operating company. Included are voluminous individual employee records and labor relations documents; the records of individual Pullman cars (e.g., drawings, specifications, photographs); scrapbooks documenting nineteenth-century operations, including the Town of Pullman and the Strike of 1894; records of subsidiary and absorbed companies; administrative, legal, financial, and securities records; and much more.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: Pullman
Collection Stack Location: 4a 33-44
Finding Aids:
Catalog records to the series level: Online Catalog (multiple records).
Summary: Online.
Inventory: Online.
Modern Manuscripts information file available.
R. Hoe & Company. Records, 1858-1878.
1.5 cubic ft.
R. Hoe & Co. was the largest manufacturer of printing presses and press equipment in the U.S. during the 19th century. Collection consists of incoming letters to the Hoe Co. from customers in many states and several European and Latin American countries, deriving from 3 or more letter books of 1858, 1873 and 1877-1878. There are also some 1873-1878 internal memos, patent correspondence, and letters from regional agents of the Hoe Co.
Subjects: Business; Printing and Book Arts
Call Number: Wing Modern MS Hoe
Collection Stack Location: 3a 52 6
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Summary: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Railroad photograph collection, ca. 1868-1914.
The Miscellaneous Modern Manuscripts collection contains two groups of railroad photographs, including a collection, ca. 1868-1869, of 15 photographs (modern reproductions) related to the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad, and a collection of 34 photographs, ca. 1913-1914, showing railroad engine and cabooses in Wisconsin.
Paul, and S. Ste. Marie line; the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul line; and the Soo line.
Subjects: Business; Photographs
Call Number: Midwest MS 145
Collection Stack Location: 3a 35 3
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Inventory: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Rand McNally and Company. Records, 1856-1996.
66 cubic ft.
Business records and examples of printing and publishing work of Rand McNally and Co. Established in 1856 in Chicago, the firm became well known for its cartographic publications, but has also produced a variety of trade books, textbooks, periodicals, and printing jobs such as tickets and coupons. Included here are records of financial, marketing, and production activities, including correspondence; visual materials including photographs, artwork, and scrapbooks; printing artifacts; and much more.
Subjects: Business; Printing and Book Arts
Call Number: Wing Modern MS Rand McNally
Collection Stack Location: 3a 56 6-12
Finding Aids:
Inventory: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Modern Manuscripts information file available.
Rich, Charles W., 1808-. Letters, 1853-1854.
0.5 cubic ft.
Letters between Charles W. Rich, in DuQuoin, Illinois, and his wife Albina, in Milo, Maine. Letters from Charles detail his work on the Illinois Central Railroad.
Subjects: Business; Family; Women
Call Number: Midwest MS Rich (formerly Rij)
Collection Stack Location: 3a 42 1
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Sherman, Francis Trowbridge, 1825-1905. Papers, 1849-1894.
0.2 cubic ft. (1 box).
Correspondence of Francis Trowbridge Sherman of Chicago, and his traveling companion, Henry A. Ballentine, documenting their travel overland to the California gold fields and experiences there, 1849-1850. Also photocopies of a few of Sherman's (colonel 88th Illinois Infantry) letters regarding the Civil War and his Chicago business, business and family correspondence of father F.C. Sherman, family records, and newspaper clippings.
Subjects: Business; Civil War; Family; Indians and the West
Call Number: VAULT Case MS 5282
Collection Stack Location: VAULT 35 3
Finding Aids:
Inventory: Online.
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Special Collections information file available.
Singer Manufacturing Company. Records, 1861-1871.
49 items
Invoices, order forms, records, and correspondence, mainly from the Chicago office to the New York office of the Singer Manufacturing Company, 1861-1871. This sewing machine manufacturer was founded in 1853 from a predecessor firm, I. M. Singer and Company. The Singer Chicago office was managed by James Bolton, a machinist who designed the Singer New Family or Model 12 sewing machine, and an assistant, John Voight.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: Midwest MS Singer
Collection Stack Location: 3a 42 4
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Inventory: Online.
Smith-Dewey family. Papers, 1870-1990.
79 cubic ft.
Genealogies, publications, photographs, armories, letters, and documents pertaining to the family histories and forebears of Edward Byron Smith, former chairman of the Northern Trust Corporation of Chicago, and of his wife, Louise Dewey Smith. Papers also include documents pertaining to Northern Trust's founding by Smith's grandfather, Byron Laflin Smith, and the family's ongoing relationship to the corporation. There is also considerable correspondence and other material of the author Frederika Shumway Smith, and Admiral Dewey.
Subjects: Business; Family; Literature; Women
Call Number: Midwest MS Smith-Dewey
Collection Stack Location: 3a 28 13-16; 3a 30 13-16
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Stone & Kimball. Records, ca. 1889-1965.
32 cubic feet
Papers of late 19th-early 20th century Chicago book publisher Stone & Kimball, consisting of original manuscripts and correspondence (primarily that of Herbert S. Stone) and authors George Ade, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Eugene Field, among others. There is also original art, including that of Aubrey Beardsley and Max Beerbohm.
Subjects: Business; Printing and Book Arts
Call Number: Wing Modern MS Stn (formerly Stn)
Collection Stack Location: 3a 42 7-8
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Manuscript Card Catalog.
Summary: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Inventory: Available in the library (Wing folio oZ 473 .S88 S76 or Microfiche 1118).
Authors of letters and documents: Database of Names in Manuscript Collections Notebook.
Modern Manuscripts information file available.
Tia Chucha Press. Records, 1982-1999.
8 cubic ft.
Records of the Tia Chucha Press, founded by author/poet/lecturer Luis Rodriguez, and absorbed in the late 1990's by the Guild Complex, a local funding agency for alternative arts programs. Records include book manuscripts, contracts, galley proofs, etc.
Subjects: Business; Literature; Printing and Book Arts
Call Number: Midwest MS Tia Chucha
Collection Stack Location: 3a 24 14
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Tubbs family. Account book, 1805-1818.
1 folder.
Account book and miscellaneous notes relating to the Tubbs shipbuilding business in Duxbury, Mass. Includes entries for costs for goods, employee pay, and other expenses.
Subjects: Business, Family
Call Number: Midwest MS 99
Collection Stack Location: 3a 35 3
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Wentworth, Samuel. Papers, 1738-1742.
17 items (0.1 cubic ft.)
Fifteen letters and two documents concerning the ships and cargos of Samuel Wentworth, a Boston merchant and the brother of New Hampshire governor Benning Wentworth. Much of the material, which is all addressed to John Thomlinson, a London merchant who handled Wentworth's affairs in England, concerns the payment of bills and the settlement of debts; the insurance, cargo, and sale of the ship "Snow Tryton"; the loss of the ship "Snow Lucitania" and resulting insurance claims; and the construction of another ship in Portsmouth, N.H. There are also letters of introduction for Samuel Waldo and Oxenbridge Thatcher.
Subjects: Business
Call Number: VAULT box Ayer MS 972
Collection Stack Location: VAULT 27 3
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Whittelsey, Chauncey, 1746-1812. Papers, 1707-1852, bulk 1731-1811.
412 items (2 boxes)
Papers of Chauncey Whittelsey (1746-1812) of Middletown, Connecticut, relating to his clothing business, civic duties and activities as Army supplier during the Revolution and into the 1790's. Includes numerous land deeds to his father-in-law, Seth Wetmore.
Subjects: Business; Family
Call Number: Midwest MS Whittelsey (formerly Wh)
Collection Stack Location: 3a 44 2
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online Catalog.
Inventory: Online.
Williamson, Charles, 1757-1808. Papers, 1775-1946.
7 cubic ft. (12 boxes, 1 oversize box, and 1 v.)
British officer, land promoter, secret agent, and advisor to the British government. Correspondence, journals, etc. relating to Williamson's early activities, 1775-1791, his colonizing efforts in New York State, 1791-1803, and his later relations with statesmen. Early papers (mainly family correspondence) discuss Williamson's army service, capture and imprisonment, farm management, and Constantinople mission. Correspondence, 1791-1803, with family, Robert Morris, Sir William Pulteney, Robert Troup, Patrick Colquhoun, John Johnstone, and colonists, and others documents Williamson's opening of the Genesee lands to settlers and promotion of internal improvements there.
Subjects: Business; Family; Politics and Government
Call Number: VAULT Ayer MS 1006
Collection Stack Location: VAULT 25 2
Finding Aids:
Collection-level catalog record: Online catalog.
Inventory: Modern Manuscript Collections Notebooks.
Willy family. Papers, 1871-1945.
0.5 cubic ft.
Family genealogy, approximately seventy studio photographs pertaining to the family of John Willy (1859-1944), editor and publisher of the Hotel Monthly, editor of the National Hotel Reporter, and founder of John Willy, Inc., a prominent Chicago-based hotel forms publisher. Included are issues of the Hotel Monthly and supply catalogs published by John Willy, Inc. A mid-nineteenth century diary of Willy's forebear, Thomas Willy of Ilminster, Somerset, England, is included.
Subjects: Business; Family
Call Number: Midwest MS Willy
Collection Stack Location: 3a 35 1
Finding Aids:
None. Collection available by appointment only.
Modern Manuscripts information file available.
Woods, Frank H. (Frank Henry), 1905-1980. Papers, 1890-2000, bulk 1935-1980.
9 cubic ft. (19 boxes)
Material relating to the life and career of businessman and philanthropist Frank H. Woods, Jr., of Chicago, including family, business, personal and philanthropic-related correspondence and general files, clippings, memorabilia and photographs.
Subjects: Arts; Business; Family
Call Number: Midwest MS Woods F.
Collection Stack Location: 3a 44 11-12
Finding Aids:
Inventory: Online.
Checklist for Modern Manuscript Collections, 1700-present - Publications about Newberry Collections