1.   Historical note

2.   Scope and content

3.   Provenance

4.   Processing note

5.   Inventory

6.   Subjects


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 Providence Saw Works Records

 Saw factory, Providence, R.I.

 Records, 1870-1889

 Size: 0.25 linear feet

 Catalog number: MSS 483 sg 25

 Processed by: Rick Stattler, June 1998


©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

 


Historical note:


            This manufacturing company was founded by J. Mason Gross (1834-1903) as the Gross & Brown Saw and Machine Company in the late 1860s. It soon was renamed the Providence Saw Company. On October 10, 1871 Rowland G. Hazard (1801-1888) purchased the entire assets of the Providence Saw Co. for $26,500. With an additional investment by Hazard's son Rowland Hazard II (1829-1898), the Providence Saw Works was then created with a capital of $50,000. Circa 1881, the firm was reorganized as the Providence Saw and Tool Works, with Gross involved as an investor once again. Gross sold his stake in the company in 1885. As late as 1889, the Saw and Tool Works still had inventory in storage.


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Scope and content:


            This collection consists of the three account books (daybook, journal, ledger) of the Saw Works from its 1871 creation through 1876. Also included are other loose papers from 1870 to 1889, including inventories, agreements between Hazard and Gross, three pay rolls and a rental agreement from the Saw Company that preceded the Saw Works.


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Provenance:


            The folders of loose papers were found among the Rowland Hazard II Papers that were donated to the R.I.H.S. in 1985. No definite accession information was found regarding the three volumes. They were apparently cataloged as a separate collection circa the early 1980s, as Mss 652. It seems safe to assume, as the company was solely owned by the Hazards for the entire span of these records, that they arrived with the first delivery of Hazard papers in 1975. That 1975 deposit was part of the collection that was made a gift in 1985.


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Processing note:


            This collection is part of the Hazard Family Papers, which were processed with support from the Rhode Island Committee for the Humanities, the Beinecke Foundation, and the extended Hazard Family.


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Inventory:


Box 1, folder 1. Daybook, 1871-1876.

Box 1, folder 2. Journal, 1871-1877. Includes detailed inventory of assets on page 1.

Box 1, folder 3. Ledger, 1871-1876. Serious mold damage.

Box 1, folder 4. "Notes of doubtful value", 1871-1876

Box 1, folder 5. Agreements and payments between R. Hazard and J.M. Gross, 1879-1885

Box 1, folder 6. Inventories, 1881-1889

Box 1, folder 7. Miscellaneous loose papers, 1870-1877:

                                    Agreement for rental of equipment to Solomon W. Kenyon, 5/10/1870

                                    Payrolls, 1/11/1870, 2/11/1870 and undated

                                    Invalid promissory note to E.H. Hunter, 3/5/1872

                                    Protest against said note, 3/18/1872

                                    License from Charles N. Brown for saw patent, 4/7/1874

                                    Receipt for petty cash to J. Mason Gross, 1/1877


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Subjects:


Gross, J. Mason (1834-1903)

Hazard, Rowland II (1829-1898)

Hazard, Rowland G. (1801-1888)

x Providence Saw and Tool Works

x Providence Saw Company

Providence, R.I. - Commerce

Saw industry - Rhode Island - Providence


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RIHS1822