3. Provenance 5. Inventory 6. Subjects |
Arkwright Company Records Textile and film manufacturers, Coventry, R.I. Records, 1815-2001. Bulk, 1963-1990. Size: 2.75 ft. Catalog number: MSS 264 Processed by: Rick Stattler, February 2002 ©Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division |
Historical note:
The Arkwright Company of Coventry, R.I. began in 1810 as a textile mill owned by James DeWolf. Two mill buildings were constructed, one of which burned down in 1851. With the construction of a new building in 1883, the company became Interlaken Inc., and was engaged primarily in the manufacture of cloth for book binding. It was purchased by an English firm, Winterbottom Mills, in 1892, but continued operating under the Interlaken name. Interlaken absorbed the nearby Harris Manufacturing Company in 1900. A new plant was built in 1922 to manufacture tracing cloth for architects and draftsmen; it was called Arkwright Finishing Company, and was nominally a separate business until a formal merger in 1959 as Arkwright-Interlaken, Inc. The name was changed to Arkwright Inc. in 1973. It gradually phased out its textile operations and moved to the coating of film. The last cloth was produced in 1983.
Winterbottom, the parent firm, was bought out by Venesta International in 1961. Venesta was bought out by Ozalid Group Holdings in 1972, who were in turn bought out by Oce Van Der Grinten (a Dutch firm) in 1977.
Bibliography:
Rupp, Richard A.; and Peter R. Townsend. The Mill at Remington's Run: A Chronological History of the Arkwright Manufacturing Company, 1809-1999. East Greenwich, R.I.: Meridian Printing, 1999.
Scope and content:
This collection consists of a handful of important early records from 1815 to 1848, and a much larger quantity of records dating mostly from 1962 to 2002. The early records include a textile sample book, an account book and three folders of company store receipts. The later records include minutes from the Board of Directors dated 1962-1976; various union relations and personnel records dated 1971-2002; and a variety of miscellaneous files.
Provenance:
The small account book and early sample book were donated by A.S. Gorham in 1928. The loose accounts dated 1846 to 1848 were probably donated by Franklin Cushman as part of the Elijah Williams Family Papers in 1951, and prior to 1997 were stored in folders that read "found among Jason Williams Papers". The remaining portion dated 1892 to 2001, comprising the bulk of the collection, was donated by Arkwright employee Richard A. Rupp in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2003.
Processing note:
Because this collection has arrived in small increments over a period of years, its arrangement is inconsistent. The finding aid has been arranged by series and then alphabetically within each series, but the actual folder arrangement tends to reflect the order in which gifts were received.
Two other collections at the R.I.H.S.L. are known to have Arkwright-related material. In the Stephen Hopkins Collection is an account book of Benoni Colvin of Scituate dated 1813-1816, who frequently sold lumber to the Arkwright Company and others. The records of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union include two boxes of union records plus a file of membership cards for Local 1554-T, based at Arkwright Incorporated, from 1962 to 1997.
In addition to these sources, a careful search of the Elijah Williams Family Papers, especially those filed under Jason Williams, might yield some additional information. The extensive DeWolf Family Papers may also prove useful.
Inventory:
Series 1: Early records
Box 1, folder 1. Textile sample book, 1815; account book, 1816
Box 1, folder 2. Loose company store accounts, 1846-1847
Box 1, folder 3. Loose company store accounts, 1-6/1848
Box 1, folder 4. Loose company store accounts, 7-12/1848
Series 2: Corporate records
Box 1, folder 7. Correspondence, 1934-1949
Box 1, folder 8. Correspondence, 1961-1969
Box 1, folder 9. Correspondence, 1970-1974
Box 1, folder 10. Correspondence, 1975-1992
Box 1, folder 18. Contracts, deeds and leases, 1963-1975 (from minute book)
Box 1, folder 19. Deeds, 1875-1938
Box 2, folder 1. Minutes, 1963
Box 2, folder 2. Minutes, 1964
Box 2, folder 3. Minutes, 1965
Box 2, folder 4. Minutes, 1966
Box 2, folder 5. Minutes, 1967
Box 2, folder 6. Minutes, 1968
Box 2, folder 7. Minutes, 1969
Box 2, folder 8. Minutes, 1970
Box 2, folder 9. Minutes, 1971
Box 2, folder 10. Minutes, 1972
Box 2, folder 11. Minutes, 1973
Box 2, folder 12. Minutes, 1974
Box 2, folder 13. Minutes, 1975
Box 2, folder 14. Minutes, 1976
Box 1, folder 20. Two year plan, 1981-1982
Series 3: Financial records
Box 3, folder 1. Budget file, 1974
Box 3, folder 2. Budget file, 1977
Box 1, folder 21. Financial statements, 1965
Series 4: Plant records
Box 3, folder 3. Capital expenditures, 1977
Box 3, folder 4. Capital expenditures, 1978
Box 3, folder 5. Capital expenditures, 1979
Box 1, folder 22. Correspondence, etc., re sale of Morissey land, 1965-1969
Box 1, folder 14. Real estate appraisals, 1971, 1972
Box 1, folder 23. Waste water / river polllution memoranda and notes, 1970-1972
Box 2, folder 15. Waste water report and correspondence, 1971-1973
Series 5: Production records
Box 3, folder 6. Coater Training Committee minutes and checklist, 1994-1995
Box 1, folder 11. Cost reduction program, 1971
Box 2, folder 16. Equipment inventory, 1968
Box 1, folder 13. Production notebooks, 1929-1942 (lists some employees)
Box 1, folder 24. Production notebooks, 1933-1939 and 1938-1943
Box 2, folder 17. Production manual, 1972
Box 2, folder 18. Production manual, 1972
Box 2, folder 19. Production notes, 1946
Box 1, folder 25. TWT Labs memoranda, 1973-1979
Box 3, folder 7. Uptime Committee minutes, 1994-1995
Series 6: Personnel records
Box 1, folder 5. Accident reports, 1937, 1940
Box 1, folder 6. Accident reports, 1965, 1974, 1996
Box 2, folder 20. Attendance policy (survey of local companies), 1990
Box 2, folder 21. Attitude survey, 1989
Box 2, folder 22. Benefits, 1990-2000 (health, life insurance, 401-k)
Box 2, folder 23. Breaks policy (survey of local companies), 1989
Box 2, folder 26. Employee suggestions, 1988
Box 1, folder 32. Lay-off correspondence, 1970-1984
Box 3, folder 8. Lay-off correspondence, 2001-2002
Box 1, folder 34. Lists of employees, union officers, etc., 1963-1996
Box 2, folder 27. Lists of employees, union officers, etc., 1969-1989
Box 1, folder 12. Notices to employees, 1975-1998
Box 2, folder 28. Obituaries and retirements, 1953-2001
Box 1, folder 36. Payroll, 1964
Box 2, folder 24. Safety and accident correspondence, 1980-2001
Box 1, folder 37. Salary survey data, 1968, 1979
Box 2, folder 29. Schedule, 1892-1893
Box 2, folder 25. Scholarship fund, 1995-2001
Box 1, folder 38. Security guard service, 1967-1974
Box 1, folder 39. Shooting incident, 1969-1972
Box 1, folder 40. Strike, 1988
Box 3, folder 9. Sunshine Committee minutes, 1991
Box 1, folder 41. Tank rupture reports, 1979
Box 2, folder 30. Technician's union, 1981-1987
Box 2, folder 32. Union contract negotiations, 1972-1995
Box 1, folder 44 . Union contract negotiations, 1971 (Jahoda file)
Box 1, folder 16. Union contract negotiations, 1971 (Wenscowicz file)
Box 1, folder 17. Union contract negotiations, 1974
Box 1, folder 45. Union contract negotiations, 1982
Box 1, folder 46. Union correspondence, 1968-1996
Box 2, folder 31. Union correspondence, 1970-1988
Box 1, folder 47. Union jurisdictional dispute with Teamsters Local #64, 1968
Box 2, folder 33. Uniforms policy (survey of local companies), 1989
Box 1, folder 48. Wage scales, 1967, 1968, 1971
Box 2, folder 49. Miscellaneous records on individual employees
Box 2, folder 34. Miscellaneous, 1980-1996
Series 7: Sales records
Box 2, folder 35. Price list, 1973
Box 1, folder 50. Pricing information, 1985-1990
Box 1, folder 51. Reprographics catalog, 1980
Box 1, folder 52. Sales brochures and memoranda, 1974-1977
Box 1, folder 15. Sales training manual, undated
Box 2, folder 36. Sample books, 1971
Series 8: Historical notes
Box 1, folder 57. Interview with Norman Rawlinson, 1991
Box 2, folder 37. Newspaper articles (copies), 1919-1953
Box 2, folder 38. Newspaper articles (copies), 1960-2000
Box 2, folder 39. Historical notes, compiled by Richard Rupp
Unprocessed material:
Box 4. Approximately 0.25 linear feet of material, including the company's 1980 five-year plan and other miscellaneous papers, 1975-2000.
Subjects:
Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, Local 1554-T.
Arkwright, Inc.
Blizzards - Rhode Island, 1978.
Coventry ( R.I.) - Commerce.
Interlaken, Inc.
Labor unions - Textile workers - Rhode Island - Coventry.
Paper coatings.
Photography - Films.
Textile fabrics - Sample books.
Textile industry - Rhode Island - Coventry.
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RIHS1822