Historical note:

            Coro, Inc. was an importer, exporter, and seller of costume jewelry and simulated pearls, conducting business worldwide. The company was founded as the partnership Cohn & Rosenberger in New York in 1902. The partners incorporated in New York in 1913 and adopted the corporate name Coro, Inc. in 1943. During World War II, Coro, Inc. operated partially as a prime contractor for the federal government, manufacturing insignia, parts for bomb nose fuses and base detonator fuses, and "miscellaneous items". It also manufactured as a subcontractor under another prime contractor during the war years. As of the mid-1940s, the parent company in New York was operating subsidiaries, showrooms, and/or plants in Providence, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Toronto, and London, England. Letterhead used for correspondence in the 1950s indicates additional offices in Dallas and Atlanta.

            The subsidiary Cohn & Rosenberger, Inc. of Rhode Island was established in 1910 in Providence. The first operating facility was located on Chestnut Street. Some time before 1946 a manufacturing operation existed at 183 Public Street. In 1929, the company moved its factory, stock and shipping facility to a larger building at 167 Point Street. Operations continued in this building until the company's closure in 1979; the Coro Building is still a Providence landmark and today houses Harvard Health. During the 1950s and '60s, Coro, Inc. of Rhode Island was the largest manufacturer of costume jewelry in Providence and had a national, if not international, reputation. By the mid-1960s additional plants were operating in Olneyville and Bristol.

            In 1970, the company became a subsidiary of Richton International Corporation. Richton closed Coro's Point Street location in 1979. Listings for Coro, Inc., "jewelry manufacturers", in the Providence City Directories end in 1977. Interestingly, after this point there are listings for "Coro Federal Credit Union" at the same location. Finer details regarding the scope of business conducted by Coro, Inc. and its subsidiaries up to the mid 1940s can be obtained by reading Securities and Exchange Commission Form S-1 registration, 1946, listed in the inventory below.

Bibliography:

Woodward, W. M. and Sanderson, E. Providence: A Citywide Survey of Historic Resources (Rhode Island Historic Preservation Commission, 1986).

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Scope and content:

            The entire collection is comprised of financial records. Correspondence exists in a very small amount and always relates to the records with which it is filed. The account books in the collection are journals, ledgers, disbursements, receipts, loans, and purchases (domestic and foreign) for the parent company, located in New York, and some of its subsidiaries, located in Rhode Island, Canada, and London. Accounts listed in these books include such details as materials used in the manufacture of the company's product, overhead costs, profits and loss, names of individuals such as owners and employees, and names of other companies with which Coro, Inc. and its subsidiaries conducted trade. The boxed records include balance sheets, financial statements, profit and loss statements, and Securities & Exchange Commission filings for varied locations including Rhode Island, New York, Canada, London, and various subsidiaries whose geographical locations are unknown.

            A 1946 stock prospectus includes a history of the company up to that point and a breakdown of the locations and origins of subsidiaries existing at that time.

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Provenance:

The records were a gift of the Downing Corporation, May 1991.

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Processing note:

            Initial sorting and labeling of the boxed files, done by Cindy Bendroth in 1991, facilitated final processing of the records. In 1998, these files were organized by company/subsidiary and then further arranged by type of record and chronology. Processing of the account books required determining the type of records within and to which company/subsidiary they belonged, and labeling them accordingly. Several photostat ledger sheets (Coro RI and Coro Canada, Ltd.) that were deteriorating and/or fading were photocopied for patron use and preservation purposes.

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Inventory:

Coro, Inc. (parent company)

Ledger, 1946-1947

Ledger, 1952-1953

Box 1.

Folder 1. Balance sheets, Jan. 31, 1948

Folder 2. Balance sheets, Feb.-Mar., 1948

Folder 3. Balance sheets, Apr.-May, 1948

Folder 4. Balance sheets, June-July, 1948

Folder 5. Income statements and balance sheets, 1955, 1956

Folder 6. Parent company and subsidiaries, statements, June 1957

Folder 7. Parent company and subsidiaries, statments, June, 1958

Folder 8. Parent company and subsidiaries, statements, Dec., 1958

Folder 9. Journal entries, 1944

Folder 10. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Form S-1 registration, 1946

Folder 11. SEC Form 10-K Annual Report, 1947, 1943, 1941

Folder 12. SEC Form 10-K Annual Report, 1948-1949

Folder 13. SEC Form 10-K Annual Report, 1950-1951

Folder 14. SEC Form 9-K Quarterly Report, 1950-1953

Folder 15. SEC Form 10-K Annual Report, 1953, 1952

Folder 16. SEC Form 9-K Quarterly Report, 1955

Folder 17. SEC Form 9-K Quarterly Report, 1955, 1957

Coro, Inc., RI

Account books:

"Journal #4", Jan. 1943-Feb. 1946

Account book (?), July 1948-Dec. 1949

Journal, Dec. 1948-Dec. 1951

Ledger (?), Jan. 1950-Dec. 1951

Box 1.

Folder 18. Balance sheets, Nov. 30, 1934-33, 1935, 1936

Folder 19. Balance sheets, Feb.-June 1937

Folder 20. Balance sheets, July-Nov. 1937

Folder 21. Balance sheets, Jan.-Feb., May, July, Oct.-Nov., 1938

Folder 22. Balance sheets, Feb.-June, Aug., Sept., 1938

Folder 23. Balance sheets, 1938-40, 1944-43

Folder 24. Balance sheets, 1942-41, 1943-42

Folder 25. Balance sheets, June 1955, June 1956

Folder 26. Balance sheet and statment of income and deficit, June, 1958

Folder 27. Photocopied ledger sheets, 1929

Folder 28. Photocopied ledger sheets, Dec. 1943

Folder 29. Photocopied ledger sheets, 1945

Folder 30. Photocopied ledger sheets, Dec. 1950

Folder 31. Income, profit/loss statements, 1936-1940

Folder 32. Income, profit/loss statements, 1940-1943

Folder 33. Ledger sheets; list of accounts payable accounts (Coro Canada, Ltd.), 1947

Box 2.

Folder 1. Factory cost distribution, June 1956

Folder 2. Balance sheet statement of income and deficit, June 1957

Folder 3. Cost distribution sheets and adjusting entries, trial balance, June 1957

Folder 4. Trial balance and adjusted entries, June 1958

Cohn & Rosenberg, Inc. of RI

Account books:

"Factory journal # 1", Jan. 1935-Aug. 1936

"Factory journal # 2", Aug. 1936-Dec. 1939

Voucher register, Jan. -Dec. 1938

"3rd general journal" (factory), Dec. 1939-Dec. 1942

Cash payments, Jan. 1943-Dec. 1947

Journal, Mar. 1946-Dec. 1948

Eastern Jewelry Mfg. Co. (RI)

Account books:

General ledger, Jan. 1936-Dec. 1942

General journal, Jan. 1937-Apr. 1946

Voucher register, Mar.-Dec. 1939

Ledger, Jan. 1946-Dec. 1947

Ledger, May 1946-July 1953

Printout, names and amounts (type of records unknown), Apr.-Dec. 1949

Box 2.

Folder 5. Balance sheets, 1941-1944

Folder 6. Balance sheets, 1944-1946

Folder 7. Balance sheets, June, 1955

Rivocor, Inc. (geographic location unknown, assumed to be Rhode Island)

Box 2.

Folder 8. Statements, June 1956

Folder 9. Statements, June, 1957

Folder 10. Journal entries, June, 1958

Cohn & Rosenberg, Inc., NY

Account books:

Cash payments, May 1939-Dec. 1942

General journal, Aug. 1939-Dec. 1948

Ledger, Dec. 1941-July 1944

Coro, NY

Account books:

Journal, Aug. 1944-Feb. 1946

Ledger, Aug. 1947-Dec. 1948

Cash receipts, Nov. 1949-July 1954

Box 2.

Folder 11. Balance sheets, July, 1936

Folder 12. Balance sheets, June-Nov., 1937

Folder 13. Balance sheets, July-Nov., 1938

Folder 14. Income statements and balance sheets, 1955

Folder 15. Statements, June, 1956

Folder 16. Statements, June, 1957

Folder 17. Advances to foreign manufacturers and transfers of credit balances; misc. journal             sheets, June, 1958

Corogram Inc., NY

Account books:

Journal and general ledger, Jan. 1936-Dec. 1942

General journal, May 1936-Dec. 1941

Payments, Jan. 1938-Feb. 1939

Voucher register, Jan.-Dec. 1945

Box 2, folder 18. Estimated balance sheet, June 1935

Coro Canada, Ltd.

Box 2.

Folder 19. Statements, 1953

Folder 20. Statements, June 1955, June 1956

Folder 21. Statements, June 1957

Folder 22. Statements, Dec., 1957

Folder 23. Statements and schedules, June and Dec., 1958

Folder 24. Balance sheets, 1949, 1950

Folder 25. Balance sheets, 1955

Folder 26. Profit/loss: factory, 1955-1954

Folder 27. Photocopied ledger sheets, Dec. 1951

Cohn & Rosenberger, Ltd., London

Box 2.

Folder 28. Balance sheet, profit/loss, 1941

Folder 29. Balance sheets, 1946

Folder 30. Balance sheets, 1948

Folder 31. Approximate balance sheets, 1955

Folder 32. Purchases and sales, 1955

Folder 33. Budget, 1955

Folder 34. Income and surplus, June 1955, June 1956

Folder 35. Statements, June 1957

Corocraft Manufacturers, Ltd., London

Box 2.

Folder 36. Balance sheets and profit/loss, 1954-1956

Folder 37. Balance sheets, 1956

Folder 38. Balance sheet, June 1958

Folder 39. Statements and schedules, Dec., 1958

"CGI, Inc." (geographic location unknown)

Box 3, folder 1. Journal entries, profit/loss, trial balance, June 30, 1958

Cal-Ric Paper Box Co. (geographic location unknown)

Box 3, folder 2. Profit/loss, balance sheet, 1958

Corogleem, Inc. (geographic location unknown)

Box 3.

Folder 3. Income statements, 1955, 1956

Folder 4. Statements, 1957

Folder 5. Journal entries, balance, June 30, 1958

Coro-Gram, Inc. (location unknown)

Box 3.

Folder 6. Journal entries, June 1956, June 1955

Folder 7. Statements, June 30, 1957

Folder 8. Profit/loss statement, 1958

Glamour Jewelry (location unknown)

Box 3.

Folder 9. Journal entries, June 1956

Folder 10. Statements, June 1957

Folder 11. Profit/loss, balance sheet, June 1958

Phenix Jewelry Company (location unknown)

Ledger, 1948-1949

Prestige Jewelry (location unknown)

Box 3.

Folder 12. Statements, June 1957

Folder 13. Income and earned surplus with balance sheet, June 30, 1958

Coro Credit Union

Ledgers of stock shares, 1943-1950 (2)

Unidentified company(ies) (e.g., subsidiary name and location)

Account books:

Trial balance book, Jan. 1925-Feb. 1927

Cash and ledger, 1933-1935

????, Dec. 1935-Apr. 1939

"C & R purchase journal" (foreign and domestic), Feb. 1936-Dec. 1948

Standard journal, 1937-1941

Charges and credits, June 1943-Mar. 1946

Ledger, 1944-1945 (lists mostly individuals, not companies)

"Loans to executives ledger", 1945

Ledger?, Apr. 1946-Feb. 1947?

"Loans to executives", 1947

Ledger, 1947-1948 (lists mostly individuals, not companies)

"Loans to executives", 1948-1950

Journal: "sales, returns, postage", Nov. 1949-Dec. 1955

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Subjects:

Credit unions - Providence, R.I.

Jewelry trade - Providence, R.I.

World War, 1939-1945 - Equipment and supplies

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RIHS1822