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3. Provenance 5. Inventory 6. Subjects |
Media and retail conglomerate, based in Providence, R.I. Records, 1904-1978. Bulk, 1936-1977. Size: 5 linear feet Catalog number: MSS 903 Processed by: Harold E. Kemble, November 1984 Finding aid and additions by Rick Stattler, August 2002 ©Rhode Island Historical Society Manuscripts Division |
Historical note:
Joseph and Leon Samuels opened a discount menswear shop called the Manufacturers Outlet Company on Weybosset Street in Providence in 1894. It grew quickly, and expanded into a full department store with the construction of a new addition in 1903. The company launched its own radio station WJAR in 1922, and television station WJAR-TV in 1949. The company acquired a series of other broadcast media companies across the country from 1963 onwards. It also opened other Outlet Company department stores beginning with a branch in Cranston in 1962.
In 1976, long-time employee Bruce Sundlun (later governor of Rhode Island) assumed the presidency of the Outlet Company. Joseph Samuels Sinclair, grandson of a founder, remained chairman of the board. Under Sundlun, Outlet began acquiring other small retail chains across the country, and continued to acquire broadcast companies as well. The Broadcast House in Providence was constructed in 1979 to house operations of the company's flagship WJAr radio and television stations. A national recession that same year crippled the company's retail operations, and the company decided to redirect its energies exclusively toward broadcast media in 1980. The Department Stores division (by now 91 stores) was sold to United Department Stores in November of 1980, and the purchaser closed the downtown flagship store in 1982. The Outlet Company merged with the Rockefeller Group in 1984, ending its independent existence and the Samuels-Sinclair family involvement. It continued as a division of the Rockefeller Group called Outlet Communications, which continued to operate WJAR/TV until selling it to NBC in 1996.
Bibliography:
Smart, Samuel Chipman. The Outlet Story, 1894-1984. Providence, R.I.: Outlet Communications, 1984
Scope and content:
This collection offers a fragmentary glimpse of many of the Outlet Company's diverse business interests, including: a box of early 1970s files from Department Store Division president Levon Charlson; annual statements from 1936 to 1950; WJAR policy manuals; construction files from the 1970s; and files relating to the acquisition of firms such as the Cherry Broadcasting Company, WRG Baker Radio & Television, and Delivery Services Inc. The only documentation from the first forty years of business is a detailed appraisal of the Samuels Land Company's assets from 1904, and a single letter re phonograph sales from 1922.
Provenance:
These records were donated by City Place Associates in 1984, via Ernest DiSaia of International Construction Management in Providence. The 1966 scrapbook was a 1988 gift from Dorothy Gould as part of the Warren Walden Papers. A single 1922 letter was purchased from Veronica Owen in 1996.
Processing note:
The bulk of these records remain unprocessed, but a rough box inventory has been compiled.
Inventory:
Levon F. Charlson files as president of the Department Store Division:
Management Committee meeting minutes, 1974-1975
Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce 1971-1976
Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce 1974
Mr. Logowitz, 1971-1975
Mr. Steinhardt 1974-1976
Mr. Taylor 1971-1976
Mr. Van Pelt 1971-1976
Mr. Lafler 1976, 1977
Mr. Levy 1972-1976
Bob Lewis 1972-1976
Press releases 1972-1976
Mr. Wang 1972-1976
Mr. Yas 1973-1977
American Retail Federation 1972-1974
Miscellaneous Outlet Company Christmas catalogs
Box 2
Evaluation and development of a corporate name, 1967
Telephone directory, undated
Manuals for supervisors
Procedure manual, Coventry store
Trading of Outlet Company shares, 1958-1959
Annual statements, etc., 1936-1950
Samuels Land Co. appraisals, 1904, 1907 (Providence)
Tax returns, 1940-1949; 1950-1959
Letter re phonograph sales, 1922 (#1996.118.8)
Box 3
Cherry Broadcasting Company (operated WDBO in Orlando, FL; had some R.I. officers)
Business Music Division data, 1960-1961
Capital expenditures, 1960
FCC annual financial reports, 1960-1963
Balance sheet, 1959-1963
Delaware annual franchise tax reports, 1960-1963
Transfer of license, 1961
License renewal, 1960
Income tax returns, 1954-1955
Income and expense settlements, 1962-1963
Ownership reports, 1959-1962
Policy manual, WJAR-FM/TV
IBEW, 1937-1945
ASCAP/NAB file, 1949-1954
Antenna, 1953-1954
Lincoln Mall specifications, undated
General building correspondence and memoranda, 1952-1978
Merchandising analysis, 1965 and 1968
Broadcast House specifications, 1977
Free Masons' Hall proposal, 1977
Newport Airport sewer specifications, 1978
Conveyor belt specifications, 1963
White House in Miniature exhibit, 1976-1977
Union benefits payments, 1975-1977
Box 4
WRG Baker Radio & Television Corporation, Syracuse, NY
Documents re acquisition of Onondaga Broadcasting and Six Nations Television by Baker
Certificates, transfer ledgers, documents re acquisition of WRG Baker, 1970-1972
Box 5
Records of WNYS-TV Channel 9 of Syracuse, NY, 1966
Records re acquisition of Salt City Broadcasting Corp. of Syracuse, NY
Delivery Service, Inc. (shipping firm of Providence, RI)
Monthly financial reports, 1951-1961
Correspondence and merger documents, 1959-1961
Loose volume:
Scrapbook, 1966 (#1988.67.2)
Subjects:
Cherry Broadcasting Company (Orlando, Fla.)
Delivery Service, Inc. (Providence, R.I.)
Department stores - Rhode Island
Florida - Commerce
Lincoln Mall (Lincoln, R.I.)
Masonic Temple (Providence, R.I.)
New York - Commerce
Providence, R.I. - Commerce
Radio stations
Samuels Land Co. (Providence, R.I.)
Television stations
WJAR/TV (Providence, R.I.)
WRG Baker Radio & Television Corp. (Syracuse, N.Y.)
End of finding aid - return to top
RIHS1822