Holley Manufacturing Company Records


Overview of the Collection
Repository:	Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center.
Creator:	Rudd, Charles E.
Title:	Holley Manufacturing Company Records.
Dates:	undated, 1847-1933.
Quantity:	75 linear feet.
Identification:	MSS19800028
Language:	English.
Abstract:	The Holley Manufacturing Company of Lakeville (Salisbury), Connecticut, produced pocket cutlery and related products, from 1844 until 1946. Holley Manufacturing Company's sales and production declined after 1933 and the firm was dissolved in 1946.

History

The Holley Manufacturing Company of Lakeville (Salisbury), Connecticut, produced pocket cutlery and related products, from 1844 until 1946. Founded in 1844 by Alexander Hamilton Holley and George Merwin as Holley and Merwin, the Company claimed to be the oldest manufacturer of pocket cutlery in the United States. The company name was later changed to Holley & Company. In 1854, it was incorporated as the Holley Manufacturing Company, with Alexander H. Holley as president, George B. Burrall, treasurer, and William B. Rudd, secretary. William Rudd's son, Malcolm D. Rudd, succeeded him as treasurer and general manager, serving in that position until 1942. Its customers were retailers and small jobbers, mostly in New England, Pennsylvania, and upper New York State. Total annual sales of the company probably did not exceed $50,000 from 1844 to 1925, or $10,000 from 1925 to 1933. Holley Manufacturing Company's sales and production declined after 1933 and the firm was dissolved in 1946.

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Scope and Content

The Holley Manufacturing Company records provide detailed information about this important pocket cutlery firm. The bulk of this collection consists of correspondence with customers, hardware dealers, other manufacturing companies, sales agents, the Manufacturers Association of Connecticut, and credit and collecting agencies. The records also include substantial information about employees, sales, and production, and finances.

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Arrangement

Series I: Correspondence (undated, 1854-1933) consists of incoming correspondence (1854-1933), letters from the agents (1887-1933), select correspondence from R.G. Dun Company, hardware dealers, the Manufacturers Association of Connecticut, and the firm of Kemble and Mills; and outgoing correspondence (1847-1933).

Series II: Administrative Records (undated, 1852-1920) contains contracts, legal and semi-legal documents, insurance policies, patents, personnel policies, reports, tax records, blueprints, and notebooks.

Series III: General Accounts (undated, 1847-1928) consists of daybooks, journals, ledgers, accounting statements, and other general account records.

Series IV: Labor Records (undated, 1854-1920) consists of records related to payroll and employee's accounts.

Series V: Production Records (undated, 1853-1927) consists of inventory books, cost estimates, records of raw material used, and material samples.

Series VI: Sales Records (undated, 1850-1938) consists of catalog and price lists (1850-1934), salesmen's reports and trip books (1853-1869), customer credit ratings (1856-1858), customer lists (1904-1920), Boyd's City Dispatch Credit reports (1911-1932), R.G. Dun and Company reports (1869-1876), sales summaries (1901-1914), photographs of Holley pocket knives, and price lists and catalogs from other cutlery and silver manufacturing companies.

Series VII: Griggs & Chapin Company (undated, 1882-1887) contains business records of Griggs & Chapin Company, a general store evidently used by the Holley Company to pay employees in kind.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Restrictions on Use

Permission to publish from these Papers must be obtained in writing from both the University of Connecticut Libraries and the owner(s) of the copyright.

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Related Material

Archives & Special Collections has a substantial collection of Connecticut business records. See also the papers of Malcolm D. Rudd. For detailed information on these collections please contact the curator or ask at the reference desk.

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Index Terms

This record series is indexed under the following controlled access subject terms.

Persons:

Burrall, George B.

Holley, Alexander H. (Alexander Hamilton), 1804-1887.

Rudd, Malcolm Day, b. 1877.

Rudd, William B. (William Beardslee)

Organizations:

American Pocket Cutlery Manufacturers Association.

Subjects:

Collection agencies--Connecticut.

Connecticut--Business, industries, and trades--Cutlery.

Cutlery trade--Connecticut.

Hardware stores--Connecticut.

Industrial relations--Connecticut.

Labor unions--Connecticut.

Lakeville (Conn.--Business, industries, and trades--Cutlery.

Manufactures--Connecticut.

Silver-plated flatware--United States.

Torrington (Conn.)--Business, industries, and trades--Cutlery.

Trade and professional associations--Connecticut.

Trade-union meetings--Connecticut.

Document Types:

Administrative Records.

Catalogs.

Correspondence.

Financial Records.

General Accounts.

Insurance Policies.

Inventories.

Labor Records.

Production Records.

Sales Records.

Occupations:

Cutlery manufacturer.

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Series I: Correspondence, undated, 1854-1933
	Incoming Correspondence
1		1854 May - 1867 September
2		1867 October - 1869 August
3		1869 September - 1871 February
4		1871 March - 1872 June
5		1872 July - 1873 December
6		1874 January - 1875 August
7		1975 September - 1877 August
8		1877 September - 1879 December
9		1880 January - 1881 December
10		1882 January - 1883 October
11		1883 November - 1885 June
12		1885 July - 1887 April
13		1887 May - 1890 February
14		1890 March - 1891 December
15		1892 January - 1893 September
16		1895 October - 1897 December
17		1898 January - 1899 August
18		1898 January - 1899 August
19		1899 August - 1901 April
20		1901 April - 1902 March
21		1902 March - 1903 January
22		1903 January - 1903 November
23		1903 December - 1904 October
24		1904 November - 1905 October
25		1905 November - 1906 October
26		1906 October - 1907 August
27		1907 September - 1908 October
28		1908 October - 1909 September
29		1909 September - 1910 May
30		1910 June - 1911 April
31		1911 May - 1912 April
32		1912 April - 1913 November
33		1913 December - 1915 March
34		1915 April - 1917 February
35		1917 February - 1918 November
36		1918 December - 1920 June
37		1920 July - 1923 March
38		1923 April - 1933
	Letters from agents
39		1887-1896
40		1896-1904
41		1905-1908
42		1908 September - 1913 April
43		1913 April - 1933
	Select Correspondence
43		R.G. Dun & Co., undated
		Hardware Dealers, undated
		Manufacturers and Association of Connecticut, undated
		Kemble & Mills, undated
	Outgoing Correspondence
44		1847 November - 1901 October
45		1901 October - 1905 November
46		1905 November - 1910 September
47		1910 September - 1915 January
48		1915 January - 1933
		Telegrams, 1911-1917
		Loose Letters, 1884-1933


Series II: Administrative Records, undated, 1852-1920
49	Contracts, 1851-1863
	Contracts, 1891-1912
	Contracts and Agreements, 1852-1899
	Insurance policies, undated
	Legal papers, 1851-1914
	Notebooks: Union Hall Meetings; Holley Co. Band; Malcolm D. Rudd; District no. 4, undated, 1901
	Patents: other companies, 1868-1905
	Personnel: State of Connecticut publications on labor laws and workmen's compensation 1913-1919
	Personnel policies and benefits, 1851, 1910-1912
	Reports and production procedures, 1893-1914
	Silver Plated Ware Manufacturers Association, 1880
	Taxes and census of manufactures, 1851-1870
OS	Taxable list of property, 1903-1932
OS	Holley Block: blueprints, undated
OS	Equipment: blueprints and drawings, undated, 1911
OS	Iron Age Bulletin, 1875, 1887


Series III: General Account Records, undated, 1847-1928
	Daybooks
50		1850 March - 1857 August
51		1854 June - 1882 February
	Journals
52		1901 January - 1910 January
53		1910 January - 1927 December
	Ledgers
54		1846-1877
55		1875-1891
56		1892-1912
57		1912-1927
58	Particular expenses ledger, 1901-1928
59	Accounting statements, 1901-1930
	Lists of draft issued, 1888-1922
	Collection sheets, undated, 1865-1878
	Accounts payable and receivable ledger, 1847-1858
	Account book, 1860-1867
	Closed accounts for collection by Kemble & Mills, 1908-1909
OS	Account statements and bills, 1855-1907, 1929


Series IV: Labor Records, undated, 1854-1920
	Work Book Ledgers
60		1854 May - 1873 November
61		1873 December - 1895 November
62		1895 November - 1920 December
	Workmen's Ledgers (payroll and expenses)
63		1854 June - 1890 July
64		1890 July - 1911 July
65	Time books, 1866-1928
	Wage Journals for individuals, 1873-1920
	Employees record book, 1900-1912


Series V: Production Records, undated, 1853-1927
66	Inventory books, rough copies, 1875, 1887-1920
67	Inventory books, smooth copies, 1853-1895
68	Inventory books, smooth copies, 1896-1927
	Inventory books of knives, 1862-1873
69	Inventory, schedule and notes, 1858-1912
	Comparative production costs, 1865-1879
	Cost estimates, 1899-1924
	Cost estimates books, 1855-1879, 1901-1914
	Raw material used, 1904-1922
	Ledger of metals, gauges, and patterns, 1903
	Reference book, C.E. Rudd, 1906
	Gasoline engine time book, 1907
	Finishing room: activity price book, 1910-1914
	Production record books
70	Material Samples, undated
		White Heat Products Co.
		Shults Co.,
		Bird Glue Co.
		Eagle Lock Co.
		R. Wallace & Sons Manufacturing Co.
		Janell Belting Co.
		Delaware Hard Fiber Co.
		Arlington Co.
		Hammacher, Schlemmer and Co.
71		Diamond Co.
		Angiers Co.
		Krallert Co.
		Hammer Co.
		Harlem Valley's Firemen's Association
		DeHaven Manufacturing Co.
		F.W. Devoe & C.T. Reynolds Co.
		Salisbury, Hooley Co.
		Celluloid Co.
		Washington Emery Mills Co.
		American Vulcanized Fiber Co.
		Broken Shield Co.
		Jos. Stelwagon Co.
72		Shercliffe & Sons
		Uncon Pearl Works
		Applebee & Newman
		R.S. Peck & Co.
		Miscellaneous
73		Objects


Series VI: Sales Records, undated, 1850-1938
74	Advertisements and business cards, undated
	Photographs of Holley pocket knives, undated, 1876
	Catalog, 1896
	Customer credit rating book, 1856-1858
	Price lists, 1850-1934
	Sales agents' trip books, 1853-1869
75	Sales agents' expense and collection reports, 1880-1917
	Sales agents' notebooks, undated, 1887
	Sales agents' expense books, 1901-1902
	Sales agents' commission accounts, 1905-1917
	American Table Cutlery Manufacturers Association, 1879-1881
	Lamson & Goodnow Manufacturing Co.: Price lists, 1869-1894
	Meriden Cutlery Co.: Price list and catalog, 1870-1878
	Rogers Cutlery Co. and William Roger Manufacturing Co.: price list and catalogs, 1877-1884
	Wallace Brothers: price lists, 1878-1881
	Price lists and advertisements: other companies, 1870-1893
	Dun's reports, 1868-1876
	Boyd's City Dispatch, 1911-1932
76	R.G. Dun and Co., Reference Book, 1917
OS	Printed price lists and advertisements, undated
	R.G. Dun and Co. printed maps, 1909


Series VII: Griggs & Chapin Company, 1882-1887
77	Daybook, 1882-1883
	General Ledger, 1883-1884
78	Correspondence, bills, receipts, 1883-1887

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