Series 3: Historical Materials

HISTORICAL MATERIALS consists largely of miscellaneous artifacts, printed items, and fragmentary portions of records dating from the Gillette Tire Company's earliest years. Most of the materials were gathered by a plant historical committee active in the 1960s. Artifacts with potential exhibit value include guest badges, probably from the 1930s, and tire serial number plates from the first tires completed after plant reconversion in 1944. Also of interest are formulas or recipes handwritten on small cards, for chemical compounds used in processing crude rubber or rubber fabric in 1919; and portions of what is apparently a production supervisor's or engineer's notebook dating from 1919 to 1930. These fragments offer glimpses of the factory's operation in the period before modernization and before the introduction of synthetic rubber during World War II. The latter includes data on tire serial numbers, specifications, diagrams, building instructions, and tire curing times. The earliest records in the collection are Gillette company financial volumes from 1917 to 1919. These are general ledgers listing debits and credits to both individual and controlling accounts such as real estate, machinery, chemicals, payroll, operating expenses, stocks, and taxes with a partial index to account numbers. Volumes from 1920 to 1925 are daily journals listing company financial transactions in chronological order. Also important for researchers are various official accounts of the history of the tire plant. Histories of the Eau Claire Ordnance Plant consist of a series of reports submitted to the U.S. Army detailing its transformation and operation as an ordnance factory. Included is information on capacity and output, personnel, wages, and diagrams of the manufacturing area and powder farm. A history of the reconversion of the plant from the manufacturing of small-caliber ammunition back to tires was compiled by the company's Industrial Relations Department. Also filed here are brief accounts of the Gillette, U.S. Rubber, and Uniroyal companies written at various times for public relations purposes. Related to this are a few files of printed materials consisting of scattered issues of company newsletters, examples of advertisements, and other public relations materials.

Artifacts

Box 74 Folder 1: Guest badges, undated
Box 74 Folder 2: Foreman's notebook [?], 1919-1930
Box 74 Folder 3: Formulas for rubber compounds, 1919-1921
Box 74 Folder 4: Serial number plates from first tires cured in new plant, 1944 October 21

Box 75 Folder 1: Financial statements, 1917, 1918
Box 75 Folders 2-3: General ledgers (by account), 1917-1919
Box 76 Folders 1-2: Journals, 1920-1921
Box 77 Folders 1-3: Journals, 1922-1923
Box 78 Folders 1-2: Journals, 1924-1925

Box 74 Folder 5: Eau Claire Ordnance plant, 1942
Box 74 Folder 6: Reconversion, 1943 December-1945 January
Box 74 Folder 7: U.S. Rubber-Gillette Plant, 1944-1950

Box 74 Folder 8: Advertising, awards, public relations
Box 74 Folder 9: Plant newsletters (incomplete), 1949-1987
Box 74 Folder 10: Organizational charts, 1957-1958
Box 74 Folder 11: Supervisor's bulletins, 1950
Box 74 Folder 12: U.S. Rubber news releases, 1948