History of the Plymouth Cordage Company
Established 1824 in Plymouth, Mass.; purchased Consumers Cordage Co., Dartmouth, N.S., 1938; merged into Columbian Rope Company in 1965.
Restrictions
Restrictions on Access
Available for use in the Manuscripts Division.
Restrictions on Use
Various copying restriction apply. Guidelines are available from the Manuscripts Division.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the G. W. Blunt White Library. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Corporate Entities:
Consumers Cordage Co.
Places:
Dartmouth (Nova Scotia)
Plymouth (Mass.)
Subjects:
Cordage
Rope trade–Massachusetts–Plymouth
Rope trade–Nova Scotia–Dartmouth
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Administrative Information
Coll. 133, Manuscripts Collection, G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
| Box 1: Papers; 1824-1957 | |||||||||||||
| Folder | Page | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Summaries of the founding, capitalization, and first ten years of business activity of the Plymouth Cordage Company; 1824-1835 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Founding and capitalization | ||||||||||||
| 2 | “Debts Due for Sales of Cord”; 1825 Jun – 1826 Jan | ||||||||||||
| 3 | “Cordage Estimates”; 1827 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | First consignments; 1825-1826 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Inventory of profits of Plymouth Cordage Co.; 1826 Aug – 1827 Aug | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Cost analysis of first year and a half of operations; 1826 Jul 31 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Cordage manufactured by Plymouth Cordage Co. (apparently in connection with tariff question); 1827-1831 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Sales; 1828 Feb – Jul | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Letter: Boston, revealing current conditions of Plymouth Cordage Co.; 1828 Sept 16 | ||||||||||||
| 10 | Net sales; 1828 Aug – 1829 Jan | ||||||||||||
| 11 | Sales in calendar year; 1828 | ||||||||||||
| 12 | Cordage delivered; 1828 Aug – 1829 Aug | ||||||||||||
| 13 | Notes used in preparation of summary of year ending July 31, 1829; 1829 | ||||||||||||
| 14 | Statement showing why the gain of cordage factory is less in 1829 than in 1828; 1829 | ||||||||||||
| 15 | Review of Company’s operations; 1830 Jul 31 | ||||||||||||
| 16 | Total deliveries; 1831 Aug 1 | ||||||||||||
| 17 | Summary of year ending July 31, 1834; 1834 Jul 31 | ||||||||||||
| 18 | Summary: July 1834-July 1835; 1835 | ||||||||||||
| 19 | Summary tables A. Details of capital stock issued: 1824-1922. B. Capital stock and dividends: 1825-1948. C. Available information as to number of Stockholders: 1824-1949. D. Note on dividends.; 1824-1948 | ||||||||||||
| 20 | Financial results – Earnings and losses; 1824-1894 | ||||||||||||
| 21 | Figures for pool; 1883-1901 | ||||||||||||
| 22 | Dividends; Profit and Losses; 1832-1899 | ||||||||||||
| 23 | Stockholders in Plymouth Cordage Co.; 1832 Dec 1 | ||||||||||||
| Folder | Page | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Production and sales figures; 1916-1938 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | “Old Production Figures”; a graph showing weekly rope and twine production, number of employees, flow of help, labor costs, etc.,; 1916-1926 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | “Strapping”; 1925 Aug – 1926 Mar | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Probably production figures for rope walk and mills at the Plymouth Plant; 1926 Oct – 1927 Oct | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Rope sales; 1927-1937 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Three monthly sales charts; 1936-1938 | ||||||||||||
| Folder | Page | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Product information; 1938 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Correspondence relative to a strength test of ropes produced by Consumers Cordage Co., and those made at Plymouth; 1938 Jul – Sep | ||||||||||||
| 2 | License agreement for “Inventories relating to Improvements in Rope Structure”, patent no.’s 232, 394, 271, 027; Canadian: 283, 108, between Consumers Cordage Co. and the Whitlock Cordage Co.; 1938 Aug 1 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | “Comparison of Davao I with Regular Thread Rope Mixture” (Report #3304); 1938 Aug 24 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | “Comparison of Special Fiber Mixture with Common Manila: (Report #3310); 1938 Sep 6 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Consumers yarn list; 1938 Dec 1 | ||||||||||||
| Folder | Page | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Activity concerning the Consumers Cordage Co., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, a firm purchased by Plymouth Cordage Co.; 1938-1941 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Material related to the transfer of machinery from Plymouth to Dartmouth plant; 1938 Mar – May | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Correspondence concerning Mr. Reed’s visit to Plymouth plant, and the settlement of his position and salary; 1938 Apr – May | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Memorandum concerning Mr. Weaver’s responsibilities as Industrial Engineer at the Dartmouth plant; 1938 May 4 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Correspondence regarding a proposed inventory of the Dartmouth plant; 1938 May 9-13 | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Inventory summary of the Consumers Cordage Go., Ltd, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; 1938 May 28 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Dartmouth plant survey; 1940 Nov 18 | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Three sheets of floor plans, Consumers Cordage Co., showing placement of machines and operators; ca. 1940 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Memorandum on Dartmouth plant fire; 1941 Jan 17 | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Report on the Consumers Cordage Co. and its relationship to the general wartime employment and production situation in Canada; 1941 Feb | ||||||||||||
| Folder | Page | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Employees and wages; 1938-1943 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Evidently a list of people employed at the Consumers Cordage Co. of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (Note: The Consumers Cordage Co. was purchased by the Plymouth Cordage Co. at about this time.); ca 1938 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Memorandum – Dept. Classifications; 1938 Feb 10 | ||||||||||||
| 3 | “Dartmouth Rate Table” showing current wage and possible adjusted wage in line with Plymouth plant; 1939 Jul 21 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Employee payroll data; 1939 Oct – 1940 Sep | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Material related to 1941 wage adjustments; 1941 May 26 | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Material related to wage adjustments with respect to the Regional War Labor Board and the Wartime Wages Act; 1942 Jun – Oct | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Material concerning employee representation at the recently purchased Consumers Cordage Co., Ltd.; 1942 Oct – 1943 Feb | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Personnel data (ie name, job title, rate, length of employment, and date of birth); 1943 Dec 7 | ||||||||||||
| Folder | Page | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Miscellaneous unrelated material pertinent to the collection; 1871-1957 | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Letter, Plymouth Cordage Co. to W. Fessenden & Son, Townsend, Massachusetts; 1871 Nov 9 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | Correspondence involving settlement of a $250,000 fee for legal services from Clement R. Lamson, Atty, at law; 1923 Mar | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Memorandum written by Mr. Weaver concerning his attendance at the Maritime Conference on Industrial Relations; 1940 | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Material regarding proposed sale of tenement building owned by the company; 1941 Jun – Aug | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Material concerning a position filled by George J. Annis; 1941 Apr-Nov | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Material concerning the drowning of Charles Marshall, an employee of the company in Nova Scotia; 1942 Sept – Oct | ||||||||||||
| 7 | “The Victory Parade of Spotlight Bands”, a radio program script broadcast from Plymouth Cordage Co. on the Blue Network; 1944 Nov 23 | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Company envelopes (2) and stationary (2); nd | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Material relating to Plymouth Cordage Co. archives and vault; 1957 | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Stationary for Plymouth Cordage Co., Position Analysis; n.d | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| 8 | Map reproduction of Plymouth, Mass., including layout of Plymouth Cordage Co.; n.d. | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Volume 1: Diary of E.W. Brewster; 13 Dec 1917 – 30 May 1927 | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| 10 | Volume 2: Scrapbook, “National Industrial Recovery Act,” compiled by Charles Mackinnon; 1935 | ||||||||||||
| Folder | |||||||||||||
| 11 | OV | Plymouth Cordage News; Jan 1954, Jan 1955 | |||||||||||