mums310 Otis Company Records, 1846-1847 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Mike Milewski. Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA
2003

University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.

 Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Eric Cartier. 2003-07-28 Finding aid written in English. 2005-09-23 mu213 converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02-5c.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst Otis Company Records, 1846-1847 Finding Aid Manuscript Number 310 Compiled by Mike Milewski Summer 1990 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

2003 University of Massachusetts Amherst. All rights reserved.

 Collection Overview Otis Company Otis Company Records 1846-1847 MS 310 2 folders (1 envelope) (0.25 linear ft.) Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst The Otis Company of Ware, Massachusetts, was founded in 1839 and became a major producer of textiles, including checks, denims, and cotton underwear. At the height of their operations, the company operated three mills with a workforce of over 1,300. The collection contains correspondence between Otis agent Henry Lyon and the firms of Parks, Wright & Co. (1846-47) and Wright, Whitman & Co. (1847), both of Boston. It includes bills, invoices, letters, and memos, covering orders for such goods as lamp glasses, patent starch, whale oil, gas pipes, bales of cotton, pot and pearl ashes, fish glue, sour flour, fire buckets, potato starch, tar, sheet copper, and indigo. English. Historical Note

The Otis Company of Ware Massachusetts was founded by James W. Otis in 1839 with capital of $350,000. It purchased a part of the property of the Hampshire Manufacturing Company that lay north of the Ware River, and at the time of its incorporation in 1840, the company employed 211 people, later swelling to a workforce of over 1,300. A manufacturer of textiles, including checks, denims, and cotton underwear, the company operated three mills, including one in Palmer (Three Rivers).

 Scope and Contents of the Collection

The collection consists of correspondence from Parks (Luther), Wright (John S.), & Co. (1846-1847), and later from Wright, Whitman (E. P.) & Co. (1847), merchants of Boston (97 Milk St.), to Mr. Henry Lyon, agent of Otis Company. Included among the correspondence are bills, invoices, letters, and memos, covering orders for such goods as lamp glasses, patent starch, whale oil, gas pipes, bales of cotton, pot and pearl ashes, fish glue, sour flour, fire buckets, potato starch, tar, sheet copper, and indigo. The correspondence principally deals with routine information relating to the invoices and bills. Other information of a "non-routine" nature is also present; especially significant are the letters of February 2 and May 21, 1847 concerning a vote of the board of directors respecting a "Guarantee Account" and a letter respecting eight Richmond Looms, for No. 3 Mill, to make ginghams.

The individual items in this collection are arranged chronologically from September 1846 through September 1847. The invoices and bills are identified with an original numerical identity [#355-409, Nos. 2-8], as well. The records are not complete as evidenced by the existing chronological and numerical gaps.

The collection is open for research.

 Preferred Citation

Cite as: Otis Company Records (MS 310). Special Collections and University Archives, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Acquired from John Foster, Agricultural and Resource Economics Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst, May 1990. The records were found by him in the attic of Draper Hall in a departmental file folder labeled with the date "1964/65". This collection is part of Accession #90-020.

Related Material

This collection is part of Accession #90-020.

Gay, William Burton, ed. Gazetteer of Hampshire County, Mass., 1654-1887. Syracuse, N. Y. : W. B. Gay & Co., [1886?].Call no.: F72.H3 G2 1886.

Processed by Mike Milewski, summer 1990.

 Search Terms Otis and Co. Parks, Wright, and Co. Wright, Whitman, and Co. Lyon, Henry. Textile industry--Massachusetts--Ware. Textile manufacturers--Massachusetts--Ware. Ware (Mass.)--Economic conditions--19th century. Parks Wright and Co., Correspondence 1846 1 1 # 355, Bill for lamp glasses 1846 September 22 1 1 letter, Letter respecting Patent Starch 1846 October 3 1 1 # 357, Invoice bale books, oil & labels 1846 October 5 1 1 # 358, Inv. bags of bran (error in order- send back) 1846 October 8 1 1 letter, Letter respecting marks for sheeting 1846 October 10 1 1 letter, Letter respecting 178 bales of cotton 1846 October 10 1 1 # 359, Bill for Pipe 1846 October 13 1 1 letter, Letter respecting 178 bales of cotton 1846 October 16 1 1 # 360, Invoice pot and pearl ashes and fish glue 1846 October 21 1 1 # 363, Invoice pipe, etc. 1846 November 2 1 1 # 364, Bill blocks 1846 November 3 1 1 letter, Letter respecting box of pipe 1846 November 11 1 1 letter, Letter for 4 kinds good for [S.F.] Morse & Co. 1846 November 19 1 1 letter, Letter respecting mark for sheeting 1846 November 19 1 1 # 365, Invoice whale oil 1846 November 24 1 1 # 366, Bill for 100 barrels of sour flour 1846 November 25 1 1 letter, Letter respecting tickets being put on all the goods (quote from letter will probably go to Palmer first") 1846 December 3 1 1 letter, Letter requesting receipt for $500 for William Crampton 1846 December 5 1 1 # 368, Invoice 2 casks oil 1846 December 7 1 1 letter, Letter respecting tickings and sheetings 1846 December 8 1 1 letter, Letter respecting cases 1846 December 16 1 1 letter, Letter respecting tickets 1846 December 16 1 1 letter, Letter respecting goods for S.F.Morse 1846 December 16 1 1 # 369, Invoice oil 1846 December 25 Parks Wright and Co. and Wright, Whitman & Co. Correspondence 1847 1 2 letter, Letter respecting five buckets and Insurance on No.2 & No.4 mills 1847 January 03 1 2 letter, Letter respecting stripes sold Beebe & Co. 1847 January 07 1 2 letter, Letter respecting no. of lamps wanted altered 1847 January 18 1 2 letter, Letter respecting D.D.Ticks and Denims 1847 January 20 1 2 letter, Memo of vote of Bd. of Directors respecting Guarantee Account 1847 February 02 1 2 letter, Letter sending fixtures for 155 lamps 1847 February 03 1 2 # 384, Bill for pickers (sent to Ware by H. Hobbs & Son) 1847 March 13 1 2 # 392, Invoice 8 casks potatoe starch 1847 April 07 1 2 # 393, Invoice gas pipe and winter oil 1847 April 28 1 2 # 395, Invoice 1 barrel tar 1847 May 01 1 2 # 396, Invoice 1 sheet copper 1847 May 03 1 2 # 397, Bill 55 barrels flour 1847 May 07 1 2 letter, Letter respecting color of denim 1847 May 14 1 2 letter, Letter respecting 8 Richmond looms for No. 3 Mill to make ginghams 1847 May 21 1 2 letter, Letter respecting flour & starch for use in sizing 1847 May 22 1 2 # 403, Invoice southern flour & winter oil & indigo 1847 May 27 1 2 # 406, Bill red cotton yarn (sample) 1847 June 3 1 2 # 409, Invoice hemp lines & gold twine 1847 June 15 1 2 letter, order for goods I&S and J.W.B. 1847 July 13 1 2 # 2, Invoice labels for denims & flour 1847 July 13 1 2 # 3, Invoice potatoe starch 1847 July 15 1 2 # 4, Invoice bale twine 1847 July 16 1 2 # 5, Invoice 3 casks winter oil 1847 July 19 1 2 #8, Invoice 1 barrel tar 1847 August 10 1 2 letter, Invoice 200 bales cotton (purchased in New Orleans by Whiting Wright & Co.) 1847 August 19 1 2 letter, order for D.D.Ticks 1847 September 04 1 3 Bills of sale 1863, 1866