George H. Gilbert Co. Records, 1842-1931. 26 boxes, 126 vols.
(36 linear feet). In 1841, George H. Gilbert and Charles A.
Stevens formed a partnership to manufacture broadcloth and
cloaking in Ware, Massachusetts. Ten years later, the
partnership dissolved and each partner carried a part of the
business into separate establishments. The newly formed George
H. Gilbert Company continued making high-grade woolen flannels,
for which it developed a national reputation, until 1930.
Records, consisting of correspondence, financial records and
cash books, construction contracts, sales lists, production
records, and sample books, document the operation of Gilbert and
Stevens and later the Gilbert Company for almost a century. The
labor accounts (1851-1930), document the phases of the varying
ethnic composition of the workforce — Irish, French-Canadian,
and eventually Polish — well as the family orientation of the
mills. - Textile industry--Massachusetts - Ware (Mass.)--History
- George H. Gilbert and Co - Account book