Information: The first column shows data points from Erwin Mills in red. The third column shows data points from Erwin Cotton Mills in blue. Any data they share in common is displayed as purple boxes in the middle "Shared" column.
1892Erwin Cotton Mills incorporated, the Duke family owning a controlling interest with Benjamin N. Duke as president and William Allen Erwin as manager.1893Mill No. 1 in West Durham began operation1896Mill No. 1 doubled in size19031904Mill No. 2 built at Duke (now Erwin), Harnett Co., N. C.1906Colleemee Cotton Mills, Cooleemee, Davie Co., N. C., acquired and operated as Mill No. 319091910Mill No. 4, bleachery and finishing plant built at West Durham1925Erwin Yarn Company, a selling agency, established in Philadelphia, Pa.19251926Mill No. 5 built at Erwin, N. C.1927William A. Erwin succeeded B. N. Duke as president1932Pearl cotton Mills in North Durham acquired and operated as Mill No. 6Kemp Plummer Lewis succeeded W. A. Erwin as president1937Finishing plant added at Cooleemee1947Erwin Yarn Company liquidated1948, ca.Diana Mills at Neuse, Wake Co., N. C., acquired and operated as Mill No. 71948Stonewall cotton Mills, Stonewall, Miss., acquired and operated as Mill No. 8William Haywood Ruffin succeeded K. P. Lewis as president1949Accounting procedures changed from longtime standard forms posted by hand to radically different forms utilizing business machines1950Company changed name to Erwin Mills1953Abney Mills of South Carolina acquired control and its president, Francis Ebenezer Grier, became chairman of the board1960, ca.Burlington Industries acquired control, Erwin Mills continuing as one of its divisions1969, ca.Mill No. 6 in North Durham closed1986J. P. Stevens acquired and closed West Durham plantFrom the guide to the Erwin Cotton Mills Records, 1832-1976, (Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library)
Prominent members of the Battle familyof North Carolina included William Horn Battle (1802-1879) of Louisburg, Raleigh,and Chapel Hill, lawyer, legislator, judge of the North Carolina superior andsupreme courts, and trustee and professor of law at the University of NorthCarolina; his son, Kemp Plummer Battle (1831-1919) of Chapel Hill and Raleigh,lawyer, president of the Chatham Railroad, who was active in state affairs duringthe Civil War, served as state treasurer and as University of North Carolinapresident, 1876-1891, and professor of history, 1891-1907; and Kemp Plummer Battle'sson, William James Battle (1870-1955), University of North Carolina and Harvardstudent, professor of classics, dean, and acting president, 1893-1917, and professorof classics, 1920-1955, at the University of Texas, and professor of classics,1917-1920, at the University of Cincinnati. Papers give detailed coverage of the life of William HornBattle and his family and many aspects of North Carolina history, including life onthe Confederate homefront and social conditions during Reconstruction. There arealso materials relating to the Episcopal Church, in which the Battles were activelay members, and some slave bills of sale and Chatham County Railroad items. Papersof Kemp Plummer Battle relate to his interest in the early history of North Carolinaand of the University of North Carolina. Papers of William James Battle documentfamily and personal affairs. They are especially rich in Battle family history, butdo not include many items relating to his professional career. Volumes are chieflystudent notes and personal accounts kept by William James Battle, 1885-1909. Theaddition of April 2005 contains correspondence and other papers of Battle familymembers, mostly Kemp Plummer Battle (1831-1919), but also his wife and children.Professional papers of Kemp Plummer Battle include his notes from the secretsessions of the North Carolina convention of 1861, notes and drafts of articles andspeeches by Kemp Plummer Battle, clippings of articles by or about Kemp PlummerBattle, and a few other items. Many letters are from Cornelia Phillips Spencer(1825-1908), whose brother Charles Phillips married Kemp Plummer Battle's aunt,Laura Caroline Battle.
Duke Endowment Archives, bulk 1902-2008 and undated, 1925-2006
Duke Endowment Archives, bulk, 1902-2008 and undated, 1925-2006
Title:
Duke Endowment Archives, bulk 1902-2008 and undated, 1925-2006
The Duke Endowment was established by James Buchanan Duke as a perpetual charitable trust in 1924, with the following types of beneficiaries, mainly residing in North Carolina and South Carolina: non-profit hospitals and child care institutions; educational institutions; and rural churches of the Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (now the United Methodist Church). The Duke Endowment Archives span the years 1902 to 2006, with the bulk of the material dating from 1925 through 2006. The collection documents the administration of the corpus of the trust and the charitable contributions made to the categories of recipients named in the Indenture and Deed of Trust establishing The Endowment. The majority of the records are arranged into series that reflect the organization of the institution, including the Board of Trustees, Treasurer's Office, Controller's Office, Investment Office, Education Division and Committee on Communications, Health Care and Child Care Divisions, and Rural Church Division. Smaller series, documenting such other activities as record-keeping, publications, and history of The Endowment, include: Central Files, Oral History Project, Trust Under Will, Publications, Miscellaneous, Photographic Materials, and Audiovisual Materials. The collection consists of the following types of materials: correspondence; minutes of meetings; financial records; applications for assistance from hospitals, child care institutions, and churches; statistics; publications; oral history tapes and transcripts; architectural drawings and blueprints; photographs; audio cassettes; and miscellaneous records and papers. The geographic focus is primarily North Carolina and South Carolina.
ArchivalResource:
325.6 Linear Feet; 165,000 Items
Duke Endowment Archives, bulk, 1902-2008 and undated, 1925-2006
0
Erwin Cotton Mills
referencedIn
Richard C. Franck oral history, 1975.
Franck, Richard C. Richard C. Franck oral history, 1975.
Title:
Richard C. Franck oral history, 1975.
Collection comprises 3 audiocassette tapes and a transcript for oral history interviews Franck conducted on the history of the Old West Durham neighborhood. Interviewees include Zeb Stone, John C. Dailey, O. A. Eubanks, I. L. Dean, William Ruffin, Samuel Dennis, John Cameron McDonald, Frank T. De Vyver, and O. C. Crabtree. Topics covered include, among others, the Erwin Cotton Mills (including William Allen Erwin, mill work, unionization, strikes, company housing, and community support), Ninth Street businesses, West Durham School, churches, habits of the working classes, and local customs. Use copies of cassette tapes must be made before a patron may access this collection.
Franck, Richard C. Richard C. Franck oral history, 1975.
0
Erwin Cotton Mills
referencedIn
Textile Workers Union of America. South Region Records, 1947-1981
Textile Workers Union of America. South Region Records, 1947-1981
Title:
Textile Workers Union of America. South Region Records, 1947-1981
Scott Hoyman was an organizer and a bargainer with the Textile Workers Union of America (TWUA), serving as the Southern Regional Director in the 1960s and 1970s. The TWUA actively sought to organize southern textile plants to help workers achieve higher wages, health insurance, and other benefits, and to insure fair labor practices. The collection contains correspondence, reports, minutes, agendas, pro-union and anti-union handouts and flyers, clippings, pictures, and other materials related to Scott Hoyman's activities with the TWUA. Materials document the internal functions of the TWUA, such as meetings, conferences, elections, and funding; the union's work with various organizations, including the Federation of Textile Representatives (FTR), and the AFL-CIO; TWUA's merger with Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America to become the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU); organizing campaigns in North Carolina and South Carolina, most notably the J. P. Stevens Campaign; staff training and education; organizing tactics; membership drives and figures; the union's policies on political and industrial issues; and trends and events in the textile industry. Notable subjects include biennial conventions, Chatham Manufacturing Company, Collins & Aikman Corporation, Erwin Cotton Mills, executive council meetings, the Federation of Textile Representatives, GARCO (General Asbestos and Rubber Division, Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc.), handouts and flyers, Harriet and Henderson Cotton Mills, J. P. Stevens & Co., Lone Star Textiles, outgoing mail, and southern staff conferences.
ArchivalResource:
About 4700 items (7.0 linear feet)
Textile Workers Union of America. South Region Records, 1947-1981
0
Erwin Cotton Mills
referencedIn
John Sprunt Hill papers, 1679-1967.
Hill, John Sprunt, b. 1869. John Sprunt Hill papers, 1679-1967.
Title:
John Sprunt Hill papers, 1679-1967.
The collection consists of correspondence, family materials, letterbooks, minutes, planning materials, clippings, maps, photographs, and other materials. Included are genealogical studies and correspondence about the Hill and related families in Virginia and North Carolina, including the Beal, Brownrigg, Buckner, Campbell, Dudley, Faison, Hill, Jennings, Lanier, Latham, Littlejohn, Major, McCulloch, Montfort, Sims, Snead, Stith, Watts, Wilcox, and Williams families. There are also a few 17th- through 19th-century family wills, deeds, and letters. Other items relate to John Sprunt Hill's service in the North Carolina Senate, specifically his work on liquor legislation and issues relating to the University of North Carolina. There are also letterbooks, correspondence, and other materials about Hill's legal and financial career in New York City and Durham, N.C. Businesses and organizations mentioned include the Durham Loan & Trust, Durham Bank & Trust, Home Savings Bank, farmers' co-operatives, the Home Security Life Insurance Company, the North Carolina Highway Commission, and Erwin Mills. There are also maps, correspondence, campaign advertising, voter lists, clippings, and other materials related to Hill's interest in New York City's Democratic Party, 1900-1902, and a number of personal and family materials, including information on Hill's estate and sympathy letters upon his death, answered by Hill's son George Watts Hill. A number of architectural drawings, some for building in Durham, are also included. The Addition of November 2008 contains correspondence, financial records, and other materials related to the personal and professional activities of John Sprunt Hill and Annie Sprunt Hill. Included are letters and other materials related to John Sprunt Hill's election to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1934; his work on the consolidation of the University of North Carolina system, 1934-1936; speeeches; clippings; and other professional materials. There are letterbooks containing business correspondence, mostly belonging to John Sprunt Hill, but with occasional letters from Annie Watts Hill, 1920-1925; a ledger listing stocks held by the Hills, 1906-1923; genealogies of the Watts family; photographic postcards of buildings around Durham, N.C., likely taken by Hill's son, George Watts Hill, in 1930; financial materials of Annie Watts Hill and her estate; and a scrapbook of undated photographs, likely taken sometime in the mid-to-late 19th-century in Scotland, England, and France.
ArchivalResource:
ca. 4500 items (5.0 linear feet)
Hill, John Sprunt, b. 1869. John Sprunt Hill papers, 1679-1967.
0
Erwin Cotton Mills
referencedIn
Textile Workers Union of America. South Region records, 1947-1991 [manuscript].
Textile Workers Union of America. South Region. Textile Workers Union of America. South Region records, 1947-1991 [manuscript].
Title:
Textile Workers Union of America. South Region records, 1947-1991 [manuscript].
The collection includes correspondence, reports, minutes, agendas, pro-union and anti-union handouts and flyers, clippings, pictures, and other materials related to Scott Hoyman's activities with the TWUA. Materials document the internal functions of the TWUA, such as meetings, conferences, elections, and funding; the union's work with various organizations, including the Federation of Textile Representatives (FTR), and the AFL-CIO; TWUA's merger with Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America to become the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU); organizing campaigns in North Carolina and South Carolina, most notably the J. P. Stevens Campaign; staff training and education; organizing tactics; membership drives and figures; the union's policies on political and industrial issues; and trends and events in the textile industry. Notable subjects include biennial conventions, Chatham Manufacturing Company, Collins & Aikman Corporation, Erwin Cotton Mills, executive council meetings, the Federation of Textile Representatives, GARCO (General Asbestos and Rubber Division, Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc.), handouts and flyers, Harriet and Henderson Cotton Mills, J. P. Stevens & Co., Lone Star Textiles, outgoing mail, and southern staff conferences.
ArchivalResource:
About 4700 items (7.0 linear ft.).
Textile Workers Union of America. South Region. Textile Workers Union of America. South Region records, 1947-1991 [manuscript].
0
Erwin Cotton Mills
referencedIn
Erwin Cotton Mills oral histories, 2000.
Erwin Cotton Mills oral histories, 2000.
Title:
Erwin Cotton Mills oral histories, 2000.
Oral history interviews with former mill workers of the Erwin Cotton Mills in Erwin, N.C. Interviews were conducted by students in Bruce McNair's honors class at Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C., in November 2000. The collection also includes partial transcriptions of the interviews created by the students as part of their coursework.
Robert Bruce Cooke papers, 1926-1972 [manuscript].
Cooke, Robert Bruce, 1902-1973. Robert Bruce Cooke papers, 1926-1972 [manuscript].
Title:
Robert Bruce Cooke papers, 1926-1972 [manuscript].
Included are a few items relating to the Pearl Cotton Mills, Durham, N.C., the Virginia Cotton Mills, Swepsonville, N.C., and the Mooresville Cotton Mills, Mooresville, N.C. Most items, however, relate to the Erwin Cotton Mills and include a 1909 work contract and many other items relating to the relationship between Erwin Mills and the United Textile Workers of America. Besides unionization, there are also items about workers losing jobs to machines. Many items in the 1940s relate to war production and rationing. Also included are letters, 1926-1954, relating to Cooke's numerous job searches. Although rarely unemployed, Cooke seems always to have sought a better position within the textile industry and sent, during this period, an almost continuous stream of letters of inquiry to most mills operating in the southeast. There are also materials relating to organizations in which Robert and Aylene were active, especially the Association for the Preservation of the Eno River Valley, the English-Speaking Union, the North Carolina Society of County and Local Historians, and the Sons of the American Revolution.
Cooke, Robert Bruce, 1902-1973. Robert Bruce Cooke papers, 1926-1972 [manuscript].
0
Erwin Cotton Mills
referencedIn
Frank Traver De Vyver papers, 1914-1980.
De Vyver, Frank Traver, 1904-1980. Frank Traver De Vyver papers, 1914-1980.
Title:
Frank Traver De Vyver papers, 1914-1980.
Concerns the labor situation in the industrializing South. Contains personal and official correspondence; documents on collective bargaining, employment security, labor-management collections, and the role of the Federal Government through such agencies as the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the National Joint Board for Settlement of Jurisdictional Disputes; printed material, including pamphlets, leaflets, and reprints, pertaining to the United Steelworkers of America, the Textile Workers Union of America, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the Federal Advisory Council, General Motors, American Arbitration Association (which include such companies as Georgia Power Company, General Tire and Rubber Company, Weyerhaeuser Company, Duke Power Company, and Florida Power and Light Company), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and the War Production Board. Pictures include an 1899 photograph of a group of workers, mostly children, at a spinning mill; mill houses; and the Saxon Mills W.O.W. Band, Spartanburg, S.C. Serials included are Labor Relations Reporter, Labor Law Reports, Workers Education Bureau of America Newsletter, Textile Workers Voice, and Christian Economics. Articles written by De Vyver are also included. Accession 2010-0058 includes additional materials from De Vyver's career as an arbitrator and an economics professor, as well as several folders of material relating to wages and labor in South Africa during the 1960s. South Africa materials include conciliation agreements, company reports, wage reports, and other constitutions and agreements from various South African trade unions such as mining, textiles, sugar, and mills.
De Vyver, Frank Traver, 1904-1980. Frank Traver De Vyver papers, 1914-1980.
0
Erwin Cotton Mills
creatorOf
Alester Furman Company Records, 1918-1977, (bulk) 1950-1970.
Furman, Alester G. (Alester Garden). Alester Furman Company Records, 1918-1977, (bulk) 1950-1970.
Title:
Alester Furman Company Records, 1918-1977, (bulk) 1950-1970.
The records from the Alester G. Furman Company document the sale of real estate, primarily residential housing, by textile manufacturing companies during the period approximately 1945-1970. The Furman Company served as the broker for the sale of real estate which, with respect to the residential housing, in most cases was sold to the mill workers. Furman handled the loan applications, insurance, and all other matters related to the sale. The textile manufacturers involved in these sales had their factories located in the Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. This collection documents one of the most significant turning points in the history of the textile industry. The sale of the mill villages changed the relationship between the mill and its workers while at the same time providing capital for the renovation of the mills. Perhaps equally important, the collection includes plates of the mill communities at the time of their sale. The records usually contain correspondence, records of financial dispersements, and sometimes insurance and other material related to the sales. Most of the sales and the bulk of the records are from the 1950s-1960s. Thereis an individual folder(s) for each mill community which often contains detailed listings of the names of the purchasers of homes and the amount of the purchase, method of payment, and status reports related to the liquidation of all properties and transfer of funds held in account. In the case of the J.P. Stevens Corporation, there is considerable documentation from the mid-1980s related to the sale of Stevens property after the purchase of that firm. In most cases, there are plat maps of the mill community or other property at the time of sale, although some plats may have been drawn up to several decades earlier. Documentation related to textile manufacturing companies includes Abney Mills, Aragon-Baldwin Cotton Mills, Bibb Manufacturing Company, Burlington Industries, Cannon Mills Company, Chiquola Manufacturing Company, Clifton Mills, Courtenay Manufacturing Company, Dundee Mills Company, Erwin Cotton Mills, Graiteville Manufacturing Company, Greenwood Mills, Hermitage Cotton Mill, and J.P. Stevens & Co., Norris Cotton Mills,
ArchivalResource:
16 boxes (33.7 cubic ft.) 2 oversize boxes, 1 box of photographs, 22 oversize folders of blueprints in 5 map file drawers.
Furman, Alester G. (Alester Garden). Alester Furman Company Records, 1918-1977, (bulk) 1950-1970.
0
Erwin Cotton Mills
creatorOf
Erwin Cotton Mills Records, 1832-1976 and undated, bulk 1892-1967
Erwin Cotton Mills Records, 1832-1976 and undated, bulk 1892-1967
Title:
Erwin Cotton Mills Records, 1832-1976 and undated, bulk 1892-1967
Account books, nearly complete, and office files, very incomplete, of the Erwin Mills textile mill, chiefly 1892-1967, and some personal papers of William Allen Erwin. The business files include letters, volumes, legal and financial papers, memoranda, printed material, reports, blueprints, and other records of the company.
A lifelong textile executive with Erwin Mills in Durham, N.C., Kemp Plummer Lewis was the son of Richard Henry Lewis and Cornelia Viola Battle. He attended the University of North Carolina, where he was later president of the alumni association and a member of the first board of trustees of the consolidated university. He was also active in Durham civic affairs and Episcopal church work. The collection contains family and financial correspondence of Kemp Plummer Lewis, including materials relating to Erwin Mills; the North Carolina Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church; the University of North Carolina, including information concerning the Order of the Gorgon's Head Lodge and Zeta Psi Fraternity; Durham City Schools; Durham Rotary; and a variety of charitable institutions. Business letters reveal labor union activities and management response in various North Carolina textile mills, especially those in Durham, Cooleemee, and Erwin, N.C. The Durham and Southern Railway Company, the Bank of Harnett, and the Erwin Yarn Company are other businesses represented in the collection, as are the American Cotton Manufacturers' Association and the North Carolina Cotton Manufacturers' Association. A great deal of family correspondence concerns the Battles of Chapel Hill and Nell Battle Lewis, Lewis's half-sister and feature writer, who wrote a column called "Incidentally" for the Raleigh News and Observer. Papers also reflect Lewis's involvement in settling the estates of William Allen Erwin and William Allen Erwin, Jr.
ArchivalResource:
39.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 31,000 items)
Lewis, Kemp Plummer, 1880-1952. Kemp Plummer Lewis papers, 1908-1946.
0
Erwin Cotton Mills
referencedIn
David G. Sherer Collection 1928.
Charles T. Main, Inc. David G. Sherer Collection 1928.
Title:
David G. Sherer Collection 1928.
Four volume engineering appraisal. First volume consists of two overall summaries (net quick and physical assets; average net earnings or operating income during preceding ten years capitalized at ten percent), a comparison of the two summaries, and four appendices. Next three volumes are appraisals of Erwin, Springs, and Thomaston mill groups. Each volume contains a group summary; summaries for each plant or pair of plants; and the appraisal, which is composed of a description of the plant (including maps), a detail summary, and then listings of land, buildings, mill village property, machinery, power plant, water power plant, yard piping, supplies and separate property. Each category lists the number of items, a description, replacement, cost, percent depreciation and replacement cost less depreciation.
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