Larkin Co.

Soap manufacturing company and a pioneer in the mail order business.

From the description of Letter : Buffalo, N.Y., to Edgar W. Curtis, Cherry Creek, N.Y., 1907 Feb. 21. (Buffalo History Museum). WorldCat record id: 33113374

Soap company started in Buffalo in 1875 by John D. Larkin. Elbert Hubbard was the first salesman, and in 1878 he became a partner. The company introduced many unprecedented but now commonplace commercial ideas; also innovative in instituting modern personnel management policies. When John D. Larkin died in 1926, his son John, Jr. took over the company's direction. Gradually, sales began to fall off and the quality of the goods available through premiums was called into question. The majority of the business was sold in 1942, with a nominal mail order business persisting until 1962; the Larkin Warehouse business was liquidated in 1967.

From the description of Records, 1875-1974. (Buffalo History Museum). WorldCat record id: 34567806