The Royal Typewriter Company was founded in 1906 by Thomas Fortune Ryan and E.B. Hess in Hartford, Connecticut, and the company quickly became one of the leading producers of office machinery. At some point the plant was unionized and represented by the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America, Local 265. In 1948 the workers voted to replace the union with the United Auto Workers, AFL-CIO, Local 937. In 1965, Litton Industries acquired Royal Typewriter and in January 1972 announced plans to shut down the Hartford plant. By 1973, the shutdown was complete, and in 1992 the facility was destroyed by fire.
From the guide to the Royal Industrial Union Records., undated, 1966-1972., (Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Center .)
