John F. Dodge Estate Trust Lawsuit collection, 1902-1928 (bulk 1925-1928)

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John F. Dodge Estate Trust Lawsuit collection, 1902-1928 (bulk 1925-1928)

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62246246

The John F. Dodge Estate Trust Lawsuit collection is comprised of documents assembled by a Detroit Trust Company vice president, Raymond H. Berry, while representing the estate in the Additional Tax Case of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) versus the Ford Motor Compay's (FMC) former minority shareholders. Berry was the primary contact with the Ford Motor Company, which cooperated fully with the appellants. The documents in the collection pertain almost exclusively to the case and provide voluminous evidence supporting a value of $9,489.34 or more for a share of FMC stock in 1913. The records are arranged into two series. The first and most substantial is the Topical Files series, 1902-1928 (9.2 cubic ft. and 1 oversize box), which is arranged alphabetically by subject. The series includes copies of most of the important documents relating to the case, including memoranda of conferences with potential witnesses, outlines of the planned case against the BIR, exhibits, briefs, and other material used by the attorneys. It is an excellent source for researchers interested in the early years and products of the FMC, its production techniques, its finances, and its key personnel. Included are FMC financial statements, lists of FMC plants and their dates of establishment, annual reports to the state of Michigan from 1921 to 1924, annual reports to the state of Delaware from 1919 to 1925, and various production and earnings records. There is also information regarding competing automotive firms, memoranda with key industry leaders, material relating to the Dodge brothers from 1916 until their deaths in 1920, key published pieces on the history of the automotive industry, comprehensive bibliographies, and material documenting road construction in Michigan from 1905 to 1924. FMC personnel interviewed include P. E. Martin and Gus Degener on factory techniques; Clarence W. Avery on the development of the moving assembly line; Fred H. Diehl on purchasing; Stanley Hoag of the Traffic Department; John R. Lee on the Sociological Department; William S. Knudson on the branch assembly plant system; and Joseph A. Galamb on Model T design. Executives with FMC suppliers interviewed include executives from the Rand Manufacturing Corporation, the Kelsey Wheel Company, and the C. R. Wilson Body Company. Officers of competitive automotive firms interviewed include Roy D. Chapin of the Hudson Motor Car Company; Charles D. Hastings of the Hupp Motor Car Company; Fred J. Haynes, president of Dodge Brothers, Walter C. Marmon of the Marmon Motor Car Company; and Windsor T. White, president of the White Motor Company. Three of the shareholders were interviewed: John W. Anderson, Horace H. Rackham, and David Gray. The petitioner's attorneys also contacted and interviewed two well-known technical writers: Fred H. Colvin and Fay Leone Faurote. Fauote's research for the attorneys includes bibliographies, lists of potential witnesses, lists of machines, and dates of machine installation. Of particular note are copies of Spooner & Wells photographs containing Faurote's detailed comments explaining what was unique about the machines, their purpose, and production economies affected by their use. A very small second series, Financial records, 1904-1919 (1 oversize box), is comprised of Ford Motor Company monthly financial statements from 1904 to 1919; notices of deficiency of taxes for the John F. Dodge General Trust for 1925; copies of stock certificates; and other material related to the request for additiional taxes from the BIR. Researchers should note that extended descriptive information is available in an expanded finding aid created by Dr. Trent Boggess in 2005. It is filed in the first folder of the first box.

9.2 cubic ft. and 1 oversize box.

The Henry Ford, Benson Ford Research Center

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 7810274

The Henry Ford, Benson Ford Research Center

Related Entities

There are 35 Entities related to this resource.

Rand Manufacturing Corporation.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68t2v2k (corporateBody)

Berry, Raymond H.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65b2qjf (person)

Galamb, Joseph A., 1881-1955.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b588s9 (person)

Diehl, Fred H.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65t5q07 (person)

White Motor Car Company.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sz4j9s (corporateBody)

Ford motor company

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r53djn (corporateBody)

When Ford Motor Company was founded in 1903, Alexander Y. Malcolmson was elected the Company's first treasurer, but his assistant James Couzens actually managed financial functions. People holding the position of Ford Motor Company treasurer from 1903 to 1955 included Alexander Y. Malcolmson, 1903-1906; James J. Couzens, 1906-1915; Frank L. Klingensmith, 1915-1921; Edsel B Ford, 1921-1943; B. J. Craig, 1943-1946; and L. E. Briggs, 1946-1955. In 1903, the business office was in a small building o...

White, Windsor T. 1866-1958.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nc841n (person)

Kelsey Wheel Company.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bp86qr (corporateBody)

Hudson Motor Car Company

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66t6259 (corporateBody)

Couzens, James, 1872-1936

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hx1fvr (person)

U.S. senator from Michigan, mayor of Detroit, Michigan, and industrialist. From the description of James Couzens papers, 1903-1940. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70982271 Detroit Mayor and civic leader, U.S. Senator, Ford Motor Co. executive James Couzens was born in Chatham, Ont., Aug. 26, 1872, son of James J. and Emma (Clift) Couzens; married Margaret A. Manning, Aug. 31, 1898. Began the manufacture of automobiles in 1903 ; vice-president, genera...

Degener, August.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6h43v8x (person)

Marmon Motor Car Company.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fg1xp6 (corporateBody)

Anderson, John W. (John Will), 1883-1967

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p291vr (person)

Colvin, Fred H. (Fred Herbert), 1867-1965

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68373jd (person)

Fred H. Colvin was born in Sterling, Massachusetts, on October 5, 1867. After completing grammar school in 1883, he started learning the machinists' trade as an apprentice at the Rue Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia. Colvin worked at Rue Manufacturing for ten years during which time he began writing articles for a number of technical periodicals. His talent as a writer led to a prolific career as editor, author and co-author of many publications. Colvin's tenure in technical publishing corr...

Rackham, Horace H. 1858-1933.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jx1jm5 (person)

Spooner & Wells

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m66wn1 (corporateBody)

The photographs in the Spooner & Wells Highland Park Plant photographs collection were taken for Fred H. Colvin, editor of the American Machinist by the Detroit based firm, Spooner & Wells. Colvin visited plants across the country for more than thirty years studying factory operations, eventually inspecting nearly every automobile plant in the United States. He spent ten days at Ford's Highland Park Plant in 1913. Many of the photographs in the collection appeared in American Machinist f...

Martin, P. E. 1882-1944.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w97d5v (person)

Gray, David B., 1969-....

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dj7hwk (person)

Dodge, Horace E. (Horace Elgin), 1868-1920

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69907js (person)

Faurote, Fay Leone, -1938

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6449s8z (person)

Hoag, Stanley.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6127wgh (person)

Hupp Motor Car Company.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w67165jv (corporateBody)

C. R. Wilson Body Company.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6036wj2 (corporateBody)

Ford Motor Company. Highland Park Plant

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z651hm (corporateBody)

Bureau of Internal Revenue.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cg7v02 (corporateBody)

Detroit Trust Company

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62r95qx (corporateBody)

When John F. Dodge died in January 1920, his will provided for the establishment of a trust managed by the Detroit Trust Company in Detroit, Michigan. In 1919, just the year before, John Dodge, his brother Horace Dodge, James Couzens, and the other minority shareholders in the Ford Motor Company (FMC) were approached about selling their FMC stock. Before the Dodge brothers would sell their shares, they wanted to know what the Federal income taxes would be on the proceeds. The Commissioner of the...

Lee, John Roger

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tq6n9p (person)

Social studies educator and educational filmmaker; Professor of Education, Northwestern University, 1957-1976. From the description of John R. Lee Papers, 1951-1976. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122371938 ...

Chapin, Roy D. (Roy Dikeman), 1880-1936

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fb6rz7 (person)

Papers of Roy D. Chapin, Jr., chairman of the board of American Motors Corporation. From the description of Roy D. Chapin papers, 1942-1978. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34419057 President of Hudson Motor Car Company and U.S. Secretary of Commerce, 1932-1933. From the description of Roy Dikeman Chapin papers, 1886-1937. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34418948 Roy D. Chapin, automobile manufacturer and secretar...

Dodge Brothers Motor Company.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vt9xbx (corporateBody)

Marmon, Walter C. 1872-1940.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6bc62q7 (person)

Dodge, John F. (John Francis), 1864-1920

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dv47q0 (person)

Knudson, William S., 1879-1948.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6gj1nrs (person)

Hastings, Charles Douglas, 1858-1940.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mw4kg6 (person)

Haynes, Frederick J., 1871-1940.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b29z12 (person)

Avery, Clarence W. 1882-1949.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tm9dnc (person)