Controller's Office records subseries, 1916-1949 (bulk 1925-1946)

ArchivalResource

Ford Motor Company. Rouge Division. Controller's Office. Controller's Office records subseries, 1916-1949 (bulk 1925-1946)

Controller's Office records subseries, 1916-1949 (bulk 1925-1946)

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/86079859

The Controller's Office records subseries is made up of two subsubseries. The C. L. Martindale/Otto H. Husen files subsubseries, 1916-1949 (109.6 cubic ft.), Acc. 157, consists of correspondence, working papers, and journal ledgers. The subsubseries covers a wide array of subjects detailing costs associated with automobile, truck, and tractor production at Ford Motor Company. The subsubseries includes department correspondence, 1929-1946, and plant cost data gathered from various plants, departments, and offices. Subjects covered include plant operations such as commissaries, cement, scrap, purchasing, Ford Village Industries, and Henry Ford Trade School. Correspondence also includes plant time studies and information on Lincoln production costs. The subsubseries contains the Controller's Department files, 1946-1949, and includes charts of accounts, department organizations, employee lists, employment applications, government contracts, organization charts, legacy records, summary production schedules, plant accident reports, labor forecasts and turnover reports, and payroll information. The subsubseries includes department cost reports, 1937-1947; daily plant production cards, 1941-1947, detailing major production activities at Ford plants in Michigan and the Ford Village Industries; and labor summary reports for Ford's Northern Michigan plants and Green Island, New York, 1941-1943. The bulk of the subsubseries consists of statistical and cost analysis reports created at the request of company managers and executives in order to monitor production, labor, and material costs. The cost studies include working papers, correspondence, and summary information and cover a wide variety of operating and administrative functions throughout Ford Motor Company. Some of the areas covered include attendance reports for the Accounting and Cost Departments, 1932-1947; Cost Department inter-departmental communications regarding report requests, 1947-1948; cost statement reports comprised of file copies of reports submitted to other departments, 1934-1942; and Fordson Coal Company correspondence, wage, labor, and mining cost material, 1923-1944. The bulk of the statistics and cost studies consist of general subject files, 1916-1949, arranged by topic and include correspondence, working papers, and ledger sheets detailing production, shipping, materials, and machinery costs for Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. The cost study reports include Ford displays at world's fairs and exhibitions, price lists for service parts, assembled, and "knocked down" vehicles, and detailed summary reports on wages and plant labor counts. The cost studies also include a wide variety of topics such as accident rates; age, race, and nationality statistics; department and plant labor summary counts; incentive plan participation; trade and skill statistics; and payroll statistics by department and plant. The studies include wage and labor summary information for Ford operations with AMTORG and foreign plants in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Japan, and Mexico. Additional studies include plant labor cost analysis, 1926-1943; company general accounting ledgers, 1942-1946; Lincoln cost requests, 1940; branch production schedules and labor reports, 1932-1946; Social Security program information, 1932-1946; General branch and plant cost reports, 1929-1946; branch and plant labor cost reports, 1933-1946; Ford Sunday Evening Hour performer contracts, 1941-1942; Time Department auditing reports, 1943-1945; and War Production Board correspondence, 1941-1943. The subsubseries also contains obsolete procedure letters, reporting forms, and correspondence, 1926-1948, as well as legacy records and files from W. E. Carnegie, 1919-1938; F. M. Hovis, 1931-1939; J. A. Muir and J. J. Sheehan in the Cost Department, 1940-1942; and Ned Fuller and F. A. Wycoff in the Disbursement Department, 1937-1940. Of special interest are the research notes and files pulled by researchers working for Allan Nevins and Frank Hill for their books on the history of Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company. These include the files pulled from the accession as well as additional handwritten notes and commentary by the researchers. The Rouge Division Factory Count records subsubseries, 1925-1948 (1.6 cubic ft. and 6 oversize boxes), Acc. 732, consists of daily labor count summaries for the Rouge River Plant. The records detail the total number of employees in each department throughout the Rouge River Plant.

111.2 cubic ft. and 6 oversize boxes.

The Henry Ford, Benson Ford Research Center