Title: James Nelson Humphrey Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1852-1939

Creator:

• Humphrey, James Nelson, 1858-1929

Call Number: Whitewater Mss AE

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the University Archives & Area Research Center, Harold Andersen Library, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Whitewater Library / Whitewater Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Humphrey, his family, and the Century Pen Company, Whitewater, Wis., a manufacturer of fountain pens, which he founded in 1892 and which dissolved in 1938. Company records include incorporation papers, annual and semi-annual financial reports that document the decline of the company, and minutes of the Board of Directors' and stockholders' meetings. Of interest in the family papers is a letter dated May 7, 1899 to Humphrey from his brother E. P. Humphrey in Fort San Carlos, Nicaragua, on the difficulty involved in transportation and communication between the United States and Latin America before the construction of the Panama Canal. Also included is correspondence relating to the Whitewater Rifle Club of which Heywood C. Humphrey was secretary.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-whit00ae

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James Nelson Humphrey (1858-1929) was born in Emerald Grove, Wisconsin. He entered grade school at the age of four and Milton College at the age of sixteen. After graduation in 1879, he taught at several high schools in Wisconsin, finally becoming professor of Latin at the Wisconsin State Normal School at Whitewater. While at Whitewater, he co-authored a textbook, Work With Words, a Practical Etymology and Word Analysis.

In 1892, Humphrey formed the Century Pen Company at Neenah, Wisconsin along with W. F. Palmer and George S. Parker (founders, in 1891, of Parker Pen Company of Janesville, Wisconsin). The Century Pen Company was transferred to Whitewater in 1894 and in 1897, Professor Humphrey resigned his position at the normal school to devote full time to the company. The business prospered in its early years as a manufacturer of fountain pens. About 1912, however, the company ceased its manufacturing operations and became solely a distributor of fountain pens. Subsequently the company's interests expanded to include automatic pencils and paper goods. About 1921, the business began to have financial difficulties when it ceased to pay dividends to stockholders. After Humphrey's death in 1929, his wife Clara Dunn Humphrey, his son Heywood, and Heywood's wife Viola continued in the business. Financial problems forced the dissolution of the company in 1938, but the Humphrey family continued in the office supplies business, forming Century Sales and Service.

The Humphrey family private papers, most of which cover the period from 1892 to 1939, are few, comprising a book of mortgage receipts, the records of a typewriter sales, rental, and repair business in which the family was involved in the 1930's, and one small folder of miscellaneous papers. The bulk of the collection consists of the records of the Century Pen Company including incorporation papers, minutes of the Board of Directors and of the stockholders meetings, and annual and semi-annual financial reports.

Of interest in the family private papers is a letter dated May 7, 1899 to James Nelson Humphrey from his brother E. P. Humphrey in Fort San Carlos, Nicaragua which documents the difficulty involved in transportation and communication between the United States and Latin America before the construction of the Panama Canal. Also included in the family papers is correspondence relating to the Whitewater Rifle Club of which Heywood C. Humphrey was secretary.

The minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors and stockholders of the Century Pen Company are nearly complete, but as they are brief they contain little information about the actual operation of the company before 1921. After that date, when financial problems began to plague the firm, the minutes are more informative. The decline of the company is well-documented by the series of financial reports (1922-1937).

Generally, the collection gives a comprehensive, although at times somewhat superficial, picture of the rise and decline of a small business firm.

Acquisition Information

Presented by William W. Humphrey on behalf of the Humphrey Family, Whitewater, Wisconsin, July 14, 1967. Accession Number: M67-286

Processing Information

Processed by Marilyn Patzwald (FGH intern) and Karen Baumann, August 2, 1973.

	Humphrey Family Papers
Box   1 Folder   1	James Nelson Humphrey. Record of Receipts from Mortgage Payments, 1910-1911
	Typewriter Sales, Rental, and Repair Business
Box   1 Folder   2	Journal, 1935-1939
Box   1 Folder   3	Ledger, 1935-1939
Box   1 Folder   4	Miscellaneous Family Papers, 1852-1926
	Century Pen Company
Box   1 Folder   5	Incorporation Papers, 1892-1894
Box   1 Folder   6	Board of Directors and Stockholders Minutes of Annual Meetings, 1894-1910
Box   1 Folder   7	Board of Directors Minutes, 1917-1936
Box   1 Folder   8	Stockholders Minutes of Annual Meetings, 1917-1934
	Financial Reports
Box   1 Folder   9	1922-1926
Box   1 Folder   10	1927-1930
Box   1 Folder   11	1931-1934
Box   2 Folder   1	1934-1937
Box   2 Folder   2	Income Tax Return, 1937 (H. C. Humphrey, Trustee for Creditors of the Century Pen Company)
Box   2 Folder   3	Records of Promotional Campaign, 1898
Box   2 Folder   4	Miscellaneous Correspondence and Papers, 1922-1938