Title: Pulaski Canning Company Records
Inclusive Dates: 1928-1967

Creator:

• Pulaski Canning Company (Pulaski, Wis.)

Call Number: Green Bay Mss 59

Quantity: 3.2 c.f. (8 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Archives and Area Research Center; 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-Green Bay Cofrin Library / Green Bay Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Records of a vegetable canning company in Pulaski, Wisconsin, pertaining primarily to its purchase by the Sturgeon Bay Corporation in 1962, liquidation of its assets to avoid bankruptcy, and sale to the Our Best Company of Pulaski.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-gb0059

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The Pulaski Canning Company, Pulaski, Wisconsin, was organized by a group of stockholders and directors of the Falls Canning Company of Oconto Falls, Wisconsin in 1927. At that time capital stock in the amount of 50,000 dollars was issued. In 1929 an increase in capital stock from 500 shares at 100 dollars per share to 600 shares at 100 dollars per share was approved, and in 1933 stock was again increased to 600 shares of common stock at 100 dollars per share and 3000 shares of preferred stock at 10 dollars per share. The company canned corn, green beans, potatoes and other vegetables. Its market extended throughout the United States and Europe as evidenced by broker correspondence. The correspondence also reveals an apparent decline in quality in the 1960s when consumer complaint letters begin to appear.

Sometime before 1962, the company began experiencing financial difficulties, but with the exception of the Corporate Records series, the material deals exclusively with the period from 1962 to 1967 when liquidation of the company's inventory occurred. This portion of the papers is from the files of the Fruit Growers Cooperative of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. A complete history of the financial difficulties of the company is not documented.

On July 18, 1962 an agreement was entered into for the purchase of the Pulaski Canning Company by the Sturgeon Bay Corporation, Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. However, the Pulaski Canning Company retained its name. While the Sturgeon Bay Corporation does not figure in the correspondence again, the records of the Fruit Growers Cooperative indicate that the Sturgeon Bay Corporation was formed on June 1, 1962 at which time the purchase of the Pulaski Canning Company for 5,000 dollars was approved. A 1964 Federal Tax Return shows that the Sturgeon Bay Corporation owned 100% of the stock in both the Pulaski Canning Company and the Fruit Growers Cooperative. Considerable confusion arose among creditors as to the relationship of the Fruit Growers Cooperative and the Pulaski Canning Company. The canning operation remained at Pulaski, but all correspondence and orders for both equipment and supplies apparently originated from Sturgeon Bay, the official headquarters of both firms.

The financial position of the Pulaski Company did not improve and rather than file bankruptcy, creditors agreed to a long-term liquidation of the company's inventory. On March 23, 1963 an agreement was reached with a group of farmers in the Pulaski area to assume the real estate and chattel mortgages on the canning plant facilities and equipment in return for the real estate and items covered by the chattel mortgage. While the purchasers did business under the name Our Best, the real estate and chattel were in the names of Anton Slezewski and Bernard Walla.

A true picture of the Pulaski Canning Company cannot be obtained without using the records of two related companies, Falls Canning Company and Fruit Growers Cooperative. Records of both companies are at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin Area Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The records are divided into four series: Corporate Records, Correspondence and Subject Files, Liquidation Papers, and Financial Records. The CORPORATE RECORDS include the bylaws, a subscription list, a copy of the company charter, and minutes of the first stockholders meeting and the first directors meeting. However, they are not complete; see memo to Ronald Jacks from HNL indicating which items were removed at the time the company was purchased by the Sturgeon Bay Corporation. There is little other information concerning the purchase of the Pulaski Company by the Sturgeon Bay Corporation on 18 July 1962 other than the sales agreement. The minute books extant do appear to be complete, although some of the minutes tend to be very sketchy.

The CORRESPONDENCE AND SUBJECT FILES are those kept by the Fruit Growers Cooperative although an occasional file appears to have come from the Pulaski office. Titles given files by the Fruit Growers have been retained, and the series has been arranged in two segments: Inter-Company and General Correspondence, a chronological file; and Subject Files, which include such topics as broker correspondence, bid notices from the Defense Subsistence Supply Center, produce statements, and correspondence with the Small Business Administration.

The LIQUIDATION PAPERS are divided into files dealing with the plan for liquidation of the Pulaski Canning Company holdings without going through bankruptcy, and creditor correspondence. The files dealing with the plan for liquidation include attorney's correspondence, letters notifying creditors of the plan of action, signed proposals indicating the creditors' willingness to go along with the liquidation plans, financial files relating to creditor pay-off, inventory reductions, and a limited amount of correspondence with Our Best Company dealing with the purchase of the Pulaski Canning Company. The Creditor Correspondence is separated into general creditor correspondence and the files of individual creditors.

The FINANCIAL RECORDS are limited to the liquidation period only. Audit reports for the Pulaski Canning Company for the years 1955, 1958 and 1960, and appraisals for 1928 and 1934 will be found in the Falls Canning Company records. (Green Bay Mss 50) Inventory reports for 1958-1959 and financial reports, 1958-1962, will also be found under correspondence and subject files of the Falls Canning Company records.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mr. and Mrs. Louis Croy, Sister Bay, Wisconsin, 1974, 1976. Accession Number: M74-438, M76-289

Processing Information

Processed by Dorothy Heinrich and Joanne Hohler, 1978.

	Series: Corporate Records
Box   1 Folder   1	Incorporation records
	Minutes
Box   1 Folder   2	1928 April 3 - 1961 July 21
Box   1 Folder   3	1928 April 3 - 1964 February 22
Box   1 Folder   4	Corporate borrowing resolutions
	Stock certificate books
Box   2 Folder   1	Certificate #1-100, 1927 December 12 - 1929 September 15
Box   2 Folder   2	Certificate #101-201, 1929 December 29 - 1952 December 2
Box   2 Folder   3	Certificate #202-253, 1953 October 15 - 1962 June 8
Box   2 Folder   4	Sales agreement -- Pulaski Canning Company to Sturgeon Bay Corporation, 1962 July 17
	Series: Correspondence and Subject Files	⇧
	Inter-Company and General Correspondence
Box   2 Folder   5-6	Inter-Company file -- Pulaski, 1963-1964
	General correspondence -- Pulaski
Box   2 Folder   7	1961 December 16 - 1962 May 31
Box   3 Folder   1-3	1962 June 1 - 1964
	Subject Files
Box   3 Folder   4-6	Brokers correspondence -- Pulaski, 1963-1964
Box   4 Folder   1	Continental Can Company contract, 1962
Box   4 Folder   2-3	Defense Subsistence Supply Center NPI and addendum, Pulaski, 1962-1963
Box   4 Folder   4	Employers Mutual of Wausau -- policy correspondence
Box   4 Folder   5-6	Employment applications, A-Z
Box   4 Folder   7	Food Machinery and Chemical Corporation, 1962
Box   4 Folder   8	Label -- Bucky Badger, 1962
Box   4 Folder   9	Leases and agreement contract, 1962
Box   4 Folder   10	Miscellany
Box   4 Folder   11	Orders -- Pulaski
Box   5 Folder   1	Price Lists -- Pulaski
	Produce statements
Box   5 Folder   2	Bean growers, circa 1962
Box   5 Folder   3	Corn growers, circa 1962
Box   5 Folder   4	Refinancing, 1962-1963
Box   5 Folder   5	Reshipment file -- Pulaski to Sturgeon Bay
Box   5 Folder   6	St. Paul Terminal Warehouse Company
Box   5 Folder   7	Small Business Administration, 1959-1961
Box   5 Folder   8	Technical information and machinery
	Series: Liquidation Papers	⇧
	Liquidation Plan of Action and Financial Papers
Box   5 Folder   9	Whyte and Hirschbach, Attorneys, 1963-1967
Box   5 Folder   10	Pulaski creditor letters, 1963-1964
Box   5 Folder   11	Signed proposals by creditors
Box   5 Folder   12	Financial working papers, 1962-1964
Box   5 Folder   13	Financial statements and forecasts (Auditor reports), 1962-1964
Box   5 Folder   14	Our Best, 1963-1965
	Correspondence Relating to Creditors
Box   5 Folder   15-16	Creditors correspondence -- general, 1962-1963
Box   6 Folder   1	Athens Canning Company
Box   6 Folder   2	Continental Can Company -- Pulaski
Box   6 Folder   3	Dunkley
Box   6 Folder   4	Evert Container Company
Box   6 Folder   5	Goldman
Box   6 Folder   6	Northrup-King and Company
Box   6 Folder   7	Price Brothers
Box   6 Folder   8	C. Reiss Coal Company
Box   6 Folder   9	Utah-Idaho
Box   6 Folder   10	Wood-Steel
	Series: Financial Records	⇧
Box   6 Folder   11	Brokerage book, 1962-1963
Box   6 Folder   12	Green produce sheets -- growers beans and corn, 1962
	Income tax
Box   7 Folder   2	Correspondence, 1962-1965
	Returns
Box   7 Folder   3	Federal, 1961/1962-1966/1967
Box   7 Folder   4	State, 1961/1962-1966/1967
Box   6 Folder   13	Inventories -- warehouse, 1963 June - 1964 August
	Journals
Box   8 Folder   1	Cash, 1962 June - 1964 August
Box   8 Folder   2	Expense, 1962 June - 1964 September
Box   8 Folder   3	General, 1962 June - 1965 May
Box   7 Folder   1	Summary of accounts, 1962 June - 1965 May
Box   7 Folder   5	Manufacturers statement of property, 1963 May