Summary Information
Frederick L.G. Straubel Papers
1897-1969
- Straubel, Frederick L.G., 1861-1938
Green Bay Mss 109; Green Bay Micro 46; Micro 1101; PH 2667; PH 2791; WHi(S85); WHi(S86); WHi(S87)
0.6 c.f. (1 archives box and 1 flat box), 3 reels of microfilm (35mm), 48 photographs, and 134 negatives
UW-Green Bay Cofrin Library / Green Bay Area Research Ctr. (Map)Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers, mainly 1916-1956, of an inventor, business executive, and amateur photographer from Green Bay, Wisconsin, chiefly regarding the sale of the Automatic File and Index Company, the office equipment firm which he established in 1901; the patenting and licensing of several of the many patents which he held on filing devices; and the legally complex disposition of his estate by his son. Included are correspondence, which is available only on microfilm, and unfilmed financial records pertaining to the Automatic File and Index Company and the Straubel estate, patent sketches and information, several Automatic Index Company catalogues (also on film) and loose advertising materials, and information pertaining to an interest in the Weise-Hollman Co. of Green Bay. Few papers pertain directly to the Automatic File and Index Company except for correspondence, 1914-1921, between the Straubel firm and its Chicago retailer; annual operating statements, 1921-1935, and other miscellaneous financial records; and advertising material. Straubel's work as an accomplished financial records; and advertising material. Straubel's work as an accomplished amateur photographer is documented by Green Bay area views and original negatives.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-gb0109 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Frederick L.G. Straubel, inventor, founder of the Automatic File and Index Company, and amateur photographer, was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on May 25, 1861, the son of Ernest F. and Christine Liebman Straubel. After attending area schools, at age 19 he took his first job as bookkeeper and clerk for the Delaport Hardware Company. He then worked for the Alonzo Kimball Hardware Company and the Weise-Hollman Company, a wholesale and retail crockery firm.
Straubel's practical experience with the filing equipment used by those firms led him to see the advantage of a file cabinet in which the contents opened automatically for easier filing as the drawer was opened. In 1901 Straubel secured a patent for such a file cabinet and with his brother Otto and 1,000 dollars in capital organized the Automatic File and Index Company. The invention first appeared on the market in 1903.
In conjunction with his brother, who worked as factory superintendent, and his son Clarence W. Straubel, who joined the firm as sales manager, Straubel continued to make improvements on filing equipment. By 1928, when the company was sold, the firm was utilizing over 32 patents in its product line. This line included not only filing cabinets but also a wide range of office equipment. Although the company originally manufactured only wooden equipment, by the mid-1920s they had changed to wood and steel construction.
At its peak the Automatic File and Index Company employed over 100 workers in its Green Bay factory. It marketed its line through a number of retailers and by direct mail. The Automatic Company was well known for the quality of its product. AFICO wrote in its advertising literature, for example, that in 1918 the University of Wisconsin purchased only Automatic cabinets.
In 1928 Straubel sold his controlling interest to L.E. Houston, who moved the corporate offices to Chicago. Straubel and his son remained at the factory in Green Bay, the elder Straubel as vice president, director, and industrial engineer, and C.W. Straubel as factory manager. Gradually, however, Straubel became disillusioned with the new ownership, and within a year he had relinquished all salaried relations with the company, although the family maintained its minority stock ownership. Straubel continued, however, to work on his inventions, and he used his control of some of his patents to which AFICO had shop rights to attempt to manage corporate affairs. When this failed to bring about the desired results, in 1932 he licensed those AFICO patents which he controlled and those which he invented after leaving the company to General Fireproofing Company of Youngstown, Ohio, the world's largest manufacturer of office equipment. General Fireproofing marketed Straubel's inventions as part of their Superfiler line. At about the same time Clarence Straubel became the head of General Fireproofing's office equipment division.
Frederick Straubel married Amanda Weise in 1889, and they had three children, Clarence, Marjorie, and Dorothy Wittig. Straubel was greatly interested in music and was an accomplished amateur photographer.
In 1933 Frederick Straubel experienced a heart attack from which he never completely recovered. He died March 16, 1938.
Scope and Content Note
The papers were received by the State Historical Society with the title Automatic File and Index Company Records. Upon further examination, however, the collection was found not to be corporate records, but instead personal papers of the company's founder and first president, which had been stored in the home of Dorothy Straubel Wittig in Green Bay. Included are Straubel's correspondence, financial records concerning the Automatic Co. during its later years and the disposition of the Straubel estate, patent sketches and records, copies of a few AFICO catalogues and brochures, and a file pertaining to the Weise-Hollman Company.
Although the Correspondence, which is filed chronologically, covers the period of the Automatic File and Index Company's greatest prosperity, only dealings with Stevens, Maloney, and Co., a Chicago stationer and office equipment store, document the firm's business operations. Even for this firm, the papers document business operations only during the period 1914-1921. Nevertheless, because this correspondence was extensive and detailed and because it concerned what was probably the largest retailer of the Automatic line, it probably provides a representative picture of AFICO operations.
The remainder of the correspondence from Straubel's lifetime concerns his relations with his patent attorney (very little correspondence actually concerns his inventing), the sale of his controlling interest in AFICO, his deteriorating relations with Huston, and his licensing of various patents with the General Fireproofing Company. The correspondence concerning Straubel's estate largely consists of letters to and from C.W. Straubel concerning general estate matters, the inheritance of royalties on Straubel patents used by General Fireproofing, and the desire on the part of the heirs to realize some financial benefit from their minority interest in the defunct AFICO.
Because of the deteriorated condition of the papers, the correspondence has been microfilmed and is only available in that form. Original correspondence was returned to the Brown County Public Library Local History and Genealogy Room. A file of undated letters and correspondence have not been filmed, however, because of the difficulty in using such material on microfilm.
Also retained in hard copy are Financial Records pertaining to AFICO and the Straubel estate. The former consist of annual operating statements, sales recapitulations, and inventories chiefly dating from the 1920s and early 1930s. The estate records concern royalty payments and dividends from F.L.G. Straubel's security holdings.
Miscellany consists of a file of patent sketches, blue prints, and information pertaining to his inventions, additional sketches probably for custom-designed filing equipment, a few AFICO catalogues and advertising materials (these are also available on microfilm, with the original trade catalogs in the Visual and Sound Archives not with the papers), and documents pertaining to the Straubel's interest in the Weise Hollman Co. of Green Bay. Also in the miscellaneous category are glass plate negatives and prints in the Visual and Sound Archives which document Straubel's work as an amateur photographer. The main body of his photographic work, however, is to be found as part of the Dorothy Straubel Wittig collection at the Neville Museum in Green Bay.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by the Green Bay Public Library, August 11, 1980. Accession Number: M80-61
Processed and prepared for filming by Menzi Behrnd Klodt and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1987.
Contents List
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Green Bay Micro 46/Micro 1101/
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Series: Correspondence
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|
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Reel
1
Frame
1
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1907-1915
|
|
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Reel
1
Frame
74
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1916
|
|
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Reel
1
Frame
290
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1917
|
|
|
Reel
1
Frame
403
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1918 January-July
|
|
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Reel
1
Frame
863
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1918 July-December
|
|
|
Reel
1
Frame
891
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1920
|
|
|
Reel
1
Frame
978
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1921
|
|
|
Reel
1
Frame
1070
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1922 January-March
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|
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Reel
1
Frame
454
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1924 September-December
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|
|
Reel
1
Frame
489
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1925
|
|
|
Reel
1
Frame
520
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1926
|
|
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Reel
1
Frame
531
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1927
|
|
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Reel
2
Frame
1
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1928
|
|
|
Reel
2
Frame
83
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1929
|
|
|
Reel
2
Frame
132
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1930
|
|
|
Reel
2
Frame
193
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1931
|
|
|
Reel
2
Frame
457
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1932
|
|
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Reel
2
Frame
664
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1933
|
|
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Reel
2
Frame
741
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1934
|
|
|
Reel
2
Frame
779
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1935
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|
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Reel
2
Frame
823
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1936
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|
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Reel
2
Frame
894
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1937-1938
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|
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Reel
3
Frame
1
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1939-1944
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|
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Reel
3
Frame
194
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1945
|
|
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Reel
3
Frame
250
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1946
|
|
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Reel
3
Frame
307
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1947-1950
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Reel
3
Frame
339
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1952-1956
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Reel
3
Frame
415
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1964-1969
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Green Bay Mss 109
Box
1
Folder
1
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Undated and Incomplete Correspondence
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Series: Financial Records
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Financial Statements, Inventories, and Sales Recapitulations, 1921-1935, 1955
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Straubel Estate Papers, 1932-1945, undated
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Straubel Family Monthly Account, 1927-1932
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Box
2
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Straubel Family Account Ledgers, 1938-1947
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Miscellaneous Financial Papers, undated
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Series: Miscellany
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Patent Sketches and Information
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Box
1
Folder
7
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1929-1931, undated
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Box
2
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Oversize
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Catalogues and Advertising Material
: Original trade catalogs housed in Visual and Sound Archives.
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Green Bay Micro 46/Micro 1101
Reel
3
Frame
474
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Catalogues and Advertising Material
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Green Bay Mss 109
Box
1
Folder
9
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Miscellaneous Sketches, undated
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Box
1
Folder
10
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Weise-Hollman Account, 1897, 1911-1920
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Photographs
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PH 2667
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Album: 19 photographs
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PH 2791
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29 photographs
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WHi(S85)
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4 × 5 negatives
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WHi(S86)
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5 × 7 negatives
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WHi(S87)
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8 × 10 negatives
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