The records of the Falls Canning Company document the history of a small, community-based manufacturing firm. During the twentieth century, canning became an important Wisconsin industry. In 1958, the state had about 120 canning plants employing some 40,000 people; the state was first in the nation in production of canned sweet corn and third in beans (Wisconsin Blue Book, 1958). During this period, the canning industry underwent major technological and economic changes, including mechanization, drastic shifts in consumer tastes, greater government regulation, new patterns of retailing food products, and consolidation of production in a smaller number of very large firms. This collection documents some of these changes and their impact on the operation of one small, probably typical, canning company. The collection has two marked weaknesses. For the years before the mid-1950s, only summary information is found; and throughout the collection there is virtually no information about labor or working conditions in the cannery.
The records of the Falls Canning Company are organized in three series: corporate records, correspondence and subject files, and financial records. Records of the Pulaski Canning Company are interspersed within these three series.
The CORPORATE RECORDS, 1911-1963, include articles of incorporation of the Falls and Pulaski companies and minutes of the Board of Directors' and annual stockholders' meetings. The minutes include information on company financial conditions and operations and on the total acreage and types of crops contracted. Although most of the minutes are sketchy, those for 1941-1955 include detailed annual reports to the stockholders by C.W. Carlson, the company manager and corporate secretary, discussing crop and price conditions, production problems, and other operational details. Also in this series are stock certificate books recording purchases and transfer of corporation stock, and one folder of certificates, deeds, and miscellaneous legal documents.
Among the more significant materials in the CORRESPONDENCE AND SUBJECT FILES, 1949-1963, is the correspondence with firms selling Falls Canning Company products, including Charles Lachman and Leininger and Company, both of Chicago, and Larry J. La Marre of the Tast-D-Lite Company of Milwaukee. This correspondence documents the firm's marketing difficulties. The files for the National Canners Association, the Wisconsin Canners Association, the Federal Trade Commission, and for state and federal tax returns contain summary statistical and financial information reported by the firm. Monthly financial reports of the Falls Canning Company, 1956, 1958-1965, and of the Pulaski Canning Company, 1958-1962, are filed under the names of the companies. A few samples of Falls Canning Company labels are in the folders “labels” and “label orders.”
The FINANCIAL RECORDS, 1930-1963, include appraisals and audits of the properties and financial operations of both the Oconto Falls and Pulaski operations. The bank loan record book documents the growing reliance of the Falls Canning Company on outside capital as its operations grew larger. The journals, ledgers, and trial balances provide detailed information on the firm's sales, its production costs, its relationships with growers, and its financial management. The inventory control cards record the progress - sometimes over many years - in disposing of the annual packs.
