Series: Legal Records
Scope and Content Note

Filed here are correspondence, legal documents, and patent files, with the correspondence further subdivided into bound and unbound categories. The difference between the bound and unbound legal correspondence is unclear, however.

The general domestic correspondence within the INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE contains some references to legal and patent matters which should also be consulted by researchers interested in Singer's legal history.

The material originally in the bound volumes is available only on microfilm. The filmed outgoing correspondence covers the periods 1866 to 1879 and 1885 to 1892. Filed here are letters from John Crow, S.A. Bennett, and Mark Dunnell to other attorneys, Singer factories (especially the Elizabethport patent department), and agents. These volumes are described below by period.

John Crow, 1866-1868 : This section consists of letters to Singer's U.S. agents, customers, insurance companies, and other individuals, regarding overdue accounts, rent for Singer properties, location of deeds, errors in weekly reports of agents (usually missing funds, etc.), local laws, powers of attorney, and prosecution of law suits. It is possible these are not records of Singer's Law Department, as there is little evidence of patent litigation in them, and patent litigation is the main concern of later volumes which are clearly marked “Law Dept.”

S.A. Bennett and Mark Dunnell, 1885-1892 : This section consists of letters to Singer agents, factories (especially Elizabethport), law firms, lawyers, inventors, insurance companies, the commissioner of patents, and others regarding registration of new patents, patent infringement suits, solicitation of new inventions, management of Singer properties (leases, mortgages, rent, etc.), and powers of attorney. By 1890, Dunnell had taken responsibility for these matters with the help of Edgar Davidson, both of whom sign for S.A. Bennett throughout the series.

Construction letters, 1898-1906 : This section consists of outgoing correspondence of Dunnell and Charles Miller (company secretary) to building contractors, suppliers of building materials, building inspectors, renters, and suppliers of coal, regarding construction, and lease of Singer properties in New York.

Subseries: Correspondence

Unbound
Scope and Content Note: The unfilmed, unbound legal correspondence consists of foreign and domestic letters dating from the 1890s, with the foreign correspondence being made up primarily of letters from the London solicitor Gilbert Wansbrough.

Domestic

1867-1896, I

1896, II-1899

1900-1904, undated

Foreign

1891-1897, I

1897, II-1901

Letterbooks

Incoming
Scope and Content Note: The microfilmed incoming legal letterbooks consists of ten volumes covering the period from 1866 to 1880. They include letters from domestic and foreign agents, offices, factories, customers, competitors, and attorneys concerning legal matters. Typical topics include outstanding debts, correspondence with debtors, errors in business reports, damage claims, patent infringements, and Singer property and leases. The majority of these letters are addressed to the corporate office in New York City, although a few items are personally addressed to John Crow and S.A. Bennett.

Vol. [1]: , 1866 May 26-1868 April 29

Vol. 2: , 1868 April 9-1870 February 28

Vol. [3]: , 1870 January 24-July 20

Vol. 4: , 1870 July 20-May 15

Vol. 5: , 1871 May 13-July 10

Vol. [6]: , 1872 July 13-1873 December 31

Vol. [7]: , 1874 January 2-1875 August 18

Vol. 8: , 1875 August 19-1877 July 3

Vol. [9]: , 1877 July 3-1879 August 29

Vol. 10: , 1879 January 25-1880 July 29

Outgoing

Vol. 1: , 1866 May-1868 December

Vol. 2: , 1868 December-1870 May

Vol. 3: , 1870 June-1871 April

Vol. 4: , 1871 April-1872 June

Vol. 5: , 1872 June-1873 October

Vol. 6: , 1873 October-1874 November

Vol. 7: , 1874 November-1876 September

Vol. [8]: , 1876 September-1877 November

Vol. [9]: , 1877 November-1879 October (missing)

Vol. 16: , 1884 February-1885 July

Vol. 17: , 1885 July-1886 April

Vol. 18: , 1886 April-1887 May

Vol. [19]: , 1887 May-1888 April

Vol. [20]: , 1888 April-1889 May

Vol. [21]: , 1889 May-1890 September

Vol. 22: , 1890 September-1891 December

Vol. [23]: , 1891 December-1892 November

, 1896 March-1906 (Dunnell construction correspondence)

Subseries: Legal Documents
Scope and Content Note: The legal documents file is a chronological arrangement of agreements, contracts, indentures, mortgages, some financial papers, and other legal material. Also included within the file are several handwritten transcripts of court proceedings related to patent litigation. The most extensive of these are transcripts of the 1896 Wamsley suit.

1846-1855

1856-1959

1860, Singer and Clarke vs. Walmsley

Volumes 279-282

Volumes 283-285

Volumes 286-288

Volumes 289-291

Volumes 292-294

1860-1866, I

1866, II-1869

1869, II-1879

1880-1896, 1908, 1912

Subseries: Patent Files
Scope and Content Note: The patent files, which are probably only a small portion of the reference materials of this type which once existed in company hands, consist of information on sewing machine patents held by Singer and its competitors. These records are arranged by patent number. Oversize materials such as patent drawings are filed in a parallel sequence. One additional box that has been arranged here contains letters of agreement, correspondence, and reports of returned machines prepared by George Gifford, receiver for the sewing machine patent combination. The agreements identify companies licensed to manufacture sewing machines under patents held by Singer, Wheeler & Wilcox, Grover & Baker, and John Bachelder, and the return forms detail all machines returned at the expiration of the license.

Miscellaneous patent finding aids

Patent index (Guarantees & defenses, 1-115), 1871-1909

Alphabetical index to patents, suits, laws, and other patent material, undated

List of expired patents, 1872

Published legal decisions and rulings regarding patents

1841-1860, I

1860, II-1861

1862-1869

1870-1880

1940, undated

Notes regarding patents

Published patents for sewing machines

United States

England

Miscellany

Oversize letters patent and drawings

Oversize U.S. patents, by patent number

Oversize French patents

Miscellaneous oversize material regarding patents

Subseries: Gifford receivership, 1867-1877

Subseries: Property Files

Abstract of Liberty Street property, 1897

Abstract of Liberty Street property, 1906X

Deeds for property transferred from SMF Company, New York to SMF Company, New Jersey, 1863-1910

Rental account book, 1877-1887

Rentals and litigation account books, 1876-1889

Rental vouchers, 1895-1901

Rentals in Singer Building, 1914

History of the Singer Building Construction, 1908

Singer addition/Bourne addition account book, 1906-1907

Singer addition account book, 1908-1909

Typed summaries of construction accounts, undated