The provenance of the Svoboda Furniture Company Records is unclear. It is known that Thomas Hruska purchased the records at the company auction and presented them to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin via the Green Bay Area Research Center between 1985 and 1993. Other records including working drawings and blueprints and large carving models were acquired by the Kewaunee Historical Society and Jail Museum. Other records may have been retained by Svoboda Industries.
The heart of the collection held by the State Historical Society are blueprints and presentation drawings that represent the artistic aspects of Svoboda's operations primarily during the first half of the 20th century. The drawings document many churches in Wisconsin as well as throughout the Midwest. Unfortunately the collection is not complete and includes only fragmentary documentation of the company's financial and administrative operations.
The records are divided into two series: BUSINESS RECORDS and DESIGNS. The BUSINESS RECORDS are composed of miscellaneous historical and financial records; the DESIGNS are subdivided into Church Projects and Furniture Designs.
The single folder of historical material in the BUSINESS RECORDS series includes newspaper clippings and a copy of a scrapbook compiled by Richard J. Kohrt. Scant correspondence included here refers to the company's bankruptcy in 1936 and the support it received, as a major employer, from the City of Kewaunee. Also included are samples of product literature, a few forms, and several photographs. A chronological folder of letters of recommendation not only documents client satisfaction, but also provides a means of accessing Svoboda's geographic influence. Best represented here are clients from the 1920s and early 1930s. Particularly interesting is the letter from Wenceslaus Kozelka, pastor of St. Lawrence Church in Stangelville, Wisconsin, which documents the company's work on various churches under his charge during 1884 and 1885, the earliest reference in the records. (The centennial history of the St. Lawrence congregation suggests this recollection may be wrong; it gives Father Kozelka's arrival as 1887.) This correspondence also documents the fact that by 1907 the company's business had extended well beyond Wisconsin's borders.
The financial records are also incomplete, yet still useful. They include daybooks, an account book, a payroll book, an early inventory, a volume documenting labor costs, and general financial volumes. The inventory is the only record from the early years of the company (1896-1908), and it references the company as “Joseph Svoboda, Dealer in Art and Plain Furniture.” Although it does not cover a long period of time, the payroll book (1919-1926) includes the names of employees, the time spent on specific projects, and their rates of pay. In this volume the projects are identified by place (but not by specific congregation) and by job number, together with brief notes. Job numbers range from 646 to 882. For job numbers 1141-5848 (i.e. before 1948), the location of the church (although not the name), the items purchased, the number of hours of labor, and the total labor cost are included in a ledger. The daybooks cover the periods 1909-1914 and 1923-1926 and list payments per day, often with some description of a particular account, but no job numbers. The two specification books, which date from approximately 1907, consist of detailed measurements. Although the handwritten data is difficult to read, the specifications are identified by location, although again not by specific congregation, and by project type. Some projects are illustrated with rough sketches and diagrams. Shop orders relate to the years 1933 and 1937-1946. They identify specific projects, the quantity and type of materials purchased, and other information on specifications. Each shop order is specifically identified with one or more job number. Although labeled as “cash books,” the three general financial volumes each contains a daily record of payments, bank deposits, and checks written. The two volumes dating from 1914 to 1923 clearly relate to the Svoboda Church Furniture Company. The third volume, 1918-1920, appears to document sales at the family's retail store in Kewaunee. The nature of this business is otherwise undocumented in the collection, but it possibly included furniture or lumber. Taken together, these records provide information to identify some of the drawings listed below and for piecing together the company's influence. Unfortunately, most of the labeled drawings in the collection do not derive from the period documented by these records.
The DESIGNS series consists of drawings and sketches, blue lines and blueprints, and a few hand colored renderings, all of which are arranged as church projects and furniture designs. There are occasional variant sketches for a single project or design, but the bulk of this series consists of final drawings. In 2000 Richard Kohnt reviewed many of the Wisconsin drawings and identified the designer. The collection also includes a significant number of similar drawings by the Raton Manufacturing Company of Rio Creek, Wisconsin, whose contracts were assigned to Svoboda when that firm went bankrupt.
The Church Projects are all identified by church name and arranged alphabetically by state and then by city. The majority are undated. Indexes listing the identified Wisconsin churches by place and by church name for both the Svoboda and Raton projects follows in the appendices.
The Furniture Designs focus on specific types of furniture such as altars, chancel furniture, lecterns and pulpits, pews, and miscellaneous items, although the distinction between the church projects and the furniture projects is not always clear. A few drawings document murals and other ornamentation and a few are hand tinted. For efficient storage and conservation purposes, the church projects and the furniture designs are arranged by size, with the 24 × 30 size items stored in flat boxes and the larger items (30 × 40 and larger) stored in map cases and one tube. For each size category, the drawings, blue lines, and blueprints are separately foldered. The furniture projects are seldom identified by place although some altar drawings that include the entire chancel are so labeled. The furniture designs are generally identified by a design number. The designs are seldom dated and shop order numbers are rarely noted.
