The records of the West Bend Company are organized into thirteen series: HISTORICAL MATERIALS, ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, LEGAL RECORDS, PRODUCTION RECORDS, SALES AND MARKETING RECORDS, PRODUCT LITERATURE, PUBLICATIONS, FINANCIAL RECORDS, ASSOCIATIONS, EMPLOYEE RECORDS, MISCELLANEOUS, FILMS, and VISUAL MATERIALS.
The collection of West Bend Company records provides thorough documentation of an aluminum cookware manufacturer in Wisconsin, from its inception in 1911 to 1987. Of particular strength are the PRODUCT LITERATURE and SALES AND MARKETING RECORDS series which provide information on product development and advertising. The effects of World War I, World War II, and the Korean Conflict on the aluminum cookware industry are documented by government contracts in the series of PRODUCTION RECORDS. Images of war production are in the series FILMS and PRODUCT LITERATURE.
The records in the series ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, LEGAL RECORDS, and FINANCIAL RECORDS are less complete than the other series. ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS does include a complete run of stockholders and directors meeting minutes. Although the FINANCIAL RECORDS span the entire time of the company's existence, the runs of specific types of financial records (e.g., accounts receivable ledgers) are incomplete. Most of the EMPLOYEE RECORDS are printed materials such as union agreements and 25 Year Club programs.
The HISTORICAL MATERIALS (1927-1968, 1986) series contains materials on company anniversaries, the Navy “E” Awards, and company open houses, as well as a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings and journal articles documenting the company. Particularly summary are the anniversary publications and programs produced by the company. Although the historical materials span a large portion of the company's history, the bulk of the materials are from the 1940s and 1950s.
The series ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS (1911-1971, 1984-1987) is comprised of not only the administrative records of the West Bend Company but also those of its subsidiaries and its eventual parent companies. The bulk of the materials document the period from 1920 to 1970. The materials include articles of incorporation and by-laws; stockholders and directors meeting minutes and materials; annual and quarterly reports; a complete documentation of the Rexall merger; stock records; and miscellaneous statistical reports. Also in this series are the administrative subject files which include information on acquisitions and divestments as well as documentation of individuals in upper management. The personnel documented in the subject files are James R. Brown, Arnold R. Finch, Robert H. Wentorf, Bernhard C. Ziegler, Bernard C. Ziegler, and R. Douglas Ziegler; materials include press releases and clippings, biographical sketches, and some correspondence and speeches.
The series LEGAL RECORDS (1909-1963) contains the following sub-series: patents, agreements, legal cases, property records, and miscellaneous. The bulk of the materials document the years 1921-1945. The patent materials especially document the outboard motors and “Waterless Cooker” developed by the West Bend Company. The sub-series legal cases includes materials on litigation between West Bend Company and other national aluminum companies concerning the waterless cooker design, patent, and name. Also included in this sub-series are a Federal Trade Commission complaint case, 1941-1945; and Aluminum Wares Association activities regarding the establishment of tariffs on foreign aluminum ware in 1921. Materials in the property records sub-series include land purchases and sales agreements as well as building leases and construction contracts. Of special note in the miscellaneous legal records are the employees' mortgage and insurance papers, 1915-1952, which document the involvement of West Bend Company and B.C. Ziegler Insurance Company in home ownership by West Bend Company employees.
The PRODUCTION RECORDS series (1916-1922, 1941-1971) is almost exclusively composed of government contracts (1941-1956) detailing production of 20 mm cartridge cases, cartridge tanks, gas mask canisters, and other defense contract products. The sub-series government contracts is arranged by the alphanumeric identifiers assigned by the United States government. Material includes diagrams, correspondence, and cost information as well as the contracts themselves. The sub-series cost summaries provide a description of a product and its estimated total factory cost. The itemized costs include those for material, labor and factory overhead. The cost summaries are arranged by estimate number and span the years 1960 to 1970 with gaps for 1960 to 1970 with gaps for 1961-1962.
The series SALES AND MARKETING RECORDS (1920-1988) contains materials documenting sales and marketing techniques, promotional materials, and analyses. The bulk of the series documents the years from 1922 to 1941 and 1970 to 1988. The earlier materials include sales talks, brochures and pamphlets, and sales summaries. The later materials are comprised of consumer tests, advertising schedules and scripts, press releases, and other promotional material. The individual items in the folders labeled “Sales Talks, 1922-1924” and “Background Sales Materials, 1923-1927” were removed from a scrapbook for conservation reasons and stored in appropriate-size boxes. The original order is reflected by the consecutive numbers assigned to the items.
PRODUCT LITERATURE, the largest series in the collection, consists of dated materials including scrapbooks, product catalogs, materials on specific products and lines, and cookbooks and instruction booklets. The scrapbooks, which provide documentation of the period 1924-1938, have been disassembled for conservation reasons, but the individual items have been consecutively numbered to reflect original order. These materials include advertisements, circulars, and pamphlets. The sub-series product catalogs is arranged alphabetically and chronologically thereunder. Specific product line as well as general merchandise catalogs are included. The bulk of the series consists of product literature for individual products and lines. These materials have been arranged alphabetically and chronologically thereunder, and are almost exclusively advertisements and carton labels. The oversized materials in this category are stored separately and are only arranged alphabetically. The sub-series distributor sales pertains to West Bend's home party sales operations. The sub-series of cookbooks and instruction booklets is comprised of the printed information packaged with the products.
Included in the series PUBLICATIONS (1941-1988) are company magazines, newsletters and booklets. The company publications provide information on new products, the manufacturing process, and employees. Of particular note is Contact, formatted like a news bulletin, which provided information to former employees who were in the service during World War II.
The series FINANCIAL RECORDS (1911-1970) contains the sub-series accounting reports, payroll, cashbook, journal, general ledgers, accounts receivable ledgers, factory ledgers, and correspondence. Although the records are bulky and span a large part of the history of the company; there is little continuity in individual sub-series, and little summary documentation. The accounting reports document the period from 1913 to 1960 and include financial statements, balance sheets and audit reports. The bulk of the sub-series payroll contains materials from 1953 to 1970. Various ledgers document the years 1911 to 1964.
The ASSOCIATIONS series (1922-1965) contains records of the Aluminum Wares Association, an aluminum wares manufacturers association, and documentation of the Metal Cookware Manufacturers Association. The bulk of the materials pertains to the Aluminum Wares Association for the periods 1926-1928 and 1936-1938. The Aluminum Wares Association materials consist of constitutions and by-laws, membership lists, minutes, correspondence, financial data, and subject files. Topics documented by the materials include standardization of aluminum ware, fair and unfair competition and selling techniques, the discrediting of anti-aluminum propaganda, and effects of federal legislation on the aluminum ware industry. Prominent correspondents include A.C. Kieckhafer, a West Bend Company executive and president of the association from 1936-1938, and Stuart J. Swenson, vice-president of the association in 1936.
The series EMPLOYEE RECORDS (1928, 1946-1982) includes union agreements, employee handbooks, accident reports, and publications. Documented in the publications are West Bend Company's industrial pension plan, idea award plan, and 25 Year Club. The bulk of the materials are from the 1960s and 1970s.
The series MISCELLANEOUS (1918-1941) consists of scattered property records, including insurance appraisals and inventories as well as a few maps of company property dated 1925-1926.
The series FILMS contains photocopies of the descriptive worksheets completed by the Visual Materials Archive of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin during processing of the films. These worksheets summarize the content and provide the call numbers of the films. Topics treated by the films include outboard motor production, war conversion for World War II, the Navy “E” Award and a gun demonstration, and housewares manufacture. In addition there are films demonstrating proper selling techniques for door-to-door sales of the “Waterless Cooker,” and home movies of Guatemala and Cuba.
The series VISUAL MATERIALS primarily consists of photographs, as well as some drawings, ephemera, and news clippings. PH 3780 contains photographs, drawings, and ephemera related to the products, operations, manufacturing plant, advertising methods, and personnel of the West Bend Company. PH 3853 contains photographs and news clippings, 1945, of rockets and other weapons used by the U.S. Navy and the Japanese in World War II as displayed to the public at an exhibit at the West Bend Aluminum Company in West Bend, Wisconsin in June 1945. Photographs primarily feature speakers and spectators; a studio view of a 20 mm antiaircraft gun is also included.
