MS008: Woodbury and Company Collection

The materials consist primarily of printing samples, wood block and photogravure engraving proofs, and sky camera photographs. Also included are company records, photographs, scrapbooks, newsletters, memorabilia, and miscellaneous company artifacts. Most notable is a set of large bird-eyes hand-drawn renderings of factories and commercial buildings. The collection dates roughly from 1882 to 2001, with additonal notes by Kimball Woodbury through 2009.

Series 1 contains Woodbury and Company history, including correspondence, company records, recollections of employees, paper memorabilia, and many photographs of employees at work and at company-related social activities. It also contains a complete set of "Eagle's Eyes" the company newsletter, from 1951-2001. The company records are extensive, and this series includes the manuscript of Harold Woodbury's "History of Woodbury and Company". Series 2 is comprised of prints of wood engravings, photogravure and sky camera photographs, and industrial plant drawings. The wood engravings are at the beginning of boxes in which they are found; generally organization is by size and alphabetically by company name. In some of the larger boxes other materials are also present because of size considerations. Most of these prints are undated, but many, perhaps most, were made between about 1915 and the 1950s. Series 3 is made up of the 60 original drawings and two photogravures which are part of the collection. Most of these are very large and are stored separately from the other materials. They have received conservation evaluation and treatment.

Series 4 includes letterhead samples, and other products which Woodbury and Company produced besides industrial plant drawings and photographs. There are art prints, first day stamps, portraits, and decal samples in this series. Series 5 includes engraving plates, two cameras, a roller, and a watercolor painting done by Albert Nelson, long-time director of the art department at Woodbury and Company.