The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          Jewell Irwin Potter                               

Title:               Notebooks

Dates:             1899-1923, bulk 1899-1907, 1909-1913, 1918-1923

Call No.:         Col. 110          

Acc. No.:         91x35

Quantity:        1 box

Location:        17 J 4

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Jewell Potter was an engraver for the Oneida Silverware Manufacturing Company and then William A. Rogers, Ltd., between 1899 and 1923.  Potter engraved a wide variety of items, including flatware with script letters, a bowling trophy and cups given as prizes, a 72 piece heirloom set, a nursery rhyme on an unidentified surface, tea sets, hotel services, and ice pitchers.  Although evidence suggests Potter's family was from Oneida, New York, when Rogers Ltd. moved to Niagara Falls, New York, in 1911, Potter also moved.  

 

When work was slow, Potter experienced what he called lay offs.  During one such period from March to August, 1900, he worked in an Oneida grocery and crockery store run by George H. Potter, presumably a relative.  In March, 1901, when the store suffered damage in a fire, Potter helped manage an emergency fire sale for about two weeks.

 

In 1906, Potter joined the Brotherhood of Silverworkers of America for a brief period of time when the organization imposed a strike against Rogers Ltd.  He had picket duty for the week of June 25th.  Because management stated that strikers would not be given their jobs back if the factory reopened after the lockout, Potter had second thoughts and quit the union to return to work.  Potter continued to work for Rogers Ltd. until 1923.  On December 20, 1923, Potter was told that the shop would shut down two days later as a result of a bad financial situation, but was not told when it would start up again.  His notebooks end on December 31, and he was still unemployed.

 

In his leisure time, Potter took part in Masonic activities, played the organ, bottled wine, belonged to and was an officer in the Lenox Club, became a member of the W.A. Rogers Athletic and Social Association, and apparently played in a company band.  In addition, he took voting and elections seriously.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The notebooks in this collection were set up as a place for Potter to record his daily, weekly, and annual wages.  As time passed, however, he used the pages of these volumes to comment on his professional and some personal activities, both in handwritten form and by pasting in newspaper clippings relating to the firms he worked for and other items of interest.

 

Through newspaper clippings and comments by Potter, these volumes document how the Oneida Silver Manufacturing Company and William A. Rogers, Ltd. operated.  The volumes also provide information on unionization of the Rogers' factory, including details on a lengthy strike in 1906.  Union activity subsided in March, 1907 and Potter did not discuss the subject again until 1922.

Beginning in 1920, the operation of the work at Rogers, Ltd. changed.  The amount of engraving done was greatly reduced after January 1, 1921.  On July 27th, salaries were cut 10% as a result of hard financial times for the firm.  In 1922, management hired a consulting firm from Cleveland, Bedaux Engineers, to do a study of how workers could increase their output while using less time.  A series of layoffs was instituted.  Potter commented negatively on a new system of time management.  Talk of forming a union began anew.  Layoffs continued during 1923 as the bad financial situation continued.  The shop shut down right before Christmas in 1923.  Whether or not it reopened is uncertain.

           

 

ORGANIZATION

           

The notebooks are arranged chronologically.  A description of the contents of each volume is found below.

 

 

PROVENANCE


Purchased from Carmen Valentino.      

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

            People:

                        Westfall, Frederick C.

 

Topics:

            Oneida Silver Manufacturing Company.

                        William A. Rogers, Limited.

                        Lenox Club.

                        W.A. Rogers Athletic and Social Association.

                        Bedaux Engineers.

                        Brotherhood of Silverworkers of America.

                        Engraving (Metal-work) - New York (State) - Oneida.

                        Engraving (Metal-work) - New York (State) - Niagara Falls.

                        Trade-unions - Metal-workers.

                        Picketing - New York (State) - Oneida.

                        Trade-unions - Local unions.

                        Trade-unions - Organizing.

                        Employee rules.

                        Wages - Metal-workers.

                        Engravers - Salaries, etc.

                        Labor disputes - New York (State) - Oneida.

                        Industrial relations - New York (State) - Oneida.

                        Industrial relations - New York (State) - Niagara Falls.

                        Strikes and lockouts - New York (State) - Oneida.

                        Employee fringe benefits.

                        Silverwork - New York (State) - Oneida.

                        Silverwork - New York (State) - Niagara Falls.

                        Silver industry - New York (State) - Oneida.

                        Silver industry - New York (State) - Niagara Falls.

                        Grocers - New York (State) - Oneida.

                        Diaries.

                        Notebooks.

                        Clippings.

                        Pamphlets.

                        Tracts.

                        Engravers.

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 17 J 4

 

 

.1         1899-1902

            Record of weekly hours and wages, including holidays and vacations.  Each year Potter calculated his average weekly salary.

 

            Miscellaneous inspirational quotes are at the top of many of the pages.

 

            Potter records visits with friends, some of his activities, and comments on politics.  In 1902 he and someone named Daisy purchased a cottage; expenses related to it are recorded in the back of the volume.

 

            Includes newspaper clippings about a fire at the Oneida factory on December 11, 1897, Supreme Court Justice George F. Lyon placing the Oneida Co. under receivership in 1900, and the 1901 sale of the company to William A. Rogers, Ltd.

 

            Items laid in include receipts from Palmer's clothing store in Syracuse, NY and a hardware store.

 

.2         1902-1904

 

            Record of weekly hours and wages with annotations about activities and the volume of work at the engraver's bench.  Raises are documented--sometimes Potter asked for them.  Comments about the factory manager, Frederick C. Westfall are included. 

 

            Personal activities, such as trips to the Sylvan Beach cottage, sermons heard, and some expenditures are included for many of the weeks.

 

            Newspaper clippings about a possible move of the firm from Oneida to Niagara Falls were cut out and commented on by Potter.

 

            The first mention of unionization appears in an entry dated October 20, 1903 when Potter wrote that Westfall told twenty foremen "that the factory would move in Jan. & that it would be better for them not to form a union."  Potter also noted that between November, 1903 and November, 1904, 43 of 83 employees were removed from their positions.

 

.3         1905-1907

 

            Record of weekly hours and wages with annotations about work at the shop.  In June, 1907 he began training an apprentice.

 

            Mention of Potter's Mason activities is made.

 

            Entries for 1906 are full of references to union activities and newspaper articles about the union.  Entries for several weeks note confusion at the shop on account of the union.  In 1906, the labor union situation resulted in a management-worker confrontation.  When Potter quit the union, he received a 25  raise and he was faced with threats by the strikers.

 

.4         1909-1911

 

            Record of weekly hours and wages with annotations about the volume of work and his coworkers.  He described injuries at the factory.  He detailed the process of packing up the shop.

 

            Clippings about Rogers, Ltd. impending move to Niagara Falls are found throughout the volume.

 

.5         1911-1913, entitled: "Time Book - March 13, 1911-1913, Wm. A. Rogers Limited, Niagara Falls, N.Y."

 

            Record of weekly hours and wages, opening with Potter in Niagara Falls.  This volume contains few annotations about work-related activities.

 

            Several trips Potter took to Oneida are recorded, with clippings from the local newspaper mentioning his visit home.

 

            Deposit envelopes for the Niagara County Savings Bank are laid in.

 

 

.6         1918-1921

 

            Record of weekly hours and wages with annotations about the factory. In July, 1918 the company began using time clocks.  Comments about new management practices were made by Potter.  In 1921 wages were cut.

 

            Clippings and comments on a discussion over the company picnic are included, along with a copy of the program for the picnic at Erie Beach on July 24, 1920.

 

            Potter made several remarks about the draft and the end of World War I in this volume.

           

            This volume contains many inclusions, such as: a membership card for the Wm. A. Rogers Ltd. Athletic and Social Association, pay envelopes, inspirational tracts produced by the Babson Institute, cards about tuberculosis, a card from a Red Cross fundraising drive, a Western Union Telegram about a wreath for a funeral, photographs of Potter with some co-workers in 1919, and a booklet entitled Plant Practice Information and Suggestions for Employees which outlined such things as workman's compensation, group life insurance, time keeping, legal holidays, etc.

 

 

.7         1922-1923

 

            Record of weekly hours and wages with annotations, particularly about layoffs and the low volume of work for engravers as a result of a company decision to not produce soft metalware. 

 

            Newspaper clippings about the firm's poor financial situation and wage disputes are found in this volume.

 

            Items laid in include: a later version of Plant Practice and pamphlets from the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company on the need for regular bathing, a good diet, and exercise.