B. Schwanda & Sons records
Creation: 1935-1962 Creation: Majority of material found within 1957-1962Abstract
B. Schwanda & Sons was a manufacturer and wholesaler of pearl buttons with factories in Long Island City, New York, Staffordville, Connecticut, and Denton, Maryland, and offices and showrooms in Manhattan. The small fragment of surviving records contains information on dyeing and bleaching the mother-of-pearl for buttons, purchasing and sales to discount stores, inter-office memos, inventories, sample cards of buttons, and limited information about the factories and piece-work rates.
Dates
- Creation: 1935-1962
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1957-1962
Creator
- B. Schwanda & Sons (Organization)
Extent
0.6 Linear Foot
Historical Note
B. Schwanda & Sons was a manufacturer and wholesaler of pearl buttons with factories in Long Island City, New York, Staffordville, Connecticut, and Denton, Maryland, and offices and showrooms in Manhattan.
The company was founded in 1887 by Czechoslovakian Benjamin Schwanda in Czechoslovakia. By 1890, the company moved to New York, and over the next three decades, the company expanded significantly. In 1916, the Schwanda Company opened a factory in Staffordville, Connecticut. They opened a plant in Denton, Maryland, between 1933 and 1936 and were one of four plants at the time.
The company operated a worldwide manufacturing network. Shells were caught in the South Pacific, purchased by Chinese dealers, and sent to the plants via New York. At the Denton plant, shells were cleaned and processed and cut into "blanks," circles of varying diameter and thickness, which were then sent to finishing plants in New York and Connecticut.
Scope and Contents
The B. Schwanda and Sons records consist of a small fragment from the late 1950s and early 1960s. Earlier records that survived were limited to formulas for dyeing and bleaching the mother-of-pearl obtained from mollusk shells. The records convey some of the flavors of the small, owner-operated businesses that predominated in New York City's Garment District. The largest part of the files deals with purchasing and sales and shows how cards of buttons were sold to discount stores such as Woolworth's at a time when many women still sewed at home. There are also inter-office memos, inventories, sample cards of buttons of various colors and sizes, and limited information about the factories and piece-work rates.
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.
Language of Materials
English
Subjects
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- B. Schwanda & Sons records
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2021: Ashley Williams
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
