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Job T. Pugh, Inc. records

Creation: 1874-1954
 Collection
Accession: 1808

Abstract

Job T. Pugh, Inc. was a small specialty tool manufacturer of augers and bits located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The firm was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on August 30, 1917, succeeding a partnership of the same name. It was dissolved in 1954. The records of Job T. Pugh, Inc., and its unincorporated predecessors are a series of fragments. The collection documents the financial and legal matters associated with operating a tool manufacturing business in the early twentieth century.

Dates

  • Creation: 1874-1954

Creator

Extent

1.8 Linear Feet

Historical Note

Job T. Pugh, Inc. was a small specialty tool manufacturer of augers and bits located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The firm was incorporated under the laws of Delaware on August 30, 1917, succeeding a partnership of the same name. It was dissolved in 1954.

The firm, first known as Brooke & Pugh, was founded in 1774 by Benjamin Brooke and his son-in-law Job T. Pugh, Sr. In 1790, they began producing the first double-twist auger, with the invention credited to Pugh. Their Pugh "black twist" auger had the time-saving advantage over flat augers of eliminating the need to clean out wood chips from the hole being drilled, as the double twist would send the chips along the full length of the twist.

From 1818 to 1857, the firm was managed by Job's son Benjamin Pugh, Sr. (1797-1857). Benjamin's son Job T. Pugh, Jr. (1826-1885) assumed leadership of the business after Benjamin's death in 1857. Upon Job's death in 1885, the business was run by his children, Anna Mary Pugh Dwight (1852-1913), Charles R. Pugh (1856-1887), and Job T. Pugh, III (1862-1917).

In 1917 after the death of Job, the firm was taken over by his daughters Catharine W. Pugh (1894-1918) and Isabel Pugh Fussell (1893-1982). The corporation was organized after Catharine's death in February 1918.

Scope and Contents

The records of Job T. Pugh, Inc., and its unincorporated predecessors are a series of fragments. There are minutes for the corporation (1917-1954); a stock book (1918); scattered account books (1898-1909); order books (1874-1900); payroll book (1898-1912); receipt book (1880-1912); inventory book (1894-1902); and cost and unfinished stock book (1889). There is a small amount of correspondence (1878-1898), mostly concerned with financial and legal matters, and an issue of American Machinist containing an article on auger making in the Pugh shop.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Language of Materials

English

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title:
Job T. Pugh, Inc. records
Description rules:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description:
English
Script of description:
Latin

Revision Statements

  • 2022: Angela Schad

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
PO Box 3630
Wilmington Delaware 19807 USA
302-658-2400