NVF Company records
Creation: 1872-2009Abstract
NVF Company was a manufacturer of laminated plastic plates and sheets composed of only cellulose; the material is called vulcanized fibre. Initially named the National Vulcanized Fibre Company, it was formed in 1922 by Israel Way Marshall (1850-1911) and Thomas Elwood Marshall (1855-1929) in Yorklyn, Delaware. NVF Company was one of the three largest fibre companies in the country and eventually dissolved in the early twenty-first century. The NVF Company collection consists of records beginning in the 1870s, before the official creation of the company, and continues until the dissolution of the company. These materials include the history of the Marshall family, the formation of the National Vulcanized Fibre Company, administrative and presidential papers, publications and reports, marketing and publicity materials, subject files, labor contracts, employee grievances, and arbitration cases.
Dates
- Creation: 1872-2009
Creator
- NVF Company (Organization)
Extent
13 Linear Feet
Historical Note
NVF Company was a manufacturer of laminated plastic plates and sheets composed of only cellulose; the material is called vulcanized fibre. The firm was initially named the National Vulcanized Fibre Company after the National Fibre and Insulation Company merged with one of its biggest competitors, the American Vulcanized Fibre Company. The consolidation of these large companies created the National Vulcanized Fibre Company in 1922. However, the history of NVF can be traced back to the mid-eighteenth century.
In 1763, John Marshall (1735-1815) settled in an area now known as Marshall’s Bridge, Pennsylvania, and established a grist mill and sawmill. By 1856, John Marshall’s grandson, Thomas Smedley Marshall (1818-1887), recognized an opportunity for further innovation and converted the grist mill into a papermill, known as “The Homestead Paper Mill.” When Thomas Marshall’s papermaking business grew, his two sons, Israel Way Marshall (1850-1911) and Thomas Elwood Marshall (1855-1929), joined him, and the business developed into Thomas S. Marshall & Sons. After Thomas S. Marshall passed away, his sons acknowledged the high demand for vulcanized fibre paper, invented by Thomas Taylor (dates unknown) in 1859, and established a new mill in Yorklyn, Delaware, formerly Auburn. That mill eventually became the Marshall Brothers Company in 1892.
In 1900, Israel and Elwood Marshall patented a process to continuously produce vulcanized fibre using their endless fibre machine. This led to the formation and incorporation of the National Fibre & Insulation Company in 1904 with Israel Marshall's oldest son, Joseph Warren Marshall (1881-1953), as President. The Marshalls recognized the many ways that vulcanized fibre could be used, and it came to be known as the “material of a million uses.” After consistent growth of additional mills and multiple company mergers, the National Vulcanized Fibre Company was formed in 1922.
The National Vulcanized Fibre Company rapidly developed and became one of the three largest fibre companies in the country with manufacturing sites in Yorklyn, Wilmington, and Newark, Delaware; Kennett, Pennsylvania; Holyoke, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; Broadview, Illinois; and Toronto, Canada. During its pinnacle, the company produced three-quarters of the world’s vulcanized fibre, yet it also dealt with many workplace injuries and plant sites that were dangerously polluted by toxic chemicals like many other industrial manufacturing companies at the time. In 1965, the National Vulcanized Fibre Company changed its name to NVF Company in order to greater represent the variety of materials produced by the company. Additionally, in 1966 the Security Management Corporation, controlled by Victor Posner (1918-2002), obtained stock control of NVF, and Posner declared himself President and Chairman of the Board. NVF filed for bankruptcy three times between 1993 and 2007 and dissolved in 2009. Ultimately, in 2015, NVF Company was fully liquidated and announced as officially out of business after 111 years.
Scope and Contents
The NVF Company collection consists of records beginning in the 1870s, before the official creation of the company, and continues until the dissolution of the company in the early twenty-first century. These materials include the history of the Marshall family, the formation of the National Vulcanized Fibre Company, administrative and presidential papers, publications and reports, marketing and publicity materials, subject files, labor contracts, employee grievances, and arbitration cases. Of note are the records that detail NVF labor contracts, employee grievances, and arbitration cases, which may be of interest to researchers working on the history of labor in the late twentieth century and working conditions within industrial plants during the same period. Researchers also interested in the history of vulcanized fibre, types of growing industries in early twentieth-century Delaware and Pennsylvania, company advertising, and the progression of company policies would find these materials a useful resource.
The collection is arranged into four series: History; Administration; Departments; and Labor relations. For more information, detailed scope and content notes can be found at the series level.
Access Restrictions
Multiple parts of the NVF Company records are subject to 25-year or 50-year time seals from the date of creation due to privacy/security reasons. Specific restrictions are noted at the series and subseries level and in individual file titles.
Language of Materials
English
Subjects
Finding Aid & Administrative Information
- Title:
- NVF Company records
- Author:
- Nicole Kolessar
- Date:
- 2023
- Description rules:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description:
- English
- Script of description:
- Latin
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
