Correspondence
name: label: Collection Donor
content: Nickse, Hugo
label: Collection Donor
content: Johnson, Hanford
label: Collection Creator
content: Comstock, Cheney and Co.
label: Collection Creator
content: Pratt, Read and Company
label: Collection Donor
content: Steinway, Henry Ziegler
setName: label: See more items in
content: Pratt, Read Corporation Records
label: See more items in
content: Pratt, Read Corporation Records / Series 2: Comstock, Cheney and Company
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1873-1876
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0320, Subseries 2.2
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The incoming CORRESPONDENCE dates from 1875-1877.  The general correspondence primarily concerns problems with orders for the ivory goods  combs, billiard balls, and piano keys  produced by the company, such as delays in shipping, the return of defective merchandise, and changes in the number and type of goods ordered.  Letters from many piano and organ manufacturers, such as Knabe, H. Hardman, Vose & Sons, the Burdett Organ Company, the Shoninger Organ Company, and the Mason & Hamlin Piano Company, are included.  The actual sales orders for 1876 have been placed among the Sales Records, thus maintaining the company's original separation of these two similar groups of records.  Other general correspondence concerns Comstock, Cheney & Company's orders for goods needed in its manufacturing processes, from special woods to hardware components and labels for its boxes. Monthly statements from the company's banks in New York City and Essex, Conn., are also included. 

The correspondence from McLean, Morris & Company, Comstock, Cheney's London ivory broker, contains a wealth of information about the London ivory market.  The letters discuss sales trends, speculation about prices to be paid and information about prices actually realized, and provide statistics on the quantity and quality of ivory from various sources in Africa.  This correspondence is complemented by the quarterly circulars published by Westendarp & Buch, which are printed reports on the latest ivory sales in London.  These circulars, sent to Comstock, Cheney by McLean, Morris & Company, set forth the current values of all types and classes of ivory in tables and charts.