E. Murdock and Company Records
name: label: Author
content: Murdock, E. (Woodware Manufacturing)
label: Names
content: New England Woodenware Corporation
label: Names
content: Whitney, Elisha
label: Names
content: Whitney, William
place: label: Place
content: Massachusetts, Winchendon
label: Place
content: Massachusetts
label: Place
content: Massachusetts, Gardener
label: Place
content: New Hampshire
topic: label: Topic
content: Manufacturing
label: Topic
content: Box making
label: Topic
content: Wood
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by Margaret Urqhart, President,  E. Murdock, Inc., January 15, 1987.
creator: label: Author
content: Murdock, E. (Woodware Manufacturing)
setName: label: See more items in
content: E. Murdock and Company Records
abstract: label: Summary
content: Records document the activities of a woodware company between 1866 and 1954 and include various advertisements, price lists, and customer correspondence.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: The E. Murdock & Company was founded by Elisha Murdock in 1834. Murdock was from Winchendon, Massachusetts, a small town outside of Boston. He was the third child of Ephraim and Zibah Murdock. He was born on August 27, 1802.

Elisha Murdock's family had many industrial and educational pursuits. His father, a builder of sleighs, founded the first public high school in Winchendon, Massachusetts in 1843. Eventually his son Ephraim Murdock, Jr. established in 1887 a self-supporting high school in Winchendon named  The Murdock School, was considered one of the best equipped high schools in Massachusetts and in 1961, the school became known as "The Murdock Junior High School.

Elisha worked in the manufacturing of tubs, pails, and other wood wares using machinery invented by his father. For 100 years, from 1831-1931, Winchendon was known as "The Home of Woodenware Manufacture."

In 1840, Murdock's first woodenware factory in Winchendon burned. In 1895, a second fire destroyed an even larger plant. After the 1895 fire, however, a new factory was erected and a variety of products were offered. 

Murdock also established a plant in Boston, in the industrial area of Market Street. The Boston plant was listed in the city directory until 1882. In 1882, Elisha Murdock died and the company's leadership was handed over to William and Elisha Whitney. 

From 1883-1929, little is recorded about E. Murdock & Company. In 1929, Murdock's Company, Keene Woodworking Company in New Hampshire and the West Swanzey plant, merged to form the New England Woodenware Corporation. However, the Winchendon unit was still supervised by Elisha and William Whitney, with 225 employees.
 
According to Murdock's great-great-granddaughter Margaret Urquhart, the company moved from Massachusetts to New Hampshire in 1958, where it became a personal holding company with no employees. In 1951, the company stopped producing wooden artifacts and began producing boxes. In 1982, the company moved from Winchendon to Gardener, Massachusetts.

The Murdock  family, through marriage, was related to the Whitney family. While the Whitneys produced woodworking machines, Murdock's company manufactured woodenware products for a century. Eventually, the Whitneys managed E. Murdock and Co. for over twenty years.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.33 Cubic feet (4 boxes)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1863-1954
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: This collection was transferred from the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana (AC0060), July 14, 1987.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0268
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Business letters
label: Type
content: Catalogs
label: Type
content: Business records
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: This collection is organized into four series. 

Series 1: Correspondence, 1866 June-1939 January

Series 2: Statements/receipts and shipment confirmations, 1863-1914

Series 3: Price lists and Catalogs, 1890-1928

Series 4: Miscellaneous, 1884-1954
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Alexandra Henry, 2017.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Business letters
label: Genre/Form
content: Catalogs
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This collection consists of correspondence from customers, catalogues, statements, and receipts from various shipping companies. Also included are price lists, bulletins, advertisements, and a census report. These papers indicate the kinds and the amounts of transactions that E. Murdock & Co. engaged in throughout most of its history. 

The correspondence includes customers ranging from grocers, oil manufacturers and paper manufacturers to other woodenware manufacturers who ordered items from Murdock's companies. This series is arranged chronologically.

The monthly statements and receipts from Murdock's customers include shipment confirmations by freight companies.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center


Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Series: Woodenware (NMAH.AC.0060)