Wilson Palmer Files
name: label: Collection Creator
content: United Shoe Machinery Corporation
setName: label: See more items in
content: United Shoe Machinery Corporation Records
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1925 - 1952
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0277, Series 4
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: This series consists of the correspondence files of Wilson Palmer, one of United Shoe Machinery's key executives. He served as Assistant to the General Superintendent at the Beverly Factory beginning in 1932, Secretary/Treasurer of the Athletic Association beginning in 1933, General Superintendent of the Beverly Factory in 1940, and as President of the Mutual Relief Association.

He retired as a Vice President of the company in the 1950s.  These files deal primarily with operations and accidents at the Beverly Factory, the Athletic Association, defense work, the Mutual Relief Association, and the Turner Tanning Machinery Company.  The files are arranged alphabetically by topic within the series.

The general correspondence file consists mainly of notices regarding the operation of the Beverly factory.  These include lists of foremen, notices of appointments, instructions to foremen, efficiency reports, and accident reports.  The file reflects the company's concern for its workers and the facilities available at the factory for their benefit.  Examples of this "corporate paternalism" include the provision of safety shoes and goggles, a gas station for employee use on the grounds, sale of coal to employees at a discount, advice on handling one's financial affairs, and health bulletins. The accident material includes data used in the preparation of accident charts, an oversize chart of safety tips, and several oversize charts of time lost due to accidents from 1928-1936.

The files on the Athletic Association are primarily routine correspondence regarding accounting matters, insurance, agreements, the golf course, various social events held at the clubhouse, and letters of acknowledgement.  Also dealt with are investments made on behalf of the Association, settlement of a lawsuit to which the Association was a party, and financial statements regarding the "Sam Sam,"  an annual athletic event for employees. Of special interest are several Bulletins of the USMC Athletic Association of Spain from 1932-1933. Included in this series are Confidential Reports, 1938 -1941, which are summary reports of production at the Beverly factory addressed to Vice President H. S. Hubbell.  These detail numbers of machines and parts manufactured and shipped, manufacturing profit, depreciated assets, and return on capital investment.

The files dealing with defense work date from 1940-1952.  These deal with the company's involvement in the production of defense related mechanisms, such as fuse assemblies, recoilless rifles, the Mark 50 mine, and gun turrets.  The focus is on industrial mobilization planning and procedures for procurement of equipment for the U.S. military.  In addition, there is a file on the training program at the Beverly factory conducted in cooperation with the G.I. Bill in 1945. Files on the Mutual Relief Association, 1939-1951, include a general file containing annual financial statements, lists of committee members, and details of United Shoe's policy on contributing to the Relief Association.  Other files deal with revision of the by laws, union circulars, circa 1944, dissolution of the Association, and its replacement with a group insurance plan. Other files provide information on pattern die manufacture and sales, the development and sale of a complete shoe repair outfit, and the manufacture of cutting blades by the Turner Tanning Machinery Company, a subsidiary acquired by USMC in the 1920s.