Burt, Hildreth & Company Records
name: label: Manufacturer
content: Burt, Hildreth & Company
place: label: Place
content: United States of America -- Massachusetts -- Worcester County -- Harvard
topic: label: Topic
content: advertising -- Agriculture
label: Topic
content: Agricultural machinery
label: Topic
content: Agriculture -- Massachusetts
label: Topic
content: Business Advertising -- Agriculture
label: Topic
content: Business -- History
label: Topic
content: Farming
label: Topic
content: Threshing
label: Topic
content: Inventors -- 1870-1880
label: Topic
content: Threshing machines
label: Topic
content: Machine shops
label: Topic
content: Genealogy
label: Topic
content: Manufacturers
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Purchased from Branford Rare Books, Branford, Connecticut in April 1993.
creator: label: Manufacturer
content: Burt, Hildreth & Company
setName: label: See more items in
content: Burt, Hildreth & Company Records
abstract: label: Summary
content: Collection primarily consists of correspondence documenting the business activities of Burt, Hildreth & Company and
the personal lives of the Hildreth family who owned it.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Burt, Hildreth & Company was created in 1864 in Harvard, Massachusetts when Edwin Alonzo Hildreth (March 28, 1843-March 26, 1907) entered a partnership with his inventor uncle George Edward Burt (April 14, 1816-September 30, 1908) to specialize in horse-powered machinery. During the partnership the company received patents for improving car-brakes, horsepower treads, hay tedders, belt-splices, horse-powers, wood splitting machines, and sawing machines.  Some of the patents were licensed to the Ames Plow Company.  In 1881, Hildreth left Burt, Hildreth & Company and joined his brother Stanley B. Hildreth (June 8, 1845-January 12, 1941) to form Hildreth Brothers in direct competition with his former company. Hildreth Brothers existed until circa 1915.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: .3 Cubic feet (1 box)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1873-1880, undated
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: Transferred to the Archives Center from the Division of Work and Industry in February 2022.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.1570
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Catalogues
label: Type
content: Correspondence
label: Type
content: Leaflets
label: Type
content: Family papers
label: Type
content: Manufacturers' catalogs
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Collection is arranged in three series.


Series 1: Business Correspondence, 1873-1880, undated


Subseries 1.1: Incoming, 1873-1880, undated


Subseries 1.2: Outgoing, 1876-1879


Series 2: Family Correspondence, 1877-1880, undated


Subseries 2.1:  Abijah Edwin Hildreth and Sons, 1877-1879, undated


Subseries 2.2: Edward Alonzo and Stanley Barbour Hildreth, 1877-1880


Series 3: Other Materials, undated
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2023. Finding aid encoded by Audrey Willius, intern, 2023.
label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2023.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Catalogues
label: Genre/Form
content: Correspondence -- 19th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Leaflets
label: Genre/Form
content: Family papers -- 19th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Manufacturers' catalogs
scopecontent: label: Content Description
content: Collection primarily consists of correspondence documenting the business activities of Burt, Hildreth & Company and the personal lives of the Hildreth family who owned it.  In addition, there are company related materials documenting the creation, advertising, and promotion of agricultural equipment and machinery. The collection is arranged into two series. Series one is business and personal communications and series two is product literature.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution


Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subject Agriculture, NMAH.AC.0060 


Underwood & Underwood Glass Stereograph Collection, NMAH.AC.0143


Carterpillar Tractor Company Photograph Collection, NMAH.AC.0146


Frick Company Records, NMAH.AC.0243


John Stevens Collection, NMAH.AC.0333


Robinson and Via Family Papers, NMAH.AC.0475


Industry on Parade, NMAH.AC.0507


Larry Zim World's Fair Collection, NMAH.AC.0519


American Petroleum Institute Photograph and Film Collection, NMAH.AC.0711


Paul Duncan Film Collection, NMAH.AC.0827


Cooper-Bessemer Corporation Records, NMAH.AC.0961


Coxe Brothers and Company Collection, NMAH.AC.1002


Bernis B. Brown Collection, NMAH.AC.1047


Mechanical and Civil Engineering Stereograph Cards, NMAH.AC.1090


John K. Parlett Collection of Agricultural Ephemera, NMAH.AC.1225


Hiram Moore Collection, NMAH.AC.1429

Public and Private Holdings


Hildreth Family, Harvard, Massachusetts holds the contents of three Hildreth family homes including furniture, portraits, papers, and books. 


Edwin Alonzo Hildreth House, 1881, scanned record cover page, HRV.92, Inventory of Historic Assets of the Commonwealth and National Register of Historic Places, Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC).


Scrapbook of Dorothy Elizabeth Hildreth (daughter of Stanley B. Hildreth), Radcliffe College Class of 1916, Radcliffe College Archives, Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America.

Hildreth wood splitter, Groton Historical Society.