J. Wiss & Sons Company Records
name: label: Publisher
content: Kraeuter & Company, Inc.
label: Creator
content: J. Wiss & Sons Company
label: Names
content: Cooper Industries
label: Names
content: Wiss, Jacob
place: label: Place
content: Newark (N.J.)
topic: label: Topic
content: Mechanical engineering and technology
label: Topic
content: Scissors and shears
label: Topic
content: Cutlery trade
label: Topic
content: Shears
label: Topic
content: Cutlers -- 1920-1950
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Collection donated by J. Wiss & Sons Company, Newark, New Jersey, August 15, 1985.
creator: label: Publisher
content: Kraeuter & Company, Inc.
label: Creator
content: J. Wiss & Sons Company
abstract: label: Summary
content: Records of the J. Wiss and Sons Company, maker of shears and scissors.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: J. Wiss & Sons Company was founded in 1848 by Jacob Wiss, a thirty-one-year-old immigrant from Switzerland who was an experienced cutler and gunsmith. The company, headed by Wiss and his descendants in Newark, N.J., emphasized high quality in its products, which became known world-wide and sold to the U.S. Government in the Civil War and the two World Wars. In 1914, Wiss acquired the manufacturing facilities of a competitor and became the largest producer of fine scissors and shears in the world. Following World War I, Wiss weathered a severe depression in scissors markets, partly caused by dumping of European products. Increased U.S. help remedied this situation. Cooper Industries purchased the company in 1976. After the purchase, the factory remained in Newark for a few years, then was moved south, and finally manufacturing was done overseas. According to a message from Don Wiss (April 22, 2010), Cooper bought the product line and the Wiss name to add to the other names they use in their Hand Tool Group (e.g., Weller, Lufkin, Crescent, Nicholson, etc).
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.3 Cubic feet (1 box)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1921-1925; 1948.
container: label: Container
content: Box 1
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0172
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Catalogs
label: Type
content: Sales catalogs
label: Type
content: Business records
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Don Darroch, 1985
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Catalogs
label: Genre/Form
content: Sales catalogs
label: Genre/Form
content: Business records -- 1910-1930
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Catalog and Salesman's Fact Book, 1921-1925, and "A Story of Shears and Scissors". The book includes a 1925 Wiss Catalog of scissors, snips, and shears and a 1925 catalog of Kraeuter and Company Inc., Newark,manufacturers of pliers, wrenches, chisels, automobile and machinists' tools and ticket punches. Also, numerous price lists and advertisements for the tools, apparently clipped from publications.