[E1629-F] (E-16-29) Edison Portland Cement Co
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Description
This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the business of the Edison Portland Cement Co. (EPCCo). Included are letters to and from EPCCo president and longtime Edison associate Walter S. Mallory, whose office was relocated from Stewartsville, New Jersey, to New York City in 1916; Harold M. Scott, assistant to the president; William H. Mason, longtime superintendent of EPCCo, who was reassigned to Edison's laboratory staff; and EPCCo chemist Herman E. Kiefer. Among the documents for 1916 are items pertaining to the financial condition of the company, the payment of bonds, prospective clients, customer relations, marketing, and promotion. One of the documents contains a marginal notation by Edison referring to the six-year depression in the cement industry that had caused EPCCo to suspend operations and announcing his intention to start up the mills again in the spring. Some of the documents mention lobbying and legislation on behalf of concrete highways, while others pertain to the use of Edison Portland cement in specific construction projects, including the New York City subway system. There is also discussion of kiln experiments, the chalk plant, and bags for packaging cement.
Approximately 20 percent of the documents have been selected. The material not selected includes meeting announcements, letters of transmittal, and promotional material. Also not selected is routine correspondence pertaining to equipment and supplies, notes payable, sales, and other financial matters including stockholder accounts and royalties collected from licensees of Edison's crushing rolls.