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Hardwood Manufacturers Institute - Southern Hardwood Producers, Inc. Collection/Lumber Archives

MUM00218

PURL

http://purl.oclc.org/umarchives/MUM00218/

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Access Restrictions

Open for research. This collection is stored at an off-site facility. Researchers interested in using this collection must contact Archives and Special Collections at least five business days in advance of their planned visit.

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Summary Information

Repository
University of Mississippi Libraries
Date
unknown
Extent
23 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Hardwood Manufacturers Institute (1922-1935) and the Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. (1935-?) were hardwood industry associations that provided trade promotion, public relations, research, and statistics.

Preferred Citation

Hardwood Manufacturers Institute - Southern Hardwood Producers, Inc. Collection/Lumber Archives (MUM00218). The Department of Archives and Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, University of Mississippi.

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Biographical Note

The Hardwood Manufacturers Institute and the Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. are lineal descendants of a long line of hardwood manufacturers associations dating back to the Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association founded in1897. Formed in 1902, the Hardwood Manufacturers Association of the United States merged in 1919 with the American Hardwood Manufacturers Association. The Hardwood Manufacturers Institute (HMI) was established in Chicago in 1922 with Clarence H. Sherrell as president. This organization moved to Memphis in 1924 and became the administrative agency for the hardwood industry under the National Recovery Act in 1933. In 1935, the Supreme Court declared the National Recovery Act unconstitutional and HMI was abandoned. Soon after in September 1935, the Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. (SHPI) was created and C.C. Sheppard chosen as the organizations’ first president.

SHPI embraced the largest hardwood lumber producing area in the nation, serving all or part of sixteen southern states including Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Delaware, and the lowland counties of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The principal service provided by SHPI included trade promotion, public relations, research, and statistics. Subscription cards in 1935 reveal that SHPI members agreed to pay ten cents per thousand feet on log scale production, not less than seven cents of which was to be spent on trade promotion. SHPI began with thirty-seven charter members growing to a membership of 115 companies by the end of 1956.

The Southern Hardwood Defense Committee (SHDC) formed as a subdivision of SHPI with responsibility for keeping the hardwood industry abreast of governmental needs in the war effort and federal regulations issued to further those needs. The Southern Hardwood Industry War Committee superseded the SHDC in March 1942 but its purpose remained the same. It subsequently issued a series of 700 plus

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Arrangement

Series 1: Hardwood Manufacturers Institute and Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. Numerical Files

Series 2: Hardwood Manufacturers Institute Miscellaneous Papers

Series 3: Hardwood Manufacturers Institute and Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. Alphabetical Files

Series 4: Southern Hardwood Defense Committee

Series 5: Southern Hardwood Industry War Committee

Series 6: Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. and Government Regulations

Series 7: Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. Publications

Series 8: Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. Miscellaneous

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

University of Mississippi Libraries 2005

Access Restrictions

Open

Use Restriction

The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship or research." If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use", that user may be liable for copyright infringement.

Accruals

No further additions are anticipated.

Processing Information

Processed by University of Mississippi Department Special Collections Staff. EAD encoded finding-aid begun September 2005. Updated September 2016.

Processing Information

A grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission in 1979 provided funds for the Archives & Special Collections to process, inventory, and make accessible the records of several lumber concerns, including the Hardwood Manufacturers Institute/ Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. Collection. Dr. Thomas M. Verich directed the project with the assistance of departmental staff Franklin Walker, Phillip Hall, Elise Winter, and Naomi Levell as well as help from student workers Suzanne Steel, David Robinson, David Sansing, Perry Sansing, Freda Stanford, and Katherine Ditto. Dr. Linda Matthews of Emory University, Dr. Ellen Garrison of Georgia State University, and Dr. Dale Flesher of the University of Mississippi served as consultants.

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Related Materials

Related Materials at the University of Mississippi

Other Mississippi lumber company records in the Archives & Special Collections include the following:

Batson & Hatten Lumber Company Collection (14 boxes + ledgers).

Andrew Brown and Son/R.F. Learned Lumber Company Collection (117 boxes and 150 ledgers).

Fernwood Industries Lumber Company Collection (94 boxes + ledgers).

J.J. Newman Lumber Company Collection (6 boxes).

Ernest W. Pettis Collection (1 box).

Lamont Rowlands Collection (30 boxes).

H. Weston Lumber Company Collection (116 boxes and over 300 ledgers).

Other material in the Archives & Special Collections related to forestry and the lumber industry may be discovered in the Agriculture & Forestry Subject Guide.

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Bibliography.

Jim Cortese, “Memphis: The Hardwood Capital” Southern Lumberman (15 December 1956), pp. 137-139.

L.J. Heatherly, “History of the Southern Hardwood Producers Inc.” Southern Lumberman (15 December 1956), pp. 131.

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Collection Inventory

Series 1: Hardwood Manufacturers Institute and Southern Hardwood Producers Incorporated: Numerical Files. 

Scope and Content

Hardwood Manufacturers Institute and Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. Numerical Files contains five boxes dating from 1929 to 1946. They include correspondence, pamphlets, bulletins, charts, and reports arranged by subject. A large majority of the numerical files contain HMI papers. Examples of subjects covered by this series are types of hardwoods, census reports, automobile body construction, HMI directors, and HMI board minutes.

Box 1: (40-1900) 

Box 2: (2020-2460) 

Box 3: (2640-3790) 

Box 4: (4180-5460) 

Box 5: (5543-7460) 

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Series 2: Hardwood Manuacturers Institure Miscellaneous Papers. 

Scope and Content

Miscellaneous papers associated with HMI appear in Series 2 (1 box) and date from 1933 to 1934.

Box 6: Lumber Code Bulletins, Hardwood Manufacturers Institute Bulletins, Miscellaneous Hardwood Manufacturers Institute Bulletins, and Miscellaneous Hardwood Manufacturers Institute Papers. 1933-1934 

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Series 3: Hardwood Manufacturers Institute and Southern Hardwood Producers Incorporated: Alphabetical Files. 

Scope and Content

Hardwood Manufacturers Institute Miscellaneous Papers Alphabetical Files consists of three boxes arranged alphabetically by member hardwood manufacturers.

Box 7: (A-E) 

Box 8: (F-M) 

Box 9: (N-Y) 

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Series 4: Southern Hardwood Defense Committee. 

Scope and Content

Series 4 and 5 contain bulletins and other material related to the Southern Hardwood Defense Committee (1 box) and the Southern Hardwood Industry War Committee (4 boxes) efforts to respond to the war effort and resulting governmental regulations.

Box 10 October 1940 – March 1942; 1951 

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Series 5: Southern Hardwood Industry War Committee 

Scope and Content

Series 4 and 5 contain bulletins and other material related to the Southern Hardwood Defense Committee (1 box) and the Southern Hardwood Industry War Committee (4 boxes) efforts to respond to the war effort and resulting governmental regulations.

Box 11: Bulletins (1-149) March 1942 – October 1942 

Box 12: Bulletins (150-189) and (345-512) October 1942 – January 1944 

Box 13: Bulletins (317-728)  April 1943 – August 1945 

Box 14: Bulletins (650-730) February 1942 and December 1944 – November 1945 

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Series 6: Southern Hardwood Producers Incorporated and Government Regulations. 

Scope and Content

Other material related to governmental regulations having an impact on the hardwood lumber industry during and after World War II reside in Series 6 which includes material related to the following agencies: Office of Price Administration, War Production Board, Office of Price Stabilization, Defense Production Administration, Defense Mobilization Organization, Wage Stabilization Board, Salary Stabilization Board, and the Economic Stabilization Board. These files include maximum price regulations, amendments, and revisions.

Box 15: Office of Price Administration Ceiling Price Regulations, War Production Board Orders, and Controlled Materials Plan Regulations. 1943-1945 

Scope and Content

Office of Price Administration Ceiling Price Regulations, October 1945 – September 1946; War Production Board Orders 41, 311, 335, 1943-1945; and Controlled Materials Plan Regulations 1 & 5, 1943.

Box 16: Office of Price Stabilization Bulletins, Ceiling Price Regulations, Advisory Committee Files, and Correspondence regarding CPR 132. 1951-1952 

Box 17: Office of Price Stabilization Ceiling Price regulations, Defense Mobilization Organization Charts, Defense Production Administration,and Wage Stabilization Board. 1951-1952 

Box 18: Salary Stabilization Board, and Economic Stabilization Agency. 1951-1953 

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Series 7: Southern Hardwood Producers Incorporated: Publications. 

Scope and Content

Series 7 contains SHPI publications including reports on past sales, the hardwood market, and hardwood stock. Reports generally appeared weekly and contain figures reported by member hardwood manufacturers. Missing in all three of these publications are reports between 1952 and 1955.

Box 19: Past Sales Reports. 1949-1951 

Box 20: Past Sales Reports, Hardwood Market Reports, Hardwood Stock Reports. 1952-1956 

Scope and Content

Past Sales Reports, January – May 1952, November – December 1955; January – February 1956; Hardwood Market Reports, 1949-1952, 1955-1956; Hardwood Stock Reports, 1949-1952, 1955-1956.

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Series 8: Southern Hardwood Producers Incorporated: Miscellaneous. 

Scope and Content

Miscellaneous papers, printed material, and photographs related to SHPI occupy Series 8 (3 boxes).

Box 21: Printed Material. 

Box 22: Box 22. Printed Material. 1928-1951 

Scope and Content

National Lumber Trade Barometer, 1950-1951; Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. Membership Papers, 1935-1942; Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. Subscription Cards, 1935; Photographs (Fisher Lumber Corporation, Chicago Mill & Lumber Company, George T. Houston & Company, Pearl River Valley Lumber Company; F.T. Dooley War Company, Mississippi State Forester, Marion Falkner, Crosset Lumber, Long-Bell Forest Reserve); Report on Logging Study of Geo. T. Houston & Company; Report of Hardwood Conditions in Louisiana, 1928; Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. papers

Box 23: Papers regarding Southern Hardwood Producers Inc. Model House. 1936-1937 

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