MS 380 - Buckeye Traction Ditcher Collection, Garwood Industries
MLA Citation
Tags
Title | MS 380 - Buckeye Traction Ditcher Collection, Garwood Industries |
---|---|
Subject | Agriculture |
Business & Commerce | |
Introduction | The records of the Buckeye Traction Ditcher Company, Findlay, Ohio (Garwood Industries, Inc.), also known as the William F. Wittenmyer Collection cover the period from around 1900 to 1988. The donation and transfer of these records to the Center for Archival Collections was arranged through the cooperation of Susan W. Wittenmyer (Mrs. William F. Wittenmyer) on October 6, 1984. William Wittenmyer had been the former sales manager of Buckeye Traction Ditcher Co. Additions were received in September and November 1988 from Mrs. Wittenmyer. No restrictions exist on the use of this collection. Duplication is permitted for the purposes of preservation and research. Preliminary processing of the collection was done by Chris Haley in 1985. The register was completed by Marilyn Levinson, Curator of Manuscripts in April 1995. |
Agency History | The Buckeye Steam Ditcher Company was founded in Bowling Green, Ohio around 1893 by James B. Hill, who moved it to Deshler and Carey, Ohio before selling the company in 1902 to Van Buren, Heck & Marvin Co. At this time the firm moved to Findlay, Ohio, changing its name to the Buckeye Traction Ditcher Co. The firm has since switched ownership several times, including Garwood and Sergeant Industries. The company discontinued production in Findlay in 1973, although Ohio Locomotive Crane Company of Bucyrus is manufacturing a version of the machine. Buckeye's product line is still being marketed today by H & S Company, an agricultural drainage equipment dealer in Celina, Ohio. As stated in an article on the Black Swamp in Northwest Ohio Quarterly, Summer 1984, "Buckeye Traction Ditcher Company grew into the largest tile ditching and construction trenching company in the world and remained so for over fifty years." The revolutionary design of the ditcher digging wheel had neither an axle nor spokes, enabling the machine to dig a deeper trench that was uniform in size and grade. In 1988 the American Society of Mechanical Engineers designated an early model of the ditcher, No.88, in the possession of the Hancock Historical Museum, an International Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark. Additional information can be found in a 1987 interview (MMS 1014) with Fred Baird, a Buckeye employee, conducted by Chris Haley and Susan Hughes in 1987. |
Scope and Content | The Buckeye Traction Ditcher Collection consists of various sales and instruction manuals, parts catalogs, photographs, customer information cards, and newsclippings, dating from the early 1900s to 1986. The collection, most of which was collected by William F. Wittenmyer, sales manager at Garwood, contains very little correspondence or other written material, which probably was destroyed when the company closed. |
Series Description |
CORRESPONDENCE - WILLIAM WITTENMYER ROBERT KLEIN RESEARCH FILE PRODUCT SALES INFORMATION FILES DEALER INFORMATION FILES CUSTOMER INFORMATION FILES WORLD WAR II MISCELLANEOUS JOURNAL - EVERET T. BOWEN BOOKS PARTS MANUALS SALES MANUALS PAMPHLETS CIRCULARS ALBUMS PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS NEGATIVES POSITIVE TRANSPARENCIES FILM - 16 MM FILM - 8 MM DECALS OFFICE MATERIAL |
Inventory | Box 1: Correspondence, Subject Files Folders
Box 2: Subject Files Folders
Box 3: Subject Files Folders
Box 4: Subject Files Folders
Box 5: Subject Files, Literary Productions Folders
Folders
Box 7: Printed Materials Folders
Box 8: Printed Materials Folders
Box 9: Printed Materials Folders
Box 10: Printed Materials Folders
Box 11: Printed Materials Folders
Box 12: Printed Materials Folders
Box 13: Printed Materials Folders
Folders
Box 15: Photographs Folders
Box 16: Photographs Folders
Box 17: Photographs Folders
Box 18: Photographs Folders
Box 19: Photographs Folders
Box 20: Photographs Folders
Box 21: Photographs Folders
Box 22: Photographs Folders
Box 23: Photographs Folders
Box 24: Photographs Folders
Box 25: Photographs Folders
Box 26: Photographs Folders
Box 27: Photographs Folders
Box 28: Photographs Folders
Box 29: Photographs Folders
Box 30: Photographs Folders
Box 31: Photographs Folders
Box 32: Photographs Folders
Box 33: Photographs Folders
Box 34: Photographs Folders
Box 35: Photographs Folders
Box 36: Photographs Folders
Box 37: Photographs Folders
Box 38: Photographs Folders
Box 39: Photographs Folders
Box 40: Photographs Folders
Box 41: Photographs Folders
Box 42: Photographs Folders
Box 43: Photographs Folders
Box 44: Photographs Folders
Box 45: Photographs
Box 46: Photographs
Box 47: Photographs
Box 48: Photographs
Box 49: Photographs
Box 50: Photographs
Box 51: Photographs
Box 52: Photographs
Box 53: Photographs
Box 54: Photographs
Box 55: Photographs, Artifacts Folders
|