H. P. & E. Day, Inc. Records

Collection

Identifier: 1988-0027

Staff Only

Scope and Content

The H. P. & E. Day, Inc. Records include administrative records, product orders and inventories, property transaction and legal documents, financial records, and samples of pens, mechanical pencils and accessories. Also includes information related to the Austin G. Day Company and the Waterman Pen Company, H. P. & E. Day's predecessor and successor companies.

Dates

Creation: 1854-1955

Access

The collection is open and available for research.

Restrictions on Use

Permission to publish from these records must be obtained in writing from the owner(s) of the copyright.

History

In 1854 Austin G., Julius, and Henry P. Day and Thomas Sault founded the A.G. Day Company in Seymour, Connecticut, which manufactured small household and office items from molded hard rubber, particularly pen and pencil holders. In the 1860s the firm began making insulated telegraph wire. In 1870 A. G. Day Company produced 100 miles of wire while another firm, Julius Day Company, took over the manufacture of small rubber goods. By 1876 the rubber company was known as H. P. & E. Day Company and run by Julius's sons Henry P. and Edmund Day. The company was incorporated in 1902 and thereafter known as H.P. & E. Day, Inc.

The company rubber works formed the basis of a new enterprise for the L.E. Waterman Pen Company of New York. Lewis Edson Waterman, pioneer of the production of hard rubber fountain pens, established the company in 1884. The principal parts of the pens were produced at H. P. & E. Day, Inc., at its Seymour plant. This arrangement continued until 1946 when H. P. & E. Day, Inc., became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Waterman Pen Company.

Extent

5 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

H. P. & E. Day, Inc., of Seymour, Connecticut, manufactured hard rubber for pens and mechanical pencils. Records include administrative records, product orders and inventories, property and legal documents, financial records, and examples of the company's products. Also included is information about the predecessor and successor companies, Austin G. Day Company and Waterman Pen Company.

Arrangement

Series I: Administrative records (undated, 1870-1955). Includes the by-laws and documents of incorporation from when the company became incorporated in 1902, permissions from producers of patents for the company to use the patent concepts in the manufacture of products, correspondence, reports from consultants on operations at the Waterman Pen Company, and other related materials.

Series II: Product orders and inventories (undated, 1878-1904, 1941). Records consist of agreements between H. P. & E. Day and other companies to supply hard rubber products, and other orders and invoices.

Series III: Property transaction and legal documents (1867-1954).

Series IV: Financial records (1854-1946).

Series V: Pens, mechanical pencils, and accessories (undated, 1879-1950).

Acquisition Information

The collection was donated to the University of Connecticut Library in August 1988 by Mr. Robert Scott. Mr. Scott had received the records from his father, R. D. Scott, a former vice-president at Waterman Pen Company in the Seymour, Connecticut, plant.