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Ralph Huey Collection of Crompton & Knowles Photographs

 Collection
Identifier: 6584 P

Scope and Contents

The Ralph Huey Collection of Crompton & Knowles Photographs contains photographs and negatives of Crompton & Knowles collected by Ralph Huey.

Dates

  • undated

Conditions Governing Access

Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.

Biographical / Historical

For Ralph Huey's post military service he was employed for 48 years working with the textile machinery manufacturer Crompton and Knowles of Worcester, MA. The last 14 years with Crompton and Knowles were spent in Charlotte, NC where he was involved in research and development, engineering, marketing, and administration. Ralph also served as an advertising and exhibit manager with C&K for 25 years. After C&K, Ralph was affiliated with PMI of Harrisburg, NC and served as the sales manager for Southern Textile News of Charlotte, NC.

Biographical / Historical

Crompton & Knowles Corporation was a medium-sized company whose business was divided into three highly specialized areas: dyemaking, the manufacture and marketing of extrusion equipment and components (for processing of plastics), and the production of flavors, food colorings, and fragrances for the food processing and pharmaceutical industries. At one point, Crompton & Knowles was one of the largest dye producers in America for the textile and related industries and the sole supplier of 40 percent of the dyes it made. Today it produces a wide-range of specialty chemicals.

Crompton & Knowles's roots lie in the cotton weaving industry, one of the first enterprises to be mechanized in western Europe in the late eighteenth century. William Crompton was a New England businessman who originated an improved loom, which he began manufacturing and marketing in the town of Worcester, MA, in 1837. For the next four decades, the Crompton Loom Works was practically without competitors, and it steadily prospered. Toward the end of this exclusive reign, Lucius J. Knowles, another New England businessman, developed an improved version of the textile loom in 1862, whereupon he too established his own company, L. J. Knowles & Bros., in the town of Warren, MA. In 1879, these two compaies merged to form Cromton & Knowles Loom Works. In 1999, Crompton & Knowles merged with Witco Corporation and in 2000 the company changed its names to Crompton Corporation. In 2005, Crompton Corporation merged with Great Lakes Chemical Corporation to form Chemtura.

Extent

0.67 cubic feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Collection of photographs and negatives of Crompton & Knowles collected by Ralph Huey.

Custodial History

American Textile History Museum Collection, gift of Ralph Huey.

Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives Repository

Contact:
227 Ives Hall
Ithaca NY 14853