Inventory of the British-American Tobacco Company Records, 1842-1929

The Dunlop family of Petersburg, Virginia, engaged in the manufacture and export of tobacco for more than a century, their interests dating back at least to 1820 when James Dunlop built a large factory. His brothers Robert and David also were involved in manufacturing, and the business of David Dunlop and his descendants is the one represented here by an important, although incomplete, set of records. The proprietorship of the firm varied over the years and is not always clearly defined in the existing records. The Letter Book, 1842-1846, indicates that David Dunlop was operating under his own name. He was also a partner with his brother in the firm of John A. Dunlop & Co. of Louisville, Kentucky, with whom he corresponded. A brother was in the Petersburg Company of Dunlop & Tennant (letter of July 24, 1844). The letters indicate considerable business with Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

After the Civil War the succeeding David Dunlop (ca. 1841-1902) was associated with David B. Tennant in the firm of D. B. Tennant & Co. that operated until the latter's death in 1885 , at which time he was reputed to be Petersburg's wealthiest citizen. David Dunlop continued the business under his own name and was at the time of his death one of the largest exporters of manufactured tobacco in the U. S. His products were principally plug and twist, according to Connorton's Tobacco Brand Directory of the United States in 1887 and 1899. His son David Dunlop sold the business to British-American in 1903 when it was registered in New Jersey as David Dunlop (Incorporated). He was president of the new firm and both he and R. L. Dunlop were directors. The corporation continued into the 1920s and possibly later. Information about the company can be found in: David Dunlop's obituary in Tobacco, 33, No. 26 (Oct. 31, 1902), p. 2; Joseph Clarke Robert, The Tobacco Kingdom (Durham, N. C., 1938), pp. 186-187 (which also includes an illustration of an advertising poster); and in the Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Tobacco Industry (Washington, 1909). The first entry in D. B. Tennant & Co.'s Journal, 1867-1880 , and those of Jan. 1, 1886 and Jan. 2, 1889, in the Journal, 1880-1890, as well as other entries, document Dunlop's association with Mr. Tennant.

The Tobacco Collection includes one or more examples of Dunlop's advertisements.

The records of David Dunlop extend for almost ninety years, and, although incomplete, they constitute the most substantial group within the collection - and the only one that dates well back into the nineteenth century. A ledger and journal of 1847-1856 and a letter book of 1842-1846 (including an invoice book, 1842-1847) are important volumes from the antebellum period. The letter book records the difficulties of businessmen during the war scare over the Oregon Question in 1845-1846 and Dunlop's reaction to that issue and to President Polk. This volume is also valuable for comment about crop conditions, marketing, etc. After the war D. B. Tennant & Co. is represented notably by its journals of 1867-1890, bills of exchange of 1870-1887, and payroll records of 1878-1879 and 1883-1886. The accounts for David Dunlop during 1885-1903 are the best preserved set. The important ledgers and journals are complete for this period, and the payroll books are almost complete. There are also broken runs of invoice and shipping books, bills of exchange, and others. The strength of the records for the two decades after 1903 is in the elaborate cost, production, and sales records in the cost sheets, details of cost, and general statements. The Leaf Department also has ledgers, journals, and books for statements, insurance, and warehouse storage.

The volume of General Statements, 1904-1905 , includes an inventory of Dunlop for Dec. 31, 1904 . This inventory is published in Nannie M. Tilley, The Bright-Tobacco Industry, 1860-1929, (Chapel Hill, 1948), pp. 690-696.

A folder of miscellaneous papers, 1902-1922 , includes a few accounts from Dunlop. The folder is filed in the first box of the collection.

The structure and records of the companies after 1903 are complicated by the fact that British-American concentrated the manufacture of the brands of Dunlop, Cameron, Williams, and its other acquisitions in a single bonded warehouse at Petersburg (Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Tobacco Industry (Washington, 1909) , p. 361; also noted in Williams' Letterpress Book, June- Sept., 1903, p. 695). This situation is reflected in the account books. For some types of records there are separate volumes for Dunlop, Williams, and British-American. In other cases their accounts are combined, sometimes clearly labeled and sometimes not. Dunlop's Cost Sheets and Details of Cost include some figures for the brands of Williams and British-American, but the volumes are labeled as belonging to Dunlop. Some volumes clearly contain statistics for all three companies. So there are lists below of account books for Dunlop, Williams, British-American, and combinations of them, as well as for lesser groups such as the Export Leaf Tobacco Co. and the Bland Tobacco Co.

The situation is further complicated by divisions within Dunlop. Several series of accounts belonged to its Leaf Department, and they are segregated accordingly. However, the volumes were not always carefully labeled, and some books not listed for the Leaf Department may actually relate to it. It is not the purpose of this inventory to determine the exact operational structure of the businesses, especially since their records are so incomplete.

It is always possible that some unlabeled volumes have been incorrectly placed in this inventory, and the researcher should apply appropriate caution in using them. Further, titles of account books varied, sometimes in the same series, or were incomplete or absent altogether, so some titles supplied here may not technically be entirely accurate.

The Camerons, like the Dunlops, were Scots, and the two families were once connected by marriage as well as being associated in tobacco manufacturing. The Camerons came to Petersburg in the 1840s. There were three brothers (Alexander, George, and William) and two sisters, one of whom married Robert Dunlop. The brothers obtained positions with David Dunlop, and Alexander Cameron advanced to a partnership. In 1858 they founded the firm of William Cameron & Brother at Petersburg that continued in independent existence until 1903. Their activities expanded to Richmond where they established Alexander Cameron Co. in 1865 and Cameron & Cameron in 1889. These businesses likewise continued to 1903 when all the Cameron companies were absorbed by British-American. A significant part of the Cameron enterprises were the firms that they began establishing in Australia in the 1870s, there eventually being plants at Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, and Brisbane. Their trade was strong in Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, and other British dependencies. Until the creation of the American Tobacco Co., the combined Cameron properties were probably the largest tobacco manufacturing enterprises operated by Americans. Information about them is in: biographies of Alexander Cameron (1834-1915) in: The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, VII, 321-322; the Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, IV, 259-260 (and of George Cameron in the same work, IV, 154-155); and in the New York Times, Feb. 4, 1915, p. 9. See also Joseph Clarke Robert, The Story of Tobacco in America (New York, 1949), p. 131. The Tobacco Collection includes one or more items from the Cameron companies.

The T. C. Williams Co. of Richmond, Va., dates back to the 1850s when it first appears in the city directories as a tobacco manufacturer. It was incorporated in 1889. By 1903 it had become one of the largest tobacco exporters in the U. S., sending abroad nearly five million pounds of chewing tobacco a year and a small amount of smoking tobacco. Williams was a formidable rival of the British in Australia, South Africa, and elsewhere. This rivalry ended in 1903 when British-American bought the export business, which thereafter operated as a subsidiary at Petersburg under the name of T. C. Williams Co. The Continental Tobacco Co. purchased the domestic business that was taken into the American Tobacco Co. in the merger of 1904 . Information about the firm is in: the New York Times, April 11, 1903, p. 1, and May 8, 1903, p. 3; the Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Tobacco Industry (Washington, 1909); and Joseph Clarke Robert, The Story of Tobacco in America (New York, 1949), p. 130.

The Tobacco Collection includes one or more advertising items for this company.

The thirty volumes, 1903-1913, record operations of the firm during its first decade as a subsidiary of British-American. The set of books is very incomplete. Three important volumes are the Cost Sheets for 1903-1904 and 1905-1912 that contain a variety of reports, often monthly, such as trial balances, costs, inventories, transactions, etc. Stock records are numerous, especially those for brands. An inventory of Dec. 31, 1904, is included in Dunlop's General Statements of 1904-1905.

The company's business records may have been sent to the office in New York; see the reference in Dunlop's Letterpress Book of Jan.- July, 1906 (p. 890).

The Export Leaf Tobacco Co. was listed in 1918 and 1924 as a substantial subsidiary of British-American that operated as the latter's tobacco buying agency. It was still listed in 1967 in Moody's Manual of Investments where it was described as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. that was in turn owned entirely by British-American. Information about Export Leaf Tobacco Co. can be found in: the city directories of Petersburg and Richmond; Reavis Cox, Competition in the American Tobacco Industry, 1911-1932 (New York, 1933 ); and in Nannie May Tilley, The Bright-Tobacco Industry, 1860-1929 (Chapel Hill, 1948).

Less than a dozen volumes represent the operations of Export Leaf, and it is not always certain what functions the accounts were meant to record or to which department and city they belonged. In 1919 there was a department at Richmond, according to the city directory, and several volumes are labeled “Richmond Stemmery”, “Richmond Storage,” and “R. S.” In the Petersburg directory for 1915-1916 the company was referred to as a tobacco stemmer and repriser, and several volumes are labeled “Petersburg Dept.” In any case, these books relate more to storage, inventory, and processing than to the firm's activity as a buying agent for British-American.

There is a large collection of papers of the Export Leaf Tobacco Company at East Carolina University.

The Bland Tobacco Co. of Petersburg, a manufacturer of plug tobacco, appeared in the city directories in the later 1890s. It was dissolved after the American Tobacco Co. purchased its entire capital stock in 1904. Bland was a small factory For its trial balance of early 1905 listed capital stock of only $50,000. The company is noted in the Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on the Tobacco Industry (Washington, 1909), p. 185.

There are only two volumes for this company, but one of them includes significant information about it.