Register of the Cannon Mills Records, 1836-1983

Reference material including histories, historical articles, biographical sketches of the Cannons, and data on some of the textile mills.

Correspondence, memoranda, legal and financial papers, reports, and volumes centering upon the founder of Cannon Mills. Important files relating to mill operations concern the early years of Buck Creek Cotton Mills at Siluria, Ala., and Cannon's management of Paola Cotton Mills at Statesville, N.C. There is considerable financial data and some correspondence for the New York office. A record book contains early production, cost, labor and other statistics. Overseer Joseph D. Bacon's reminiscences provide a vignette of J. W. Cannon's early years in management. T. C. Thompson, a builder and contractor, was associated with Cannon in Buck Creek Cotton Mills.

Information about J. W. Cannon's finances and personal investments is extensive. It includes his dealing with H. Hentz and Co., J. S. Bache and Co., and the Farmers' Loan and Trust Co. of New York City. Trading in securities and commodities was considerable. There is also some record of other ventures such as real estate and oil production.

Papers relating to Cannon and his family include wills, estate records, and financial documents and accounts. Files for the settlement of the estate of Mrs. Cannon's uncle, Aaron J. Bost, are extensive, and securities investments are itemized.

Correspondence, memoranda, legal and financial papers, reports, and volumes relating to C. A. Cannon, the company's manager from 1921 to 1971. There are notable files for the advertising agencies of Young and Rubicam, N. W. Ayer and Son, and the Market Research Corporation of America. External public relations and industry concerns were expressed through such organizations as the American Cotton Manufacturers Association, American Cotton Manufacturers Institute, National Cotton Council, Textile Committee on Public Relations, and the Committee for a National Trade Policy. Lawsuits between Cannon and the Collector of Internal Revenue and the estate of William A. Stribling, a cotton buying and receiving agent, caused the compilation of considerable information and financial statistics about Cannon Mills and some of its subsidiary and related mills. There are also records from the antebellum Concord Steam Manufacturing Co.; the Odell Manufacturing Co.; Charles Cannon's investments and cash transactions; the securities investments of James W. Cannon and Mary Ella (Bost) Cannon; the estate of Thomas T. Smith, a former secretary of Cannon Manufacturing; the consolidation of 1928; and a lodge of Freemasons at Concord, N.C.

Primarily legal and financial papers of this son and heir of James W. Cannon and Mary Ella (Bost) Cannon including financial correspondence of Mrs. E. T. Cannon. This series contains copies of wills, court documents, and financial reports and letters from the trustees of James W. Cannon's estate, and including information relating to the estate that is not available elsewhere in the collection. Other topics include taxes, a suit against Appalachian Hall, an institution at Asheville specializing in the treatment of nervous disorders, and Davidson Cotton Mills, a Cannon family enterprise.

Insurance agency ledger recording accounts with mills in the Cannon group, other textile mills, non-textile businesses, James W. Cannon, and T. W. Smith.

Files during tenures of successive secretaries J. W. Cannon, Jr., G. B. Lewis, T. T. Smith, Jr., F. J. Haywood, Hearne Swink, J. H. Cannon, and B. T. Beck, concerning mostly the corporation's charter, stock and stockholders. Arranged alphabetically.

Files include annual reports; cloth samples; correspondence; economic stabilization; electric power meter reading cards for rental buildings and houses (includes names of workers); President Don S. Holt and his speeches; merino yarn; the retirement plan; the union election in 1974 lost by the Textile Workers Union of America (communications to and from employees included); the W. T. Grant Company; an investigation of corporate slush funds; a suit involving racial discrimination; and civic projects. Arranged alphabetically.

Chiefly correspondence and files for organizations that dealt with state and national issues of interest to business. National Cotton Council of American material includes correspondence, memoranda, and kits containing speeches for use on radio and elsewhere about national agricultural, economic, labor, and medical issues. Officials represented in this series include Charles A. Cannon, president; Hearne Swink, secretary and vice president; G. A. Batte, Jr., secretary to Mr. Cannon; Joe C. Ridenhour; and T. C. Haywood. Arranged alphabetically.

These files are considerably more complete than those in the series for 1950. Larger files include: miscellaneous correspondence; several mills in the Cannon group, especially Central and Wiscassett; state and national industry organizations; Ewing-Thomas Corp. of Chester, Pa., and the U.S. government (New York Quartermaster Procurement Agency). many important writers and topics appear in the extensive miscellaneous correspondence files. Cannon, Swink, Ridenhour, Batte, and Haywood continue to be principals in the correspondence. Arranged alphabetically.

Primarily files for officials, departments, and plants within the company, including extensive sales reports from several regions in the country. Arranged alphabetically.

Primarily files A-M including correspondence with officials, sales data, business with textile mills and related companies, and national and state industry organizations. Officials represented include President Cannon and Vice Presidents Batte, J. H. Cannon, and Harold P. Hornaday. Arranged alphabetically.

Includes files A-C and L-Z that are somewhat more extensive than the records for 1950, 1952, 1970, and 1971. Concerns various aspects of production and sales, Wiscassett Mills, dealings with state and national industry and governmental organizations, especially the American Textile Manufacturers Institute and the North Carolina Textile Manufacturers Association. Numerous officials are represented in the correspondence including President and Chairman Hornaday, Vice Chairman and Treasurer Batte, Vice Presidents Adams, Jenkins, and Spence, Secretary Beck, Don S. Holt, Joe C. Ridenhour, and others. Arranged alphabetically.

Chiefly minutes of the Board of Directors' Audit Committee and Hornaday's expense reports and speeches. During this period he served as vice president, president, and chairman of the Board of Directors. Arranged alphabetically.

Files of this long-time official concerning advertising, ceiling prices, and the Laboratory Department. Includes some correspondence. Arranged alphabetically.

Correspondence and statistical compilations relating to labor, production, and marketing. Swink was vice president and secretary of the company.

Correspondence principally among Charles A. Cannon, other officials of the company, and the Cotton Department concerning government regulation and the supply, marketing, acquisition, and utilization of cotton. Also cotton invoices for Franklin Cotton Mills, bills and lading, and account books. Files arranged alphabetically and volumes shelved numerically.

Files and account books of the mother company and of the consolidated corporation beginning in 1928 including the factories at both Concord and Kannapolis (operating 30,000 and 125,000 spindles, respectively, in 1916). Includes minute books; stock records; files recording how the company implemented the state's early child labor laws (both boys and girls); superintendent's records; time books mostly from the Weave Room, Plant No. 1, arranged by the names of overseers and other supervisory personnel; financial statements and inventories; registers of employee injuries; geographical distribution of orders and billings; ledgers; journals; trial balances; cashbooks; bank ledgers; and miscellaneous files and account book for purchases, production, sales, construction, employees, and equipment. Files arranged alphabetically and volumes shelved numerically.

Primarily minutes of meetings of the stockholders and the directors of Cannon's selling agency in New York City after its incorporation in 1920. There are also scattered financial papers. Earlier files relating to the New York office are available elsewhere in the collection. Arranged alphabetically.

Scattered financial and production records and account books of the factory and also accounts of the company's general store that include business with millworkers. Purchased by the Cannons and operated as Cannon and Company until 1916 when the plant became a division of Cannon Manufacturing Company. The plant manufactured towels and had 14,676 spindles in 1927. It was part of Central Mills, ca. 1945-1957. Files arranged alphabetically and volumes shelved numerically. 166 Cannon of West Coast, Inc., Series, 1976. Minutes of the Board of Directors concerning Cannon Mills' retirement plan and trust fund. The function of this corporation remains unclear.

Minutes of meetings of stockholders and directors and miscellaneous insurance and stock purchase records of this wholly owned subsidiary in Central, S.C. Cannon Mills purchased the factory in 1935 and operated it until dissolution in 1957. The factory produced print cloths and had 25,680 spindles in 1936. The plant at York, S.C., continued to function. Arranged alphabetically.

Charter and bylaws, minute books, gold bonds, stock ledgers, stock certificate books, and scattered correspondence, financial statements, stock holder proxies, and historical and biographical information. James W. Cannon and the Rev. Paul Barringer, each a one- third owner, established the mill in 1907. It became Cannon Mills Plant No. 11 in 1928. In 1927 the factory had 13,964 spindles that produced yarn, beams, balls, tubes, and skeins. Arranged alphabetically.

Minutes of the meetings of the stockholders and directors and scattered correspondence and financial statements of a major cotton brokerage house at Memphis, Tennessee, doing both domestic and foreign business. Lewis T. Barringer of the North Carolina Barringer family founded the firm. It merged into Cannon Mills in 1983. Arranged alphabetically.

Ledgers, invoice book, and miscellaneous financial records of this cotton mill at Statesville, N.C., established in 1903 and owned by Cannon Mills during ca. 1928-1935. In 1930 the mill had 6,944 spindles and produced combed peeler, ball warps, and cones. Files arranged alphabetically and volumes shelved numerically.

Stock records of this textile mill at Concord, N.C., founded in 1905, operated for many years by the Johnston family, and owned by Cannon Mills from 1956 until closure in ca. 1970-1971. The factory had 15,216 spindles producing outings, shirtings, and interlinings in 1953. Arranged alphabetically.

Chiefly bank records of this organization at Concord, N.C., that contributed funds, usually less than $500, to schools, social groups, health organizations, charities, and especially to churches. Related to the Johnston textile interests until the Cannons assumed control in the 1950s. Arranged alphabetically.

Stock certificate book and minute books of the stockholders and directors of this hosiery yearn manufacturer in Cabarrus County. The Cannons acquired control from the Johnston family in 1956 and operated the mill until its liquidation in 1978. Never a large mill, Roberta had 6,054 spindles in both 1929 and 1950. Arranged alphabetically.

Extensive but incomplete account books including stock records, ledgers, journals, trial balances, financial statements, bank ledgers, cash records, notes payable and receivable, and miscellaneous volumes and files concerning the charter, employees, and finances. The Cannons were among the founders of the company. There were plants at Kannapolis and Concord that became Cannon Mills' Plants No. 4 and No. 5 respectively in 1928. The Concord factory produced sheeting with 28,016 spindles in 1927, and the facility at Kannapolis had 80,000 spindles making combed yarns, sheetings, and fabrics. Files arranged alphabetically and volumes shelved numerically.