Inventory of the Sauer, Farrell, & Co. Records, 1870-2008 and undated

Abstract

Sauer, Farrell, & Co. was a cigar manufacturing company located in Suffield, Connecticut, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Collection of ledgers, account books, order forms, and other ephemera relating to the sale and purchase of cigars by Sauer, Farrell, & Co., Cigar Manufacturers. Materials range in date from the 1870s through the early 1900s, and it is believed that the cigar company may have changed names throughout that period. The centerpiece of the collection is a specimen book of sample cigar box labels, created by the lithographers Heppenheimer & Maurer around 1878. The specimen book includes about 115 leaves, with labels affixed on each side of the leaf; the label colors range from two colors to multiple colors per label. Account books document cigar production, purchase, and sales information. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.

Descriptive Summary

Repository: David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
Creator: Sauer, Farrell, & Co.
Title: Sauer, Farrell, & Co. Records, 1870-2008 and undated
Language of Material: English
Extent: 3.5 Linear Feet, 45 Items
Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Series Quick Links

Cigar Label Specimen Book, 1878
Sauer, Farrell & Co. Materials, 1870s-2008 and undated

Collection Overview

Collection of ledgers, account books, order forms, and other ephemera relating to the sale and purchase of cigars by Sauer, Farrell, & Co., Cigar Manufacturers. Materials range in date from the 1870s through the early 1900s, and it is believed that the cigar company may have changed names throughout that period. The centerpiece of the collection is a specimen book of sample cigar box labels, created by the lithographers Heppenheimer & Maurer around 1878. The specimen book includes about 115 leaves, with labels affixed on each side of the leaf; the color ranges from two colors to multiple colors per label. Account books document cigar production, purchase, and sales information. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History.

Administrative Information

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Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

However, collection may contain materials to which the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibilities and Privacy Rights form applies. Patrons must sign this form before using this collection.

Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

Contents of the Collection

Browse List of Series

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Cigar Label Specimen Book, 1878

1 Box

Specimen book created by Heppenheimer & Maurer, dated approximately 1878, and distributed to Sauer, Farrell, & Co. Book contains about 120 pages with labels pasted on each side of each page. Each label has a four-digit number stamped in blue ink, ranging from the 1600s to the 7000s. The labels are not in numerical order. The book and its pages are in fair condition; the book's binding needs preservation work, the back cover is detached, and some pages are dirty. The labels' lithographs are in excellent condition, many with vibrant colors. The artwork is generally very bright with subjects tending towards an exotic or tropical feel.

Cigar Label Specimen Book

Box 1

Sauer, Farrell & Co. Materials, 1870s-2008 and undated

9 Boxes

Includes order forms, account ledgers, sample cigar wrappers, receipts, and one photograph from the Sauer, Farrell & Co. cigar manufacturing company. The account ledgers represent the bulk of the series, recording cigar production, purchase, and sales information. Also includes auction house catalogs describing the collection.

Account ledgers

1874-1885

Box 2

1885-1893

Box 3

1880-1881

Box 4

1891-1899 (Front cover is missing.)

Box 5

Cigar manufacturer's books, 1891-1937 (Used by P.J. Farrell)

1891-1893

Box 6

1926-1928

[Includes loose inventories and correspondence.]

Box 6

Account ledger, 1886-1893

Box 7

Auction materials related to collection, 2008

Box 8

Farrell notices against fraud

Box 8

Photograph of Sauer, Farrell, & Co. factory, 1888

[Features company's building with employees posed outside. Bottom left corner is missing.]

Box 8

Tobacco invoice forms, blank, undated

Box 8

Account ledgers

1870-1871

Box 9

1886 (Includes receipts and statements from P.S. Lipps of Suffield, Conn., stuck inside the ledger's cover.)

Box 9

1888-1890

Box 9

1890-1902 (Tracking sales per month. Missing a cover.)

Box 9

Seasonal advertisements, C.B. Henschel Manufacturing Co., 1932-1937

(2 folders)

Box 10

Historical Note

Sauer, Farrell, & Co. was a cigar manufacturing company located in Suffield, Connecticut, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Suffield was the site of the country's first cigar factory, which opened in 1810 after its owners hired a Cuban to teach its workers how to roll tobacco. The town became home to numerous factories that used local crops and sold a variety of cigars throughout the eastern United States. Not much is known about Sauer, Farrell, & Co. in particular, but its involvement in cigar manufacturing and selling appear to reflect the general activities of Suffield cigar factories during this time.

Heppenheimer & Maurer was a lithography company that created box labels for cigar manufacturers to paste on the inside lid of a box of cigars. Sample books like the one in this collection were distributed to local cigar manufacturers, who could then order the labels by their designated number. Frederick Heppenheimer, from New York City, was one of the earliest and most prolific commerical lithographers. He later partnered with Louis Maurer, another well-regarded artist, to create Heppenheimer & Maurer in 1872. Maurer was one of the few cigar label lithographers who regularly signed his work. The company was one of dozens of lithography companies from this period whose art reflected everyday life in the United States.