Budgets and Strategic Planning Documents

Summary: Documentation of the Ceramic Art Company's, and later Lenox, Incorporated's, tax returns, stock holdings and general financial transactions and account balances.

Stock Records: Arranged alphabetically by document type; thereunder arranged in chronological order.

Documentation of shareholder's agreements and stock transactions for Lenox Incorporated, spanning from 1889 to 1975. In part, the documents in this sub-series show the company's progression from being privately owned to being publicly traded, as well as provide insight into the founding of Lenox. Included in the records are stock certificates (individual certificates and bound volumes), stock ledgers, shareholder agreements, financial and legal certificates, correspondence and various government filings.

There are a large number of documents in this sub-series that pertain to Lenox's initial public offering in 1963, comprised largely of file copies of the paperwork required by the Securities and Exchange Commission. There is also extensive correspondence between Lenox, its selling stockholders, the SEC, First Jersey National Bank and Debevoise, Plimpton, Lyons & Gates (the law firm retained by Lenox for the IPO). One document related to the IPO is entitled "Certificate of Amendment of Certificate of Incorporation of Lenox, Incorporated," dated March 9, 1960. Other, earlier amendments and both the original and copies of the "Certificate of the Organization of the Ceramic Art Company" are also found in this sub-series.

The Stock Ledgers and bound volumes of stock certificates date from 1889, when Lenox, Inc., was established as a privately owned company, to circa 1960, just prior to Lenox's IPO. The Stock Ledgers record the names of both the preferred and common stockholders, the number of shares owned, and the dates the certificates were issued and canceled. Included within the volumes are canceled stock certificates, pasted back into the volumes from which they came. The correspondence found in some of the volumes of stock certificates has mainly to do with the transfer of shares, often upon the death of a shareholder.

Account Books: Arranged by book type; thereunder arranged chronologically.

This sub-series, spanning from 1889 to 1937, chronicles financial transactions of Lenox, Inc. These volumes provide a record of both individual transactions and the monthly reconciliation. The types of account books present include journals, general ledgers, trial balances, a cashbook and a voucher register. Occasionally, adding machine tapes and worksheets accompany the volumes.

The journals provide nearly a daily record of the company's financial transactions from 1889 to 1906. Information on debits and credits to the company such as transaction date, amount, and name of the customer or vendor are recorded. In addition, a large number of entries include a brief description of the nature of the transaction and other salient details.

The general ledgers record debits and credits to Lenox, Incorporated's, accounts month by month for the years 1903-1908 and 1910-1912.

The trial balances cover the years 1914, circa 1916, 1917, 1919-1934 and 1936. There are also two undated trial balance volumes.

A cashbook, covering 1902 to 1912, and a voucher register, covering 1920 to 1937, record mainly deposits and expenses. The voucher register includes a general ledger column that may have made keeping separate general ledgers unnecessary. Payments for special orders by Tiffany & Co. and the John A. Roebling's Sons Company, among others, are recorded in these volumes.

Tax Returns: Arranged chronologically by fiscal year.

Documentation of filings made by Lenox, Incorporated, to the US Federal Government from 1909 to 1942. The company's fiscal year was from July 1st to June 30th of the following year. Included in the records are file copies of returns and other government forms, various schedules and financial statements prepared in support of the returns, balance sheets, worksheets and correspondence, most of which is letters sent to and from the Internal Revenue Service. Beginning in approximately 1937, a great deal more financial information was required by the government, most of which had to do with employer contributions for unemployment compensation.

A number of documents in this sub-series pertain to the purchase of land adjacent to the Lenox plant in Trenton in 1920 and the financial repercussions of the purchase. In particular, these documents focus on tax issues regarding disallowed deductions relating to a devaluation of the property shortly after purchase and to demolition of the original buildings on the newly purchased property in 1923.

Also among the documents in this sub-series is correspondence between various Lenox representatives and the Internal Revenue Service regarding overpayment for the 1917 fiscal year. The IRS does not appear to have reevaluated Lenox's 1917 tax return until 1923, and no further action appears to have taken on the matter by either Lenox or the IRS until 1927, when Lenox submitted an abatement claim for the 1917 fiscal year.

Operation Statements: Arranged chronologically by year.

Monthly statements, spanning from 1912 to 1928, detailing operating expenses such as manufacturing costs, raw materials costs, sales expenses and wages debited against income generated from monthly shipments of china to buyers

Copies of a "1920 Financial Statement" included in the records detail company resources and liabilities, inventories, and loss and gain statements, in addition to operations statements.

Among the 1924 operation statements is a letter to the stockholders, dated August 12, 1924, initially intended to accompany the company's annual report.

Purchase Records: Arranged alphabetically by item purchased.

Purchase record cards for supplies acquired by Lenox between 1942 and 1945. Included in the sub-series are records for the purchase of raw materials, production equipment, office supplies and furniture, as well as the services of outside contractors (with several specific groups of items receiving their own tabs, including forms printed, medical supplies, production tools, saggers, screens and steel). The records in this series possibly pertain to the conversion to wartime production, including the production of Lenoxite.

Filed at the end of the subseries are records for electrical transmission equipment and certain raw materials, such as methyl cellulose, eyerite, calcium carbonate and barium carbonate.

Budgets and Strategic Planning Documents: Arranged chronologically by year; thereunder alphabetically by document title.

Lenox China and Crystal budget summaries and strategic planning documents dating from the 1980s. The strategic planning documents typically include reviews of general financial data, as well as forms containing information on manufacturing and marketing goals, product line growth, evaluations of competitors and projected financial plans.

Included with the general budget summaries is a document focusing entirely on Pomona plant budgetary concerns, entitled "Pomona Operations Review from 1986," as well as the proposed Lenox China and Crystal budget for fiscal 1986.

Among the general strategic plans is a document entitled "Lenox Group Strategic Issues for the 1990s: Distribution Channels," prepared in 1987, which discusses various current and potential china distribution methods, including a proposal for company owned, "first-quality" stores described as Ultima stores.