General File

Summary: Event and public relations files of Marge Exton, a long-time Lenox employee who served as Special Events Coordinator in the Public Relations Department from 1979 until her retirement in 1995, which occasionally incorporate related retail event documentation kept by other Lenox employees.

Subject Files: Arranged alphabetically by topic.

Documentation of Exton's activities in several roles, such as Coordinator of Special Events, as well as de facto archives coordinator. The documents relate to numerous subjects, including the bridal market, Command Performance displays and pieces, museum and retail exhibits (including the loan of certain items), the Lenox Centennial, special services and pieces (such as White House china and gifts for New Jersey Governors), and sales events and seminars (such as the "Lenox at Home" seminar), as well as corporate information, such as announcements on corporate policy and structure, and telephone directories. Included are incoming and outgoing letters, memoranda, press releases, press clippings, forms, packing lists, inventories, exhibit labels, invoices, promotional material samples, budget materials and catalog and product image reproductions, as well as various other reference material.

Among the documents in this sub-series are the handwritten recollections of Lenox employee Daisy Hauser, who served in various production capacities from circa 1916 until the closing of all production operations at Trenton.

Several subjects represented are further referenced in other series, including the proposed Cooper Hewitt Museum exhibit "Coffee, Tea and Chocolate," also discussed in the FILES OF ROBERT J. SULLIVAN, and the Gorbachev Luncheon at the Minnesota Governor's Mansion (1990) and the Republican Party of Florida's Statesman's Dinner (1990), both depicted in PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS/Special Events.

Event Manuals: Arranged chronologically by year.

Manuals for "The Lenox Event," together with later Lenox events manuals titled more generically, that include information on Command Performance exhibits, Lenox China artisan demonstrations, Lenox "Set to Dine" presentations on entertaining, Kirk Stieff events and/or bridal events. "The Lenox Event" manuals, spanning from 1978 to 1981, include set up procedures, event features and obligations, schedules, forms and contracts, while the later manuals offer, in addition, more background information on each event and biographical sketches of presenters.

Events Program Files: Arranged chronologically by year.

Organizational documents and logistical information (formerly in binders) for Lenox Events programming, including demonstrations and seminars aimed largely, but not exclusively, at the bridal market. Included are outgoing letters (largely confirmation letters to retailers), memoranda, event calendars and schedules, inventories, order forms, packing lists, handwritten notes and shipping invoices. Beginning with Fall 1989, the files take on a uniform alphabetical arrangement, typically by name of participating retailer.

Among the documents in the sub-series are a sequence of files dedicated to Lenox Centennial events of a retail nature, which should not be confused with events held at the New Jersey State Museum.

The former contents of two binders, Centennial Events and the Fall 1993 [Bridal] Events Program, were originally retained by Alice J. Kolator, but are consistent with, and fill gaps in, this sub-series.

Ads and Materials: Arranged alphabetically by retailer.

Advertisements and promotional materials for Lenox events hosted by specific retailers nationwide. The events pertain primarily to the bridal market, and to a lesser degree, the Lenox Centennial in 1989. Included are brochures, leaflets, broadsides, newspaper ads and articles, magazine tear sheets, event invitations, event schedules, retailer information packets (including event descriptions, etc.), bridal registry packets (including Lenox and competitor catalogs, sample registry forms and general registry information) and letters of transmittal. Centennial related material is segregated into its own folder at the end of each applicable retailer's other documents.

General File: Arranged alphabetically by topic or retailer.

Miscellaneous documentation of Lenox promotional events, dating entirely from 1991. The bulk of the material pertains to bridal seminars and shows, but also other events such as Command Performance exhibits, china signings and Mother's Day activities are also represented. Included are outgoing letters, memoranda, shipping forms, contact lists, clippings, bridal registry materials and occasionally brief market reports. The documents also incorporate material kept by Director of Public Relations Alice J. Kolator and Public Relations Coordinator Kim Miller.

Two folders in this sub-series are devoted entirely to bridal events cosponsored by Bride's Magazine and Modern Bride.