Lenox, Incorporated Records

The corporate records of Lenox, Incorporated, comprising approximately 248 cubic feet of documents, span from the company's founding as the Ceramic Art Company to manufacture porcelain artware, in 1889, through its transformation into a diversified dinnerware operation with a complementary gift line in the decades before its acquisition by Brown-Forman, Inc., in 1983, until its eventual sale, in 2005, to Department 56 (later renamed Lenox Group, Inc.) after a change in focus to emphasize gifts. The records document various aspects of Lenox's china operations including product design and creation, advertising and promotion, sales practices, financial history, and changes in corporate structure and ownership.

While most of the Lenox, Incorporated, records pertain to the eventual department, and later subsidiary, known for many years as Lenox China (subsequently Lenox China and Crystal), there are some records present from the later years which relate directly to the parent company, Lenox, Incorporated, both as a sovereign corporation and as a subsidiary of Brown Forman, Inc., and to its non-china subsidiaries, such as Gorham, Kirk Stieff, Alladin Plastics and Hartmann Luggage. Thus, while much of the documentation from the later twentieth century focuses on Lenox's core products, such as china dinnerware, china and crystal giftware, and crystal bar and stemware, other product lines, such as silver flatware, melamine dinnerware, candles, plastic housewares and luggage, are also represented to a limited degree.

he collection is composed of various formats of documentation, including traditional office documents such as incoming and outgoing letters and memoranda, handwritten notes, annual reports, financial documents (including tax returns and account books), corporate publications (including newsletters and product catalogs), press releases, market surveys, press clippings, etc. Also included is a wealth of non-textual and oversize materials, including original china pattern drawings, china body designs, decals of various formats, advertisement and printing mock-ups, scrapbooks (primarily of advertisements), promotional display posters and counter cards, photographs, slide and larger format transparencies, architectural drawings and audio-visual materials, including motion picture film, video cassettes and audio recordings in various formats.

The collection is organized into thirty-five record series by either document type or creator.

Two series, ANNUAL REPORTS, 1963-2003, and NEWSLETTERS, 1952-1956 and 1968-2003, offer a succinct introduction to Lenox, Incorporated, its operations and employees. Two additional series set the historical and physical context of the company. FINANCIAL RECORDS, 1889-1987, tracks the financial development of Lenox from its founding in 1889 through its initial public offering as a publicly traded company in 1963 to its operation as a subsidiary of Brown-Forman in the 1980s and 1990s. ARCHITECTURAL DRAWINGS, 1908-1909, 1930, 1952-circa 1955, 1962-1969, 1988-1989 and undated, tracks the physical development of Lenox, from its roots in Trenton, New Jersey, through its expansion to Pomona and Lawrenceville, New Jersey.

Eight series detail the design and production process for Lenox's china products. SHAPE RECORDS, 1907-1953, 1965-1973 and 1977 and undated, pertains to china body design and includes drawings and small photographs of undecorated china pieces, as well as drawings of production tools. DESIGN DRAWINGS, 1904 (or earlier)-1989, consists of original design drawings, primarily by chief Lenox designer Frank Graham Holmes. Designs supplied to Lenox by customers can be found in MONOGRAMS AND SUPPLIED DESIGNS, 1909, 1917-1949, 1952-1954, 1959 and undated. In order to physically decorate the china body, designs were translated into decals, as illustrated in DECALS AND ENGRAVINGS, 1904-1981 and undated, which includes color transfer decals and templates for decal production. DECORATING SPECIFICATIONS, 1922-1972, includes instruction guides for the application of colors and various design elements to china pieces, as well as for the creation of certain colors. The final product is illustrated in PATTERN RECORDS, 1904-1952, which consists of photographs of actual china pieces, as well as small-scale drawings of patterns. DESIGN SOURCES, circa 1893-1927, 1977-1981, 1987 and undated, consists of publications and photographs that served as inspiration for pattern designs. Finally, COST ANALYSIS DOCUMENTS, 1946-1961, pertains to production costs, and estimated and approved prices, for the completed product.

Three series pertain to sales and dealer materials. CATALOGS AND PRICE LISTS, 1891-2005, consists of trade, dealer and consumer catalogs, and price lists. Additional samples of catalogs, along with smaller promotional leaflets, brochures, correspondence and memoranda can be found in DEALER MAILINGS, 1947-1977 and 1983-1984. SALES CONFERENCE AND DISTRICT MANAGER FILES, 1959-1997, consists of more comprehensive merchandizing aids and sales policy documents distributed to district managers, either directly or through sales conferences.

Three series relate to company executives and other high level employees, including the President of Lenox, Incorporated, (FILES OF JOHN M. TASSIE, 1946-1969) and Vice President of Advertising and Sales Promotion for Lenox China (FILES OF ROBERT J. SULLIVAN, 1952-1956 and 1964-1984). Certain files relating to other positions, including General Counsel, Controller, Product Manager, Manager of Lenox Showrooms, etc., can be found in SELECTED FILES OF LENOX EMPLOYEES, 1954-1998. Closely related to the records kept by Robert J. Sullivan is the market research material, located in MARKET STUDIES, 1961 and 1976-1998.

Seven series detail Lenox advertising and company printing, as well as their genesis. Completed samples and tear sheets of local newspaper and national magazine advertisements are found in PROMOTIONAL SCRAPBOOKS, 1922-1990. The creation process for local newspaper advertisements can partially be discerned from ADVERTISING PORTFOLIOS AND AD SLICKS, 1958, 1965, 1975-1982, 1986-1992 and undated. Promotional posters and counter cards for sales, store events and specific products are found in POSTERS AND DISPLAY MATERIALS, 1983-2002. Promotional materials for the launch of new product lines, primarily for distribution at trade shows, can be found in NEW PRODUCT PRESS KITS, 1977-1997 and 2000. The in-house design of many of these advertising and printing items by Lenox, Incorporated's central Creative Services department, as well as of smaller items such as postcards, is documented in PRINTING RECORDS, 1979(1993)-1999, and in ADVERTISING AND PRINTING DESIGN RECORDS, 1997-2005. Additional publications and printed items, such as product instructions, sales clerk literature, product labels and smaller counter cards, along with two books (Lenox China: The Story of Walter Scott Lenox by George Sanford Holmes, 1924, and The Lenox Book of Home Entertaining and Etiquette by Elizabeth K. Lawrence, 1989) are housed in EPHEMERAL PUBLICATIONS, 1945-2005.

Closely related to promotional materials and publications are formal public relations records (primarily related to Lenox China and Crystal) represented by the FILES OF ALICE J. KOLATOR (Director, Public Relations and Training), 1979-1996, and by those of her associate, the FILES OF MARGE EXTON (Coordinator, Special Events), 1950-1995. While containing some samples of printed promotional material, these two series focus more heavily on public relations events and the employees involved in them.

Working closely with Kolator and Exton was a part-time historical/curatorial consultant and archivist, whose records comprise the FILES OF ELLEN PAUL DENKER, 1981-2005. Denker, in addition to penning a manuscript history of the company, kept records documenting and tracking Lenox's archival holdings and museum pieces. Additional historical information in the form of reference books, magazine articles, scrapbooks and vertical files is located in COMPANY HISTORY SUBJECT FILES, 1908-2004.

The remainder of the collection is of a primarily non-textual nature, dominated by photographs and audio-visual materials. PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS, 1889-1999, comprised of prints (and some negatives) of varying size and format, offers depictions of finished products, physical facilities, production processes, retail and non-retail displays and events, and company personnel. Additional product images, largely for promotional and printing use, are located in LARGE FORMAT TRANSPARENCIES, 1981-1998. Other images of products, personnel, facilities, production practices and promotional materials are found in the context of slide presentations for personnel, investors and customers in SLIDE TRANSPARENCIES, 1982-1993. Promotional films, commercials, training films, staff interviews and television clips featuring Lenox products and personnel, and represented in various audio, video and motion picture formats, are located in AUDIO-VISUAL MATERIALS, 1945-2005. Other non-textual material, classified as REALIA, 1989-1990, 1999 and undated, consists of items such as store banners, buttons, plaques and minor production tools, including a porcelain paint palette and china marking pencils.

In addition to historical information regarding Lenox, Incorporated, as a company, the collection offers insight into other research areas, such as the evolution of the china manufacturing process, changes in design aesthetics over the course of the twentieth century and the development of marketing and advertising strategies, especially on a national, mass consumer scale. The collection also offers insight into the development and import of the bridal market, the rise and decline of Trenton, New Jersey, as a manufacturing center and corporate trends such as diversification and conglomeratization. The records are also a source of biographical information for key personnel, such as Walter Scott Lenox, John M. Tassie and Frank Graham Holmes, and, in addition, reference influential figures in Trenton society, such as the Kuser and Roebling families.

Several aspects of company administration are notably underrepresented or not represented at all within the records of Lenox, Incorporated. Notable documentation gaps include the files of executives, with the exception of the limited materials that survive for John M. Tassie and Robert J. Sullivan. Absent are files of Lenox Presidents, such as Walter S. Lenox, Harry Brown, Leslie Brown and Safford P. Sweatt. Also of note is a general lack of financial documentation after the 1960s, as well a drop off in the design records after the tenure of Frank Graham Holmes, with the exception of certain commissioned or limited edition giftware items. Finally, regarding Lenox, Incorporated, subsidiaries, with the exception of some product catalogs (during periods of Lenox ownership) and of limited documentation for Alladin Plastics patents, the collection is largely devoid of records pertaining to their operation.