Introduction | Agency History | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

Introduction

The collection of records from the Mermill, Ohio division of the Buckeye Pipeline Company was donated to the Center for Archival Collections by Michael Shuey of Portage, Ohio on October 24, 1988. No restrictions exist on the use of this collection. Duplication is permitted for the purposes of preservation and research. The collection was processed and inventoried in 1988 and register prepared by Marilyn Levinson, Curator of Manuscripts in April 2004.

Agency History

With the discovery of oil in northwest Ohio, in the late 1880s a system of tank farms and pipelines were established to gather the petroleum from the various small wells around the area. One company involved in this, as a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company, was the Buckeye Pipeline Company of Ohio, established in 1886. The limited records in this collection represent the day-to-day operating communications and records of the division of the company located in Mermill, Ohio during the 1930s, dealing primarily with repair requests, pumping reports, reports of line or tank abandonment, and work reports.

Scope and Content

The 3 linear feet of records of the Buckeye Pipeline Company division located at Mermill, Ohio provide information on local petroleum production in areas of Wood and Hancock County, Ohio in the early 1930s through the Depression to the first years of World War II. Although the memos, telegrams, work reports, and time records are scattered and arranged only in rough chronological order, the information provides a glimpse of the widespread network of working wells, storage tanks, and pipelines long after the petroleum boom of the late 19th century in the area.

In addition, information on employees can document work conditions in the period from 1932 through 1937, including jobs performed and rates of pay (both hourly and monthly salaried workers), repairs and maintenance of tanks and pipelines, and transportation of petroleum products. The documentation from the daily operating record books and the material report forms also give some insight into the operation of a vital industry in a wartime economy where gasoline was strictly rationed.

Use of the material to document the work of particular workers or of petroleum production on individual farm sites in the area would be much more difficult. There is a lack of any direct access to records by location of the wells, employee name, or by farm ownership. However, worker and owner names are listed on the individual work sheets, so sifting through the volume of material would yield data on a very specific level for researchers willing to put in the effort.

Series Description

CORRESPONDENCE

CORRESPONDENCE
1934-1942
Arranged chronologically
Memos, telegrams, work reports and orders, primarily dealing with daily operations and local lines, wells, and work projects

REPORTS

DAILY OPERATING RECORD BOOKS
1942-1943
Formbooks filled out to provide information on work trips to various well locations, in compliance with required Certificate of War Necessity

MATERIAL REPORT FORMS
1942-1943
Forms for material or gasoline used on jobs in response to war-time rationing or other accounting

MONTHLY LOOSE PIPE REPORTS
1936, 1938-1939
Work report sheets for pipe repairs, includes rough diagram of location of pipeline on farm site

TIME/JOB BOOKS
1932, 1934-1937, 1942
Detailed daily record of work performed by individual workers, including pay rate, home address, and job done on site

Inventory

Box 1

1. Correspondence/memos, 1934-1936
2. Correspondence/memos, 1934-1936
3. Correspondence/memos, 1935
4. Correspondence/memos, 1935
5. Correspondence/memos, 1935-1936
6. Correspondence/memos, 1936
7. Correspondence/memos, 1936
8. Correspondence/memos, 1936
9. Correspondence/memos, 1936-1937
10. Correspondence/memos, 1937

Box 2

1. Correspondence/memos, 1937
2. Correspondence/memos, 1937
3. Correspondence/memos, 1937
4. Daily operating record books, Dec 1942-June 1943
5. Daily operating record books, June 1943-Nov 1943
6. Material report forms, Nov 1942-May 1943
7. Monthly loose pipe reports, Mar, June 1936; Jan, Mar 1938, July 1939
8. Time/job books, Sept 16-30, 1932
9. Time/job books, May-July 1934
10. Time/job books, Aug-Sept 1934
11. Time/job books, Oct-Nov 1934
12. Time/job books, Dec 1934

Box 3

1. Time/job books, Jan-Feb 1935
2. Time/job books, Mar-Apr 1935
3. Time/job books, May-June 1935
4. Time/job books, July-Aug 1935
5. Time/job books, Sept-Oct 1935
6. Time/job books, Nov-Dec 1935
7. Time/job books, Feb-Mar 1936
8. Time/job books, Apr-May 1936
9. Time/job books, Oct-Dec 1936
10. Time/job books, Jan-Feb 1937
11. Time/job books, Mar-May 1937
12. Time/job books, June-Aug 1937
13. Time/job books, May 15-31, 1942

Manuscripts by Subject | Business & Commerce