Center for Archival Collections

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

Introduction

The papers of the W.H. Kildow Cigar Company, of Tiffin, Ohio span the years 1908-1969. The correspondence consists of telegrams, letters concerning financial transactions, shipment of goods, and personal matters. The legal documents include copies of the company's certificate of trade mark registration and cigarette dealer's licenses. The financial documents, which detail the financial status and conduct of the company, include receipts of purchase, invoices, accounting ledger books, product ledger books, journals, day books, and a check register. The printed materials included in the collection provide information on the marketing and advertisement strategies of the company. These include copies of boxes and bundle labels, binders of cigars, cigar magazines, and articles and booklets on the company and the tobacco industry.

The records were transferred to the Center for Archival Collections with the assistance of Glen Harper, Historic Preservation Officer for the Ohio Historical Society, in 1991. No restrictions exist on the research use of this collection and duplication is permitted for scholarly purposes. The collection was arranged and finding aid compiled in October 2000.

Agency History

Little information exists, unfortunately, concerning the origin and development of the company. Similarly, there is little information available concerning the current status of the company. Nevertheless, certain details in existence allow for completion of a rough outline of the company's development. W.H. Kildow founded the W.H. Kildow Cigar Company in Tiffin, Ohio in 1892. Originally, Kildow operated the business as a cigar manufacturing enterprise and was largely successful. In the 1920s, Kildow's son, T. Monroe Kildow, joined his father's business and, eventually, would take over the reins of the company. By the 1940s, the company had become involved in the wholesale cigar business. Again, the company was quite successful. Indeed, by the 1960s, the company, now permanently under the tutelage of T. Monroe Kildow, was distributing to 1,000 retail outlets in 10 Ohio counties.

The development of this business was influential in the economic development of Tiffin, and Ohio throughout the turn of the century. Kildow's company was but one example of the entrepreneurial enterprises that exploded across Ohio during this period. As a result of this commercial explosion, Ohio continued to transform from a state with an economy based in agriculture, to a fully modern commercial and industrial center.

Scope and Content

The most valuable aspect of the W. H. Kildow Cigar Company Collection lies in the extensive financial records. The records include a number of ledgers, receipts, bills, checks and financial correspondence most of which date from 1903 to 1938. The records provide significant evidence of the financial status of the company during the formative years of its existence. Similarly, this information provides the researcher a tool for analysis of the costs and benefits of the cigar industry in Ohio at the turn of the twentieth century, as well as the administrative procedures for operating a small business in this era.

The collection also contains a number of printed materials which provide information on the company's marketing and publicity techniques. This information also gives some indication of the society's popular culture by highlighting certain images thought to be popular during this time period. Correspondence and legal documents are included in this collection documenting business transactions and such legal issues as registration of trade marks and labels.

As a whole, the collection is significant for the knowledge of the cigar business at the turn-of-the century which it provides to the researcher. The collection clearly reveals the economic profitability and risk involved in such a venture, as well as some of the advertising and marketing methods used during the era. Although the collection is limited in scope, it does sufficiently reveal the costs and benefits of operating a semi-small business in mid-western American at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Series Description

CORRESPONDENCE

W.H. KILDOW CORRESPONDENCE
1913, 1918, 1931
Arranged chronologically
Includes letters to Kildow concerning deeds to real estate, financial transactions, shipment of goods, and personal letters

LEGAL DOCUMENTS

CERTIFICATES OF TRADE MARK AND LABEL REGISTRATION
1888-1916 (scattered)
Arranged chronologically
Includes yearly certificates of trade mark and label registration

CIGARETTE DEALER'S LICENSE
1956-1959, 1968
Arranged chronologically
Includes copies of official Cigarette Dealer's Licenses

FINANACIAL DOCUMENTS

RECEIPTS/BILLS
1908-1938 (scattered -most are dated 1918)
Includes receipts of transactions, shipment of goods

INVOICES
1918, 1921
Includes copies of invoices for transaction of cigars

ACCOUNTING LEDGER BOOK
1903-1907
Book detailing the financial records of transactions, deposits, profits, and prices of the Kildow Cigar Company and of W. H. Kildow

PRODUCT LEDGER BOOK
1916-1917
Includes book listing various kinds of cigars sold by Kildow.

JOURNAL
1916-1929
Includes book recording sales of cigars to customers with addresses and phone numbers of customers

CHECK REGISTER
1936-1938
Includes record of checks written by Kildow's company for various charges and reasons for the charges

DAY BOOKS
1909-1911
Includes books with names, addresses and accounts of customers of Kildow

PRINTED MATERIALS

BOXES AND BUNDLE LABELS
n.d.
Includes copies of labels found on cigars and boxes of cigars sold by Kildow listing company name

QUEEN'S BINDERS
n.d.
Includes copies of various size binders found on Queen's Tobacco Manufacturing Company stogie and cigars

MAGAZINES
1947-1948
Includes copies of "United States Tobacco Journal" and "The Tobacco Leaf."

BLANK LEDGERS
n.d.
Includes one blank order book

MISCELLANEOUS PRINTED MATERIALS
1928, 1944, 1969
Includes gift certificates for Kildow cigars, page from United States Tobacco Journal, award to T. Monroe Kildow and "The Salesman's Post-War Retraining Program" booklet

Inventory

Box 1

Folder

1. Correspondence, 1913, 1918, 1931
2. Certificates of Trade Mark and Label Registration, 1888-1916
3. Cigarette Dealer's Licenses, 1956-1959, 1968
4. Bills and Receipts, 1908-1938 (scattered holdings-most are dated 1918)
5. Invoices, 1918, 1921
6. Private Account Ledger of W. H. Kildow, 1903-1907
7. Product Ledger, 1916-1917
8. Check Register, 1936-1938
9. Blank Order Book, n.d.
10. Box and Bundle Labels, n.d.
11. Cigar and Stogie Sizes of Pure Tobacco Binders, n.d.
12. Magazines (United States Tobacco Journal and The Tobacco Leaf), March 8 and 29, 1947 and May 1, 1948
13. Printed material (Certificate redeemable for cigars at W. H. Kildow, 1928; Page from United States Tobacco Journal with article on award given to T. Monroe Kildow, April 10, 1969; and Salesmen's Postwar Retraining Program by National Association of Tobacco Distributors, March 2, 1944

Oversize Volumes

1. Journal, 1916-29
2. Day Book #1, 1909-11
3. Day Book #2, 1909-11

Manuscripts by Subject | Business & Commerce