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

Introduction

The business records of Diehl Incorporated of Defiance, Ohio consist of 2.5 linear ft. of corporate registers, photographs, blueprints, reports, certificates, and statements ranging in date from 1922 to 2006, covering various aspects of the operation through the years. The donation and transfer of these records to the Center for Archival Collections was arranged on March 8, 2007 through the cooperation of the Diehl Family Foundation and William A. Diehl.

No restrictions exist on the use of this collection. Duplication is permitted for the purposes of preservation and research. The register was compiled by Marilyn Levinson, Curator of Manuscripts in March 2007.

Agency History

The Diehl Family has operated a business in Defiance, Ohio since 1870 when Christian Diehl, Sr. bought into a brewing company on the banks of the Maumee River in 1870. Originally known as Karst and Diehl, Christian bought out his partners and eventually operated on his own starting in about 1885, continuing as a family business including succeeding generations as the Christian Diehl Brewing Company. With the advent of Prohibition, the focus of the business shifted to include an evaporated milk condensory, operating as Defiance Dairy Products Company beginning in 1922. A segment of the former brewing component shifted to bottling of alternate products such as soft drinks, including such flavors as ginger ale, root beer, and a local malted chocolate milk product known as Chocolate Baby. In 1930 the condensory part of the operation was sold to a New York company, but their business failed and later the Diehl's bought it back. Brewing operations resumed in 1933 with the end of Prohibition, but the milk products line continued as well. During World War II Diehl filled government contracts for milk for use by the armed forces. During this period as well, the company's biotechnical lab also was engaged in production of penicillin.

Changes in the beer industry starting in the 1950s spelled the end of that aspect of the Diehl business as large national corporations ate away at the market, with the company finally closing down the brewing operation in 1955 and turning some of the space into cold storage which was used by other area companies such as Dinner Bell Meats and Campbell Soup Company.

In the following decades the company continued to diversify, moving more into production of evaporated milk, and with the addition of drying equipment, into the area of dried coffee creamer and other non-dairy products, for which Diehl is a major supplier of private-label products.

History adapted from Everett, Horace H. Diehl: A Corporate Family History. 1990

Scope and Content

The records of Diehl, Inc. of Defiance, Ohio encompass the production and shift in corporate emphasis over the years covered by the collection, ranging from just before Prohibition through to the beginning of the 21st Century.

Of particular note, related to the Christian Diehl Brewing Company, there are blueprints of the Defiance, Ohio plant layout and equipment as well as balance sheet information that gives profit and loss figures, including production, raw materials, selling, delivery, and administration. Other items that deal with the brewery aspect of the operation include the scrapbooks that trace the repeal of Prohibition as the company tried to pick up that aspect of its product line.

More material in the collection deals with the diversified aspect of the Diehl operation as they moved into the milk products industry, first with the condensory and the line of evaporated milk under the Jerzee label, and later into other powdered milk and non-dairy creamer products. The process involved is illustrated in the Defiance Milk Products Co. booklets, and more informally in many of the photographs and slides in the collection.

Information related to the Diehl family and company employees is more limited, but some material can be found scattered through the scrapbooks, which include obituaries and news articles covering Diehl family members, in the photographs, where some employees pictured are identified, and in such diverse records as the insurance papers, where a few employees are listed due to the need to have them bonded.

Series Description

PROCEEDINGS

MARISSA MILK CO. CORPORATE RECORD
1958-1963
Record book of Marissa, Illinois company acquired by Diehl in 1958, with Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, minutes, and minor correspondence related to dissolution of the company

SUBJECT FILES

OFFICE VISITOR LOGS
1999-2003
Register of visitors to the Diehl offices, including name, company affiliation, who they are to see, time-in/time-out

LEGAL DOCUMENTS

INSURANCE POLICIES
1949-1954
Standard policies for liability for brewery vehicles, bonding drivers and other employees, and for fire insurance

APPRAISALS
1978-1979, 1992, 1993
Industrial appraisals of the value of Diehl property, buildings, and equipment in Defiance, Ohio for insurance purposes

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

ANNUAL RESULT STATEMENTS
1949, 1952, 1956/1959, 1962/1963
Balance sheets providing an accounting of the costs with profit and loss figures, including production, selling, delivery, and administration, of the Christian Diehl Brewing Company. In Oversize boxes.

SCRAPBOOKS AND SCRAPBOOK MATERIALS

SCRAPBOOKS
1933-1958, 1956-1989, 1938-2006
Three scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, advertisements, and photographs beginning with the repeal of Prohibition in 1933; includes some Diehl Family obituaries and several items following the shifting of operations at Diehl into milk products. Wrapped, located in Oversize boxes

GUEST BOOK
1988-1989
Guest book used at Diehl, Inc. corporate functions; includes signature of guest with address or company affiliation

MAPS, CHARTS, DIAGRAMS, GRAPHS, LISTS, ETC.

BLUEPRINTS
1933-1950, n.d.
Diehl Brewery & Bottling House plans, layouts, cross-sections, and site plans from various changes and expansions

PRINTED MATERIAL

YEAR IN REVIEW
1956-1959, 1963, 1972
Annual summary booklet from Defiance Milk Products Co., with statistics on workers, production, insurance claims, illness, and other facts

BOOKLETS
n.d.
Promotional booklets for Defiance Milk Products Co. explaining the processing steps for producing evaporated milk used by the company

CERTIFICATES
1988, 2002-2003
Certificates honoring Diehl, Inc. with proclamations from the City of Defiance, recognition from the University of Toledo Center for Family Business, and training program certificates of completion

PROOFS
n.d.
Mock-up and proof sheet for advertisements for Vitamite and for Diehl's creaming agents. In oversize box

PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS
1940s-1990, n.d.
Black & white and some color prints showing Diehl activities, employee functions, and plant operations; includes some photos used in the publication of Horace H. Everett's Diehl: a Corporate Family History. Some prints have identification

SLIDES
n.d.
Color slides, without identification, showing milk plant production, quality control, and canning equipment

Inventory

Box 1

Folder

1. Marissa Milk Co. Corporate record, 1958-1963
2. Diehl office visitor log, 1998-1999
3. Diehl office visitor log, 1999-2000
4. Diehl office visitor log, 2000-2002
5. Diehl office visitor log, 2002-2003
6. Insurance papers - State Automobile Mutual Ins. Co., 1951-1953
7. Insurance papers - American Casualty Co., 1949-1952
8. Insurance papers - Miscellaneous, 1952-1954

Box 2

Folder

1. Defiance Milk Products Co. insurance summary report, 1978-1979
2. Diehl, Inc. summary revaluation report - Appraisal, 1992
3. Diehl, Inc. summary revaluation report - Appraisal, 1993
4. Diehl, Inc. guestbook for corporate functions, 1988-1989
5. Defiance Milk Products Co. Year in Review booklets, 1956-1959, 1963, 1972
6. Defiance Milk Products Co. promotional booklets, n.d.
7. Certificates and awards, 1988, 2002-2003
8. Photographic prints - Miscellaneous, 1940s-1968
9. Photographic print - Old Tymer's Party, 1988
10. Photographic prints - Plant operations, 1990
11. Slides - Plant operations, n.d.

Oversize Box 1

Folder

1. Profit/loss balance sheets (wrapped), 1956-1959
2. Profit/loss balance sheets (wrapped), 1962-1963
3. Result statements, 1949
4. Result statements, 1952
5. Mock-up for advertisement of Vitamite, n.d.
6. Proof sheet for advertisement for Diehl's creaming agents, n.d.

Oversize Box 2

Folder

1. Scrapbook, 1933-1958
2. Scrapbook, 1956-1989
3. Scrapbook, 1938-2006
4. Diehl Brewery & Bottling House plans (5 blueprint sheets), 1933
5. Diehl Brewery & Bottling House plans (7 blueprint sheets), 1933
6. Diehl Brewery & Bottling House plans (3 blueprint sheets), 1934
7. Diehl Brewery & Bottling House plans, 1941
8. Diehl Brewery & Bottling House plans (4 sheets), 1945
9. Diehl Brewery & Bottling House plans, 1948
10. Diehl Brewery & Bottling House plans, 1950
11. Diehl Brewery cellar floor plans, n.d.
12. Diehl Brewery extension layout (rolled), 1946
13. Diehl Brewery cross section, n.d.
14. Diehl Brewery conveyor arrangement plan, 1940
15. Diehl Brewery situation plan, 1935

Manuscripts by Subject | Business & Commerce