Object Details
- Collection Creator
- Johnson, Victor S., Sr., 1882-1943
- Johnson, Victor, Jr., 1906-
- Aladdin Industries, Inc. (Nashville, Tenn.).
- See more items in
- Aladdin Industries, Inc. Records
- Date
- 1910-2001
- Archival Repository
- Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.0844, Series 4
- Type
- Archival materials
- Collection Citation
- Aladdin Industries, Inc. Records, 1889-2002, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
- Collection Rights
- Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
- Scope and Contents
- The Employee and personnel Records are divided into nine subseries: time books, payroll records, employee handbooks, Aladdin Knights of the Mystic Light, United Steelworkers agreements, employee bulletins, programs, and miscellaneous. There are three small, bound time books from 1910 and 1927. They contain employee's names, department, and hours worked. The time books for 1927 include the rate at which the employee worked. The handbooks, 1947-1968 (not inclusive) were printed and published by Aladdin for Aladdin employees. They served as a "welcome' to the company and provided useful information about holidays, vacations, benefits, promotions, hours of work, identification badges, absence, and health and safety. The benefit plans, 1947-1951, are small booklets that cover group, accident, sickness, hospital, and surgical issues. The payroll records consist of one bound volume, 1910-1937, and some loose materials, 1936-1940. The bound volume contains the names of employees, monthly pay, office expenses, general expenses, and salaries and commissions of branch offices for the Mantle Lamp Company. Bonuses and "other" income are also recorded. The records from 1936-1940 include dividend and bonus payments. The Mystic Light of the Aladdin Knights, 1917-2001, began as an Aladdin employee group that held an annual banquet. Known as the Aladdin Knights of Mystic Lights, this group produced banquet programs that contain photographs, song lyrics, humorous drawings, lists of candidates initiated as "knights," the banquet menu, and a "do you remember way back" page with historical facts about the company. The group later became less an internal Aladdin employee group and more an external collectors group. The group developed the first lamp collector's manual in 1971, and the first Mystic Newsletter in 1973, to collect, preserve, and exchange information about Aladdin lamps and memorabilia. This group is still active today. The United Steelworkers Agreements, 1946-2001 (not inclusive), are small booklets describing the contract between Aladdin Industries Inc. and the United Steelworkers of America A.F.L. C.I.O., which represented unionized Aladdin employees. The employee bulletins, 1920-1921, are typed notices from office manager A.H. Glantz dealing with issues such as attendance, rest periods for female employees, washroom breaks, and pest problems. There are a number of programs from the Management Conferences held by Aladdin and for its Annual Service Award Banquet. The programs contain the agenda for the meeting, lists of employees receiving service pins, and photographs of managers and service pin awardees. Other employee documentation includes the suggestion program developed to "improve efficiency, safety and profitability; utilize the talents of the employees; and to provide monetary reward for approved suggestions." The miscellaneous file includes obituaries and updates on staffing changes and positions.
- Collection Restrictions
- Collection is open for research but the oversize map folders are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
- Record ID
- ebl-1503510448300-1503510448394-0
