MS-42 Middletown Hydraulic Company Records

Introduction

Provenance: Negotiations for the acquisition of the Middletown Hydraulic Collection began in April, 1976. The Archives learned of the existence of this collection through the Miami Conservancy District, who recently purchased the land where the hydraulic was situated. Negotiations were immediately initiated with the Sorg Paper Company in Middletown where the records were being stored. Our contact at Sorg was Mr. Robert Arthur and through him we made arrangements to inventory the files in November 1976. After further negotiation and approval of the Board of Trustees of the paper company, transfer of the records was made in February, 1977.

Scope and Content

The files of the Middletown Hydraulic Company can be divided into four basic record series groups: Administrative; Financial; Legal; and General. The extremely important administrative records are the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Trustees and the Articles of Incorporation, both located in Box 1. The remaining files in the Administrative series, located in Boxes 1-4, consist primarily of correspondence (1851-1969). Unfortunately, much of the earlier correspondence of the company does not exist.

The Financial record group is also quite complete. Cash books and ledgers (1853-1967) elaborately illustrate the growth of the company, the supplies is purchased, who the customers were, etc. Likewise, yearly tax returns (1910-1967) for the company give the researcher a picture of the size of the business. One other very interesting document located in Box 4 is an itemized list of the costs of the construction of the hydraulic (supplies, labor, etc.) from 1852-1854.

Legal files comprise the materials in Boxes 7-10. Boxes 7 and 8 contain legal correspondence as well as court cases against the company. Land agreements, leases and indentures (1851-1955) make up Box 9, while Xerox copies of deeds (1818-1928) for land are housed in Box 10. These land records, of course, are of immense value to the researchers.

Box 11 of the general files consists of miscellaneous records most of which is recent material. There is one interesting file on hydroelectric output that dates from 1872 through 1936. The last Box, No. 12, contains numerous maps, drawings, and blueprints of the hydraulic at different locations. This material is obviously very important and should not be overlooked by the researcher.

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