Richards and Conover Hardware Company Collection (SC193)
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THE KANSAS CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY Richards and Conover Hardware Company Collection (SC193) Introduction The Richards and Conover Hardware Company was started in 1857 by John Francisco Richards and continued to operate as a family-owned business until it closed in 1999. This collection, donated by a former president of the company and descendant of John F. Richards, consists of the business records created and maintained by the company’s owners and employees. Descriptive Summary Title: Richards and Conover Hardware Company Collection Dates: 1854-1999 Size: 97.5 linear feet, 65 boxes, 48 volumes Collection Number: SC193 Donor Information Gift, 2000, Sam Sawyer. Gift, 2018, Mitchell C. Jones. Citation Note Richards and Conover Hardware Company Collection (SC193), Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri. Administrative Information Additional form available: The Missouri Valley Special Collections holds an additional copy of The First 100 Years of the First National Bank (MVSC Q 332.1 B662F). Some items from this collection have been digitized and are available to view at KCHistory.org. Related Collections: Additional items and information relating to the Richards and Conover Hardware Company may be found by searching the Missouri Valley Special Collections local history collections. These include articles, books, and photographs relating to the company and its owner. Some of the company’s records were donated to the Jackson County Historical Society prior to or during 1960. Historical Sketch The Richards and Conover Hardware Company was started by John F. Richards in 1857. When it closed in 1999, it was one of the longest continually running family owned businesses in Kansas City. Missouri Valley Special Collections • http://www.kchistory.org • 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, MO 64105 • 816.701.3427 THE KANSAS CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY John Francisco Richards got his start in the hardware business while working for Child, Pratt and Company in St. Louis in 1854. He then moved to Leavenworth, Kansas Territory in 1857 to go into business for himself. He opened the J.F. Richards’ Hardware Store and Agricultural Warehouse (also briefly known as Richards and Chamberlin). By 1866 the business was prospering as John F. Richards and Company, and John Conover was hired as a traveling salesman. Richards took note of the growth in Kansas City – the Hannibal Bridge being built and the livestock industry settling in – and realized the area would have a significant edge over others as a railroad hub. So in 1875, knowing that fortune would follow the railroad, he opened up a company branch at 3rd and Delaware in Kansas City. Between 1881 and 1884, Richards moved to a new location at 5th and Wyandotte, reorganized as Richards and Conover Hardware Company with John Conover as a partner, and closed the Leavenworth branch. In 1906 they opened a branch store in Oklahoma City. The company continued to prosper as they took advantage of numerous opportunities to buy out competitors and expand their own reach. By the 1950s, the demand for hardware wholesalers was beginning to decline, so Richards and Conover decided to focus more resources on steel distribution. In 1954 they opened a new plant for their steel operation at 6333 St. John Avenue, and then in 1958 they liquidated the hardware business. The company began experiencing difficulties in the late 1990s, due to a faulty new software system and changes in the steel market. In December 1999, the company closed and sold off all its assets. During the company’s 145 years, it always remained a family-owned business with five generations of the Richards family being involved. At the time the company closed, it was being run by Martha Richards Sawyer, a great-great-granddaughter of the company’s founder. Scope and Content Note This collection contains records of the company’s organization and reorganization, stock holdings, Board of Directors meeting minutes, correspondence, administrative records, ledger books, catalogs, publications, advertisements, news articles, data processing cards, and photographs. The collection seems to document a large portion of the company’s business proceedings, but it is not complete. A portion of the company’s records can be found at the Jackson County Historical Society. Series 1: Legal Records, 1874-1971 and n.d. This series consists of two subseries of legal records arranged by type of record. 1-1: Records of Incorporation and Reorganization, and Related Documents, 1877-1958 This subseries consists of legal documents related to the company’s organization and reorganization. Items are arranged chronologically, and include the original business agreement between John Richards and John Conover, licenses to do business, certificates of incorporation, and other related documents. Missouri Valley Special Collections • http://www.kchistory.org • 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, MO 64105 • 816.701.3427 THE KANSAS CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY 1-2: Stock Holdings, 1874-1971 and n.d. This subseries consists of stock certificates and stock ledgers. Items are arranged chronologically by date. Series 2: Board of Directors Minute Books, 1885-1958 This series consists of minutes books from the meetings of the Board of Directors. Items are arranged chronologically. A name index for this series is available at the end of the finding aid. Series 3: Correspondence, 1858-1991 This series consists of correspondence files, as well as ledgers of copies of correspondence sent. Some correspondence was originally filed in identified folders. These files were kept intact. Miscellaneous correspondence found loose, as well as in unidentified folders and envelopes, were arranged chronologically. Items in this series are arranged by type of correspondence and thereunder chronologically. Series 4: Administrative Records, 1877-1971 and n.d. This series consists of four subseries arranged by type of record. Items in this series relate to the administrative side of the business including facilities, finances, and personnel. The Pioneer Building and Land Company was a subsidiary company of the Richards and Conover Hardware Company, and therefore was generally included in the accounting reports. 4-1: Facilities and Land Leases, 1902-1953 and n.d. This subseries consists of building specifications, land leases, and property appraisal reports related to the facilities and property owned and leased by the Richards and Conover Hardware Company. A prominent architectural firm in Kansas City, Shepard and Farrar, designed the building at 5th and Wyandotte. Items in this collection are arranged chronologically by date. A photograph from this series has been digitized. 4-2: Personnel, 1921-1932 This subseries consists of a ledger of payments made to employees of the company. Entries in the ledger are arranged chronologically by date, and thereunder alphabetically by name. 4-3: McKinsey and Company Management Survey, 1954-1958 This subseries consists of correspondence and reports related to a management survey undertaken by the McKinsey and Company Management Consultants, which was done to aid the Richards and Conover Hardware Company in improving the probability of the company’s operations. Items in this series are arranged chronologically by date. Missouri Valley Special Collections • http://www.kchistory.org • 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, MO 64105 • 816.701.3427 THE KANSAS CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY 4-4: Financial, 1877-1971 This subseries consists of reports, statements, and correspondence related to the financial accounts and assets of the Richards and Conover Company. Items in this series are arranged chronologically by date. Series 5: Records of Sales, Purchases, and Inventories, 1854-1999 and n.d. This series consists of Daybooks, Journals, Ledgers, Invoices, Cash Books, Trial Balance Ledgers, Inventories, and Remittances. These records detail the day to day business of the company, and are arranged chronologically by date. The three primary types of records used for the company’s daily transactions were Daybooks, Journals, and Ledgers. Daybooks were commonly used as the book of original entry, where transactions were noted as they occurred chronologically. Entries usually include the name of the customer and items being purchased. Transactions in the Daybooks were then transferred to Journals, or when Daybooks were not utilized the Journal became the first step in the accounting cycle. Like the Daybooks, entries in the Journals were entered chronologically. Ledgers typically show a summary of transactions for individual accounts. Series 6: Product Catalogs, 1882-1986 This series consists of catalogs of the company’s products. Items in this series are arranged chronologically by date, with blank order books at the end of the series. Some salesman’s catalogs were disassembled due to preservation concerns. Series 7: Industry Associations, Publications, and Advertisements, 1932-1995 and n.d. This series consists of advertisements and industry publications produced by and for the hardware and related industries. Items in this series are arranged chronologically by date. Series 8: Steel Service Center Institute, 1926-1992 This series consists of materials relating to the Steel Service Center Institute. The SSCI was an international trade association which was reorganized several times under various names. It currently operates as the Metals Service Center Institute. Items in this series are arranged by subject and type, and thereunder chronologically by date. 8-1: Steel Service Center Institute