Special Collections Department Carey Bros. Wall Paper Manufacturing Company Records 1799 - 1933 (bulk dates 1867 - 1918) Manuscript Collection Number: 401 Accessioned: Gift of Mrs. Charles D. Carey, 1997 and 2000 and 2001 Extent: 1 linear ft. (76 items) Content: Letters, ledgers, minutes, financial and legal documents, deeds, ephemera, and photograph Access: The collection is open for research. Processed: Sally W. Donatello, January 2001; revised December 2001 for reference assistance email Special Collections or contact: Special Collections, University of Delaware Library Newark, Delaware 19717-5267 (302) 831-2229 Table of Contents Biographical Note Scope and Contents Note Contents List Biographical Note The Carey family was prominent in nineteenth-century Milton, Sussex County, Delaware. Merchant Robert Hood Carey (d. 1891; see 1892 deed in F43) is listed in the 1850 census with his wife Susan Davis Carey and their four sons: R. Davis, John F., Joseph Maull, and Theodore C. Two daughters, Sallie M. and Susan D., were born after 1850. John F. Carey became a doctor, and Joseph Maull Carey studied law at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Joseph M. Carey U.S. attorney in the territory of Wyoming, and he later served as the first U.S. senator from that state. He was elected governor of Wyoming in 1910 and his son Robert D. Carey also served as governor of Wyoming. All six of the Carey children of Milton followed the financial success of their father, and each of these siblings was involved in family business and real estate ventures, even if only as stockholders. Brothers R. Davis and Theodore C. and their sister Susan D. Carey are the prominent members involved in the family business that is documented in this small collection. Lacking published sources to confirm the inception of the first Carey business, ephemera and other records found in this collection document partnerships and changes in the names of the company. Gopsill’s Philadelphia Business Directory records the existence in 1883 of Hollowbush & Carey (R. Davis Carey was a partner) who were booksellers, stationers and blank book manufacturers at 423 Market Street. Simultaneously the Carey Brothers manufactured wallpaper at the same location, which by 1885 had moved to its permanent location at 2228 N. 10th Street. Succeeding Hollowbush & Carey, brothers R. Davis and Theo. C. Carey went into business in 1881 with W. H. Grevemeyer under the name “Carey Bros. & Grevemeyer” at 817 Market Street. By 1891 the Carey brothers and Grevemeyer were also partners in “Carey Bros, a Branch of The National Wall Paper Co.,” which manufactured wallpaper in the factory located at Nos. 2228 to 2242 North 10th Street and 931 Market Street in Philadelphia (See F1). Minutes of the Carey Bros. Wall Paper Manufacturing Company verify its 1905 incorporation in Delaware. The Carey Bros. Wall Paper Manufacturing Company was dissolved in 1918 after involvement with the debt-ridden Marley Mill Corporation, a paper mill located in Childs, Maryland, and the Beaver Dam Mill at Pomeroy, Pennsylvania. By 1933 the Carey name was part of the wallpaper company Brooks, Graffin & Carey, Inc., which was located at 125 N. 11th Street, Philadelphia. Sources: Gopsill, James. Gopsill’s Philadelphia Business Directory. Philadelphia: James Gopsill’s Sons, 1883, 1885, 1889, 1891. Hancock, Harold and Russell McCabe. Milton’s First Century, 1807- 1907. Milton, Del. The Milton Historical Society, 1982. Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. II, Brearly-Cushing. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958. Note: Historical and biographical information obtained from the collection. Scope and Content Note The Carey Bros. Wall Paper Manufacturing Company Records, spanning the dates 1799 - 1933 (1867-1918), consists of one linear foot of ledgers, financial and legal documents, minutes, deeds, ephemera, letters, and a photograph. This small collection documents the existence and demise of a Philadelphia- based business of booksellers, stationers, and manufacturers of blank books and wallpaper. The collection provides valuable insight into a family business that flourished at the end of the nineteenth into the second decade of the twentieth century. The records outline a chronology that leads to the dissolution of the company through documents connected to the Carey family and its business acquisitions and operations. The collection is arranged in two main parts: the bulk of the material (located in F1-F15) details aspects of the company’s history. The remainder of the collection consists of deeds and other legal documents, primarily related to Philadelphia properties (F16-F46). The Carey Bros. Ledger, 1900-1907, (F5) includes business expenses, interest and dividends, inventory, rents, profit and loss, and accounts from R. Davis Carey and William H. Grevemeyer, as well as from the later partnership that formed a branch of the National Wall Paper Company. A "Bill of Sale", dated November 30, 1900, was an agreement to sell The National Wall Paper Company to R. Davis Carey (F4). This document recorded that the Company had the "Carey Brothers" and "Carey Brothers & Grevemeyer" branches. The notebook and “stockholders” ledger in F6 provides names of family members and associates who owned shares in Carey Bros. Wall Paper Manufacturing Company from its incorporation in 1905 to its dissolution in 1918. Included are notes about contracts, salaries, loans, and leases. A Credit History compiled by the Commercial Credit Company of Baltimore around 1917 (F8) and the Marley Mill Corporation Minute Book, 1912-1916 (F10) are two key items that explain the demise of the Carey Bros. Wall Paper Manufacturing Company. The Credit History, in particular, provides a narrative of the Marley Mill Corporation (a paper mill in Childs, Maryland, and the Beaver Dam Mill in Pomeroy, Pennsylvania) and its use of the Carey Bros. Wall Paper Manufacturing Company to obtain credit, beginning in 1912 (See F11). By 1917 the Carey Bros. Wall Paper Manufacturing Co. had endorsed large bonds and notes to help the Marley Mill Corporation remain solvent. The document cites financial obligations and relationships with Delaware Trust Company; Cosgrove & Company (a coal company); Market Street National Bank; National Security Bank; Marden, Orth, & Hastings, Co., Inc. (a soda ash company); Shenandoah Pulp and Paper Company; Pulp and Paper Trading Company; and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In 1917 unresolved credit problems were the impetus to begin liquidation of the Carey Bros. Wall Paper Manufacturing Co. By spring 1918 the company was dissolved. The second half of the collection concerns Carey family finances, estates, and property. The Carey Family Ledger housed in F14 includes miscellaneous entries dating from 1867 to 1907. Most entries are for Carey family members (some not cited in any other records), but there are names of non-family members as well. Sallie M. and Mary C. Carey are listed as having expenses associated with a Milton, Delaware, property from 1876 to 1892 (F14, pp. 180-183; see also a deed, F46, that cites sisters Sallie M. and Susan D. with residence in Milton). The Guardian’s Accounts (F15) records the guardianship of Theo. C. Carey, Jr., and J. M. Carey by their aunt, Susan D. Carey, after the death of their mother, Clara Waples Carey (1857 - 1894). Clara Waples Carey was married to Theodore C. Carey (1847 - 1895, Susan’s brother. The detailed accounts, 1894-1906, list expenses for maintenance of a number of properties owned by the Careys in Southern Delaware: Coston Farm, Factory Farm, Cool Spring Farm, and the Milton house. Other entries include produce sold, interest on bank stock, rent from lots, attorney fees, etc. The thirty deeds (F16-46) that accompany this collection are from various Center City Philadelphia properties (1802-1892). Deeds, ground rents, and mortgages found in F16-F37, dating from 1832-1883, are for the same property, which R. Davis Carey purchased in 1883. The remaining deeds are Delaware and Pennsylvania real estate (commercial, farms, rentals, and residencies) that were owned by the Carey family as individuals or in partnership. Related Collections: Ms 402 Waples Family Papers Contents List Folder -- Contents F1 Carey Bros. ephemera, 13 items Business ephemera: Twelve original items and one photocopy of a receipt provide company names and addresses Tradecard of “Hollowbush & Carey, Booksellers, Stationers and Blank Book Manufacturers, 423 Market Street, Philadelphia”; on the verso is a caricature of six African- American children and a teacher. The answer to a riddle on the card is revealed after heat is applied. Photograph of five men and three boys outside the factory of "Hollowbush & Carey" at 423 Market Street. Signs advertise wallpapers. "Business of R. Davis Carey" written on verso of card. Notebook labeled "Purchasing Memorandum" for "Carey Bros. & Grevemeyer, successors to Hollowbush & Carey, Booksellers and Stationers, 817 Market Street, Philadelphia." Partners listed on the cover include R. Davis Carey, Theo. C. Carey, and W.H. Grevemeyer. The illustration on the verso of the cover depicts the block-long Carey Bros. wallpaper manufacturing factory, located at "Nos. 2228 to 2242 North Tenth Street." The owner used the notebook to record grocery purchases. At the bottom of each page are brief descriptions of products found in the company’s inventory. Receipt (photocopy of original laid in F11): “Bought of Carey Bros., Branch of The National Wall Paper Co., Manufacturers of Paper Hangings, Nos. 2228 to 2242 North 10th Street.” Partners listed on the receipt include R. Davis Carey, T.C. Carey, and W.H. Grevemeyer; the receipt is also marked “Philadelphia ________189_” and shows terms for payment. Receipt: Carey Bros. & Grevemeyer, 10 February 1892, payment in full for bill 1-12, 1892, $5.95 from Hon. J.M. Carey, U.S. Senator. Advertisement card: “Superior Playing Card Co., Carey Bros. & Grevemeyer,” lists designs on playing cards, number of series, description, cost per gross, plain or gilt edge.