Account books, consisting of journals,
ledgers, orders, shipping records and payrolls, of a Spokane, Wash. lumber
manufacturer, principally concerning the operation of a planing mill and the
sale of finished western pine lumber to wholesale and retail dealers throughout
the United States. The records of the company's sawmill, drying kiln and retail
outlet are also included.
Repository:
Washington State University Libraries
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special
Collections
Funding for encoding this finding
aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
Historical Note
The Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company was formed in 1925 to succeed a
partnership formed about a year earlier by Thomas Baird and Alfred G. Naundorf.
The firm remained in the ownership of these men and their families until the
1950's when the Baird family shares were sold to Fred Miller, a long-time
employee of the firm.
The company's principal operation, a planing mill, was located at
Spokane. Until 1944 the company also operated a retail lumber yard, and from
1945 to 1961 a sawmill and drying kilns, all located adjacent to the planing
mill. The company also leased a sawmill at Twin Lakes, Idaho, for a number of
years. In its early years the company acquired its raw materials by purchase of
rough-sawed lumber from a number of local sawmills. Increasingly, however, it
became necessary to purchase logs and assume the sawing operation. Eventually
it became necessary to go one further step and purchase standing timber,
usually on National Forest Lands some distance from Spokane, and to contract
for logging. The mill's finished lumber was sold to both wholesale lumber
dealers and directly to retail lumber yards. Most of the output was shipped by
rail to buyers in the Midwest and East.
In 1961, following a fire which destroyed much of the plant, the
operators discontinued the business, disposing of the lumber stocks through
usual sources and selling the usable manufacturing machinery at auction. By
1963 the company was an inactive corporation.
Content Description
The records of the Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company consist of the
accounting books of the firm, and a few miscellaneous items.
Use of the Collection
Restrictions on Access :
This collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation :
[Item Description]. Cage
151, Baird-Naundorf Lumber
Company Records . Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
Administrative Information
Arrangement :
The books are arranged in nine series, following original book-keeping
practices. Series 1, a general journal contains a chronological record of the
business, as well as the cost accounting entries. The ledgers, which make up
Series 2, record the basic accounts in alphabetical arrangement within each
volume. The sale of lumber is documented by Series 3 through 6, which,
respectively, are the records of the retail sale yard, of wholesale lumber
sales, of orders for lumber, mostly from retailers, and of shipment of lumber
to buyers. Series 7 consists of journals of business with the contract loggers
engaged by the company to harvest timber. The labor force records are in Series
8 which includes both payrolls and records of withheld wages. Lastly, a few
miscellaneous items have been placed in a 9th Series; these include a detailed
appraisal of the plant in 1936 and a short history of the company written by
the owners in 1963.
Acquisition Information :
The records of the Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company of Spokane,
Washington, a manufacturer of Idaho white pine, ponderosa pine, spruce, fir,
larch and cedar lumber, were donated to the Washington State University Library
in 1963 by the owners of the firm, who were then in the process of dissolving
the business.
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in
the collection.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online
catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or
places should search the catalog using these headings.
