Brought together under the umbrella “Central File,” series I is comprised of two original file systems of the same nature, documenting the first eighty-three years of the company’s history. It is by far the most diverse series in the collection and includes legal, financial, patent, personnel and real estate records, newspaper clippings as well as company correspondence and subject files. The series is divided into nine subseries based on the above listed document categories. Collectively, the subseries offer a more thorough overview of business activities than subsequent series; however there is little technical information to specifically document the development or manufacture of nautical instruments.

The Legal; Financial; Patents; Personnel; and Newspaper clippings subseries are arranged chronologically. Real estate; Early correspondence and subject files; Correspondence, Contracts and orders; and Offshoot companies subseries are arranged alphabetically.

Please note that a number of the personnel records are restricted until the year 2026, due to the presence of employees’ social security numbers on the documents.

The researcher is advised to give attention to bulk dates. A number of later documents were included in the series due to their nature or subject matter, however, there is very little in the series dated beyond 1958.

John P. Mays joined the Hand Company as an instrument maker in 1943. By 1956, he was promoted to the position of General Manager, where he served until his retirement in 1977. The records in this series document Mays’s tenure as General Manager. They are divided into two subseries.

Subseries a, Instrument Development and Manufacturing Files, evidences the actual work of the firm, providing a plethora of technical information about the nautical instruments the company produced in the mid-twentieth century. Generally, researchers will find development reports, product manuals, purchase orders, related correspondence and manufacturing contracts for a majority of the products represented. Files on the development and manufacture of a wrist compass for the United States Navy and the Mk VII Mod 5 Navy Standard Binnacle are particularly robust. Records are arranged alphabetically by instrument name. See multiple subseries in Series VII, Measured Drawings for associated engineering plans.

Subseries b, Correspondence and Subject Files, contains all files from Mays’s tenure that were not specifically affiliated with instrument records. In particular, there are numerous files pertaining to the firm’s history. Mays took a special interest in the Company’s early years as it approached its 1973 centennial anniversary. He compiled copies of historic photographs and documents in a scrapbook, which is housed in this subseries. Unrelated to the firm’s history, there is also significant correspondence with Electro Marine Corporation. Files are arranged alphabetically by subject and/or correspondent.

There are no personnel records for this time period.

Irene Richeal, like John P. Mays, advanced her position within the company. She joined the staff as a secretary in the 1940s; by the late 1970s she was one third owner of the firm and serving as General Manager. The records in this series date circa 1978 to 1998. They also document the company’s 1998 sale to San Diego-based company, Deutche-Optik. The series is divided into two subseries.

Subseries a, Instruments, houses information for company produced nautical instruments. Like Mays’s records, files are arranged alphabetically by instrument name.

Subseries b, Correspondence and Subject Files, is almost exclusively devoted to records produced through the company sale and associated transfer of instruments, antiques and records in the late 1990s.

Series IV documents purchases of raw materials, parts and other supplies, and provides contact information for retailers that sold Hand Company products. It is divided into two subseries.

Subseries a. contains a Kardex® card file, which evidences the purchase of raw materials, parts and other supplies used in the manufacture of Hand instruments from 1947 to 1948. The information is organized in three ways. The first group is arranged numerically by parts’ identification numbers. Researchers should note that the identification numbers directly correlate to Series VII. Measured Drawings, subseries b. Engineering Plans, 1946-1948, which houses drawings for those parts. The second group is arranged alphabetically by the name of the relevant raw material. For example, all brass parts are filed together under the heading “brass.” The third group is arranged alphabetically by part name; all records for the purchase of bolts are filed together. Generally, in each of the three subgroups, researchers will be able to identify for which instrument the part or raw material was purchased, a product description, part identification number, purchase order number and date, quantity purchased and unit price. In addition, there is provided a vendor name with contact information.

Subseries b. houses an index card file that provides information on vendors and suppliers as well as distributors of Hand instruments for the period ca. 1950 to 1979. It, too, is divided into three alphabetically arranged groups. The first is alphabetized by the part or raw material name, providing the names, addresses and phone numbers for all suppliers of that particular product. Following are two alphabetically arranged groups of dealers and distributors that sold Hand instruments in their shops. The groups are dated ca. 1950 to 1960 and ca. 1960 to 1979, respectively. Each card lists the name and location of the company or individual and purchase dates.

Materials created by the Hand Company to market their products are housed in Series V. In addition there are competitor catalogs, federal specification pamphlets and other printed materials. There are no formal subseries.

Sales catalogs, dating from ca. 1909 to 1915, followed by four catalog-like volumes, dating ca. 1915 and 1956 to 1965, are first in the series. The last volumes are basically assembled brochures, ephemera and photographs. Next, researchers will find issues of “The Nautical Almanac” (published until 1920) and “The Hand Book” (published after 1926). Produced as comprehensive reference guides for seafarers these Hand Company publications included, among other things, tide charts, pertinent addresses, coastal and geodetic surveys, compass reading instructions, Morse code and the Beaufort scale of winds. Other printed materials include, advertising brochures, individual catalog pages, design layout materials and promotional calendars. Wrapping up the series are numerous competitors’ catalogs, federal specifications and other miscellaneous materials.

Please review folder listing for further details.

Series VI houses a majority of the collection’s photographic prints and negatives. It is divided into two subseries.

Subseries a, Portraits and Snapshots, gathers together images in which the subject matter is other than nautical instruments. Portraits of John E. Hand, his sons and grandsons as well as images of men working in the Atco factory at the turn of the twentieth century offer a glimpse into a more personal side of the business, which is otherwise absent from the collection. Researchers will also find images of nearly all company buildings in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Subseries b, Instruments, contains a collection of black and white photographs of company manufactured nautical instruments that are presumed to date from the early decades of the twentieth-century. Other prints were added to the record group during processing, dating from the second half of the twentieth century. Photographs are arranged alphabetically by instrument name.

Filed at the end of each of the subseries are negatives of various formats including 2 x 3 in. and 35 mm. While many of the negatives match photographs in the series, there are numerous negatives for which there are no corresponding prints.