William Palmer Papers
Finding aid prepared by Gina C Giang.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical
Gardens
© 2014
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.
Title: Willam Palmer Papers
Dates: 1879-1932
Collection Number: mssPalmerpapers
Creator:
Palmer, William Roy
Extent:
305 items in 3 boxes
Repository: The Huntington Library,
Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts
Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2191
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists of documents
for the United Verde Copper Company, Clarkdale, Arizona, the Columbia Graphophone
Company, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and the Tioga Mining Company, Mono County,
California.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader
Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities.
The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with
the researcher.
[Identification of item]. William Palmer Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Purchased from Elliott Mittler, June 2014.
William Roy Palmer was born in 1884 near Fairbury, Nebraska. In 1906 Palmer earned
his Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) from the University of Nebraska. He
also took extension courses in law and business administration. He was a
professional engineer and land surveyor who was licensed in New York. He was a
member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Society of Mechanical
Engineers, and American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.
Palmer's career began in 1906, where he was the Wire Chief at Lincoln Telephone
Company in Nebraska. Two years later, he worked for General Electric as an
inspector. In 1909 he was the Bridge Engineer at Patterson Bridge Company. After, he
was Assistant Chief Engineer at Arkansas Valley Railway, Light and Power Company
from 1910 to 1911. From 1913 to 1917, he was Assistant Chief Engineer and Chief
Draughtsman at United Verde Copper Company in Clarkdale, Arizona. During World War
I, Palmer became a traveling Metallurgical Engineer to coordinate war time copper
production from 1917 to 1918. After the war, he was Chief Engineer and Special
Projects Assistant at Columbia Graphophone Manufacturing Company in Bridgeport,
Connecticut from 1919 to 1923. Later in life, Palmer was a Consulting Engineer in
New York between 1927 and 1940. Around the 1930s, he was the Vice President and
Chief Engineer at Tioga Mining Company in Mono County, California. In 1941, he was
an Industrial Engineer at Vega Airplane Company in Burbank, California.
He married Ethel Howe in 1912. The couple had no children.
Box 1 (1-4) consists of miscellaneous business records pertaining to the United Verde
Copper Company from 1913 to 1916. These records include accounts, blue prints,
calculations, diagrams, estimates, power costs, price lists, and work orders. The
majority of the correspondence from 1913 to 1918 is from T.C. Roberts, the Chief
Engineer at the United Verde and Pacific Railway Company in Clarkdale, Arizona.
Subjects include the water situation in Clarkdale and sidewalk construction. There
are also letters from William Palmer, who provides business updates. The
correspondence from 1920 to 1922 mostly concerns Palmer's time at the Columbia
Graphophone Company where he was General Superintendent of Engineering. The letters
include technical reports and the development of a radiophone. Folder 7 consists of
miscellaneous correspondence related to investments and the construction of a
professional building in New York. The correspondence from 1931 to 1932 concerns the
financing of the Northern Champlain Bridge, which replaced the ferry at the northern
end of Lake Champlain in Vermont. Palmer was the construction engineer for this
project. The subject matter from 1933 to 1939 documents the estate of Rodolphus N.
Swift. The title to the Tioga Mines in Mono County, California, originates with the
Swift estate. There is one letter [undated], which advertises commercial linoleum.
Box 1 also includes photostats of performance data from Westinghouse Electric &
Mfg. Co., three diagrams, financial records, mining deeds related to the Swift
family, and a lease.
Box 2 also includes legal documents related to the Swift estate and several
agreements. There are also maps and tracts related to the Great Sierra Consolidated
Silver Company (reproduction), United Verde Copper Company, Columbia Graphophone
Company, and Tioga Mining Company. Notes include the "Palmer-Messer Process," which
is the extraction of mercury bearing ores or other sulphides by amalgamation, which
Palmer applied to patent around 1932. There is a folder with miscellaneous notes
related to Tioga Mining Company, including calculations, claim ties, and legal
notes. Another folder contains notes regarding a record press. Miscellaneous plans
and drawings pertaining to United Verde Copper Company, archways, building, and
kitchen cabinets are also included. There is also a folder with miscellaneous prices
and estimates from various manufacturers and firms, which include asphalt, brick
machinery, cement, brick, electrical wiring, and lumber work. These lists were once
contained in a binder and include an index.
Box 3 includes reports related to the geology of the Comstock Lode by George F.
Becker, a shellac shipment, and a summary report of matrices stopped by the Columbia
Graphophone Company. There is a short story entitled "The Double Double-Cross" by
Sidney Sutherland about two wise-cracking touts named the El Paso Kid and Rubber
Lip. There are also two specifications, one for Dictaphone wax and the other for a
revolving screen for the Canadian Copper Company. There is also an administrative
survey by the Columbia Graphophone Company about the organization and methods along
with a review and forecast of its financial condition. This was prepared for the
President and Board of Directors by Holton, Richard and Company, Inc. The remainder
of the box consists of ephemeral items such as newsletters, bulletins, and
miscellaneous articles removed from periodicals. Some of these items are
photostats.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged chronologically by genre.
Box 1: Business records – Legal documents
Box 2: Legal documents – Surveys
Box 3: Reports – Ephemera
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
Huntington Library's Online Catalog.
Palmer, William
Roy
Columbia Graphophone
Company (U.S.)
United Verde Copper
Company
Swift, Rodolphus
N.
Building
Copper mines and
mining--Arizona
Engineering
Engineers--Correspondence
Mines and mineral
resources--Arizona
Mines and mineral
resources--California
Mining
engineers--Correspondence
Mercury
Bennettville
(Calif.)
Jerome
(Ariz.)
Lake Champlain Bridge
(N.Y. and Vt. : 1929-2009)
Mono County
(Calif.)
Tioga Mining District
(Calif.)
Business records
Deeds
Diagrams
Financial records
Legal documents
Letters (correspondence)
Notes
Price lists
Printed ephmera
Box 1
Business records – Legal documents
Folder 18
Box 2
Legal documents - Surveys
Folder 5
Folder 6
Folder 17
Folder 22
Box 3
Reports - Ephemera
Folder 3
Folder 7
Folder 8
Folder 9
Folder 20
Folder 21
Folder 22
Folder 24