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Cage 151
Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company
Records, 1924-1961
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| Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections Pullman, WA 99164-5610 USA (509) 335-6691 Inquiries |
Cage 151
Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company
Records, 1924-1961
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. The records were processed in June of 1974 by Lawrence R. Stark.
ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY
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.
DESCRIPTION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE RECORDS
The records of the Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company consist of the accounting books of the firm, and a few miscellaneous items. 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.
CONTAINER LIST