Guide to the Keuffel & Esser Company Papers 1800-1990s MG 1639

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary
Historical Note:
Scope and Content Note
Access Points
Related Material
Administrative Information

Series Descriptions and Container List

Series 1: Corporate Records

Series 2: Product/Work/Plan/Architectural Records

Finding aid encoded by Julia Telonidis. July 2006. Production of the EAD 2002 version of this finding aid was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.Finding aid written in English.

Historical Note:

Wilhelm Johann Diedrich Keuffel and Herman Esser were partners in the firm of Keuffel & Esser which was founded in July 1867 at 79 Nassau St. Manhattan. They were two German immigrants,who were importers and jobbers of drawing materials and mathematical and surveying instruments. Keuffel (1838-1908), born in Walbeck, Germany and was employed in the hardware business in Germany and Birmingham, England, prior to his immigration to Hoboken, NJ, in 1866. The next year he joined with Herman Esser (1845-1908) who was originally from Wuppertal-Elbertfeld. In 1875, the firm was incorporated as Keuffel & Esser Company (also known as K & E) and moved from Manhattan to Third and Grand Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. Wilhelm J. D. Keuffel died in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1908. Herman Esser retired from Keuffel & Esser Co. in 1902. He was back in Bad Godesberg am Rheim, Germany in April of 1902 and died there in April 1908. The company continued to prosper under new leadership.

In the coming decades, Keuffel & Esser began to expand, opening showrooms, offices and new factories in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, Detroit, and Montreal. They first manufactured surveying instruments in 1885 and introduced an innovative new line of surveying equipment in the 1890s. The company’s first product was hard rubber curves and triangles. Later products included drafting paper, surveying instruments, and drafting aids such as slide rules. Keuffel & Esser held patents for a wide range of slide rule features, including improved cursor indicators, functions and scales, and the adjustable body mechanism. The company was so successful that in 1965 it went public on NASDAQ. However, in the coming years, rapid changes in technology including the development of calculators, CAD systems and laser surveying systems, had a detrimental effect on Keuffel & Esser, which shrank drastically after 1972. In 1982 Keuffel & Esser filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and eventually was bought out by several companies including Azon Corporation. Currently, Azon Corporation owns the Keuffel & Esser name and trademarks.

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Scope and Content Note

The collection contains records of the Keuffel & Esser Company including correspondence, reports, minutes, ledgers, equipment
drawings, architectural drawings and plans, corporate records, proposals and lease agreements and contracts pertaining to
both their domestic and international business.

**Special note:** This collection in only partially processed. There are hundreds of architectural and equipment drawings that have not been
processed or incorporated into this finding aid. They are stored in both 5th floor storage and at the offsite facility. Patron
access of these drawings is currently very limited. These drawings will be incorporated into the rest of the collection at
a later time.

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Related Material

See also: Four Keuffel & Esser Catalogs, 6th floor books, Call numbers 681.2 K42-K516 (6th floor stacks)

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as: Manuscript Group 1639, Keuffel & Esser Co. Papers, The New Jersey Historical Society.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Susan I. Sherwood, 2004.

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Series Descriptions and Container List

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