Guide to the J. R. Weldin and Company Records 1885-1946
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- J. R. Weldin and Company Records
- Creator
- J.R. Weldin and Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Collection Number
- MSS 170
- Extent
- 0.5 linear feet (1 box)
- Date
- 1885-1946
- Abstract
- J.R. Weldon was a Pittsburgh businessman who owned and operated a bookstore and stationary shop on Wood Street in downtown Pittsburgh known as J.R. Weldin and Co. After his death, the store ownership moved to Weldin's nephew and grand-nephew. The company is one of the oldest businesses located in downtown Pittsburgh. The collection materials include correspondence, account ledgers, bills and receipts, indenture forms, inventories, stock books, time books, and a daily sales journal.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This collection has been made accessible as part of an NHPRC-funded Basic Processing grant.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
History
J. R. Weldin was a Pittsburgh bookseller and stationer during the 19th century. Weldin established the J.R. Weldin Book and Stationary Store in 1852, later called J.R. Weldin and Company. His store was located at 73 Wood Street, but just four years later, the store moved down the street to 63 Wood Street. Weldin started out with only three employees. One employee was Weldin's nephew, Henry Lee Mason. Mason was the son of Washington Mason and Weldin's sister, Sarah Ann. He had been born in 1838 in Pittsburgh and was educated in both public and private schools before starting an apprenticeship at his uncle's bookshop in 1852. After working through his apprenticeship and learning the business, Mason became part-owner of the store. He married Myra Jane McLaughlin in 1862 and the couple had four children, three of whom lived to adulthood. Upon Weldin's death in 1872, Mason purchased the remainder of the company and became the sole proprietor.
Under Mason's direction, the company steadily grew. In 1880, Mason moved the business to 99 and 101 Wood Street in order to expand. However, the store was damaged in 1889, when a cyclone caused an unfinished structure adjacent to J.R. Weldin and Co. to collapse onto the store, killing two employees. The company rebuilt and in 1890, J.R. Weldin and Co. bought out H. Watts and Co., another Pittsburgh book and fine stationary store. However a fire destroyed the Weldin building two years later. In 1891, Mason moved the business to 431 Wood Street.
Mason continued to operate J.R. Weldin and Co. until his death in 1912. Mason's son, Henry Lee Mason Jr., took over the business upon his father's death. Born in 1868, Mason Jr. had been educated at Shady Side Academy and Princeton University before following his father into the family business, by first becoming an assistant bookkeeper in 1890 to learn the business and management. He took a special interest in the steel and copper plate engraving department of the company that would become one of the most popular departments of the store. Mason Jr. married Martha Frew in 1895 and lived in the old Lockhart mansion in the East End. In 1913, Mason Jr. purchased J.R. Weldin and Co. from his father's estate and incorporated it. The following year, Mason Jr. moved the company to 413 Wood Street where it still operates.
Scope and Content Notes
The J.R. Weldin and Company Records include correspondence, account ledgers, bills and recipts, indenture forms, inventories, stock books, time books, and a daily sales journal. Business records include correspondence, sales receipts, book orders, invoices, and contracts between J.R. Weldin and Co. and the city telephone and light companies. Also included are legal documents pertaining to the indentures of three individuals, two in 1898 and the other in 1900. Ledger books make up the bulk of the collection. A time book shows employee timestamps from 1913 to 1914. Two books show the store's inventory from 1892, 1913, and 1944 through 1946. Two ledgers are account books running from 1910 to 1913. The last ledger book is an oversized volume that displays the daily record of sales, with the name of the customer, items purchased and the price from April to September 1913.
Conditions Governing Access
None.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift from Margaret Brown in 1983.
Archives accession # 1983.xxxx
Preferred Citation
J. R. Weldin and Company Records, 1885-1946, MSS 170 , Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
Preliminary processing by Meghan Hall on 03/22/2013.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Separated Materials
One oversized ledger book has been stored separately.
Subjects
- J.R. Weldin and Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- J.R. Weldin Book and Stationary Store (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Mason, Henry Lee
- Mason, Henry Lee Jr.
- Weldin, J. R.
- Downtown (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- Businesses
- Booksellers and bookselling--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.