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Guide to the Wolverine Toy Company Collection 1908-1984

Metadata Details

Title
Wolverine Toy Company collection 1908-1984
Subject
Wolverine Toy Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Industry--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh, Toys--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh
Description
The Wolverine Toy Company Collection contains primarily toy and trade catalogs and press kits from other toy manufacturing companies announcing the introduction of new toys. The catalogs are those of Wolverine's competitors which included Hasbro and Fisher-Price in 1984. An oversized photograph (c1918) depicts employees outside an office building which may be the Bain mansion. Other oversized materials include a "Kiddie-Kar" catalog by competitor H.C. White Co. of Vermont, as well as a c1920s photograph of the New York headquarters and photos of toy showrooms c1925., Wolverine Toy Company collection, 1908-1984, MSS 0716, Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center, Cataloging of this collection was funded by a Basic Processing grant from NHPRC., Spang & Company Gift 2002 2002.0041, The Wolverine Toy Company (originally the Wolverine Supply & Mfg. Co.) was founded in 1903 in Pittsburgh, Pa. by Benjamin F. Bain, a die maker from Michigan. Named for the University of Michigan football team, the company began as a tool-and-die company, making the most profit manufacturing parts for kitchens. In 1910, Bain created dies for the Sandy Andy toy until the inventor of Sandy Andy died and Bain decided to manufacture the toy in his own factory. The first toys to be manufactured by Wolverine were sand-operated and made out of mechanical tin or pressed steel, such as Sandy Andy. Later, the company produced toy vehicles powered by a string motor as well as toy appliances. Wolverine became a major toy manufacturer by 1920. After Bain died, James Lehren took over as president who, throughout the Depression and World War II, steered the company to manufacture military equipment. In 1962, the company changed its name to the Wolverine Toy Company before being bought out by Spang Industries of Butler, Pennsylvania. All manufacturing operations were moved to Booneville, Arkansas in 1971 and the name was changed again in 1986 to Todays Kids, and at which point the company changed its focus to the production of plastic toys. The company ceased operations in the 1990s., Gift of Spang & Company., Processed MSS 0716 11/2011 S. Eckland, Collection level finding aid available. Inventory included in donor file.
Contributor
Wolverine Toy Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center (depositor)
Date
1908-1984
Type
Collection, Text
Format
print, manuscript, 0.5 linear ft.
Identifier
oclc:775602981, pitt:US-QQS-mss716
Language
eng
Relation
http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=hswpead;cc=hswpead;rgn=main;view=text;didno=US-QQS-mss716
Coverage
Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh
Rights
Copyright Not Evaluated. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/
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