Graham Mfg Company Leather Bound Catalogs and factory to dealers WWII allotments

I purchased a large lot of bit keys, railroad and other drill and flat keys from a defunct Boston Lockshop. Among the keys that I have still not sorted, are catalogs of the Graham Mfg Company of Derby Ct., from moments before WWII restrictions on metal and letters to dealers regarding allotments, as well as the end of WWII Announcements of the first group of commercial keys to be reintroduced for shipment, and the phase in of entire line. I do not know if these documents are all over the place, or very rare. To preserve these items, I have elected NOT to remove from binding for scanning and OCR / Cross referencing etc. until I know they are not needed in a museum.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Locksmithy

I purchased a large lot of bit keys, railroad and other drill and flat keys from a defunct Boston Lockshop. Among the keys that I have still not sorted, are catalogs of the Graham Mfg Company of Derby Ct., from moments before WWII restrictions on metal and letters to dealers regarding allotments, as well as the end of WWII Announcements of the first group of commercial keys to be reintroduced for shipment, and the phase in of entire line. I do not know if these documents are all over the place, or very rare. To preserve these items, I have elected NOT to remove from binding for scanning and OCR / Cross referencing etc. until I know they are not needed in a museum.

---

I believe those documents are probably quite rare, from the era when many domestic manufacturers turned to producing goods for the war effort. I am in possession of a copy of Graham Illustrated Catalogue No. 44 of Keys and Hardware Specialties. Although undated, it includes a Revised Net Price List No. 48 effective March 1, 1948; thus I presume the catalog is post WWII. As an historical note, the late Thomas F. Hennessy's Locks and Lockmakers of America has a brief passage about Graham:

Derby, Connecticut located about 10 miles north of Milford...was the home of the Graham Manufacturing Co. which made key blanks and locksmith supplies. This company was founded in 1900 by Edward Graham, and became one of the largest manufacturers of key blanks in the country. The company closed in 1949.

I also have a Graham letter dated September 15, 1950 announcing price increases effective that date. Thus they were apparently still in business for a time subsequent to 1949, contrary to Mr. Hennessy's stated closing date. According to Tom Hennessy's Historical Research Series No. 18 of December, 1986; the Lock Museum of America (of which he was curator) has Graham catalogs from 1920 of 160 pages and 1930 with 232 pages. Perhaps they would be interested in acquiring your materials?

Pete Schifferli