Plant – MIP Division part 1, Undated

The DURIRON Corporation Records consist of meeting minutes, general correspondence, newsletters, annual reports, advertising literature, and photographs of one of the Miami Valley’s oldest and most successful industrial companies. The bulk of the records document company operations from the late 1940s to the 1970s. The collection is arranged into three series.

Series I, Administrative Records, consists of a variety of information organized according to major subject area. General Information contains legal documents, by-laws, reports to stockholders, correspondence, and proxy statements. Annual Reports includes company reports from 1943 to 1996. The Board of Directors area contains meeting minutes 1955-1981, several reports, and general information about chairmen of the board. The Finance and Compensation area contains information on finance and compensation committees from 1947 to 1981. General Memorandum includes memoranda sent out to the company and to clients. The Newsletter area contains newsletters from 1923 to 1980 and contains interesting information about company operations. Tours and Anniversaries is a small area containing information about anniversary celebrations, open houses, and company parties. The Newspaper and Magazines area includes clippings and press releases about company events from 1942 to 1984. Finally, the last area includes Engineering Information, which includes a limited number of reports and engineering design drawings from 1923 to 1959.

Series II, Sales Records, is a large series that is organized into major subject areas. The first subject area, Advertising Literature, is probably the most interesting area of the series. It contains bound and unbound bulletins and advertising literature from 1914 to 1994. This area thoroughly documents the products produced and sold by the company. The second major area is Application Manuals. This area, which encompasses material from 1947 to 1980, contains information on the DURIRON products used in industry. The next major area, Price Lists, contains the cost of DURIRON products from 1948 to 1975. The fourth major area, Sales Meetings, contains information on sales meetings from 1947 to 1970. The next areas, which are small, contain information on Radio and TV Advertising from the 1970s, Sales Inquiries from the 1950s and early 1960s, Other Applications of DURIRON products in the 1960s, information on Associated DURIRON Divisions, such as Enzinger and Pressure Products, and information on Magazine and Direct Mail requests from the 1980s. Another large area of this series is Advertising Reprints, which contains copies of advertising that appeared in various newspapers and magazines from 1915 to 1974. The last two areas of the series includes Working Files from the 1950s and Advertising Reprint Scrapbooks from 1917 to 1951.

Series III, Photographs and Negatives, the largest of the three series in the collection, is a collection of photographs and negatives documenting company, buildings, products, and people. The photographs document the history of the company from its beginning to the 1970s. Unfortunately, many of the photographs are undated and people unidentified. However, there are many photographs of the products and parts produced by the company. Of particular note is an old catalog from 1918.