Guide to the Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company Records 1924-1961
Cage 151

Summary Information

Repository
Washington State University Libraries, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections
Creator
Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company
Title
Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company Records
ID
Cage 151
Date [inclusive]
1924-1961
Extent
24 linear feet of shelf space., 110 items.
Language
Collection materials are in English.
Abstract
Account books, consisting of journals, ledgers, orders, shipping records and payrolls, of a Spokane, Wash. lumber manufacturer, principally concerning the operation of a planing mill and the sale of finished western pine lumber to wholesale and retail dealers throughout the United States. The records of the company's sawmill, drying kiln and retail outlet are also included.

Preferred Citation

[Item Description]. Cage 151, Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company Records . Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.

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Biography/History

The Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company was formed in 1925 to succeed a partnership formed about a year earlier by Thomas Baird and Alfred G. Naundorf. The firm remained in the ownership of these men and their families until the 1950's when the Baird family shares were sold to Fred Miller, a long-time employee of the firm.

The company's principal operation, a planing mill, was located at Spokane. Until 1944 the company also operated a retail lumber yard, and from 1945 to 1961 a sawmill and drying kilns, all located adjacent to the planing mill. The company also leased a sawmill at Twin Lakes, Idaho, for a number of years. In its early years the company acquired its raw materials by purchase of rough-sawed lumber from a number of local sawmills. Increasingly, however, it became necessary to purchase logs and assume the sawing operation. Eventually it became necessary to go one further step and purchase standing timber, usually on National Forest Lands some distance from Spokane, and to contract for logging. The mill's finished lumber was sold to both wholesale lumber dealers and directly to retail lumber yards. Most of the output was shipped by rail to buyers in the Midwest and East.

In 1961, following a fire which destroyed much of the plant, the operators discontinued the business, disposing of the lumber stocks through usual sources and selling the usable manufacturing machinery at auction. By 1963 the company was an inactive corporation.

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Scope and Content

The records of the Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company consist of the accounting books of the firm, and a few miscellaneous items.

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Arrangement

The books are arranged in nine series, following original book-keeping practices. Series 1, a general journal contains a chronological record of the business, as well as the cost accounting entries. The ledgers, which make up Series 2, record the basic accounts in alphabetical arrangement within each volume. The sale of lumber is documented by Series 3 through 6, which, respectively, are the records of the retail sale yard, of wholesale lumber sales, of orders for lumber, mostly from retailers, and of shipment of lumber to buyers. Series 7 consists of journals of business with the contract loggers engaged by the company to harvest timber. The labor force records are in Series 8 which includes both payrolls and records of withheld wages. Lastly, a few miscellaneous items have been placed in a 9th Series; these include a detailed appraisal of the plant in 1936 and a short history of the company written by the owners in 1963.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections  © 2012

http://www.libraries.wsu.edu/masc/

Terrell Library

P.O. Box 645610

Pullman, WA, 99164-5610 USA

509-335-6691

mascref@wsu.edu

Restrictions on Access

This collection is open for research use.

Acquisition Information

The records of the Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company of Spokane, Washington, a manufacturer of Idaho white pine, ponderosa pine, spruce, fir, larch and cedar lumber, were donated to the Washington State University Library in 1963 by the owners of the firm, who were then in the process of dissolving the business.

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Names and Subjects

Corporate Name(s)

Creator(s) :
  • Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company--Archives

Subject(s)

  • Lumber trade -- Washington (State)--Spokane
  • Sawmills -- Washington (State)--Spokane
  • Business, Industry, and Labor
  • Logging
  • Washington (State)

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Detailed Description of Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

Series 1: Mill Journal 

item

 1926 - 1931 

1

 1932 

2

 Jan 1933 - July 1933 

3

 July 1933 - Dec 1933 

4

 Jan 1934 - Dec 1934 

5

 Dec 1934 - Oct 1935 

6

 Oct 1935 - June 1936 

7

 June 1936 - Feb 1937 

8

 Feb 1937 - Sept 1937 

9

 Sept 1937 - May 1938 

10

 June 1938 - Dec 1938 

11

 Jan 1939 - Sept 1939 

12

 Sept 1939 - May 1940 

13

 May 1940 - Dec 1940 

14

 Jan 1941 - Sept 1941 

15

 Sept 1941 - May 1942 

16

 May 1942 - May 1943 

17

 May 1943 - June 1944 

18

 July 1944 - June 1945 

19

 July 1945 - Dec 1946 

20

 Jan 1947 - Apr 1948 

21

 May 1948 - Feb 1950 

22

 Mar 1950 - May 1951 

23

 June 1951 - Apr 1953 

24

 May 1953 - July 1955 

25

 Aug 1955 - Sept 1957 

26

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Series 2: Account Ledgers 

item

 1924 - 1930 

27

 1930 - 1960 

28

 1926 - 1940 

29

 1930 - 1949 

30

 1949 - 1958 

31

 1951 - 1960 

32

Fuel Accounts 1933 

33

Fuel Accounts, n.d. 

34

Past Due Accounts 1928-1929 

35

Accounts Receivable 1931-1932 

36

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Series 3: Retail Yard Journal 

item

 Jan 1928 - July 1928 

37

 Aug 1928 - Jan 1929 

38

 Feb 1929 - July 1929 

39

 July 1929 - Dec 1929 

40

 Jan 1930 - Dec 1930 

41

 Jan 1931 - Nov 1931 

42

 Nov 1931 - Sept 1932 

43

 Nov 1933 - Dec 1934 

44

 Jan 1935 - Aug 1937 

45

 Sept 1937 - Nov 1938 

46

 Oct 1941 - Dec 1942 

47

 Jan 1943 - Aug 1944 

48

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Series 4: Wholesale Sales 

Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company 

item

 Jan 1925 - July 1932 

49

 Aug 1932 - Sept 1936 

50

 Oct 1936 - Oct 1939 

51

 Nov 1939 - Dec 1941 

52

 Jan 1942 - Mar 1945 

53

 Apr 1945 - Oct 1947 

54

 Jan 1948 - Dec 1950 

55

 Jan 1951 - June 1956 

56

Naundorf-Miller Sales Corporation 

item

 July 1951 - July 1955 

57

 July 1951 - Aug 1954 

58

 Aug 1954 - June 1956 

59

 July 1956 - May 1958 

60

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Series 5: Orders 

item

 Jan 1936 - Dec 1938 

61

 Jan 1939 - Dec 1943 

62

 Jan 1944 - Mar 1946 

63

 Jan 1945 - Mar 1948 

64

 Dec 1947 - Dec 1949 

65

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Series 6: Shipping records 

Record of Shipments  

item

 July 1926 - June 1934 

66

 June 1934 - Aug 1939 

67

 Aug 1939 - Aug 1946 

68

 Aug 1946 - Mar 1961  

69

Record of RR cars dispatched 

item

 Apr 1928 - Apr 1936 

70

 Jan 1940 - Mar 1945 

71

 Apr 1945 - Sept 1956 

72

 Dec 1944 - Jan 1959 

73

Dispatcher's record 

item

 1941 - 1942 

74

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Series 7: Contract Loggers 

item

 Jan 1948 - Dec 1951 

75

 Dec 1951 - Dec 1955 

76

 Dec 1955 - Sept 1959  

77

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Series 9: Labor 

Payroll 

item

 Nov 1928 - May 1931 

78

 May 1931 - Sept 1933 

79

 Sept 1933 - May 1935 

80

 June 1935 - Sept 1936 

81

 Oct 1936 - Nov. 1937 

82

 Nov 1937 - Dec 1938 

83

 Jan 1939 - Feb 1940 

84

 Mar 1940 - Mar 1941 

85

 Mar 1941 - Mar 1942 

86

 Apr 1942 - Sept 1943 

87

 Sept 1943 - Mar 1945  

88

 Mar 1945 - Dec 1946 

89

 Dec 1946 - May 1948 

90

 June 1948 - Aug 1949 

91

 Aug 1949 - Dec 1951 

92

 Jan 1952 - Apr 1953 

93

 1953 - 1955 

94

 1956 - 1958 

95

 Jan 1959 - Aug 1959 

96

 Aug 1959 - Dec 1959 

97

Pay withheld 

item

 1937 - 1951 

98

 1937 - 1951 

99

 1939 - 1943 

100

 1944 - 1947 

101

Washington 1948 - 1951 

102

Idaho 1948 - 1951 

103

 1952 

104

 1953 

105

IRS W-2 1952 - 1957 

106

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Series 9: Miscellaneous 

item

Building permits 1926 

107

Prospects 1929-1932 

108

Appraisal of plant 1936 

109

History of Baird-Naundorf Lumber Company 1963  4

110

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