Spirella Corset Company. Traveling saleswoman's kit, 1934-1935

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Summary

Creator:
Spirella Corset Company.
Abstract:
The Spirella Corset Company was founded in 1904 in Meadville, Pennsylvania, by Marcus Merritt Beeman, William Wallace Kincaid and Jesse Homan Pardee, to manufacture made-to-measure women's corsets and other foundation garments. The firm utilized a force of women sales personnel who directly contacted consumers for fittings and garment orders; the brand was not sold in retail outlets. The collection consists of brochures, catalogs, deposit forms, sales ordering and fitting instructions and other printed materials, along with a sample corset used for demonstrations. Acquired as part of the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History & Culture.
Extent:
1.0 Linear Foot
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.11958

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of brochures, catalogs, deposit forms, sales ordering and fitting instructions and other printed materials, along with a sample corset used for demonstrations.

Biographical / historical:

The Spirella Corset Company was founded in 1904 by Marcus Merritt Beeman, William Wallace Kincaid and Jesse Homan Pardee, to manufacture made-to-measure women's corsets and other foundation garments. The company was originally based in Meadville, Pennsylvania, but built a new factory on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls in 1907. It expanded to Great Britain in 1910 and continued in operation there until the 1980s. Spirella was notable for its use of women's labor in its factories as well as for its corsetieres, women sales personnel who made home visits to measure and take orders for its garments.

Source: https://niagarafallsmuseums.ca/discover-our-history/history-notes/spirella-corset-company

The sales kit in this collection was addressed to Nellie Mae Hoover, who worked for Spirella Company Western of Oakland, California, in the 1930s. She was born Nellie Mae Chester in 1896 in Missouri and married Alva Otto Hoover (1896-1972), also of Missouri, in 1916. After World War I they relocated eventually to California. Nellie died in 1973 in Riverside, California.

Source: https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/family-tree/person/tree/323880/person/-359802188/facts

Acquisition information:
The Spirella Corset Company. Traveling saleswoman's kit was received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase in 2020.
Processing information:

Processed by Richard Collier, Dec. 2021;

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2020-0030.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Subjects

Click on terms below to find related finding aids on this site. For other related materials in the Duke University Libraries, search for these terms in the Catalog.

Subjects:
Sales personnel
Sales promotion
Direct selling
Lingerie
Corsets
Names:
John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Spirella Corset Company. Traveling saleswoman's kit, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.