Special Collections Staff Picks

Source: Marietta Manufacturing Company Records, East Carolina Manuscript Collection #742

Staff Person: Dale Sauter

Description:
This week’s pick comes from The Marietta Manufacturing Company Records, 1906-1995, n.d. (bulk 1930-1965). M.M.C., the initials for the Marietta Manufacturing Company, also stood for its slogan, “Made Mechanically Correct.” This slogan resounded for generations, particularly with those associated with trade on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Marietta was a ship manufacturing company that began near Marietta, OH in 1852. Following a major flood on the Ohio River in 1913, the company moved to Point Pleasant, West Virginia where they remained until their closing in 1984.

The records were officially donated to the Special Collections Department in the spring of 1997. A team of four library staff and students traveled to West Virginia to obtain the records. After spending two days retrieving over 200 cubic feet of records and packing them in a van, the team completed the nearly 900 mile roundtrip back to Greenville.

In previous years all of the photographic images and a good number of the ship plan drawings have been conserved and processed by Lynette Lundin and her student assistants. The administrative (paper) records of the company have been processed. You can find a general finding aid to the records at the following.

Manuscript Collection 742

The current finding aid is in the proofing stage, but we plan to upload it very soon. There is also an historical compilation available which uses old newspaper clippings and other sources. This is “The History of Marietta Manufacturing Co.,” compiled by Captain Charles H. Stone. The call number is HD9727.W4 S76 2000 and is available in the stacks (circulating) and in the Special Collections Reference Collection (non-circulating).

The photo below (circa 1923) is of the towboat Standard, built by Marietta for Standard Oil of Ohio in 1923.

The towboat Standard.

Now called Barbara H, it is also the oldest unaltered sternwheel towboat still in operation. A website for Barbara H can be found at the following.

m/v Barbara H Sternwheel Towboat

Please contact us with any questions or comments you may have.

Posted by Dale Sauter under East Carolina Manuscript Collection, photographs and Tags: maritime history, ships