Papers (1895-1956) of the Tapp-Jenkins Tobacco Warehouse, consisting of correspondence, bills, receipts, tobacco invoices, tobacco shipping papers, tobacco warehouse records, ledgers, pamphlets, publications, newspaper articles, political files and miscellaneous.
Luther Phillips Tapp was born in Orange County, N.C. on October 21, 1868. After entering the tobacco business in Roxboro as a young man, he became manager (1895) of the first tobacco warehouse in Kinston, N.C., which was owned by Captain Jesse W. Grainger. Tapp subsequently operated Carolina, Atlantic, Farmers, and Tapps warehouses all of Kinston and was partner in Growers Tobacco Warehouse in Metter, Georgia.
On December 29, 1928, Lee Bryant Jenkins married Tapp's daughter, Mary Melissa Tapp. Jenkins was born in Edgecombe County, N.C., in October, 1889, and began his career in the tobacco business in Goldsboro in 1914 as a paid laborer. In succeeding years while buying and selling tobacco, Jenkins often came in contact with Tapp which ultimately led to their partnership in the operation of a redrying plant in Warsaw, N.C. (1919-1924). In 1924 they relocated in Kinston under the name L.B. Jenkins and Co., which became affiliated with the Universal Leaf Tobacco Co. in 1930 as L.B. Jenkins Tobacco Company, Inc. This company name was retained after withdrawing from the affiliation in 1949.
Tapp was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Caswell Training School in Kinston (appointed in 1925) and he served four consecutive terms in the N.C. State Senate (1923-1931) where he was Chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He died on March 7, 1931, the result of an automobile accident.
Besides his business partnership with Tapp, Jenkins had other tobacco interests. In 1933 he built New Carolina Warehouse in Kinston and incorporated the IndependentTobacco Export Co. in 1948. He also had tobacco interests in Harrodsburg, Cynthiana, and Lexington, all in Kentucky, as well as in Greenville, Tennessee where he set up the Burley Suppliers Corp. Jenkins died October 28, 1954, in Richmond, Virginia.
Correspondence (1922-1931) concerns the operation of Caswell Training Center and its funding by the state. Topics discussed include controversies over funds from permanent improvement appropriations, contracts and expenditures for the school (1922-1924), misunderstandings over the legal power of the N.C. Board of Charities and Public Welfare, the reception and parole of children, the dismissal of the school's superintendent, the appointment of a new Board of Directors, and the controversy surrounding these actions. Along with correspondence from Governor Angus W. McLean and other officials are newspaper editorials from The Progress (July 17, 1925), the Pee Dee Advocate and the Raleigh Times (undated). Other letters from Governor McLean (August, 1925) concern the degree of feeblemindedness required of Caswell Training School applicants and the rumor that applicants were turned away due to lack of maintenance funds. A letter (August 28, 1925) includes minutes of two Board meetings at which the donation of land for the Eastern Carolina Training School for Boys is discussed. Other papers concerning Caswell Training School include By-laws and Regulations (1923), biennial reports (1922-1930), employee roster (April, 1925), and committee reports (1926).
Telegrams (1924-1925) request Tapp's vote for and against Senate bills. The bill causing the largest response is concerned with Bridge and Road Bonds for Carteret County and the question of a public referendum on the issue.
Correspondence from constituents concerns education, boxing, freight rate discrimination, a site for the Eastern N.C. Training School for Boys, cabinet position of Secretary of Education, a state-owned broadcasting station, bond issues in Carteret County, the attempt to incorporate "North Beaufort" and Confederate widows' pensions. Bills concerning fisheries, the Australian Ballot, annexing Biltmore forest into Asheville, and the McLean Eight Months School Bill are also discussed. Two letters contain printed information concerning the Patriotic and Protective League (Nov. 1928), and the Legislative Committee State Literacy Commission (February 15, 1929).
Tapp's business correspondence (1923-1941) is concerned with the tobacco business. Numerous letters originating in Georgia contain invitations to establish warehouses in that state, prices of tobacco land (1924), and maps of Bright Leaf warehouses already in operation (1927) concerning the auction of Eastern Carolina Warehousing Corporation real estate and warehouses. Other letters describe a farm for sale near Warsaw, N.C. (Feb. 1927), resolutions to be signed by warehousemen of the Eastern Warehouse Association (March, 1927) and the Balance Sheets (August 31, 1938) of the Tobacco Trading Corporation of Louisville, Kentucky.
The earliest correspondence of L.B. Jenkins & Company deals primarily with the Warsaw, N.C. and Harrodsburg, Kentucky, branches. Letters (1921-1922) discuss samples, pooling money among company branches, and balancing of accounts. Also of interest are formal agreements (1927) for Jenkins to supervise bright tobacco purchases made by Edward H. O'Brien and Company of Louisville, Kentucky; a contract proposal (1920) from Philadelphia Drying Machine Company for a "Hurricane" Automatic Combination Machine for drying, cooling, and ordering leaf and strip tobacco; a statement of policy for soil conservation crops; discussions of civil court cases (1939) involving Jenkins; and a statement of the price for coal (1938).
This collection contains about six and one-half boxes of correspondence between L.B. Jenkins Tobacco Company, Incorporated and foreign tobacco buyers covering the years 1938-1954. These letters reflect to a great degree the post-World War II tobacco business with foreign countries under the Marshall Plan and to a lesser degree the tobacco business in the years immediately prior to and during World War II. Letters from the L.B. Jenkins Co. also reflect the general crop conditions in Eastern North Carolina during the years 1938-1954 as they relate to weather and prices. Much of the correspondence refers to tobacco samples desired, tobacco prices, and shipping instructions.
Two groups of letters reflect the problems encountered by United States tobacco companies selling to European buyers in the years before and during American participation in World War II. Letters between L.B. Jenkins Co. and Fritz Joehnck of Copenhagen, Denmark mention Imperial Tobacco Co. withdrawing their "bright" buyers thus causing warehouses to close (September 9, 1939), war risk insurance on tobacco (September 9, 1939, February 8, 1940), foreign currency exchange rate problems (September 22 and October 3, 1939), the sinking of the S.S. BINNENDYK (October 9, 1939), where Memphis Cigarette Co. Switzerland bought its tobacco during the war (October 8, 1945), how Joehnck managed to continue buying American tobacco and selling it to Memphis Co. during the war (May 6, 1946), and England opening letters and detaining tobacco shipments sent from the United States to Denmark (November 30 and December 20, 1939). Correspondence between Enea Cattoneo in Lugano-Massagno, Switzerland and L.B. Jenkins Co. reflects wartime problems with shipping tobacco, obtaining export licenses from Federal Reserve Board, and mail (December 24, 1944; January 11, 1941; June 7, July 2 and 22, August 9, 1943; December 26, 1944; and February 17, 1945). Joh.Wilh.von Eicken of Hamburg, Germany, describes the fate of his tobacco business during World War II (July 12, 1948).
The Marshall Plan, as it operated in the tobacco business in Germany, is reflected especially in letters from C.A. Bautz Co. and Martin Brinkmann Co. to L.B. Jenkins Co. Bautz Co. correspondence discuss JEIA (Join Export and Import Agency) (November 10, 1947), dollar allocation and barter deals for buying tobacco (August 3 and 5, October 15, November 18, 1949; April 1, May 3, May 23, June 29, December 8, 1950; July 23, 1952; and July 15, 1953), and ECA (Economic Cooperation Administration) policy (May 29,. 1951). The Brinkmann Co. letters pertaining to the Marshall Plan go into the operations of JEIA (October 22, 1947; December 6 & 30, 1948; March 10, October 26, June 16, 1949; July 28, 1952), dollar allocations and barter deals (January 8, March 9, November 28, 1949; January 2 & 12, 1950; April 2, 1951; March 11, 1952), and the ability of England to get what they want from the U.S. (May 17, 1952). C.F. Vogelsang Co., alsoof Germany, mentions in their letters the procedures for submitting tobacco to JEIA (January 19, 1948), the use of barter deals to import tobacco (March 16, 1950), and the fact that foreign currency is under government control (July 3, 1953). Union Trading Co. mentions German use of cement as payment for American tobacco (September 26, 1950). Kristinus and Co. of Germany mentions that ERP (European Recovery Program) money was allotted to the French Zone of Germany for buying Turkish tobacco (October 7, 1948).
Also discussed in the post-World War II letters concerning Germany are various tobacco related topics that don't pertain directly to the Marshall Plan. Letters from the C.A. Bautz Co. and the Martin Brinkmann Co. discuss gift parcels from the L.B. Jenkins Co. (Bautz-July 8, August 26 and November 26, 1948; April 22, 1950; January 16, 1951; December 8, 1948; January 12, 1949), denazification of businessman (Bautz- April 15, 1948; Brinkmann- July 1, 1947, May 27 and November 27, 1948), German currency problems (Bautz- Sept. 6, 1948; Brinkmann- March 3, 1952), and the production and consumption rates of German tobacco manufactured products (Butz- Feb. 7, 1949; July 8, 1953; Brinkmann- Dec. 30, 1948). The Bautz Co. correspondence mentions the success of American blend Texas cigarettes (Oct. 18, 1949), curing processes (Jan. 18, 1952), the use of threshers and separators and machines to put up tobacco leaves straight (March 18, 1952; May 12, 1954), the suitability of Cuba for growing flue cured tobacco (March 25, 1952), and the possibility of the North Carolina Ports Authority extending facilities to export tobacco through Morehead City (Jan. 2, Feb. 23, 25, and 28, March 7 and 11, 1953; Jan. 8, 1954). Joh. Wilh. von Eicken discusses currency problems in Germany (July 12, 1948 and Aug. 14, 1953) and H. Bohrmann and Sohn of Germany describe their import-export freight forwarding business (April 12, 1950).
Fritz Joehnck wrote several letters to L.B. Jenkins Co. commenting on the tobacco trade in post-World War II years in Denmark, Finland, and Norway. He describes the Danish buying association formed during the war (July 19, 1945), the result of the U.S. government ceiling price on tobacco purchases (Sept. 19, 1945), the general tobacco trade between Denmark and the U.S. (Dec. 19, 1947; Feb. 8, 1948), the procedure for selling American tobacco to Finland (July 9, 1951), Denmark's tobacco manufacturing industry (Jan. 15, 1952), and the tobacco buying "climate" in Finland, Norway, and Denmark (April 14, 1952).
Several letters refer to the post-World War II tobacco trade between the United States and Holland and Switzerland. Included are comments on sale of American tobacco by Holland (February 5, 1951), the necessity of Dutch permits for tobacco purchases (November 12, 1945), allotments for buying tobacco (July 28, 1949, October 17, 1951), the use of Italian burley instead of American burley (November 23, 1949), the difficulty of small tobacco manufacturers competing with the larger manufacturers (November 30, 1951), and damage done to tobacco warehouses by the big flood (February 17, 1953). As for Switzerland, Fritz Joehnck gives background information on "Austria" Manufacturing Co. n Zurich, Switzerland (May 6, 1946); Intabo Limited of Zurich 1950; April 28, 1950); Enea Cattaneo of Lugano-Massagno discusses U.S. Exports with priority over tobacco(July 12 and October 27, 1945) and U.S. government ceiling prices on tobacco (July 12 and August 21, 1945); and Joh. Wilh. von Eicker lists major buyers of American tobacco in Switzerland (May 19, 1953).
W.H. Armistead, a vice president at L.B. Jenkins Co., wrote several letters in 1949 and 1950 about the tobacco buying situation in Europe when he was on business trips there. He discusses the relationships between various foreign tobacco buyers; tobacco prices required for company profit, freight expenses, and inspection and loading expenses; business with Belgium and Holland; consumer items desired by various foreign tobacco buyers; details of barter deals used by foreign countries to obtain American tobacco; German taxes on tobacco products and the amount of German tobacco required by law to be used in blends in that country.
Other subjects covered in post-World War II European correspondence are a description of the operations of Aguiar and Melo, L.D.A. in Lisbon, Portugal (July 8, 1949); a discussion of the effect of the U.S. government tobacco subsidy plan on European buyers (August 19, 1948); the problem of removing string from Georgia tied tobacco (Dobbelmann-May 17, 1954); a machine to straighten Georgia tobacco (Dobbelmann- May 26, 1954); Hardy Newsome burners in tobacco barns (Held- April 9, 12, 19, and 23, 1951); the difficulty in traveling in Europe after World War II (Joehnck- November 19, 1945); coloring of poor tobacco (Coppens- October 7, 1950); information on the Italian Tobacco Monopoly (Joehnck- February 17, 1946); and a comparison of American and European domestic cigarettes (Joehnck- February 17, 1946).
Another series of letters written by Kyoei Shoji Co. LT.D. deal with the tobacco dealings of Japan in the post-World War II era. A letter (1951) describes Kyoei Shoji Co.'s operations and discusses the Japan Monopoly Corporation which controls salt, camphor, and tobacco industries in Japan as a semi-government organization. Other correspondence provides comments on the first American tobacco imported into Japan after 1938 and reports on the first flue cured tobacco grown in Japan; tobacco imports accepted by Japan Monopoly Corporation for January-March, 1951 (September 21, 1951), January-March, 1952 (February 11, 1952), and for October, 1952-March, 1952 (January 8, 1953); requirement for and criticism of tobacco imports (November 19, December 4, and December 28, 1951, July 14 and 22, and August 5, 1952, and January 27, 1953); and the importation of Indian Leaf Tobacco for blends (April 15, 1952).
Brief references to other areas during the post-World War II era are found throughout the correspondence. Included are Thailand (Thawee Bhan Panich-December 11, 1951; January 18, 1952; Thamasak Cholapoom-December 19, 1951); Colombia, South America, Rhodesia (P. Meerkamp Van Embden and Zoonen-August 18, 1953), and Africa (Savior Abela-April 11, 1951).
The bulk of the remaining items are business papers pertaining to L.B. Jenkins Tobacco Co. Included are bills and receipts, inventories, invoices, shipping papers, and miscellaneous papers. The bills and receipts cover the years 1925, 1926, and 1928 and represent businesses in Warsaw, Kinston, Goldsboro, Snow Hill, Greensboro, Deep Run, New Bern, Pinetops, and Rocky Mount, N.C. and Richmond Va. The tobacco stock inventories cover the years expenses, and insurance for employees are covered by invoices dated 1943-1953. Tobacco shipping papers cover the years 1920-1930, and 1949-1955 and include bills of landing, loading memorandums, invoices, and shipping instructions. Miscellaneous tobacco papers span the years 1919-1954 and include financial statements, tobacco stock reports, contracts for siding track in Warsaw and Kinston, N.C., tobacco sales reports, U.S.D.A. Standard Grades for flue-cured tobacco, sailing schedules, a report on redrying costs of flue cured tobacco, ECA regulations for foreign relations, blueprints for tobacco warehouses in Kinston, sales cards and a flyer for Tapp's warehouse, coal prices, an agreement between tobacco warehousemen, a deed of lease, and ingredients for flavoring and casing chewing tobacco.
Other tobacco business papers are concerned directly with the Flue-Cured Tobacco Stabilizations Corporation, New Carolina Warehouse, Growers Tobacco Warehouse, Tapp's Warehouse, and Independent Tobacco Warehouse. The Flue-Cured Tobacco Stabilization Corporation papers deal with the selling prices and monthly carrying charges for the 1946 and 1947 crops and with information on shipping, packing, moisture tests, contracts, etc. for the 1952 and 1954 seasons. The New Carolina Warehouse (Kinston) papers contain a contract with its manager (1936), receipts for repairs (1936-11938) and an undated building account. The business affairs of Growers Tobacco Warehouse in Metter, Ga. are reflected in a letter (March 16, 1931) stating the amount of stock owned, the note owed, and the money invested by the Warehouse. Other Growers Tobacco Warehouse papers are receipts, tobacco sales, a financial statement (1931), and a balance sheet (1931). Tapp Warehouse papers consist of account books for the years 1942-1946. The Independent Tobacco Export Co.'s correspondence covers the years 1948-1956 and includes business letters from overseas customers, the company's lawyer, the U.S. Treasury Dept., and the Internal Revenue Dept. A letter dated October 18, 1955 details procedures for dissolving the Independent Tobacco Export Co. Also included are bank statements, invoices, income tax returns, insurance reports, receipts, shipping papers, and inventories and stock reports. Miscellaneous Independent Tobacco Export Co. papers include a certificate of incorporation, minutes of the organizational meeting and other meetings, the final certificate of dissolution, stock certificates, property listings, trial balances, and profit and loss statements.
The collection contains innumerable tobacco ledgers pertaining primarily to L.B. Jenkins and Co., Inc. and to L.P. Tapp and Co. L.P. Tapp and Co. ledgers are account books covering the years 1895-1899. The L.B. Jenkins ledgers (1920-1929) include personal journals, stock ledgers, revenue inventories, farm journals, and tobacco sales. Also included is the Appraisal Report of L.B. Jenkins Tobacco Co., Inc. for December 31, 1854. Certain ledgers pertain to particular warehouses. There is a Carolina Warehouse ledger for 1902-1903, two Independent Tobacco Export Co. ledgers for 1948-1956, and Tapp's Warehouse ledgers for 1925-1948 and 1951-1954. There are also balance sheets of the years 1942-1950 for the Bowling Green Broadcasting Co. (owned by either LB.Jenkins or the L.B. Jenkins Tobacco Co., Inc.). Other tobacco ledgers (1896-1900, 1909-1912, and 1916-1929) are unidentified.
Pamphlets in the collection cover such diverse subjects as farming, tobacco, industry, cancer, prohibition, capital punishment, motor vehicles, the Australian Ballot system (1925), and the Federal Reserve. Farming pamphlets (1918-1926) concern crop rotation, crop yield, liming of soils, gardening in the North, and corn crops. Tobacco pamphlets describe the stocks of leaf tobacco, American production, imports, exports, and consumption of tobacco (1927). Other pamphlets are the Federal Reserve Monster (1923), the Margarine Laws of Oregon and Washington Repealed by a Referendum Vote of the People (1924), The Australian Ballot System (1925), the Mexican Question (1927), A Brief History of Capital Punishment (1927), and Don't Spend Your Money Against Yourself (1927). Also of interest is a N.C. Industrial Directory for 1928, a Survey of Negro Colleges and Universities for N.C. (1928), The Second Biennial Report of Morrison Training School at Hoffman, N.C. (1926-1928), the Cost of Prohibition and Your Income Tax (1929).
Biweekly and monthly publications for the 1920s include scattered issues of Natural Resources and Conservation Development by the N.C. Department of Conservation and Development; The Alumni Review of U.N.C.; Rock Products, Public Welfare Progress issued by the N.C. State Board of Charities and Public Welfare; Crops and Markets published by the U.S.D.A.; and Dealers in Tobacco Materials Operating Under Federal Permits published by the U.S. Treasury Department (1956). Newspaper articles discuss tobacco prices (1926), corn smut (1924), tax increases (1927), uniform polling places (1927), High Point furniture taxes, balanced diets and cotton (1930).
This collection contains numerous items relating to Senator Tapp's years in the state government such as budget memos, budget requests, official election votes, directories of N.C. state and county officials and general assembly members, bills, reports, and Senate Public Calendars. The directories of N.C. state and county officials and General Assembly members cover 1923, 1925, 1927, 1929, and 1931. Official N.C. state vote counts of primaries and elections for 1926 and 1928, N.C. Senate Rules for 1923, 1927, and 1931, lists of N.C. House Committees for 1925, 1927 and 1931, and lists of N.C. Senate committees for 1927, 1929, and 1931 are present. Memos from Governor Angus McLean concern the state budget for 1925 and 1927 and for Governor O. Max Gardner's term for 1929 and 1930. Senate Public Calendars for February 26, March 6-8, March 11-16 and March 18, 1929 are present. Budget and permanent improvements requests by the N.C. College for Women at Greensboro, N.C. (1925-1927), U.N.C. (1927-1928), N.C. College (1927-1929), and N.C. State institutions (1927-1929) are found. There are auditing reports of the N.C. State Insurance, Auditing, and Treasury Departments for 1924, a report of the Commission on County Government (1927), and a report by George R. Ross on the implementation of the uniform weights and measures act (1928). Also found are reports of the Salary and Wage Commission (1929), crops (Oct., 1929), the visit of members of the Advisor Budget Commission to State Institutions in western North Carolina (1929), and the state broadcasting station as an educational agency.
N.C. General Assembly bills (1925, 1927, and 1929) found in this collection are related to senator Tapp's involvement or to constituent interest. Bills deal with appropriations and permanent improvements, state forests, taxes for the equalizing fund for free schools, improvement of methods of county government, appropriation for historical pageant in New Bern, issuance of bonds to pay for permanent improvement of state institutions, repealing fixed salary schedule for school teachers, and preventing secret bond sales. Other subjects covered in the bills are tobacco laws, problems in Kinston and Lenoir County, the Australian ballot, fish laws, workmen's compensation, uniform weights and measures, bus laws, barbering, Confederate soldiers' and widows' pensions, uniform compensation to state boards, and establishment of a state institution for young woman involved in the juvenile system.
Miscellaneous papers concerning Senator Tapp's term in office include a statement on the Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Bill to secure more direct commerce, mail, and transportation facilities between the U.S. and the South American Republics; an interpretation by Corporation Commissioner Maxwell on the I.C.C. decision in the S.E. freight rate case (1925); an analysis of N.C. taxes and debts by the State Department of Conservation and Development (1927); an article on the State equalization Fund and its Distribution by Senator A.E. Woltz (1928); the inaugural address of Governor O. Max Gardner (1929); hearings of the joint appropriations committee (Jan. 22-Feb. 26, 1929); and a list of contributions from outside agencies for the education of black students in N.C.
Oversize documents include newspaper articles on the Ku Klux Klan (1924), Caswell Training School (1925), the lower freight rates and the state port and terminals (1926), L.P. Tapp's announcement to run for the state senate (1928), Dr. McHairy's obituary (1928), and W.T. Woodley's announcement for State House of Representatives from Craven County (1930). Other items include a Special Report to the Governor on the Condition of the State's Prison (1925) by Geo. Ross Pou, Superintendent; a 1928 N.C. campaign broadside concerned with Lee Person of Edgecombe Co. and Senator Simmons, a Report to Members of Citizens and Taxpayers' League of Buncombe Co., Inc. (1928), an issue of a public Utility publication (1926), an issue of publication by the N.C. state public Utility publication (1926), an issue of publication by the N.C. state superintendent of public instruction (1930), and a pamphlet called Facts and Figures about N.C. Leading the New South in Things Accomplished (1928).
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. H. Graham Knott
Processed by D. Lennon
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Descriptions updated by Ashlyn Racine, May 2023
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.