Steven Anthony Hill Collection
1909-2005
Manuscript Collection #1315- Creator(s)
- Lobell, James V.; Hill, Steven A. (Steven Anthony); Shumate, Jessamine, 1902-1990
- Physical description
- 6.41 Cubic Feet, 14 archival boxes and 2 oversize folders, consisting of correspondence, photographs, reports, minutes, catalogs, journal issues, research materials, clippings, posters, broadside, bulletins, reports, programs, ephemera, and publications
- Preferred Citation
- Steven Anthony Hill Collection (#1315), East Carolina Manuscription Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA
- Repository
- ECU Manuscript Collection
- Access
- Access to audiovisual and digital media is restricted. Please contact Special Collections for more information.
The majority of this collection pertains to James V. Lobell of Maryland who was a leader in the footwear industry from 1913 to 1961; he founded Cavalier Shoe Polish Company which was purchased by KIWI in 1961. Included are business and personal correspondence, photographs, reports, shoe catalogs, and bound issues of Shoes and Leather Reporter (1910s-1920s). Papers also reflect his involvement with the Boy Scouts, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary (especially during WWII), and Business Education among other topics. The donor wrote his master's thesis on Lobell's life and materials related to his research are included, too. Unrelated to Mr. Lobell are clippings (1969-1978) and posters concerning Rose High School (Greenville, North Carolina) football and baseball teams; a broadside "Chronology of Pitt County History" created by Jessamine Shumate (1953); and North Carolina public school education-related documents (1906-1933).
Administrative information
Custodial History
July 26, 2021; (unprocessed addition 3), 0.08 cubic feet; Addition consists of 2 football programs for J. H. Rose High School (Sept. 20, 1968; Sept. 26, 1969), and a roll book documenting the coaching career of David Thomas Bumgarner. Bumgarner was a graduate of East Carolina College where he played football. After playing a year of professional football, he switched to coaching starting at John A. Holmes High School (Edenton, NC) in 1966 as assistant coach for 2 years and then moving to J. H. Rose High School in Greenville, NC, where he remained through the 1978-1979 year. He was head coach from the 1971-1972 season on. Gift of Steven A. Hill.
Source of acquisition
Gift of Steven Anthony Hill
Copyright notice
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.
Metadata Rights Declaration
Key terms
Personal Names
Lobell, James V.Shumate, Jessamine, 1902-1990
Corporate Names
Cavalier Shoe Polish CompanyJ.H. Rose High School--Baseball
J.H. Rose High School--Football
United States. Coast Guard Auxiliary
Topical
Boy Scouts--MarylandEducation--North Carolina--Alamance County
Shoe industry--Maryland
Places
Pitt County (N.C.)--HistoryContainer list
Box 1 Folder a
Business Reports and Documents. Documents include correspondence between investors and James Lobell, including investment reports from A.W. Benkert & Company, Investment Securities (January 18, 1947, January 26, 1948), statements on the Cavalier Company (1929), and reports on the present prices of Cavalier Polishes (December 29, 1955). Other items within this collection include: a booklet titled, What Cheer Neetop, Patent designs and information, a Cavalier shoe polish box, Photographs of women working in a shoe polish factory, a model for shoe polishes, James Lobell, and staff members (undated)
Box 1 Folder b
Business Correspondence, 1915-1929. Includes hand drawings on brush designs by James Lobell (January 27, 1919), a letter on increasing the consumption of shoe polish to the Shoe Polish Manufacturers Association of America (December 13, 1921), and a returned check in compliance with a loan from James Lobell to Everett & Barron Company (March 13, 1922)
Box 1 Folder c
Business Correspondence, 1930-1949. Letters include correspondence between the Allied Kid Company (December 23, 1941), the Department of Education in Baltimore, Maryland (August 24, 1942), and the National Association of Manufacturers (December 20, 1949)
Box 1 Folder d
Business Correspondence, 1952-1964. Includes correspondence with the Roscoe-Griffin Shoe Company from Raleigh, North Carolina, who were the first buyers of Cavalier Shoe Polish (June 13, 1964) and includes a photograph of the company from 1921 in Rocky Mount, NC. Also includes letters to employee William Hoehn on the future of the company (March 22, 1954)
Box 1 Folder e
Personal Correspondence, 1912-1919. Includes a letter on Temperance from Helen E. Metz (May 26, 1913), a company stamped postcard from Everett & Barron Co. (September 22, 1914), a congratulations letter on James Lobell and Lillian Vincentz engagement (March 25, 1914), a letter with attached tickets from the John E. Mayer General Insurance and Steamship Ticket Agency for a trip to Bermuda (August 26, 1915), and a postcard to the New Jersey Senator on a mid-recess social reunion from F.S. Platts (July 11, 1913)
Box 1 Folder f
Personal Correspondence, 1920-1929. Includes multiple letters from Lobell's wife, Dottie (January 5, 1920, February 17, 1920, January 2, 1921, January 20, 1921), an anniversary card with illustrations (1926), a note on the Cavalier Company from Patrick Aloyois O'Flanagan, a Colonel of the Military of Jamaica and husband to the lord mayor of Jamaica's daughter (1928)
Box 1 Folder g
Personal Correspondence, 1930-1963, undated. Includes a colored illustrated postcard of a three-pronged cabbage palm in Daytona Beach, Florida, a telegram on the death of Placido D. LaValle (June 5, 1952), and a small letter from Everett & Barron Co. on Lobell's investments (undated)
Box 1 Folder h
Meetings and Invitations. Includes documents from the Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America on becoming a National Councilor in the Chamber of Shoe Polish Manufacturers Association of America (March 20, 1923, April 21, 1923, an invitation to William Hahn and Company's fiftieth anniversary dinner (1926), a magazine on the Committees in charge of Foreign Trade Convention with a picture of James Lobell (1929), a Luncheon invitation from the Mayor of Baltimore (October 19, 1929), a telegram from Julius H. Barnes on behalf of President Herbert Hoover on a conference of leading business men (November 29, 1929), and a dinner menu from the annual dinner of Baltimore Export Managers' Club and newspaper clippings with Lobell's photo (June 16, 1930, June 19, 1930)
Box 1 Folder i
Coast Guard. Includes commanding officers citations for James Lobell (September 30, 1945, January 26, 1945), a membership certificate (July 31, 1942), a certification of having passed the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary entrance examination (February 2, 1945), a letter and photograph of James Lobells personal vessel, Cavalier being returned back to its owner after being used by the Coast Guard during the Second World War (September 17, 1945, undated), a decorated Security Shield of Honor award (May 18, 1945), and an inspection of Cavalier (July 1, 1948)
Box 1 Folder j
Salesmen Lectures. Includes correspondence and documents on James Lobell's lectures on shoe salesmanship. Includes a letter from the Baltimore Department of Education with an attached pamphlet on Distributive Services With the War Effort (December 2, 1943), a letter from the Board of Education of the City of St. Louis (January 16, 1941, January 21, 1941), a plain postcard and letter from the State Board For Vocational Education from Denver, Colorado (January 8, 1942, January 14, 1942), an invitation from the Brown Shoe Company to present at the annual Brown Plan Convention (October 22, 1941), an illustrated shoe advertisement for a class on A Modern Course in Shoe Salesmanship (October 6), and typed speeches on How To Improve Your Selling (undated) and Explanation of the Cavalier Idea and Plan (undated)
Box 1 Folder k
Misc, Photographs, National Chamber of Commerce documents. Includes five photos of Cavalier employees on a picnic (undated), a photo of James Lobell (undated), ten photos of employees and family members (undated), five color photos of James V. Lobell, Chris Weigland, John Weigland, Nish Haddock, and Anne Douglas Lobell (Greenville, NC 1975), a biography of James Lobell's life and career, several checks including one with details on a particularly bad employee, a photo card from William Butterworth featuring the President's office, (1928), a members letter of identification for the Chamber of Congress (May 25, 1936), a membership card to the American Chemical Society (1929), James Lobell's Cuban passport, a personal analysis examination, and an address by William H. Taft on the League of Nations (March 11, 1919)
Box 1 Folder l
Articles related to Shoe Manufacturing, 1932-2004
Box 2 Folder a
Articles on Shoe Brands and Manufacturing, 1942-2005
Box 2 Folder b
1923 MIT Thesis Marketing a Shoe Polish in New England for the Boston Blacking by W. C. Gray. The Use and Abuse of the 'Entrepreneur' by Laura Galloway and Laura Wilson (2003)
Box 2 Folder c
Publication (1941) the Cavalier Leather Dictionary by James Lobell
Box 2 Folder d
Memberships. Includes two programs from the National Foreign Trade Convention (April 17, 1929), a card on opening a charge account at the Waldorf-Astoria, a certificate from the United States Power Squadrons (April 23, 1936), multiple cards from different memberships, a certificate form the American Institute of Management (undated), a certificate from the National Association of Manufacturers of the United States of America for the Cavalier Company (June 1, 1945), and a preliminary program from the Chamber of Commerce meeting (May 8, 1923) and the Smoker Vaudeville and Supper program (May 7, 1923)
Box 2 Folder e
Employee Correspondence. Collection contains correspondence between James Lobell and O.B. Willcox, a chemist, including letters from Willcox on the creation of products (June 22, 1938, September 1, 1939), correspondence with Newark College of Engineering on verifying Willcox's credentials (August 11, 1939 ,August 14, 1939), and correspondence with E. I. Du Pont De Nemours & Company after Willcox left Cavalier to work at Du Pont (January 31, 1941, March 6, 1941)
Box 2 Folder f
Personal Correspondence, 1940-1973. Letters in this collection include a letter typed on stationary from Robinson's Kansas City's Family Shoe Store with an attached photograph from an unidentified man (November 23, 1951, undated), a decorative letter with purple flowers from Nellie Vander Muller (May 8, 1953), a card addressed from Mrs. W. Waldemar W. Argow, an illustrated card with a rose on it from Beth (February 23, 1965), and thank you letters from the referred to as "colored" by James Lobell, family maid, Hattie Reid after being invited to dinner with Mr. Lobell on her birthday (March 13, 1967) and cruise to Jamaica (July 3, 1968)
Box 2 Folder g
Business Correspondence, 1922-1958. Collection includes a letter from and attached photo of A.H. Geuting Company on the company's 35th anniversary, a letter from Cheston L. Eshelman Co with an attached balance sheet with assets, liabilities, and net worth with drawings from James Lobell of airplane propeller blades (September 1, 1944), a telegram from Potts-Knaur Leather Company in Dallas, Texas (July 27, 1949), and a letter featuring the variety of colors and prices of the boot cremes (January 13, 1955). 1935 dissolution certificate for The Steele-Lobell Co. in West Virginia
Box 2 Folder h
Meetings, Reports, and Minutes. Documents primarily from company records during the 1950s. Including yearly earnings, annual partnership meetings (January 24, 1955), and notes from the board of the Cavalier company
Box 3 Folder a
Misc, Invitations, Articles, and Advertisements. Includes an article titled, The Railroads and America's Future, by Ambrose W. Benkert, a wedding invitation for Patricia Joy and Brian Douglas (1969), a seating list for a formal dinner in the honor of Thomas Branch McAdams (February 19, 1934), an invitation from the President of the United States to the Presidents Conference on Occupational Safety (May 4, 1954), an invitation from J. Millard Taws, the Governor of Maryland, to meet the Secretary of Labor, Arthur J. Goldberg (September 29), a magazine titled Shoe Repair Service (October 1924), a pamphlet on the First Parish in Milton (April 1961), James Lobell's personal licenses and registrations, and multiple business cards
Box 3 Folder b
Invitations and Events. Includes an invitation from the Baltimore Civic Opera Guild to a Gala Opera Ball (November 22, 1969), a wedding announcement in English and Spanish for Paula Magner and Ralph William Unzueta Jr. (April 2, 1971), and correspondence with the United States District Court of Baltimore Maryland over jury duty (September 13, 1938, October 29, 1938, November 25, 1938)
Box 3 Folder c
Photographs. Includes multiple color and black and white photographs of people of interest such as; Ruth Anne Rice (1939), Harry E. Clarke (undated), and Jim Lobell (1963, undated), and places including Robert J. Hill Shoes of Philadelphia, Pa. (1950) and the Cavalier Company (1924, 1941, undated)
Box 3 Folder d
Business Correspondence, 1929-1949. This series of letters include a congratulation letter from Perry E. Hart to James Lobell on his appointment as president of his own company (February 28, 1929), Correspondence on the YMCA and its operation (October 26, 1939), and a letter with enclosed check on the final distribution on the sale of real estate held by Steele-Lobell Co. (June 16, 1941)
Box 3 Folder e
Business Correspondence, 1950-1966. Letters from Everett M. Clough concerning his stock and his fears concerning the future o Cavalier Co. Letters from traveling salesman to California (April 11, 1953), a list of total profits for the year (December 29, 1953), and letters on shoe mishaps including a pair of purchased shoes turning purple (January 11, 1957) and the whitening of reptile skin shoes (January 29, 1957). Discussions concerning wax and color-tone production
Box 3 Folder f
Mixture of Business and Personal Correspondence, 1930-1949. Includes a letter from Herbert C. Miller (secretary of The Cavalier Corp. according to the newspaper) with a newspaper article on how he killed himself in a hotel (July 3, 1930), a letter from Harry Clarke a salesman for Cavalier with a photo Christmas card with his wife (December 3, 1940), a telegram from E Clough on being stranded in Mexico while on a work trip (February 21, 1942), a letter Joviar A. H. Land on his birthday including two newspaper clippings associated with the event (January 3, 1946), and a letter an attached obituary on the death of Samuel A. Everett (January 18, 1946)
Box 3 Folder g
Personal Correspondence, 1950-1974. Collection contains correspondence with the Federal Security Agency over the application for social security with attached newspaper article on Truman's expanding coverage of old age insurance and a statement of wages recorded for James Lobell into his social security (August 23, 1950), a letter from the police department on a recorded burglary perpetrated at the Cavalier Company with a list of losses (September 5, 1951), a letter on the death of a friend from potentially Alzheimer's disease and discussion of Mrs.Lobell suffering from Bright's Disease (December 24, 1951), letters from Everett Clough concerning Cavalier of Mexico (1952-1953), includes a letter from a member of Salida Colorado's Chamber of Commerce on their river boat race with an associated map of the paved roads in Colorado (May 14, 1955), and correspondence with Lobell's daughter Joan (1973)
Box 3 Folder h
Newspapers and Newspaper Clippings of general interest to Mr. Lobell. Includes two long magazine and newspaper articles on the Scopes Trial (1972), twp. articles on the Vice President, Hubert H. Humphrey's sister, Frances, performing lectures in Baltimore (March 27, 1966, September 8, 1968), and a color article on Louis Plansoen's boat used as a home (December 1, 1963)
Box 3 Folder i
Photocopies of newspaper clippings used by Steven Hill when writing his masters thesis about James Lobell related to the shoe manufacturing industry. Also includes a photocopy of "Shoe-ology or How to Buy Shoes and How to Take Care of Them" by Robert Hermann Foerderer (missing pages 2 & 3)
Box 4 Folder a
Reports, Minutes, and Meetings. Includes a report detailing winter display problems (August 15, 1954), Partnership meeting minutes, two drawings and diagrams by James Lobell with an attached typed tips to salesmen (undated), a finished goods inventory (1954), and a company balance sheet (December 31, 1954)
Box 4 Folder b
Meetings, Minutes, Reports. Includes the Christmas list for 1957 with employee names, years employed, cash, and bonds (December 9, 1957); a profits and loss statement (June 30, 1956); Cavalier Co. Executive Board meeting minutes and Annual Partners meeting minutes; a report on the national Cash Register Bookkeeping Machine (November 6, 1956; and a lengthy report on the costs of production for 1956 including operation, packaging, and shipping costs (November 28, 1956)
Box 4 Folder c
Misc., Pamphlets, and Magazines. Collection contains a letter with attached Florsheim shoe book titled Styles of the War Times (1942), a Civitan Club of Baltimore invitation (February 29, 1964), a small color illustrated clipping titled The Accident that gave America a Steinmetz (undated), and a Time magazine from 1948 (November 15, 1948)
Box 4 Folder d
Magazine Clippings, Awards, and Invitations. Collection includes a clipping from the March 1943 issue of Shoe Finders Magazine with a photograph of James Lobell at a hearing on the Shoe Polish Code (March 1943), a page from Ahoy with photographs of James Lobell in the Coast Guard Reserve (June 1945), a program for the Brown Plan Convention (January 26, 1942), two certificates from the United States Power Squadrons (April 23, 1936), and two letters from the Shoe Polish Manufacturers' Association of America on Lobell becoming a delegate to the Chamber of Commerce meeting (February 25, 1925, December 26, 1923)
Box 4 Folder e
Correspondence includes a translated letter from Sec.-Gen. Donicio Encino of the Communist Party of Mexico to Sec. Gen. of the Peruvian Communist Party Jorge del Prado (April 25, 1947), Rappleyea's own explanation of the events that led to his arrest for unlawful export of arms in Feb. 1947 and his relationship to lumber exporter Andrew Jackson Higgins of Higgins Industries (April 15, 1948), a series of letters exchanged between James Lobell and the Law office of Davies, Richberg, Beebe, Busick, and Richardson on obtaining clemency for Rappleyea (September 21, 1948, September 22, 1948, September 23, 1948), and a letter on Rappleyea's release (December 24, 1948). Includes a letter (Feb. 3, 1948) to Frank Boykin explaining the political situation with Nicaragua and Gen. Samoza. Also includes a letter (2005) from Steven Hill trying to obtain information on Rappleyea from the Justice Dept. via the Freedom of Information Act
Box 4 Folder f
Business Correspondence, 1939-1942. Correspondence includes letters from a Jewish man named Sigmund Schmahl of Austria asking for a job at Cavalier company as part of his immigration visa to the United States and ultimately being denied (July 10, 1939, July 19, 1939, July 19, 1939, July 27, 1939, August 4, 1939, August 15, 1939) and multiple letters from the Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis and the G. Edwin Smith Shoe Co. in Columbus, Ohio
Box 4 Folder g
Business Correspondence, 1950-1962. Letters in the collection include: a handwritten letter on quality and company policy from James Lobell to William "Bill" Hoehn (September 18, 1953), a letter on a new line of products titled Deluxe Elk Dressings (March 24, 1954), a letter on leather wax with hand drawn illustrations of different packaging by Lobell (April 19, 1954), and a letter from the Kiwi Polish company on the purchase of the Cavalier Company from James Lobell (April 23, 1962)
Box 4 Folder h
Personal Correspondence, 1909-1961. Includes some of the earliest correspondence within the collection. Letters to James Lobell from his first employer, The Prudential Insurance Company of America showing an increase in salary over the years starting from $5 (August 25, 1909), and increasing to $12 in 1912 (March 28, 1912). This series of correspondence ends with Lobell's written resignation (November 4, 1912). Other items in the collection include correspondence between Lobell and the United States Senator Millard E. Tydings of Maryland, Chairman of Comm. on Territories and Insular Affairs, on the inclusion of a new tax bill that would require labor unions to make regular reports to the United States Treasury (December 13, 1943, March 7, 1944, March 15, 1944)
Box 4 Folder i
Unitarian Church of Baltimore Correspondence, Documents, and Newspaper Articles. Lobell was a member of the church. Collection includes a letter with hand drawn symbols and their meanings from the minister W. Waldmar W. Argow (March 8, 1951), an estimate on the costs of building a new parsonage (September 15, 1949), a program from the 1954 Fellowship Dinner, various programs concerning the church regarding pledging goals and the budget (often contain photos of the church) of 1954, 1958-1960, 1967/68, Board minutes (2/23/1967), clippings (1950s-1960s), and a proposed operating budget of the church for 1959-1960 (January 5, 1959)
Box 4 Folder j
YMCA and Boys Club of America Correspondence. Includes yearly donation receipts for the Boys Club of America (September 18, 1945, September 20, 1946, October 24, 1947, September 20, 1949). Lobell served on the Young Men's Christian Association of Baltimore Cost Committee (June 19, 1939, June 26, 1939)
Box 5 Folder a
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season, 1969-1970
Box 5 Folder b
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season. 1971
Box 5 Folder c
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season. 1972
Box 5 Folder d
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season. Also includes two programs and pocket football schedules. 1973
Box 5 Folder e
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season. Also one program. 1974
Box 5 Folder f
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season. 1975
Box 5 Folder g
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season. Also two programs and one pamphlet. 1975
Box 5 Folder h
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season. Also pocket football schedule. 1976
Box 5 Folder i
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season. 1977
Box 5 Folder j
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football season. 1978
Box 5 Folder k
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's baseball season. 1969
Box 5 Folder l
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's baseball season. 1970
Box 5 Folder m
Newspaper clippings about Junius H. Rose High School's football star Al Hunter, 1973-1974
Box 5 Folder n
Correspondence with and booster letters sent from Junius H. Rose High School to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson Guice of Greenville, N.C., and pamphlets for Sports Banquet and Coaching Clinic, 1971-1976
Box 5 Folder o
Junius H. Rose High School ephemera including 2 Rampants pins. 1978, undated
Box 5 Folder p
Tempo. April 4-10 and November 7-13, 1970 issues
Box 6
Shoe and Leather Reporter, Vol. 103 (July-September 1911) and Vol. 104 (October-December 1911)
Box 7
Shoe and Leather Reporter, Vol. 121 (January-March 1916) and Vol. 122 (April -June 1916)
Box 8
Shoe and Leather Reporter, Vol. 123 (July-September 1916) and Vol. 124 (October-December 1916)
Box 9
Shoe and Leather Reporter, Vol. 125 (January-March 1917) and Vol. 126 (April-June 1917)
Box 10
Shoe and Leather Reporter, Vol. 139 (July-September 1920) and Vol. 140 (October-December 1920)
Box 11
Shoe and Leather Reporter, Vol. 141 (January-March 1921) and Vol. 142 (April-June 1921)
Box 12
Introduction to Shoe Store Management by George F. Hamilton, 1922. Shoes: The Workers and The Industry By Horace B. Davis, 1940. Shoe and Leather Reporter, Vol. 143 (July-September 1921) and Vol. 144 (October-December 1921)
Box 13
Direct Selling Shoe Manual: A Course in Practical Orthopedics, Science Shoe Fitting, and Applied Salesmanship by Clarence E. Knapp, 1940. Essex Institute Historical Collections, October 1979, Vol. 115, No. 4, containing articles concerning the shoe industry. Shoe and Leather Reporter, Vol. 145 (January-March 1922) and Vol. 151 (July-September 1923)
Folder os1
Junius H. Rose High School football game schedule posters (1971-1973), some with handwritten scores on them; and a baseball game schedule poster (1970) with handwritten scores on it
Box 14 Folder a
North Carolina-related Education Documents, 1908, 1923, undated.
Box 14 Folder b
North Carolina State Board of Health Documents related to Public Schools (some are from Alamance Co.), 1920s-1932, undated.
Box 14 Folder c
Documents related to Alamance Co., North Carolina Schools, especially Oakdale, 1928-1933, undated
Box 14 Folder d
Ephemera and Documents related to Public School Education including advertising paper for Normal Instructor and Primary Plans and Dec. 21-25, 1925, issue of Current Events among other items, 1925, undated.
Box 14 Folder e
"Language Helps" Composition Book for Second Grade (used by a student in 1933) published by Webster Publishing Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1928. Photocopies of pages from The Red Bird School Series Composition Book used by Miss Carrie Smith at Brick Church in 1923.
Box 14 Folder f
Roll Book documenting the career of Football Coach David Thomas Bumgarner at John A. Holmes H.S. in Edenton, N.C., and at J. H. Rose H.S. in Greenville, N.C. 1966-1978
Box 14 Folder g
J. H. Rose High School Football Programs, Greenville, North Carolina, 1968, 1969.