East Tennessee State University
Archives of Appalachia
Box 70295
Johnson City, TN 37614-0138
Request Information here.
Telephone: (423) 439-4338
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Title: |
Mr. & Mrs. G. O. Edwards Photographs |
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Collection Number: |
Accession No. 92 |
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Physical Description: |
18 contact prints 18 negatives |
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Creator: |
Mr. & Mrs. G. O. Edwards |
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Repository: |
Archives of Appalachia, East Tennessee State University |
Provenance: The Mr. & Mrs. G. O. Edwards Photographs were donated to the Archives of Appalachia on February 14, 1981 by Mr. & Mrs. G. O. Edwards of 309 Elmo Street, Bristol, Virginia 24201.
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processing Information: Processing was completed in 1988 by Marie Tedesco. She revised the Finding Aid in 1995.
William McClellan Ritter, pioneer Appalachian hardwood executive, was born February 19, 1864 in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. He went to Bluefield, West Virginia in 1890 with $1700 capital and thus began his lumber career. In 1901, Ritter incorporated his business as the W. M. Ritter Lumber Company. Over the years he bought out several large lumber companies. The first office of the W. M. Ritter Lumber Company was in Welch, West Virginia (August 1895 to April 1899). The main offices (after several moves) were located at 115 East Rich Street in Columbus, Ohio. W. M. Ritter died May 21, 1952. At his death, he was worth in excess of $3,671,000. On October 1, 1960 the W. M. Ritter Lumber Company, once known as the world's largest producer of hardwood lumber, was taken over by the Georgia-Pacific Corporation.
The collection consists of black and white contact prints and matching negatives which depict the W. M. Ritter Lumber Company operations in Virginia and West Virginia. Most of these prints and negatives are copies. Depicted are housing for workers, trains hauling logs, and loggers and officials employed by Ritter Lumber Company.
Organization: The collection is organized into a single series which includes both contacts and negatives.
Company towns
Locomotives
Logging railroads
Lumber camps
Railroads--Cars
Railroads--Photographs
W. M. Ritter Lumber Company
Series I contains 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" black and white contact prints and matching negatives of W. M. Ritter Lumber Company operations and personnel in Virginia and West Virginia. The prints and negatives are arranged sequentially according to APA (Appalachian Photographic Archives) numbers. Prints have been placed before negatives in the storage box.
- 665 Nichols, superintendent of Ritter mill in Hyder, Kentucky, 1946
666 Ritter Company family in front of shanty, c. 1937
667 Unloading logs in pond at McClure, Virginia Ritter mill, c. 1937
668 George L. Carter, Isaac T. Mann, George A. Kent, John B. Dennis, W. M. Ritter, Norman B. Ream, Thomas- Fortune Ryan, James A. Blair, Ray Dennis, and James Hammill at Speer's Ferry, Virginia, c. 1904.
- 669 Ritter Company mobile housing, Hyder, Kentucky, 1946
670 Ritter Company, Frying Pan Camp, Virginia, 1927
671 Lumber Yard, McClure, Virginia lumber yard, c. 1937-38
672 Ritter company labor camp, Caney Creek, Virginia, house of camp cook Frank Fletcher in back, 1940
673 Ritter engine that hauled logs to McClure, Virginia pond and saw mill, 1940
674 Ritter Company housing, Hyder, Kentucky, 1946
675 Ritter Company camp, Canny Creek, Virginia, 1940
676 A. A. Kopp, Ritter general manager in Virginia and West Virginia; Noah Tiller, superintendent for logging operations,- Dickenson County, Virginia; and Tom Tripplet, camp foreman, Dickenson County, Virginia, undated
- 677 Virginia logging train, undated
678 Logging train near Route 63 and McClure, Virginia, c. 1937-38
679 McClure, Virginia, a lumber company town, 1917
680 McClure, Virginia, a lumber company town, 1917 (not the same photo as #679)
681 Blacksmith, c. 1940
682 Family in front of shanty, Ritter camp at Canny Creek, Virginia, 1939
683 Man unloading linen from hand car for dormitory car, 1942
MTC 09/01