From September And October 1908 Issues Of Brooms Brushes & Handles Journal
Recently BBM received the September and October, 1908, editions of a publication entitled Brooms Brushes & Handles. The issues were found, with other items, connected to the estate of P.A. (Lindy) Lindenmeyer, Arcola, IL, a former owner of The Broom and Broomcorn News, and a former sec./treasurer of the National Broom Manufacturers Assoc. We, at BBM, were unfamiliar with the publication. The issues given to BBM were from Volume 10 of the publication, numbers 11 and 12. The monthly journal was published in Milwaukee, WI, with a subscription price of $1 per year. E.P. Moore was listed as editor and M.C. Moore was listed as manager. Managing the New York office was F.K. Kauffman. Managing the Southern office was J.C. Taylor, and the Chicago office was managed by H.T. Walen. Most editorial copy was printed in approximately 6-point type, and included few photos, and of course the publication was in black/white. A discription of the journal stated, “Brooms Brushes & Handles is absolutely an independent journal, connected in no way whatever with any broom corn, machinery, or supply house. It sells its advertising space only for cash, and stands entirely upon it own merits as a news medium for the industries represented and an educative force in the broom brush and handle fields.” The journal’s copy included an editorial section, features, as well as an in-depth section devoted to each brooms, brushes and handles. Manufacturers and suppliers sent in timely information about availability, weather conditions, quality of crops, etc., and the journal’s staff added original copy. One feature in the September issue was titled, “Three Thousand People Found Out What It Was; American Warehouse Co.’s Barn Dance.” The death of a Wooster Brush representative, B.M. Mutersbaugh, was announced, and readers also learned of the progress of brush manufacturer, The Ames-Bonner Co.’s (Toledo, OH) baseball team. And, Amos Wolf and Samuel Reinman both of Hanover, PA, had formed a partnership to start a broom factory in Hanover. As an insight as to what was of concern and interest to the industry in the first decades of the 1900s, an article in the October issue was titled, “What The Exporting Brush Manufacturer Ought To Think About In Preparing To Shop His Goods.” Another article was titled, “The Engine And Tool Room–Proper Equipment And The Way It Should Be Used.”
PG 42
BBM MAGAZINE | January/February 2018