Tax and Banking Information

Records in the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Company collection document the company’s activities from its founding in 1858 to its dissolution in 1978.The collection is organized into ten series:  General Corporate Information; Financial Information; Property and Production Information; Employee Records; Stock Information; Tax and Banking Information; Correspondence, Legal and Government Documents, Insurance; Sales and Contracts; Subsidiary Companies; Photos, Maps and Blueprints.  Some items are in German. The General Corporate Information series is divided into three subseries:  Governance Papers; Minutes of Executive and Managing Committees; Minutes of Board of Directors.  This series documents the company’s organization in the Nineteenth Century and its reorganization after declaring bankruptcy in 1935.  Additional bankruptcy records are within the collection..  Two company histories are also in the collection. Financial Information, the second series, contains the company’s financial records from 1863 to 1978.  This series is divided into four subseries: Corporate Accounts; Ledgers and Journals; Reports; Financial Statements.  Records in this series include cash books, sundry personal accounts, general ledgers and auditor’s reports.  In addition, some annual reports are located in the Reports subseries. The third series, Property and Production Information, is divided into four subseries: Property, Depreciation and Appraisal; Deeds and Leases; Production Ledgers and Statistics; Production Papers and Patents.  Information contained in this series includes plant and equipment values, production levels and costs, reports on research and patents for production innovations.  The original deeds and leases to land in LaSalle, Illinois and other sites are in the Deeds and Leases subseries. Employee Records, the fourth series, contains material on salaries, wages, benefits and unions.  This series is organized into three subseries: Salary and Wage Information; Safety and Accident Information; Union and Labor Information.  Accident reports, retirement trusts and labor costs are included in this series. The Stock Information series contains stockholder’s minutes, registers, stock certificates and ledgers within two subseries:  Stockholder’s Minutes and Certificates; Dividend and Transfer Information.  It is followed by the Tax and Banking Information series which is divided into three subseries:  Tax Information; Bank Books, Notes and Bonds; Bankruptcy Information.  In addition to tax returns and bank books, the series contains bondholder lists and bond assignments that are related to the material in the Bankruptcy Information subseries. Correspondence, Legal and Government Documents, and Insurance is the seventh series.  It is organized into four subseries, according to type cf record.  Some of the material in the Correspondence subseries is in German.  The Legal Documents subseries contains material on Matthiessen’ s estate and lawsuit decrees.  Most of the Government Documents subseries is composed of reports to and from Federal commissions.  The Insurance subseries includes policies covering employee liability and compensation in addition to fire and equipment insurance. The eighth series contains Sales and Contracts.  A majority of the material in the Sales subseries dates from 1884 to 1902.  The Contracts subseries is composed of contracts with federal, state and city governments and also over 1,000 business contracts that date 1890-1970.  An index to the business contracts follows this inventory. Records from sixteen Subsidiary Companies comprise the ninth series.  Subseries are composed of records from individual subsidiaries.  The information, which varies from company to company, includes incorporation papers, contracts, stock information and financial records. The last series is composed of Photos, Maps and Blueprints.  The number of photographs is given in parentheses following the folder title.  Maps and Blueprints are in the oversize map cabinets.  Some of the maps are fragile and difficult to handle.  They outline coal veins, factory floor plans and the zinc smelting process. Researchers are encouraged to consult related collections, especially those dealing with the industry and economy of LaSalle and Peru such as the Westclox Incorporated Records (RC 116) and the Illinois Valley Area Chamber of Commerce Records (RC 156).