B.F. Freeland Sons Company
Scope and Contents
The B.F. Freeland Sons Company’s main products were galvanized steel stock tanks, used to provide water to livestock. The catalog advertises several different kinds of stock tanks, with prices, dimensions, diagrams, and a few photographs of their products in use. In addition to the stock tanks, the catalog advertises a few different types of stock feed boilers and cookers, as well as other pieces of farm equipment, such as tank pumps and barn ventilators.
Dates
- Creation: 1916
Creator
- B. F. Freeland Sons Company (Sturgis, Mich.) (Organization)
Biographical / Historical
The B.F. Freeland Sons Company had its roots in the Pioneer Tank Company, which was formed in 1893 in Middlebury, IN by the Freeland family. The Freeland Steel Tank Company was formed in 1902 in Sturgis, MI. The company was known by these names and the Freeland Sons Company for much of the early 20th century. By 1909, Lloyd D. Freeland and Frank L. Van Epps, his brother-in-law, had expanded the company as far west as Portage, WI, where it remains known today as Freeland Industries, Inc.
Extent
1 Volumes
Language of Materials
English
Physical Description
The collection amounts to .05 cubic feet and is composed of one catalog published in Sturgis in 1916, advertising galvanized steel tanks and other farm equipment, by the B.F. Freeland Sons Company. The book is approximately 6 1/8” x 9 1/8” with a peach cover and black text. The book is thirty-two pages long with white pages and black text. The front cover includes black lettering with orange outlines, and vice versa. Also included is a Native American in profile drawn in orange, black, and white. It notes the company name, the location, the catalog number, and the year. On the back cover is a drawing in black of a B.F Freeland Sons Company factory in Sturgis, MI.
The book is in very good condition, with only a few spots and slight discoloration throughout the pages. The staples holding the book together have rusted slightly as well.
Provenance
The collection is composed of the 24th catalog published by the B.F. Freeland Sons Company in 1916 in Sturgis, MI.
General
The Starring Endowment was used to fund this collection.
- Title
- B.F. Freeland Sons Company Finding Aid
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Andrew Texel
- Date
- 1916
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the Western Michigan University Archives & Regional History Collections Repository
Charles C. and Lynn L. Zhang Legacy Collections Center
1650 Oakland Drive
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5307 US
(269) 387-8490
arch-collect@wmich.edu