Art's Bike Shop Records
Scope and Contents
The collection consists mostly of financial materials, including ledgers, invoices, sales registers, and order records. It also contains various legal documents, business correspondence and memoranda, advertising and customer-related ephemera.
Dates
- Creation: 1959-1981
Creator
- Harmon, Arthur, (1926-2002) (Person)
- Harmon, Hilda Jean, (1926-2022) (Person)
Biographical / Historical
Art’s Bike Shop was a bicycle store established by Arthur Harmon (1926-2002) and Hilda Jean Harmon (1926-2022), after purchasing bicycle parts and merchandise from Ward Atkinson and Edith Atkinson in September of 1960, for $788.36. The shop was located at 514 W. Broadway Street, in Three Rivers, Michigan. According to a 1964 issue of the “Shopper’s Guide,” they operated the shop from their garage at this address and had been selling Schwinn bicycles since contracting with the Schwinn Bicycle Company in 1961. The Harmons ordered parts from a variety of suppliers, most notably the Chicago Cycle Supply Company. They advertised in the local radio station for Three Rivers, WLKM, as well as in local magazines, yearbooks, city directories and newspapers. In June of 1981, Rick Wade, the owner of another bike shop in Three Rivers called “The Bike Rack” purchased the property from Art Harmon for $5,000.
Extent
0.5 Cubic Feet : 1 box total. ; Materials in the box range in size from 2.5 x 4 inches to 8.75 x 14 inches.
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
This collection is comprised of materials from Art’s Bike Shop of Three Rivers, Michigan, from 1959 to 1981.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The material came from the owners' daughter, Judith Harmon Norton, who brought a total of three cubic feet.
Physical Description
The collection amounts to 0.5 cubic feet. The materials are in decent to poor condition. Some of the thinner paper and yellow notepad paper are brittle. Many sheets of paper have been folded intentionally or creased by accident. A few are discolored or have light stains along the edges, but the text is legible. The materials range in size from 2.5x4” to 8.75x14”.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Title
- Art's Bike Shop Records Finding Aid
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Evan Ralph, Mallory Heslinger
- Date
- 2023-11-07
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
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