Georgia Marble Company Records, circa 1910-2004
Content Description
The Georgia Marble Company Records consists of materials created by the Georgia Marble Company in Tate, Georgia. The records date from circa 1910 to 2004. Approximately one third of the collection consists of paper documents that were pulled directly from filing cabinets and retain their original order and file folder descriptions, including business and financial records, letters and correspondence, reports, and other materials. A further third consists of photographic materials, including photographic prints, negatives, and slides; architectural drawings; blueline prints; blueprints; and film reels. The remainder of the collection consists of publications, such as bound volumes, trade journals, popular magazines, and promotional/advertising materials generated by the company. In addition, the collection contains a leather-bound scrapbook of promotional material (paper) generated by the company which dates from circa 1910 to 1929.
Dates
- circa 1910-2004
Creator
- Georgia Marble Company (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection has not yet been processed. Please contact the Department of Museums, Archives and Rare Books in advance to request access. Archival materials may contain sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state “right to privacy” laws. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals without the consent of those individuals may have legal cause for action if facts concerning an individual’s private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person. KSU archives staff have taken care to identify and, in some cases, remove sensative information found within its archival collections when undertaking archival processing work. However, privacy protected information may be revealed during use of the archival collections, particularly in those collections that are unprocessed or have been minimally processed. Researchers agree to make no notes or other recordation of privacy protected information if found within the archival collections, and further agree not to publish, publicize, or disclose such information to any other party for any purpose if found within the archival collections. Researchers agree to indemnify and hold harmless Kennesaw State University and its officers, employees, and agents from and against all suits, claims, actions, and expenses arising out of use of archival collections held by the Kennesaw State University Archives.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. Permission to publish, reproduce, publicly display, broadcast, or distribute this material must be secured from the repository and/or copyright holder.
Biographical or Historical Information
The Georgia Marble Company was founded in May 1884, in Tate, Georgia, as one of many small marble quarrying operations in the region. However, modern-day interest in the region's marble deposits began in the early nineteenth-century, when an Irish stonemason named Henry T. Fitzsimmons noticed outcroppings of marble in select areas of northern Georgia. And while Fitzsimmons did play a pivotal role in galvanizing interest in Georgia’s marble deposits during this period, he did not discover them. Etowah Native Americans, and perhaps other American Indian tribes, used Georgia marble deposits to create statues and relics during the fourteenth century. However, it was not until the 1840s that utilization of Georgia marble began to increase, a phenomenon that was largely due to Fitzsimmons and the opening of his own marble business called “Long Swamp Marble Company.” Years later, entrepeneurs Henry C. Clement, Frank H. Sidall, and O.F. Bane also became intrigued by Georgia’s wealth of marble deposits and established the Georgia Marble Company, with Henry C. Clement serving as president of the company. Around the same time, another businessman named Samuel Tate purchased tracts of land containing large deposits of marble in Pickens County, Georgia. He too became a partner in the Georgia Marble Company, and in 1905, Tate became the company’s president, continuing in that position until his death in 1938. During the early twentieth century, Georgia Marble Company was aggressive with local expansion, and in 1916 and 1917, the company purchased the Blue Ridge Marble Company, the George B. Sickels Marble Company, the Amicalola Marble Company, the Kennesaw Marble Company, and the Southern Marble Company. Georgia Marble Company stone can be found in monuments and public buildings around the world, including the Lincoln Memorial and the twenty-four columns on the east front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The Georgia Marble Company operated until 1968 when Jim Walter bought the company for twenty-three million dollars in 1969. The company changed ownership many times until it was finally purchased by Polycor in 2003.
Extent
Approximately 146 cubic feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Georgia Marble Company was founded in May 1884, in Tate, Georgia, by entrepreneurs Henry C. Clement, Frank H. Sidall, and O.F. Bane, with Henry C. Clement serving as president of the company. Around the same time, another businessman named Samuel Tate purchased tracts of land containing large deposits of marble in Pickens County, Georgia, and he too became a partner in the Georgia Marble Company. In 1905, Sam Tate became the company’s president, continuing in that position until his death in 1938. The Georgia Marble Company operated until 1968, and company changed ownership many times until it was finally purchased by Polycor in 2003. The collection consists of materials created by the Georgia Marble Company in Tate, Georgia, raging from circa 1910 to 2004. Materials include administrative and financial records; letters and correspondence; reports; photographic materials, including photographic prints, negatives, and slides; architectural drawings; blueline prints; blueprints; film reels; and various publications, including bound volumes, trade journals, popular magazines, and promotional/advertising materials generated by the company. In addition, the collection contains a leather-bound scrapbook of promotional material (paper) generated by the company which dates from circa 1910 to 1929.
Method of Acquisition
Donated by Polycor Stone Corporation, Inc. on October 26, 2012.
Other Descriptive Information
The Georgia Marble Company Records have not yet been processed. Researchers interested in using the records should email archives@kennesaw.edu or call 470-578-6289. For more infomation about the contents of the collection, see the box-level inventory list at: http://hdl.handle.net/11360/2037
- Account books Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Administrative records Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Architectural drawing Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Booklets Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Brochures Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Business enterprises--Georgia Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Business records Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Correspondence Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Film reels Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Financial records Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Georgia Marble Company--History
- Letters (Correspondence) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Marble--Catalogs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Marble--Georgia Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Memorials Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Negatives (photographs) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Photographic prints Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Publications (documents) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Sepulchral monuments Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Slides (photographs) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Sound discs (CD) Subject Source: Iasa
- Videocassettes (VHS) Subject Source: Iasa
- Author
- Armando Suarez
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Revision Statements
- 2020 July: updated by Maggie Thomas (in progress)
Repository Details
Part of the Kennesaw State University Archives Repository