Finding Aid for the Koonce Furniture Company Papers, <date calendar="gregorian" era="ce"
normal="1905/1935">1905-1935</date>, PC.1916
Abstract
The Koonce Furniture Company was founded by two brothers, John S. Koonce and Charles
F., although the latter opted out of the furniture business in 1915. The surviving
records of the store range in date from 1905 to 1935. However, John Koonce held the
business together though the economic depression, until his sudden death at the beginning
of 1940. This collection contains the surviving correspondence, invoices, furniture
manufacturers' catalogs and two sales volumes of the Koonce Furniture Company, Raleigh,
North Carolina.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Koonce Furniture Company Papers
- Call Number
- PC.1916
- Creator
-
Koonce, John S.
- Date
- 1905-1935
- Extent
- 8.00 boxes, 2.00 linear feet
- Language
-
English
- Repository
-
State Archives of North Carolina
Restrictions on Access & Use
Use Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of these materials, or their descendants, as
stipulated by United States copyright law (Title 17 US Code). Individual researchers
are responsible for using these materials in conformance with copyright law as well
as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], PC.1916, Koonce Furniture Company Papers (Raleigh, N.C.),
1905-1935, State Archives of North Carolina, North Carolina Division of Historical
Resources, Raleigh, NC, USA.
Arrangement Note
Surviving correspondence has been arranged chronologically. Where the number of surviving
invoices has been sufficiently large as to make it worthwhile, they have been sorted
by category year by year. The categorized Koonce Furniture Company Papers invoices
will be found to be gathered, for the most part, by the name of the company from whom
Koonce made his purchases, and not arranged chronologically.
Biographical Note
John S. Koonce (1881-1940), son of John F. and Barbara Koonce, was a native of Onslow
County. His widowed mother moved with her daughter and two sons to Raleigh in the
mid-1890's following the death of her husband. She and her daughter worked as seamstresses
while her son Charles F. took work as a printer, and her son John S. was employed
as a clerk in the furniture store of Thomas and Maxwell. By 1905 the two brothers
opened their own furniture store, Koonce Brothers, at 111 E. Hargett Street. When
the two of them opened Koonce Brothers Hotel at 203 S. Salisbury Street in 1915, Charles
opted out of the furniture business to run the hotel and to edit the labor oriented
weekly newspaper, . From that time until his death 25 years later John S. Koonce was sole proprietor
of the furniture store. Offering basic household furnishings and stoves, the store
prospered. By 1923 Koonce had opened a second, smaller store in Zebulon, and in 1925
he built a new three-story brick building for his store at 111-113 E. Hargett Street.
By the close of 1929, however, his customers began to feel financially pinched, and
as the economic depression worsened in the 1930s, Koonce felt the pinch, too. By 1933
many furniture manufacturers and suppliers began to refuse him credit or to extend
only a limited credit to him. Those who did found it necessary in 1934 to dun Koonce
in order to extract payment from him. The surviving records of, the store end with
the year 1935, though Koonce continued to hold his business together right up to his
sudden death at the beginning of 1940.
Contents of the Collection
1. Correspondence and Invoices,1905 - 1927
<unitdate type="inclusive" calendar="gregorian" era="ce">1905 - 1917</unitdate>, 1905 - 1917
Box PC.1916.1
<unitdate type="inclusive" calendar="gregorian" era="ce">1928 - 1932</unitdate>, 1928 - 1932
Box PC.1916.2
<unitdate type="inclusive" calendar="gregorian" era="ce">1933 - 1935</unitdate>, 1933 - 1935
Box PC.1916.3
2. Miscellaneous
Bradstreet Credit Report,1932
Merchants Association (Raleigh),1923; 1930
Promissory Notes,1924-1932
Residence (New Bern Avenue),[1924]
3. Store Building,1925
4. Furniture Manufacturers' Catalogs
North Carolina,1924 - 1934
Blue Ridge Hickory Furniture Co., High Point, N.C.,1932
Carolina Bedding Co., Charlotte, N.C.
Cecil Manufacturing Co., High Point, N.C. (chairs)
Colonial Furniture Co., High Point, N.C., (chairs and gate leg tables), 1924
Cranford Chair Co., Asheboro, N.C.,1925
Durham Mattress Co., Durham, N.C.
Fitts-Crabtree Manufacturing Co., Sanford, N.C., 1924, 1932 (tables, safes, cupboards)
Glascock Stove Manufacturing Co., Greensboro, N.C.
Globe Parlor Furniture Co., High Point, N.C., 1925, 1932
Hanes Chair and Table Co., Mocksville, N.C.,1925
High Point Upholstery Co., High Point, N.C. (desks, wardrobes, dining room)
Home Chair Co., Inc., North Wilkesboro, N.C.,1930
Hoover Chair Co., Lexington, N.C.
Huntley Furniture Co., Winston-Salem, N.C.,(bedroom),1924
Imperial Furniture Mfg. Co., Statesville, N.C., [1924], 1930 (bedroom)
Jones Furniture Co., Henderson, N.C. (cane furniture),[1924]
Knox Upholstery Co., High Point, N.C., (upholstered and cane furniture), 1925
Mebane Bedding Co., Mebane, N.C.,1924
Mebane Chair Co., Mebane, N.C.,1925
Mebane-Royall Co., Mebane, N.C., (mattresses),1930-1932
Mooresville Furniture Co., Mooresville, N.C., (kitchen tables),1933
Randolph Chair Co., Asheboro, N.C.,(children's furniture),[1925]
Rhodes Company, High Point, N.C., (office furniture),1924
Royall & Borden Mfg. Co., Goldsboro, N.C., (mattresses),1924
Statesville Furniture Co., Statesville, N.C.,ca. 1924
Tate Furniture Co., High Point, N.C., (bedroom), 1925, 1931
Thomasville Chair Co. (bedroom, dining room),1931-1934
Union Brokerage Co., High Point, N.C. (chairs, tables, beds, buffets)Koonce Furniture
Company Papers
Koonce Furniture Company Papers
Abbott Furniture Co., Georgia (wicker furniture)
American Chair Co., California (wicker furniture)
American Gas Machine Co., Minnesota (gas stoves, appliances, lamps)
Anchor Stove and Range Co., Indiana
Banta Furniture Co., Indiana (bedroom, breakfast room)
Bassett Manufacturing Co., Virginia (bedroom)
Belber Trunk and Bag Co., Pennsylvania
Bemis Riddle Fibre Co., Wisconsin (wicker furniture)
Bentwood Products, New York
Blomberg-Michael Furniture., Virginia (wardrobes, cupboards, dressers)
Bloch Go-Cart Co., Pennsylvania (children's wicker furniture, etc.)
Block-Meakins Glass Corp., New York (cabinets, stools, chests, swings)
Brandt Cabinet Works, Maryland
Breneman (Charles W.) Co. (window shades)
Bristol Stove and Foundry Co., Virginia
Cameron Stove Co., Virginia
Decker (Isaac C.) Co. , Pennsylvania (living room furniture)
Dixie Foundry Co. , Tennessee
Duer (John) and Sons, Maryland (cabinet hardware and upholstery goods)
Eastern Cabinet Co., New Jersey
Empire Asbestos Table Mat Co., Ohio
Folding Furniture Works, Wisconsin (children's cribs)
Gem Manufacturing Co., Ohio (wooden ware)
Golden Star Polish Manufacturing Co., Missouri
Gray and Dudley Co., Tennessee (stoves, ranges, heaters)
Hamblen Cedar Chest Co., Tennessee
Haines (J.J.) and Co., Maryland (rugs)
Heywood-Wakefield Co., Massachusetts (sunroom and terrace furniture)
Huenefeld Company, Ohio (ovens)
Hugh Nelson Columbia Carpet Mills, Inc., Pennsylvania
Jacobs Manufacturing Co., Alabama
Justh Manufacturing Co., Ohio (sitting room)
Kelvinator, Michigan (refrigerators)
Kroehler Manufacturing Co., Illinois (living room)
Lamb (George L.), Indiana (desks, fireplace screens)
Lapsley-Interstate. Shade Cloth Co., Maryland
Lincoln Chair & Novelty Co., New York
Louisville Bedding Co., Kentucky
McDonough-Lydon Manufacturing Co., New Jersey (table pads)
Manges (Simon) and Son, Inc., New York (carpets, rugs, lineoleum)
Mather Brothers Furniture, Georgia (tables, cabinets, dressers)
Mersman Brothers Corporation, Ohio (tables, cabinets)
Meyer and Danziger, Inc., New York (cedar chests)
Mohawk Carpet Mills, New York
Mutual Furniture Manufacturing Co., Ohio (desks, tables, tea wagons)
Koonce Furniture Company Papers
National Feather and Pillow Co., Tennessee
Box PC.1916.6
New Home Sewing Machine Co., Illinois
Nicholson Furniture Co., Virginia (tables, desks, chairs, cabinets)
Paalman Furniture Co., Michigan (tables, cabinets, tea wagons
Peerless Manufacturing Co., Kentucky (luggage)
Perfection Stove Co., Ohio
Pimes (M.) and Company, Maryland (sitting room furniture)
Player-Tone Talking Machine Company, Pennsylvania
Polk Musical Supply Co., Georgia (musical instruments)
R-D Electric Company, Indiana (lamps)
Richmond Hardward Co., Virginia (scooters, wagons, velocipedes)
Robbins Brothers, New York (rugs, lineoleum)
Rome Stove and Range Co., Georgia
St. Johns Table Company, Michigan
Sanford (Stephen) and Sons, Inc., New York (rugs)
Servel Hermetic Refrigerator, Indiana
Shannon Spring Bed Manufacturing Co., Kentucky
Showers Brothers Co., Indiana
Silvers Manufacturing Co., Iowa (bathroom cabinets)
Southern Retail Furniture Association, Virginia
Standard Oil Company, Maryland (stoves)
Tennessee Furniture Co., Tennessee (formerly Odorless Refrigerator Co.)
Tennessee Stoveworks, Tennessee
Trimble (E.M.) and Co., New York (cribs, playpens)
Union Specialty Works, Inc., New York (folding tables, stools, etc.)
United States Stove Corporation, Tennessee
United Stove Company, Michigan
Vaughan Furniture Co., Virginia (tables, chairs, buffets)
Wheeler-Okell Company, Tennessee (beds)
Wittle Trunk and Bag Co., Tennessee
Miscellaneous Cards and Circulars
5. Sales Books
<unitdate type="inclusive" calendar="gregorian" era="ce">July 16, 1925 - Feb. 17,
1926</unitdate>, July 16, 1925 - Feb. 17, 1926
Box PC.1916.7
<unitdate type="inclusive" calendar="gregorian" era="ce">Dec. 1, 1927 - Nov.9, 1928</unitdate>, Dec. 1, 1927 - Nov.9, 1928
Box PC.1916.8
Subject Headings
Koonce, John S., 1881-1940.
John S. Koonce
Bedroom Furniture.
Bentwood furniture.
Cabinetwork.
Children's furniture.
Dining room furniture.
Furniture industry and trade.
Living room furniture.
Outdoor furniture.
Unfinished furniture industry.
Furniture Industry and Trade
Furniture
Cabinetwork
Raleigh (N.C.)
Raleigh (N.C.)
Acquisitions Information
Gift, Mrs. Albert L. Levine, Raleigh, N.C., 2000 and 2001.
Processing Information
Processed by George Stevenson, April 30, 2002
Encoded by Fran Tracy-Walls, February 20, 2003