Thanks so much for the Perfin IDs.
I was looking up some of the companies and one that fascinated me was Item E, for C.M. McClung and Co., Knoxville, Tennessee. It is interesting to note that:
Quote:
C.M. McClung & Co., a hardware firm, liberally defined. Founded by Calvin M. McClung (1855-1919), the major wholesale company supplied everything from hand tools to heavy machinery, plus plows, rifles, fences, etc., eventually doing enough of a consumer-goods mail-order-catalog business that it became a regional answer to Sears, Roebuck. McClung remained at the site until finally going out of business in the early 1980s.
What's especially interesting is the C.M. McClung Historical Collection of photographs (seven pages worth!) is online at this link:
http://cmdc.knoxlib.org/cdm/search/...e/all/page/1What a great look into the period operations of a mail order business, with everything from individual and group photos, to office interiors, shipping counters and even a picture of a postal carrier that delivered mail to the company! It seems as though it was quite the business in its day and to find a pictorial record such as this of the company is absolutely incredible.
Posted 02/15/2015 3:29 pm
