Series documents the administration and operations of Dominion Textile Incorporated from its inception through to its decline. All aspects of company operations are included, from executive correspondence, public relations and labour relations to marketing, legal, financial and insurance records. The series also contains significant material pertaining to Dominion Textile divisions, subsidiaries and affiliate companies.
Executive records include the correspondence or subject files of six company executives. The files of Jas. H. Webb (Secretary-Treasurer) offer a brief glimpse into the Dominion Textile's head office in the 1930s. The correspondence files of L.P. Webster (Secretary and later Vice-President, Administration) offers detailed insights into the financial management and operations of the company in the 1940s and 1950s. The few files of W.A. Eversfield (Assistant Secretary-Treasurer and V.P. of Finance) provide additional information on Dominion Textile's finances for the 1960s. Frank P. Brady's (Vice President, General Counsel) subject files cover a wide range of topics, but are especially important for trade and tariff concerns, language issues in Quebec and labour matters in the 1970s. The subject files of Alex R. McAslan (Vice President of Operations) and Andre Cote (Vice President of Corporate Development and Special Project) discuss changes within the textile industry and specific operations at Dominion Textile in the 1980s. In addition, they document Dominion Textile's reaction to the Canada-U.S. Free Trade agreement, and outline the company's plans to cope with the global economy. Additional executive records include the minutebooks for the Dominion Yarn Company, the Fiberworld Division and the Sales Yarn Company.
Subject files document a wide variety of topics pertaining to all divisions of Dominion Textile, including those of former subsidiary and affiliate companies. Included are extensive marketing division and public relations files, as well as procedure manuals, historical files and files relating to environmental issues.
The majority of labour relation records were created by the company's Industrial Relations Department. These files document in detail Dominion Textile's and Montreal Cotton's relationship with their employees and unions from the 1940s to the 1980s. Records in the series pertain to contract negotiations, strikes, grievances, and other employment issues. Also included are some labour files created by individual mills. These factory files are normally identified by the place of their creation.
Legal records include agreements, contracts, debt issues, trademark and patent files as well as submissions and briefs pertaining to the 1937 Royal Commission on the Textile Industry. Many of these records were created and controlled by longtime company Secretary, C.M. Beck. Additional legal records include the letters patents and title deeds for predecessor, subsidiary and acquired companies such as Montmorency Cottons, Penmans, Caldwell Linen Mills, Dubin-Haskell-Jacobson (Canada) Limited, Esmond Mills, and others.
Marketing records consist of Dominion Textile price lists, sales records, credit files and a small number of new product fabric collections. The sales records document the buying history of company customers. Complimenting these records are credit rating files for approximately 600 of Dominion Textile's clients which provide basic historical information on each client company, as well as their financial status. Also included are an additional 100 credit files from Dominion Textile's Styled Cottons Division.
Detailed financial and accounting records offer insight into corporate operations from the 1920s to the 1980s, although the majority of records date from the 1940s. Many of the accounting records provide information on subsidiary companies and divisions. Records include balance sheets, financial statements, fixed asset calculations, profit and loss schedules, loan records, stock transfer records and trade accounts, as well as ledgers, journals and other working papers. There is also a block of related Treasury Department subject files and property valuations. Insurance appraisals provide information on eleven of Dominion Textile's Quebec mills. Commissioned in the 1930s, these reports provide important details on mill structures and machinery.
Summarized information on company activities can be found in the annual reports of Dominion Textile. The series contains a complete set of reports, as well as copies of interim reports and shareholder reports.
