Carroll and Wythe Counties Industries Collection

Access and use

Location of collection:
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Special Collections, University Libraries (0434)
Newman Library
Virginia Tech
P.O. Box 90001
560 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24062-9001
Contact for questions and access:
Phone: (540) 231-6308
Fax: (540) 231-3694
Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish material from the Carroll and Wythe Counties Industries Collection must be obtained from Special Collections, Virginia Tech.

Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Carroll and Wythe Counties Industries Collection, Ms2019-016, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Summary

Extent:
0.2 Cubic Feet 1 box
Abstract:
Materials collected by Randal L. Hall in the course of writing Mountains on the Market: Industry, the Environment, and the South (Kentucky University Press, 2012). Includes several issues of Zinc magazine; a photographic section of the Galax Gazette from 1937; a combined portrait photograph of the employees of Carroll Hosiery Mills; and a National Carbide Company miners lamp dust can lid.
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Carroll and Wythe Counties Industries Collection, Ms2019-016, Special Collections, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of materials relating to various industries in Carroll and Wythe counties, Virginia, collected by author Randal L. Hall in the course of writing Mountains on the Market: Industry, the Environment, and the South. The collection includes four issues of Zinc magazine (the in-house publication of New Jersey Zinc Company), the Summer 1939 issue of which includes a six-page photo section on Austinville, Virginia. Also included is a special photographic section of the Galax Gazette. In addition to brief company overviews, the publication contains photos of the plants, products, and personnel of Galax Mirror, Webb Furniture, Vaughan Furniture, Vaughan-Bassett Furniture, and Galax Knitting, as well as other businesses; and various scenes of the city and surrounding area. The collection also contains an Austinville Limestone pocket notepad, a National Carbide Company miners lamp dust can lid, and a combined photo portrait of the individual employees of the Carroll Hosiery Mills.

Biographical / historical:

The New Jersey Zinc Company purchased the lead and zinc mines in Austinville, Virginia (which had been in operation since the late 18th century) from the Bertha Mineral Company in 1902. The mines eventually employed as many as 650 people. In the 1920s, the company began marketing its by-product, agricultural limestone, under the Austinville Limestone name, to regional farmers. Owned by Gulf & Western Industries, New Jersey Zinc closed the Austinville Mine at the end of 1981. Austinville Limestone continues to operate today (2019) under different ownership.

Operating in Ivanhoe, Virginia, National Carbide Corporation produced calcium carbide for lamps used in mining and elsewhere. The lamp dust was sold in tins, also manufactured at Ivanhoe. In 1921, National Carbide was purchased by the Air Reduction Sales Company. By 1926, the company had added another manufacturing facility in Keokuk, Iowa; another plant was built in Louisville in 1941. The facility in Ivanhoe closed in 1966.

Acquisition information:
The Carroll and Wythe Counties Industries Collection was donated to Special Collections in 2017.
Processing information:

The processing, arrangement, and description of the Carroll and Wythe Counties Industries Collection commenced and was completed in May, 2019.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged by item type.

Physical description:
0.2 cu. ft. 1 box