Inventory of the Wilson Martindale Compton Papers, 1918 – 1966

Descriptive Summary

Abstract: Wilson Martindale Compton (1890-1967) held a leadership role at the National Lumber Manufacturers Association from 1918 to 1944. Compton was one of the most prominent of all trade association leaders throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

The collection includes correspondence; copies of speeches, addresses, and articles; minutes of meetings; and by-laws of organizations. The materials relate to Compton's career as a leader in the lumber and manufacturing industries, and much of the collection pertains to such forest industry organizations as NLMA (National Lumber Manufacturers Association), AFPI (American Forest Products Industries), TECO (Timber Engineering Company), and AFA (American Forestry Association). Prominent individuals referred to in the papers include Frank George Wisner, G.W. Dulany, Jr., and John W. Watzek.

Title: Wilson Martindale Compton Papers, 1918 - 1966

Creator: Compton, Wilson Martindale, 1890-1967

Repository: Forest History Society Library and Archives

Call Number: 3897

Language of Material: Material in English

Extent: 1.0 linear feet (2 archival boxes)

 

Biographical Note

Wilson Martindale Compton (1890-1967) held a leadership role at the National Lumber Manufacturers Association from 1918 to 1944. Compton was one of the most prominent of all trade association leaders throughout the 1920s and 1930s.

Compton was born in Wooster, Ohio, on October 15, 1890. He attended the College of Wooster and Princeton University, where he earned a Ph.D. degree in the department of history, politics, and economics. Compton was a professor of economics at Dartmouth for one year prior to his accepting an appointment with the Federal Trade Commission. While Compton studied for a law degree in the 1910s, he published in various professional journals a number of articles on the economic difficulties of the lumber industry, earning a reputation as an authority on the subject. In 1918 the newly reorganized National Lumber Manufacturers Association (NLMA) asked Compton to serve as the association's first secretary-manager. He served in that capacity until 1944, when he left the organization to become president of Washington State College in Pullman, Washington. In 1951 he resigned from that position to accept a position with the U.S. State Department's policy planning staff. He left this job just two years later due to conflicting differences with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Compton served as director of the Council for Financial Aid to Education until his retirement in 1959. His retirement years were spent in his home town, Wooster, Ohio. Compton died on March 7, 1967.

While employed by the National Lumber Manufacturers Association (NLMA), Compton turned the NLMA into a profitable, prominent organization that came to wield great power within the lumber industry. Compton became a spokesman for organized lumbermen, helping to resolve demobilization problems after the First World War Compton worked to lessen competitive rivalries in the lumber industry while focusing the attention of the lumber industry on national problems. Compton worked openly with numerous government agencies, such as the U.S. Forest Service, in order to produce cooperative programs (public and private) that were of benefit to the lumber industry. Compton strengthened and broadened the association's public relations and trade promotion programs; expanded its technical, research, and engineering capabilities; and increased the efficiency of the association's fire insurance and lumber standards. He formed both American Forest Products Industries (AFPI) and the Timber Engineering Company (TECO) as subsidiaries of the national association. Under his guidance, the NLMA earned a very important role in the nation's power structure, increasing its influence among lumbermen and policy makers alike.

Wilson Martindale Compton was one of the most prominent of all trade association leaders throughout the 1920s and 1930s. He continued to wield power in his profession in the following decades. For instance, he was instrumental in drafting the 1944 "Bailey Amendment" in an attempt to improve tax standards within the industry. Compton enjoyed the utmost respect of his peers until his death in 1967.

[For further information on Wilson Compton, NLMA, AFPI, or TECO, consult the Encyclopedia of American Forest and Conservation History (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1983; Richard C. Davis, ed.).]

 

Collection Overview

The collection includes correspondence; copies of speeches, addresses, and articles; minutes of meetings; and by-laws of organizations. The materials relate to Compton's career as a leader in the lumber and manufacturing industries, and much of the collection pertains to such forest industry organizations as NLMA (National Lumber Manufacturers Association), AFPI (American Forest Products Industries), TECO (Timber Engineering Company), and AFA (American Forestry Association). Prominent individuals referred to in the papers include Frank George Wisner, G.W. Dulany, Jr., and John W. Watzek. The records are arranged in reverse chronological order.

Collection Arrangement

  1. Correspondence, Speeches, Addresses, Articles, and Organizational Materials, 1918-1965

 

Subject Headings

  • American Forest Products Industries
  • American Forestry Association
  • Clapp, Norton
  • Compton, Helen
  • Compton, Wilson Martindale, 1890-1967
  • Depressions -- 1929 -- Forest products industry
  • Dulaney, G. W., Jr.
  • Forest products industry -- United States -- 20th century
  • Forests and forestry -- Standards -- United States
  • Lumber trade -- United States -- 20th century
  • National Lumber Manufacturers Association
  • Ritter, W. M.
  • Timber Engineering Company
  • Watzek, John W.
  • Wisner, Frank George

 

Detailed Description of the Collection

1. Correspondence, Speeches, Addresses, Articles, and Organizational Materials, 1918-1965.
  • Box 1
    Personal

    • Folder 1
      Biographical Materials, undated
    • Folder 2
      General Correspondence, 1931-1965 and 1975
    • Folder 3
      Social Events and Invitations, 1935-1952 and undated
    • Folder 4
      NLMA Employee Christmas Greetings, 1923-1932 and undated
  • Box 1
    National Lumber Manufacturers Association (NLMA)

    • Folder 5
      By-Laws and Certificate of Incorporation, November 1941
    • Folder 6
      United States vs. NLMA (Consent Decree), May 6, 1941
    • Folder 7
      Proposed Lumber Industry Economic Survey, April 1939
    • Folder 8
      Speeches, Addresses, and Articles, April 1929 to December 1944 and September 1952
    • Folder 9
      Correspondence, October to November 1944 and March 1952
    • Folder 10
      Miscellaneous, 1964, 1966, and undated

      • Includes 1966 NFPA directory of officers, managers, and committee members; 1964 Wall Street Journal article concerning NLMA and lumber standards; and an undated list of NLMA presidents who served from 1902 to 1952.
  • Box 1
    AFPI

    • Folder 11
      By-Laws, Certificate of Incorporation, and Meeting Minutes, May 1941 to February 1942 and undated
    • Folder 12
      Annual Report, 1958
    • Folder 13
      Advertisements and Promotions, 1961

      • Includes promotion ideas concerning the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the Tree Farm Movement.
  • Box 1 Folder 14
    TECO: Correspondence Regarding Annuity Contract, November 1944 to December 1948, December 1958, and undated
  • Box 1
    AFA

    • Folder 15
      Correspondence, May 1954 to March 1965
    • Folder 16
      Speeches, Addresses, and Articles
  • Box 1-2
    Miscellaneous

    • Folder 17
      Taxation: Correspondence Regarding Capital Gains and Sec. 117 (K), July 1956 to January 1965
    • Folder 18
      Taxation: Report Regarding Sec. 117 (K), 1954
    • Folder 19
      Speeches, Addresses, Articles: Lumber Industry, NRA, 1923-1944, 1960, and undated
    • Folder 20
      • Speeches, Addresses, Articles: Universities, 1934
        • Includes dedications, commencement addresses, and the like.
      • Newspaper Clippings and Journal Articles
    • Folder 21
      Preservation Copies Regarding Wilson M. Compton, March 1918 to July 1957 and undated
    • Folder 22
      Original Copies Regarding Wilson M. Compton, March 1918 to July 1957 and undated
    • Folder 23
      Preservation Copies Regarding Others, 1934, 1950, and undated
    • Folder 24
      Original Copies Regarding Others, 1934, 1950, and undated
    • Museum Item 25
      Museum Items

      • Includes such items as the pen used by George W. Dulany, Jr., in signing annuity contract of TECO with Wilson Compton; a colleague's business card; Mrs. Compton's name tag from NLMA's 50th anniversary meeting in Herndon, Virginia; and two wooden certificates, each worth twenty-five cents in U.S. currency, issued by the Tenino, Washington, Chamber of Commerce in 1933 when the Citizens Bank of Tenino failed during the Great Depression (two booklets that explain the terms under which the currency was issued accompany the certificates).
    • Folder 26
      Miscellaneous, 1942-1962 and undated

      • Includes the following: 1962 A.E. Wackerman article entitled "Keeping Faith With Forest Farmers"; 1961 article entitled "Chiefs of the Forest Service"; 1957 annual report and April 8-9, 1957 meeting summary of the Northeastern Lumber Manufacturers Association; 1944 letter from George Dulany, Jr., to Wilson Compton concerning Compton's acceptance of the presidency of Washington State College; 1992 letter from Catherine Compton Chase to family members regarding NLMA's 1942 purchase of the Slater House in Washington, D.C., to serve as national headquarters.
    • Folder 27
      Photographs, 1919, 1937, 1942, 1963 and undated

      • File contains photocopies of the photographs Mrs. Chase donated to the Forest History Society. The original photographs are currently filed in the FHS Photograph Collection.

 

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Copyright Notice

The nature of the Forest History Society's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Forest History Society claims only physical ownership of most archival materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Wilson Martindale Compton Papers, Library and Archives, Forest History Society, Durham, NC, USA.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Catherine Compton Chase (Mrs. Sherret S. Chase; daughter of Wilson Compton) in May 1978. Additional materials received from Catherine Compton Chase in April 1992, May 1994, and November 1994.

Processing Information

Processed by Michele Justice, April 1997

Encoded by Amanda Ross, September 2008

Funding from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission supported the encoding of this finding aid. Support for digitization and outreach provided by the Alvin J. Huss Endowment.

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