Sibley Manufacturing Company records
Collection
Identifier: MS332
This collection consists mainly of the financial records of the Sibley textile mill prior to its merger with the neighboring Enterprise mill in 1936. Included are ledgers, journals, cash books, dividend books and other financial ledgers. A small number of business records (Series 1) include loose balance sheets, invoices, and bills extracted from the ledgers, as well as a 1922 land indenture (mortgage) on land on the south side of the Augusta Canal.
(1 archival box, 42 volumes)
None.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Archives and Special Collections.
16.5 Linear Feet
Series 2 of this collection contains forty-two ledgers. The business ledgers, journals, and cash, check, and dividend books in this series document the financial workings of the Sibley textile mill prior to its merger with the neighboring Enterprise mill in 1936. Only one cash book dates from a later period (1955-1956). Series 1, which consists of only six folders, is mainly made up of balance sheets, invoices, and bills that were originally enclosed as loose papers in the ledgers. Also included is a 1922 land indenture document concerning a mortgage and bond issues on land on the south side of the Augusta Canal.
Built on the site of the Confederate Powder Works on the Augusta Canal, the Sibley Manufacturing Company was completed in 1882. It operated as a textile mill for more than 140 years, finally closing its doors in 2006.
The original Confederate Powder Works began operations in 1862 and continued until April 1865. At the height of production, the works produced 7,000 pounds of gunpowder per day. Federal authorities seized the land at the end of the Civil War, and by the early 1870s the buildings had fallen into such disrepair that they could no longer be used. A group of Augusta businessmen sought a use for the old site, and the Sibley Manufacturing Company began construction there in 1880, using bricks from the old buildings. The new buildings resembled a medieval castle, with twin towers at the center. The only structure that was retained from the old powder works was the smokestack, which was left as a memorial to the Confederacy and its soldiers. Construction was completed in 1882.
Following its opening as a textile mill, the Sibley Manufacturing Company became one of the most successful mills in the region. According to the National Park Service, the mill became known as a "model of good management and worker relations." In 1923 the Graniteville Company, led by three New York businessmen, acquired Sibley and a neighboring textile mill, the Enterprise Manufacturing Company. The Graniteville Company decided to combine the Sibley and Enterprise operations to form the Sibley-Enterprise Manufacturing Company in 1936. Four years later the two mills became divisions of the Graniteville Company.
After modernizing in later years by producing denim for clothing manufacturers, the mill finally closed in 2006. Clayton Boardman, an Augusta businessman who had renovated the Enterprise Manufacturing Company in 1997, purchased the Sibley mill in 2007.
Arranged into two series. The contents of the second series are listed alphabetically and chronologically:
A print copy of this finding aid is available in the Georgia Tech Archives reading room.
This collection was originally donated to the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL) at Emory University in 1978. The records were transferred to the Georgia Tech Archives in December 2007.
Transferred to the Georgia Tech Archives from MARBL, Emory University, in December 2007 (accession number 2007.110).
(1 archival box, 42 volumes)
Christine de Catanzaro and Melanie Stam processed these records in December 2008.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository