Fonds RBSC-ARC-1263 - Humbird family fonds

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Humbird family fonds

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  • Textual record
  • Photographic material

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RBSC-ARC-1263

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4.1 m of textual records, ca. 820 photographs

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Biographical history

The Humbird family was prominent in the lumber business from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, first in the mid-western United States, and then in the western United States and British Columbia. The son of Jacob Humbird, a builder of railroads in South America, John A. Humbird was a shareholder in the Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company of Chemainus, British Columbia. The company was incorporated in 1889 and dissolved in 1950.

Humbird, who had interests in several companies, formed various partnerships with Frederick Weyerhauser; this included partnerships involving the White River Lumber Company in Mason, Wisconsin, and the Sand Point Lumber Company in Sandpoint, Idaho, and the creation of the Clearwater Timber Company, also in Idaho, in 1900. The Sand Point Lumber Company was combined with the lumber holdings of Edward Rutledge in December 1900 to form the core of a new business, the Humbird Lumber Company.

Humbird's son Thomas J. Humbird became manager of the company in 1902 and was involved in the operations of several mills, including the Sand Point mill. His son, John A. Humbird (grandson of the original John A.), continued the family tradition and was one of the key figures in the development of the Seaboard Lumber Sales Company, Limited of British Columbia in 1935.

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Scope and content

The fonds consists of financial records of the Humbird family and records of various companies in which they had interests, including: Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company, Limited; Clearwater Timber Company; Humbird Lumber Company, Limited; Jacob Humbird Holding Company; White River Lumber Company; and Seaboard Shipping Company Limited.

Fonds also includes photographs, family financial records (distinct from company financial records), legal records, maps, correspondence, and press clippings. Photographs include photograph albums of the Victoria Lumber and Manufacturing Company Limited, an album of photographs pertaining to the family's interests in Mason and Clayton, Wisconsin, and Sandpoint, Idaho, and photographs of family members and employees of the companies. Family financial records include records pertaining to the estates of Jacob Humbird and the elder John A. Humbird, as well as financial record books of John A. Humbird and Thomas J. Humbird. Legal records include contracts, tie notices and permits, wills, and various land use records. Some maps show various company holdings, others are road maps. Correspondence is divided between company business and historical research about the companies (by family members). Press clippings are predominantly about the Chemainus and Mason operations.

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Immediate source of acquisition

The fonds was donated to UBC Library RBSC by Virginia Humbird Dickey, daughter of John A. Humbird and granddaughter of Thomas J. Humbird, in 1978. At least one accrual was added, received by UBC Library RBSC in 2005.

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Please note unique identifiers were updated for this material in October 2023. Where it existed, the previous reference number is recorded at the file level.

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Finding aid produced by Melanie Hardbattle, October 2002.
Finding aid revised by Jacky Lai, October 2023.
Finding aid revised by Malcolm Fish, December 2023.

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