Joseph A. Taichert Company records
Collection
Identifier: Ms-0462
Scope and Content Note
The Joseph A. Taichert Company records span the years 1921 to 1966. The company's records are arranged into four series. These are General correspondence, Individual and corporate correspondence, Operational records, and Financial records. The collection consists of letters, telegrams, customer invoices, appraisal certificates, vendor invoices, consignee invoices, consignee correspondence, inventory records, inventory count ledgers, bank statements, sales receipts, warehouse records, customer account ledgers, and blueprints.
The Taichert Company utilized government programs that sought to support the price of wool and other vital materials during the Second World War and beyond, which were administered through Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). This agency operated under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Taichert Company participated in the CCC programs from 1943 through 1947. This activity is included in the Individual and Corporate Correspondence series.
Other items of note are attributable to the apparel business during wartime. Within the Operational Records, there are attached certificates from the War Production Board issued by wholesale vendors. Stamped messages also conveyed this information to wartime buyers. These sought to inform retailers that the items were produced within wartime production guidelines that limited the quantity of fabrics used in apparel making, as well as other essential supply items during World War II.
Individual correspondents include Homer Pickens, Elliott Barker, T.D. Burns, and Dennis Chavez. Of note among the general correspondence are appeals from Milton Taichert concerning the plight of European Jews in 1945, near the end of the Second World War. They address the need to raise money for famine relief for victims rescued from European concentration camps. Also included among the correspondence are items from many apparel vendors and fur merchandisers based in the midwestern and eastern United States.
The Taichert Company utilized government programs that sought to support the price of wool and other vital materials during the Second World War and beyond, which were administered through Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). This agency operated under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Taichert Company participated in the CCC programs from 1943 through 1947. This activity is included in the Individual and Corporate Correspondence series.
Other items of note are attributable to the apparel business during wartime. Within the Operational Records, there are attached certificates from the War Production Board issued by wholesale vendors. Stamped messages also conveyed this information to wartime buyers. These sought to inform retailers that the items were produced within wartime production guidelines that limited the quantity of fabrics used in apparel making, as well as other essential supply items during World War II.
Individual correspondents include Homer Pickens, Elliott Barker, T.D. Burns, and Dennis Chavez. Of note among the general correspondence are appeals from Milton Taichert concerning the plight of European Jews in 1945, near the end of the Second World War. They address the need to raise money for famine relief for victims rescued from European concentration camps. Also included among the correspondence are items from many apparel vendors and fur merchandisers based in the midwestern and eastern United States.
Dates
- 1921 - 1966
Access and Use Restrictions
This material may be examined by researchers under supervised conditions in the Search Room.
Copy Restrictions
Limited duplication is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with copyright and other applicable statutes.
Organizational Sketch
The Joseph A. Taichert Company originated in Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1908. Joseph A. Taichert (1882-1955), moved from Kentucky and opened a men's clothing store that year upon his arrival in the city. He later engaged his younger brother Milton (1892-1989) as a business partner. The Taicherts initially started into the sale of furs and pelts, and branched into the retail clothing business in 1915.
The retail side of the business first consisted of the men's clothing store, which was simply called Taichert's. A ladies' ready-to-wear store, called the Sorority Shoppe, was established in 1938. The men's store was located at 610 Douglas Avenue in Las Vegas; the women's store, at 610 1/2 Douglas . It served the greater Las Vegas area, as well as outlying towns in the region. Later, the ladies' clothing store was located within the Taichert's flagship store. The Taicherts also opened another small store in Santa Fe.
The fur and pelt business was an extension of the topography around Las Vegas, which was located near high mountains and rolling meadows. This region was home to a wide variety of wild and domesticated animals, which included beaver, mountain lion, rabbit, skunk, sheep, and goats. Fur and animal hides were of great value in garment manufacturing before the onset of synthetic apparel materials throughout the United States. The Taichert's fur and pelt business cultivated a ready market for a variety of clothing lines. This section of the enterprise allowed the consignment of wool and furs from individuals in New Mexico, which included Guadalupe, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Mora, Union, and Lincoln Counties. The Taicherts also bought hides from trappers or merchants in other Southwestern states and Mexico. Much of their sheep and wool trade originated from the Navajo Nation and nearby trading posts. The Taichert's fur enterprise, at its height, was one of the largest operations of its kind in the southwestern United States.
To collect the furs or related materials, the Taicherts maintained a trucking operation that gathered the merchandise and hauled it back to company warehouses in Las Vegas for future dispersal. Once other companies accepted the consignments, the Taichert Company shipped the furs and pelts around the country via railroad, and then paid the trappers and herders for their product after the consignees released the funds generated through the sale of furs and pelts in storage.
The rise of synthetic fibers in garment manufacturing in the 1950s and 1960s, and the decline of fur trapping sources, eventually closed the Taichert's fur operation. In addition, the growth of mail-order merchandising and large suburban malls in nearby Santa Fe and Albuquerque with greater choices for Las Vegas-area shoppers led to a decline for local merchants such as the Taicherts. Milton Taichert eventually sold the family's interest in the business to Gary McKinley of Las Vegas in the early 1980s. McKinley ran Taichert's Store until 2004, when it ceased operations.1
1. Information on the Taichert Company was taken from phone interviews with Gary McKinley of Las Vegas, New Mexico on August 2, 2005, and with Jon Bell of Albuquerque, New Mexico on 3 August 2005.
The retail side of the business first consisted of the men's clothing store, which was simply called Taichert's. A ladies' ready-to-wear store, called the Sorority Shoppe, was established in 1938. The men's store was located at 610 Douglas Avenue in Las Vegas; the women's store, at 610 1/2 Douglas . It served the greater Las Vegas area, as well as outlying towns in the region. Later, the ladies' clothing store was located within the Taichert's flagship store. The Taicherts also opened another small store in Santa Fe.
The fur and pelt business was an extension of the topography around Las Vegas, which was located near high mountains and rolling meadows. This region was home to a wide variety of wild and domesticated animals, which included beaver, mountain lion, rabbit, skunk, sheep, and goats. Fur and animal hides were of great value in garment manufacturing before the onset of synthetic apparel materials throughout the United States. The Taichert's fur and pelt business cultivated a ready market for a variety of clothing lines. This section of the enterprise allowed the consignment of wool and furs from individuals in New Mexico, which included Guadalupe, Rio Arriba, San Miguel, Mora, Union, and Lincoln Counties. The Taicherts also bought hides from trappers or merchants in other Southwestern states and Mexico. Much of their sheep and wool trade originated from the Navajo Nation and nearby trading posts. The Taichert's fur enterprise, at its height, was one of the largest operations of its kind in the southwestern United States.
To collect the furs or related materials, the Taicherts maintained a trucking operation that gathered the merchandise and hauled it back to company warehouses in Las Vegas for future dispersal. Once other companies accepted the consignments, the Taichert Company shipped the furs and pelts around the country via railroad, and then paid the trappers and herders for their product after the consignees released the funds generated through the sale of furs and pelts in storage.
The rise of synthetic fibers in garment manufacturing in the 1950s and 1960s, and the decline of fur trapping sources, eventually closed the Taichert's fur operation. In addition, the growth of mail-order merchandising and large suburban malls in nearby Santa Fe and Albuquerque with greater choices for Las Vegas-area shoppers led to a decline for local merchants such as the Taicherts. Milton Taichert eventually sold the family's interest in the business to Gary McKinley of Las Vegas in the early 1980s. McKinley ran Taichert's Store until 2004, when it ceased operations.1
1. Information on the Taichert Company was taken from phone interviews with Gary McKinley of Las Vegas, New Mexico on August 2, 2005, and with Jon Bell of Albuquerque, New Mexico on 3 August 2005.
Extent
11.75 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Joseph A. Taichert Company operated a retail clothing store and wholesale fur business in Las Vegas, New Mexico, which started operations in the early 20th Century. Although the family sold its interest in the business in the early 1980s, the enterprise operated until 2004.
Acquisition
- RG 87-115 Gift of Diana Stein
General
Contact Information
- Archives and Special Collections Department
- New Mexico State University Library
- P.O. Box 30006
- Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003-8006
- Phone: (575) 646-3839
- Fax: (575) 646-7477
- Email: archives@nmsu.edu
- URL: https://lib.nmsu.edu/archives/
General
1. Information on the Taichert Company was taken from phone interviews with Gary McKinley of Las Vegas, New Mexico on August 2, 2005, and with Jon Bell of Albuquerque, New Mexico on 3 August 2005.
- Title
- Guide to the Joseph A. Taichert Company records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by William B. Boehm, assisted by Allison Galey, Tina Gueth, Mary Joiner, Kris Laumbach, and Eric Rodriguez
- Date
- 2005
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
Revision Statements
- Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.
Repository Details
Part of the New Mexico State University Library Archives and Special Collections Repository