Gross, Kelly & Company Records and Family Papers
Collection
Identifier: MSS-96-BC
Scope and Content
This collection contains business records of the commercial firm Gross, Kelly &Co., 1902-1954, and its predecessors, Otero, Sellar &Co., 1867-1882, and Gross, Blackwell &Co., 1882-1902. Records include correspondence, ledgers, account books, stock books, invoices, receipts, deeds, legal documents, and stock certificates. The collection is divided into five series: I. Otero, Sellar &Co. records; II. Gross, Blackwell &Co. records; III. Gross, Kelly &Co. records; IV. Subsidiary Company records; V. Receivership or Trusteeship company records. There is some overlap of material within each series.
The largest series, Gross, Kelly &Co. records is divided into the following subseries: Administrative records; General accounts; Production; Wool business; Sheep and lamb business; Timber and lumber business; Produce business; Miscellaneous and Mixed records. Most of the correspondence and legal documents in the Gross, Kelly series is from two long-term company presidents, Harry W. (Henry) Kelly, president, 1902-1932, and Daniel T. Kelly, president, 1936-1953. Records of subsidiary companies include the Jackson Cattle Co. (Scottsbluff County, NE and Goshen County, Wyoming); Kemper, Kelly and Kitch Feeding Co. (Denver, CO); and K &S Fruit Co. (Las Vegas, NM.)
Gross, Kelly &Co., primarily through the agency of Clarence Iden, president, 1932-1936, acted as receiver or trustee for a number of New Mexico companies that ran into financial difficulties during the years of the Great Depression. Records of these companies found in this collection are: Las Vegas Land and Water Co.; Reinken &Reynolds (Watrous, NM); Floersheim Mercantile Co.; Piggly Wiggly (Las Vegas, NM); David H. Womack (Mountainair, NM); and Big Chief Lumber Co. (Grants, NM).
An addition to the collection, processed in 2003 is divided into 3 series: Business/Liquidation/Sale of Gross Kelly & Company, Family Papers/Estates, and Scrapbooks. The business records primarily contain financial records, reports, and correspondence regarding the ultimate liquidation of Gross Kelly & Company. Family papers, primarily concern estates, financial records, and correspondence of family members, including Henry W. Kelly, Ellis T. Kelly (wife of Henry W. Kelly), Mabel Thomas (sister-in-law of Ellis T. Kelly), Helen Kelly Kane (daughter of Ellis T. and H. W. Kelly) Daniel T. Kelly (son of Henry W. and Ellis T. Kelly), Margaret Gross Kelly (wife of Daniel T. Kelly, daughter of Jacob Gross and Caroline Linton), Caroline L. Kelly (sister of Daniel T. Kelly), and Caroline Linton Gross. Personal diaries of Margaret Gross Kelly and scrapbooks of family and Santa Fe history are contained in the final series. An oversized folder contains Santa Fe Fiesta posters; maps, plats, and blueprints; newspapers, certificates, and awards; advertising materials, and Caroline Kelly's sketchbook.
In November 2013, the name of the collection was changed from Gross, Kelly & Company Records to Gross, Kelly & Company Records and Family Papers to better reflect the contents of the collection.
The largest series, Gross, Kelly &Co. records is divided into the following subseries: Administrative records; General accounts; Production; Wool business; Sheep and lamb business; Timber and lumber business; Produce business; Miscellaneous and Mixed records. Most of the correspondence and legal documents in the Gross, Kelly series is from two long-term company presidents, Harry W. (Henry) Kelly, president, 1902-1932, and Daniel T. Kelly, president, 1936-1953. Records of subsidiary companies include the Jackson Cattle Co. (Scottsbluff County, NE and Goshen County, Wyoming); Kemper, Kelly and Kitch Feeding Co. (Denver, CO); and K &S Fruit Co. (Las Vegas, NM.)
Gross, Kelly &Co., primarily through the agency of Clarence Iden, president, 1932-1936, acted as receiver or trustee for a number of New Mexico companies that ran into financial difficulties during the years of the Great Depression. Records of these companies found in this collection are: Las Vegas Land and Water Co.; Reinken &Reynolds (Watrous, NM); Floersheim Mercantile Co.; Piggly Wiggly (Las Vegas, NM); David H. Womack (Mountainair, NM); and Big Chief Lumber Co. (Grants, NM).
An addition to the collection, processed in 2003 is divided into 3 series: Business/Liquidation/Sale of Gross Kelly & Company, Family Papers/Estates, and Scrapbooks. The business records primarily contain financial records, reports, and correspondence regarding the ultimate liquidation of Gross Kelly & Company. Family papers, primarily concern estates, financial records, and correspondence of family members, including Henry W. Kelly, Ellis T. Kelly (wife of Henry W. Kelly), Mabel Thomas (sister-in-law of Ellis T. Kelly), Helen Kelly Kane (daughter of Ellis T. and H. W. Kelly) Daniel T. Kelly (son of Henry W. and Ellis T. Kelly), Margaret Gross Kelly (wife of Daniel T. Kelly, daughter of Jacob Gross and Caroline Linton), Caroline L. Kelly (sister of Daniel T. Kelly), and Caroline Linton Gross. Personal diaries of Margaret Gross Kelly and scrapbooks of family and Santa Fe history are contained in the final series. An oversized folder contains Santa Fe Fiesta posters; maps, plats, and blueprints; newspapers, certificates, and awards; advertising materials, and Caroline Kelly's sketchbook.
In November 2013, the name of the collection was changed from Gross, Kelly & Company Records to Gross, Kelly & Company Records and Family Papers to better reflect the contents of the collection.
Dates
- 1863-1996
Creator
- Gross, Kelly & Company, Inc (Organization)
Language of Materials
English.
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research.
Copy Restrictions
Limited duplication of print and photographic material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws.
Organizational History
Gross, Kelly & Company, with its predecessor firms of Otero, Sellar & Company, and Gross, Blackwell and Company, was one of the pioneer wholesale and retail mercantile companies in the Southwest. Otero, Sellar &Co. actually began operations in New Mexico before the railroads reached the area, making freight hauls by wagon from the end of the Kansas Pacific and Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe, as they were built west through Kansas. When the Santa Fe Railroad reached Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1879, Otero, Sellar &Co. established Las Vegas as its permanent headquarters and base of operations. Otero, Sellar and its successor companies, while keeping the main office at Las Vegas, established a number of branches in other New Mexico towns and cities and even one in Trinidad, Colorado. A table showing the locations and dates of operations of these branches, along with a list of subsidiary companies, follows this history.
The three main companies were: Otero, Sellar & Co., 1867-1882; Gross, Blackwell & Co., 1882-1902; and Gross, Kelly & Co., 1902-1954. In addition, both Gross, Blackwell and Gross, Kelly eventually operated a number of more-or-less directly controlled subsidiary companies. Because of their roles as providers of credit for individuals and partnerships engaged in small ranching and lumbering operations, the parent companies often acquired control of such small operations in settlement of debts. A latter-day example on a rather large scale was Gross, Kelly &Co.'s acquistion of Con W. Jackson's, Jackson Cattle Company in 1935.
Besides wholesale and retail groceries which the parent companies dealt in from the beginning, Gross, Kelly &Co. was heavily involved in hides and pelts, wool, sheep and lambs, and cattle--all of which it bought from local producers and shipped and to consumers in the East and Midwest. Gross, Kelly & Co., financially supported by Eastern banks, provided credit for local ranchers and merchants. It also bought and sold railroad ties and finished lumber.
Although Gross, Kelly & Co. was still operating from five New Mexico locations in the post-World War II period (Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Gallup and Roswell), the company's stockholders voted in 1954 to sell out to the Kimbell Products Company of Fort Worth, Texas. Shortly after this decision, Daniel T. Kelly donated the firms records to Special Collections at the University of New Mexico.
The three main companies were: Otero, Sellar & Co., 1867-1882; Gross, Blackwell & Co., 1882-1902; and Gross, Kelly & Co., 1902-1954. In addition, both Gross, Blackwell and Gross, Kelly eventually operated a number of more-or-less directly controlled subsidiary companies. Because of their roles as providers of credit for individuals and partnerships engaged in small ranching and lumbering operations, the parent companies often acquired control of such small operations in settlement of debts. A latter-day example on a rather large scale was Gross, Kelly &Co.'s acquistion of Con W. Jackson's, Jackson Cattle Company in 1935.
Besides wholesale and retail groceries which the parent companies dealt in from the beginning, Gross, Kelly &Co. was heavily involved in hides and pelts, wool, sheep and lambs, and cattle--all of which it bought from local producers and shipped and to consumers in the East and Midwest. Gross, Kelly & Co., financially supported by Eastern banks, provided credit for local ranchers and merchants. It also bought and sold railroad ties and finished lumber.
Although Gross, Kelly & Co. was still operating from five New Mexico locations in the post-World War II period (Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Gallup and Roswell), the company's stockholders voted in 1954 to sell out to the Kimbell Products Company of Fort Worth, Texas. Shortly after this decision, Daniel T. Kelly donated the firms records to Special Collections at the University of New Mexico.
COMPANIES RELATED TO GROSS, BLACKWELL & CO.
- Arnot Wool Company, Las Vegas, New Mexico
- Becker-Blackwell Company, Magdalena, New Mexico
- Carr-McGraw Scale Company, St. Louis, Missouri
- Chihuahua Telephone Company, Chihuahua, Mexico
- Durango Telephone Company, Durango, Mexico
- Floersheim Mercantile Company, Springer, New Mexico
- Gross, Blackwell and Kelly Company, St. Louis, Missouri
- Lawrence Mercantile Company, Catskill and Clayton, New Mexico
- Maxwell Timber Company, Cimarron, New Mexico
Some of these holdings in which Gross, Blackwell & Co. held a substantial managerial and financial interest between 1882 and 1902, were transferred to A. M. Blackwell as part of his price when he sold out to the partners of Gross, Kelly. Others were sold to various partners, and a few continued in business under subsequent owners until the early 1930s when depressed economic conditions forced their liquidation.
COMPANIES RELATED TO GROSS, KELLY & CO.
- Arnot Wool Company, Las Vegas, New Mexico
- Gross, Richards and Co.,Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Range land in Wyoming.
- The Jackson Cattle Company, Las Vegas, New Mexico
- Kelly and Kitch, Rocky Ford, Colorado
- Kelly and Peterson, Colorado
- Kemper, Kelly and Kitch Feeding Company, Denver Stockyards, Denver, Colorado
Individual partners of the firm held stock in various companies, which may have been owned for the benefit of Gross, Kelly and Co., but those listed above are shown by the records to have been financially controlled by Gross, Kelly &Co. at some time between 1902 and 1954.
GROSS, KELLY BRANCH HOUSES AND DATES OF OPERATION
- Las Vegas, 1881- Sold 1954
- Albuquerque, 1887- Sold 1954
- Pecos, 1901-1925
- Tucumcari, 1902-1913
- Mora (Timber), 1903-1908
- Trinidad, 1905-1922
- Logan, 1905-1907
- Epris, 1906-1906
- Corona, 1910-1913
- Rowe, 1910-1947
- Santa Fe, 1913-Sold 1954
- Mountainair (Timber), 1920-1931
- Gallup, 1929-Sold 1954
- Roswell, 1945-Sold 1954
Extent
124 bound vol., 65 packages, 85 boxes (130 linear ft.)
Microfilm Edition
Item 2, Sales Book, is available for use on microfilm
Separated Material
Photographs, postcards, sketchbook and pohtograph albums have been transferred to Gross, Kelly and Company Pictorial Collection
Relevant Secondary Sources
- The Buffalo Head: A Century of Mercantile Pioneering in the Southwest, Daniel T. Kelly, with Bertrice Chauvenet. Santa Fe, N.M.: Vergara Publishing Co., 1972.
Processing Information
Caroline Linton Kelly scrapbooks added to collection in November 2013.
Inquire with reference staff for access to unprocessed material, 18 boxes, B3-13A. (The unprocessed material comprises business and personal records, including scrapbooks and photo albums.)
Inquire with reference staff for access to unprocessed material, 18 boxes, B3-13A. (The unprocessed material comprises business and personal records, including scrapbooks and photo albums.)
- Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company
- Business enterprises -- New Mexico -- History
- Colorado -- Commerce
- Gross, Blackwell & Company
- Hides and skins industry -- History
- Kelly, Caroline L.
- Kelly, Daniel T., 1886-
- Kelly, Ellis T.
- Kelly, Henry T.
- Kelly, Margaret Gross
- Lumber trade -- History
- New Mexico -- Businesses -- History
- New Mexico -- Commerce
- Otero, Sellar & Company
- Santa Fe Fiesta
- Sheep industry -- History
- Wool -- Marketing
Creator
- Gross, Kelly & Company, Inc (Organization)
- Title
- Finding Aid of the Gross, Kelly & Company Records and Family Papers, 1863-1996
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Walter L. McMurtry
- Date
- ©2000
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
Revision Statements
- June 28, 2004: PUBLIC "-//University of New Mexico::Center for Southwest Research//TEXT (US::NmU::MSS 96 BC::Gross, Kelly & Company Records)//EN" "nmu1mss96bc.sgml" converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2003-10-15).
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451