The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company began in 1898 and operated until 1968 when it was sold to the U.S. Plywood Corporation. The Polk County, Texas company harvested longleaf pine during a crucial period of development for the Texas economy. The lumber industry was the state’s first large scale commercial enterprise not dependent on farming and provided a model for future extractive industries in the state. The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company town of Camden, Texas exemplifies rural implementations of the company town system in the Texas lumber industry. This public history thesis provides a brief history of paternalism and its impact in the development of company towns in the southern lumber industry. In addition the thesis provides an updated history of the W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company, its subsidiary companies, and the sawmill company town of Camden, Texas. The author discusses archival preservation and processing best practices applied to the company’s extensive collection of ledgers donated to the East Texas Research Center, a regional university archive. This work demonstrates the archival decisions making process regarding a more traditional processing method over MPLP and other archival processing techniques.
","abstract_html":"<p>The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company began in 1898 and operated until 1968 when it was sold to the U.S. Plywood Corporation. The Polk County, Texas company harvested longleaf pine during a crucial period of development for the Texas economy. The lumber industry was the state’s first large scale commercial enterprise not dependent on farming and provided a model for future extractive industries in the state. The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company town of Camden, Texas exemplifies rural implementations of the company town system in the Texas lumber industry. This public history thesis provides a brief history of paternalism and its impact in the development of company towns in the southern lumber industry. In addition the thesis provides an updated history of the W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company, its subsidiary companies, and the sawmill company town of Camden, Texas. The author discusses archival preservation and processing best practices applied to the company’s extensive collection of ledgers donated to the East Texas Research Center, a regional university archive. This work demonstrates the archival decisions making process regarding a more traditional processing method over MPLP and other archival processing techniques. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Cotton, Christopher Cameron"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts - History","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Perky Beisel","Scott Sosebee","Paul J.P. Sandul"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:37Z","subjects":["Forestry","Texas","Company Towns","Labor","Nineteenth Century","Lumber History","Archives","Forest History","Public History","Archival Science","Collection Development and Management","Labor History","United States History"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/426","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Perky Beisel","Scott Sosebee","Paul J.P. Sandul"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Cotton, Christopher Cameron"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-12-10T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts - History"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Forestry","Texas","Company Towns","Labor","Nineteenth Century","Lumber History","Archives","Forest History","Public History","Archival Science","Collection Development and Management","Labor History","United States History"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/426"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company began in 1898 and operated until 1968 when it was sold to the U.S. Plywood Corporation. The Polk County, Texas company harvested longleaf pine during a crucial period of development for the Texas economy. The lumber industry was the state’s first large scale commercial enterprise not dependent on farming and provided a model for future extractive industries in the state. The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company town of Camden, Texas exemplifies rural implementations of the company town system in the Texas lumber industry. This public history thesis provides a brief history of paternalism and its impact in the development of company towns in the southern lumber industry. In addition the thesis provides an updated history of the W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company, its subsidiary companies, and the sawmill company town of Camden, Texas. The author discusses archival preservation and processing best practices applied to the company’s extensive collection of ledgers donated to the East Texas Research Center, a regional university archive. This work demonstrates the archival decisions making process regarding a more traditional processing method over MPLP and other archival processing techniques.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Ledgers of the W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company: An Archival Processing Project"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Perky Beisel","Scott Sosebee","Paul J.P. Sandul"],"dc:creator":["Cotton, Christopher Cameron"],"dc:date.available":["2021-12-10T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company began in 1898 and operated until 1968 when it was sold to the U.S. Plywood Corporation. The Polk County, Texas company harvested longleaf pine during a crucial period of development for the Texas economy. The lumber industry was the state’s first large scale commercial enterprise not dependent on farming and provided a model for future extractive industries in the state. The W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company town of Camden, Texas exemplifies rural implementations of the company town system in the Texas lumber industry. This public history thesis provides a brief history of paternalism and its impact in the development of company towns in the southern lumber industry. In addition the thesis provides an updated history of the W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company, its subsidiary companies, and the sawmill company town of Camden, Texas. The author discusses archival preservation and processing best practices applied to the company’s extensive collection of ledgers donated to the East Texas Research Center, a regional university archive. This work demonstrates the archival decisions making process regarding a more traditional processing method over MPLP and other archival processing techniques.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/426"],"dc:subject":["Forestry","Texas","Company Towns","Labor","Nineteenth Century","Lumber History","Archives","Forest History","Public History","Archival Science","Collection Development and Management","Labor History","United States History"],"dc:title":["Ledgers of the W.T. Carter and Brother Lumber Company: An Archival Processing Project"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts - History"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:37Z"}