Nathaniel Terry Bacon was an engineer, entrepreneur-industrialist, philanthropist, and scholar. Bacon was born in Litchfield, Connecticut to Rev. Leonard Woolsey Bacon and Susan (Bacon) Bacon in 1858. He attended the Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven, CT, as well as the Gymnase Technique of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1879, Bacon graduated with a Ph.B. from Sheffield Scientific School at Yale University. From 1880-1884, he worked as a railroad surveyor and located the site of Bear Mountain Bridge (New York), convincing Rowland Hazard to purchase it. Bacon travelled to Europe with Frederick and Rowland G. Hazard to study the Solvay process, which began his association with the Solvay Process Company. In 1884, he became presidential assistant to Rowland Hazard at the Solvay Process Company in Syracuse, NY. Bacon married Helen Hazard, the daughter of Rowland Hazard, in 1885 in Peace Dale, Rhode Island. The couple had two children, Leonard (born 1887) and Susan (born 1889).
In 1902, Bacon traveled to Central America where he met Neil and Arthur Lawder, who operated Belanger’s Incorporated of Bluefield, Nicaragua. Bacon soon became the director of Belanger’s Inc. In 1908, Bacon and F.J. Agate of Autauga, Alabama, purchased and incorporated the Southern Realty Company. The company filed for dissolution in 1921.
Sometime around 1915, Bacon became a member of the Board of Directors of Phoenix Linen Company in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. And from 1915-1924, served as president of the Narragansett Pier Railroad Company in Rhode Island. From 1922-1924, he was the principal owner of the Sea View Railroad property in Washington County, Rhode Island. In 1924, Bacon terminated his employment with the Solvay Process Company (Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation).
Helen Hazard Bacon died at the family home, “The Acorns” in Peace Dale, Rhode Island in 1925. Nathaniel Terry Bacon died in 1926, also at “The Acorns.”
The Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers consist of Bacon’s personal and professional papers relating to businesses in which Bacon was associated. The collection includes Bacon’s personal and professional correspondence, financial papers, writings, and photographs, as well as records regarding the Bacons’ philanthropy. The business papers in the collection relate to the Bacon Tract, Belanger’s Incorporated, Phoenix Linen Company, Solvay Process Company, Southern Realty Company, and Ward Lumber Syndicate.
Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections for questions regarding permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection. Although Rhode Island College has physical ownership of the collection, it does not necessarily hold literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
The collection is open for research.
Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers, MSS-0005, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
The collection has been arranged into the following series:
The collection was given to Rhode Island College in 1968 by Martha Bacon Ballinger, with the consent of her husband, Ronald B. Ballinger, as well as her sister, Helen Bacon Westlake, and Helen’s husband, J.T. Westlake.
After the collection arrived in 1968, Rhode Island College Professor Norman Smith conducted preliminary sorting of the collection. The processing of the papers and the preparation of the original finding aid was funded by a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant. The initial finding aid was prepared by Norene Rickson, library assistant in RIC Special Collections, with the assistance of Michael Kohl, Assistant Librarian in Special Collections. At this time, photographs were removed from their original locations and added to the other photograph files. Books were also removed from the collection and added to various book collections in Special Collections. In 2022, a nitrate negative was removed from the collection, digitized, and destroyed due to preservation and conservation concerns by Molly Bruce Patterson, Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at the time. In 2023, the finding aid was converted to current archival standards by Veronica L. Denison, Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at Rhode Island College. At this time, the papers of Rowland Hazard, Joseph Peace Hazard, Thomas Rutherford Bacon, Caroline Hazard, Helen Hazard Bacon, and Leonard Bacon were removed from the Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers and made into their own separate collections to better reflect the various creators and their materials. Items in the Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers were also reboxed into archival boxes and items foldered.
Rhode Island College Special Collections contains additional collections relating to the Bacon and Hazard families:
Additionally, Yale University Manuscripts and Archives holds the
Several books were removed from the collection when it was initially arranged and described in 1968 and were added to the Special Collections Book Collections and the Adams Library general collection. In 2023, additional published materials were removed from the collection and some added to the Special Collections Book Collections. Please contact the Rhode Island College Special Collections for further information regarding these items.
The materials in box 45 have been digitized and are only available electronically. Additionally, one nitrate negative of Maison Carree, Nimes, France from box 42, folder 14 was removed from the collection in 2022, digitized, and destroyed due to preservation and conservation concerns. This item is only available electronically. Please contact Special Collections for additional information.
This series includes the professional and personal correspondence of Nathaniel Terry Bacon. It has been separated into subseries: correspondence, which includes incoming and outgoing letters, and letterpress books.
The majority of this subseries contains incoming correspondence which is general in content and largely relates to Bacon’s business dealings, railroads, World War I, Belgium and France in the aftermath of World War I, personal correspondence between Bacon and family members, as well as correspondence with a variety of publishers. The subseries also includes outgoing correspondence, however most outgoing correspondence is in letterpress books in subseries 1b. Correspondents in this subseries include: Josephine Dodge (Daskam) Bacon; Rhode Island Senator Le Baron B. Colt; founder of St. George’s School, John B. Diman; Brown University President William H.P. Faunce; economist Irving Fisher; Rhode Island Senator Peter G. Gerry; Maine Senator Frederick Hale; Caroline Hazard; Rowland Hazard (1829-1898); Rowland G. Hazard (1858-1918); Alabama Senator J. Thomas Heflin; Dorothy H.W. Hunt; Utah Senator William H. King; Alfred A. Knopf; Irving Langmuir; Walter Leaf; Rhode Island Senator Henry F. Lippitt; Connecticut Senator George P. McLean; John A. Scott; Florida Representative William J. Sears; Kentucky Representative Swagar Sherley; Utah Senator Reed Smoot; Rhode Island Representative Walter R. Stiness; Arthur Travers-Borgström; John Trowbridge; Alabama Senator Oscar W. Underwood; National City Bank of NY President Frank A. Vanderlip; Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice Walter N. Vincent; Mathilde Weil; and Willis R. Whitney. The subseries is arranged, for the most part, alphabetically by correspondent. The correspondence from representatives of governmental agencies or businesses is filed under the name of the agency or business. The outgoing correspondence is arranged chronologically.
The letterpress books contain copies of Bacon’s outgoing correspondence. The books are arranged chronologically, with some subject arrangement within the books. Some of the books also include an index. Subjects of the outgoing correspondence relate to Bacon’s business interests and financial information regarding the Solvay Process Company, Southern Realty Company, and Belanger’s Incorporated. Other matters in the books include general business, personal matters, draft publications, economics, and World War I.
This series includes correspondence pertaining to banking transactions, bank statements, check books, income tax returns, and investments.
This subseries is arranged alphabetically.
This subseries contains bank statements, check books, and income tax returns. It is arranged chronologically by type of record.
The philanthropic papers in this collection consist of correspondence relating to Nathaniel Terry Bacon’s charitable contributions. This series is arranged alphabetically.
The writings series consists of essays, journals, and newspaper articles written by Bacon and others, as well as letters to editors. The series bas been arranged into three subseries: Manuscripts, Printed and Collected. Each subseries is arranged alphabetically by title or topic.
The personal papers in the collection contain family wills and estate information, death notices, calling cards, travel information, Bacon’s patents, newspaper clippings regarding a variety of subjects, and photographs.
One nitrate negative of Maison Carree, Nimes, France was permanently removed in 2022, digitized, and destroyed. It is only accessible electronically
The Bacon Tract consisted of twenty-five houses in the town of Geddes, near Syracuse, New York, which Bacon purchased then rented or mortgaged as an attempt to provide low-cost housing for men working in the Solvay factory.
This subseries consists of correspondence, financial papers, and legal papers all relating to the Bacon Tracts. The financial papers include receipt records for each piece of property, as well as payment records for individual tenants. The subseries also includes deeds and outstanding mortgages.
Belanger’s Incorporated operated a logging concern in Bluefields, Nicaragua. It was one of several inter-related logging and shipping businesses operated in Central America by bankers Neil and Arthur Lawder. Bacon began his association with Belanger’s during a trip to Central America in 1902, soon after becoming a director of the company. In 1916, Bacon incorporated the Schooner Cay Company to operate a sawmill on Belanger’s property in Bluefields. The principal products of these companies were mahogany logs and lumber by-products.
The subseries consists of correspondence, photographs, contracts between Bacon and Belanger, timber contracts, financial statements, and records of the Schooner Cay Company. The correspondence, which is arranged alphabetically, pertains to Bacon’s association with the company, as well as letters from company officials and Arthur Lawder, documenting his financial involvement. Also described in the correspondence are the effects on local business of the 1909-1919 revolution in Nicaragua.
Phoenix Linen Company operated a textile mill in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, producing cotton and linen textiles. Bacon became a member of the Board of Directors of the company around 1915 at the request of his son-in-law’s father, Herbert Keith. Keith was a company officer at the time. At the time of Bacon’s joining, the company was in receivership and Bacon attempted to assist its officers in a financial reorganization plan; however, the plan failed and the company filed for bankruptcy in 1919.
This subseries consists of correspondence (arranged alphabetically), which includes letters from the company president, Robert Simpson. The subseries also includes financial statements and notes, contracts and agreements, as well as lists of stockholders (arranged alphabetically).
The Solvay Process Company, incorporated June 11, 1881 by Rowland Hazard, introduced to the United States a patented process for producing alkali from salt, coke, and limestone which would provide the growing chemical industry with a cheap and plentiful source of soda ash and caustic soda. The American patent on the Solvay process was extended to Hazard by two Belgian brothers, Ernest and Alfred Solvay. Rowland Hazard became president of the Solvay Process Company, which located its primary plant in Syracuse, New York. After his death in 1898, he was succeeded by his son, Frederick R. Hazard, who held office until his death in 1917. The Solvay Process Co. expanded to include five additional plants, and gave rise to several subsidiary companies, including the Semet-Solvay Company, formed in 1894, and the By-Products Coke Company, which began production in 1906. In 1920, five chemical companies, including the Solvay Process Co. and the Semet-Solvay Co. were incorporated to form the Allied Chemic and Dye Corporation. Bacon’s association with the Solvay Process Company began in 1884 when he travelled to the Solvay plant in Dombasle, France, with Rowland G. and Frederick Hazard to study manufacturing techniques. For the next fifteen years he travelled extensively throughout Europe reporting on the developments in the industry, functioning as a “presidential assistant for foreign affairs” to Rowland and later Frederick Hazard. In addition to serving in this capacity, Bacon also compiled monthly production reports on ash and caustic soda produced at the Syracuse and Detroit Solvay plants. After the incorporation of the Allied Chemical and Dye Corp., many Solvay employees were gradually “retired”; Bacon, however, continued to prepare monthly reports until November 1924 when he was released from the company.
This subseries consists of correspondence, data books, laboratory reports, printed materials, and other items relating to the Solvay Process Company. The subseries also includes oversize folders of diagrams, production tables, and blueprints, as well as photographs that document the construction of the Detroit plant and the Ensley, Alabama plant. The correspondence (arranged alphabetically) pertains to Bacon’s activities with the company. (The correspondence from Rowland Hazard and Rowland Gibson Hazard was removed when the collection was initially arranged in 1968 and placed in Bacon’s general correspondence—Series 1). There is extensive correspondence with company president, E.D. Winkworth as well as with his successor, Proctor Malin. The data books (arranged chronologically) contain Bacon’s reports on production techniques used in Solvay factories in England, France, and Germany, and analyses of factory productions at the various American Solvay process plants. Additional production reports are included with the correspondence in the letter-press books. The laboratory reports include ash and caustic soda reports prepared by Bacon, a report on the production of ammonia and soda, and reports from Solvay Process Co. plants in Syracuse and Detroit. Solvay-Werke in Germany, and Solvay & Cie. in France. The print material includes Frederick Hazard’s report to his staff. Also included are Bacon’s contracts with the company and a typescript report with photographs of living conditions of Solvay employees earning less than 25 cents, which was prepared by the Solvay Guild in 1913.
Southern Realty Company, originally incorporated December 7, 1900 as Southern Realty Company of Maine, was purchased by Nathaniel Bacon and F.J. Agate of Autauga, Alabama and incorporated December 19, 1908. The company was organized to buy, develop, lease, and sell working farms and agricultural properties, including ginning, pressing, grinding, sowing, and dairying. Bacon was principal stockholder in the corporation and served as its president. The corporation operated the 1500-acre Peace Plantation in Autauga County, Alabama from 1900-1921. It was farmed by tenants who were given the option to purchase the land they cultivated. Unable to find a market for its cotton crop during the post-war economy, the corporation filed for dissolution on January 21, 1921.
This subseries consists of correspondence, financial papers, legal papers, manager’s reports, and weekly plantation reports. The correspondence includes both outgoing and incoming letters, and the financial papers include balance sheets, bank statements, and audits. The legal papers in this subseries consist of the Certificate of Incorporation and the Dissolution Agreement, as well as deeds, mortgages, indentures, and materials relating to stockholders and minutes of stockholders’ meetings. The manager’s reports were filed by P.M. Greene and chronicle the daily operations of the plantation and include reports on crops, livestock, finances, and weather. A majority of the managers’ reports cover the years 1914-1918. The subseries also includes plantation maps, soil surveys, and utilization reports.
The Ward Lumber Syndicate was formed December 29, 1920, to manufacture and retail lumber from timber growing on lands owned by the Southern Realty Company. The syndicate operated a small saw mill on plantation property and had a small fleet of barges to transport the lumber to market. Bacon was Syndicate Manager, and in this capacity, he oversaw all operations of the company.
This subseries consists of financial papers, legal papers, manger’s reports, surveyor’s notes, lumber inventories, and statistics relating to the Ward Lumber Syndicate. (The correspondence concerning this firm is included in the correspondence of the Southern Realty Company). The financial papers consist of weekly account statements, forecasts and expenditures, and other statements and account sheets. The legal papers include the Syndication Agreement, as well as timber contracts and indentures with Southern Realty Company. Information on daily sawmill operations and market activities is recorded in the manager’s reports.