The collection consists of two series: Tecumseh Products Company records, 1930 to 2009, and the Herrick Foundation records, 1947 to 2006. The Tecumseh Products Company series includes written company histories, biographical material, correspondence of Tecumseh Products Co. presidents, financial material, annual reports, newsletters, manuals, technical product descriptions, photographs of employees, buildings, and products, audiovisual recordings of events, trainings, and plant tours, and a ceremonial replica of a compressor. The Herrick Foundation records series is comprised of primarily correspondence and project files.
Tecumseh Products Company was founded in 1934 by Raymond Wesley Herrick and Charles Floyd Sage in Tecumseh, Michigan. Herrick was a tool and die maker-machinist, and manager at the Alamo Machine Co. in Hillsdale, Michigan. Sage was a tool and die maker-machinist in his own company called General Machine Shop and Garage, also in Hillsdale. Prior to founding Tecumseh Products Company, Herrick and Sage formed Hillsdale Machine and Tool Company, an automotive parts manufacturer, in 1931. Sage was legally President of this company.
Upon moving to Tecumseh in 1934, the company changed its name to Tecumseh Products Company and began manufacturing hermetic compressors for refrigeration products and air conditioners.
Tecumseh Products Company applied the assembly-line production techniques of the automotive industry, which Ray Herrick learned as an employee at Ford Motor Company, to the production of refrigeration compressors. Tecumseh was responsible for multiple industry innovations including the first compressor used in window air conditioning units and the first high-speed hermetically-sealed compressor designed for commercial use. By the 1950s, Tecumseh was the largest independent producer of refrigeration compressors and condensing units in the world with notable customers such as the General Electric Company. The 1950s was also a distinct era of growth for Tecumseh. The company acquired subsidiaries Tecumseh Refrigeration Sales and Engineering Company (TRESCO, Inc.) in 1955 and Lauson Manufacturing Company in 1956. Tecumseh expanded operations globally with joint ventures in Brazil and France, in the 1980s and 1990s.
Ray W. Herrick remained president of Tecumseh Products Co. until his retirement in 1966. He passed away in 1973. Ray was succeeded by his son, Kenneth G. Herrick, who served as president until his retirement in 2003. Under Kenneth's direction, Tecumseh expanded from 426 million dollars in annual sales to 1.34 billion dollars. Kenneth died in 2004. Kenneth was succeeded by his son, Todd Herrick, who served as president from 2003 to 2007. Todd's son, Kent Herrick, served in several leadership roles, including chairman of the board, until 2013.
Ray and his wife, Hazel Marie Forney Herrick, founded the philanthropic organization, the Herrick Foundation in 1949. The Herrick Foundation is one of the largest charitable foundations in the state of Michigan. It supports education, the arts, and civic and religious organizations through research grants, scholarship programs, and capital funding. Projects of the Herrick Foundation include building initiatives at Adrian College, Howe Military Academy, and Siena Heights College. The Foundation was responsible for the construction of Herrick Memorial Hospital, located in Tecumseh, Michigan, in the 1960s. The Herrick Foundation continues to support initiatives in the state of Michigan such as higher education, youth programs, health care agencies, churches, and libraries.
Charles Floyd Sage was a philanthropist and he actively supported the Tecumseh community. Sage built the Catholic St. Elizabeth Parish in Tecumseh, Michigan, including the school, the convent, and the rectory. He also built a Teen Center in Tecumseh, and provided financial support for the Tecumseh community members in need. Sage founded the Sage Foundation, a benevolent charitable organization that makes grants and contributions that further charitable, educational, religious, scientific and/or literary purposes. The foundation was granted charitable status in 1955. Sage passed away in 1961. As of 2021, the foundation valued at almost $50 million.
