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University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

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1150 Beal Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2113, USA
bentley.ref@umich.edu

Louis Carlisle Walker papers, 1881-1963

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Summary

Creator:
Walker, Louis Carlisle, 1875-1963
Abstract:
Muskegon, Michigan equipment manufacturer. Correspondence, scrapbooks, printed materials and miscellanea concerning student activities at University of Michigan, the Shaw-Walker Company of Muskegon, Michigan, unemployment during the Depression, State Republican Party affairs, political conservatism, the Muskegon Red Cross, Liberty Bond drives and the United States Shipping Board during World War II, and his activity as an author and patron of conservative writers.
Extent:
5 linear feet
1 oversize folder
Language:
English
Call Number:
86465 Aa 2
Authors:
Finding aid created by Michigan Historical Collections staff, 1967

Background

Scope and Content:

The Louis C. Walker papers have been divided into the following series: Correspondence, Miscellaneous, and Scrapbooks. The container listing describes more fully the subject content of the Correspondence series. Appended to the finding aid is a selective index to some of the more significant correspondents within the collection. Miscellaneous is an amalgam of collected materials and non-correspondence manuscripts mainly arranged by topics of interest to Walker or relating to organizations or projects in which he was involved. Of note here are materials relating to a strike at his company and various other material pertaining to his ideas on job sharing. The collection is largely an accumulation of personal materials and contains very little on the company which bears his name.

Biographical / Historical:

Louis C. Walker was an internationally known industrialist and philanthropist from Muskegon, Michigan. He was born January 8, 1875 in Farmington, Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1896. In 1899, he co-founded with Arch W. Shaw the Shaw-Walker Company, manufacturers of office furniture, equipment, and supplies. He became sole owner of the company in 1902 when Shaw retired. The company, which began with the manufacture of a box to file 3 by 5 cards, grew quickly with an ever expanded product line. These included a payroll system, the 29-inch high office desks, fire-proof file cabinets, and various supplies for libraries.

More than a businessman, Walker played a key role in the economic and civic life of the city of Muskegon. He was officer of the Hackley Union National Bank from 1929 to 1958. He helped to organize the Muskegon Federal Savings and Loan Association, serving as its president until 1948. Interested also in the city's schools, Walker was a member of the Muskegon Board of Education from 1917 to 1927, and was a supporter while on the board of the Hackley Library and the Hackley Art Gallery.

A lifelong Republican, Walker served his party at the local and state level. He was a delegate to the GOP national conventions in 1936 and 1948. As an intimate of Herbert Hoover, Walker was named vice-chairman of the President's job-sharing recovery program in 1932, and in 1949 he was a member of the citizens' committee for reorganization of the executive branch of government which sought adoption of the Hoover Commission report.

Walker's thought son job sharing were in part based on the ideas proposed in his book Distributed leisure wherein he discussed the concept that leisure was a product of industry as well as manufactured items. His work-sharing ideas were intended to alleviate some of the joblessness of the depression years. The concept received wide recognition and Walker was appointed to a national committee to discuss the applicability of job sharing on a national level.

Walker was a member of numerous other civic organizations, including the Greater Muskegon Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Muskegon War Chest campaigns. Among his many gifts to his adopted community was the L.C. Walker Sports Arena. Walker died October 5, 1963.

Acquisition Information:
The collection was the gift of the Shaw-Walker Co. and members of the Walker family (donor no. 4480 ), and came to the library in 1967.

Subjects

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Subjects:
Authors, American -- Michigan.
Conservatism.
Depressions -- 1929 -- Michigan -- Muskegon.
Office equipment and supplies.
Red Cross and Red Crescent -- Michigan -- Muskegon.
Unemployed -- Michigan.
World War, 1914-1918.
World War, 1939-1945.
Job sharing -- Michigan.
Formats:
Scrapbooks.
Names:
American National Red Cross.
Republican Party (Mich.)
Shaw-Walker Company.
United States. Shipping Board.
Henry Regnery Company.
National Taft-for-President Committee.
Walker, Louis Carlisle, 1875-1963.
Alger, Frederick Moulton, 1907-1967.
Avery, Sewell Lee, 1873-1960.
Barnes, Harry Elmer, 1889-1968.
Blodgett, John Wood, 1860-1951.
Brownell, Herbert, 1904-1996.
Brucker, Wilber Marion, 1894-1968.
Bush, Prescott Sheldon, 1895-1972.
Clark, Tom C. (Tom Campbell), 1899-1977.
Dávila, Carlos G., 1887-1955.
Dewey, Thomas E. (Thomas Edmund), 1902-1971.
Dirksen, Everett McKinley.
Donnelley, Thomas Elliott, 1867-1955.
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969.
Engel, Albert Joseph, 1888-1959.
Ferguson, Homer, 1889-1982.
Fitzgerald, Frank Dwight, 1885-1939.
Frank, Jerome, 1889-1957.
George, Walter F. (Walter Franklin), 1878-1957.
Gifford, Walter S. (Walter Sherman), 1885-1966.
Hall, Leonard W. (Leonard Wood), 1900-1979.
Hay, Regina, 1896-
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.
Hunt, Roy Arthur, 1881-1966.
Hutchins, Harry B. (Harry Burns), 1847-1930.
Hutchinson, B. E. (B. Edwin), 1888-1961.
Jenner, William E. (William Ezra), 1908-1985.
Kellogg, W. K. (Will Keith), 1860-1951.
Kelly, Harry F. (Harry Francis), 1895-1971.
Lamont, Robert Patterson, 1867-1948.
Lawrence, Howard Cyrus, 1890-1961.
McElroy, Neil H. (Neil Hosler), 1904-1972.
Moley, Raymond L., 1886-
Perkins, Frances, 1880-1965.
Reece, Carroll, 1889-
Richey, Lawrence, 1885-1959.
Ruthven, Alexander Grant, 1882-1971.
Sargent, Noel Charrett, 1894-
Shakespeare, William, -1950.
Sigler, Kim, 1894-
Sloan, Alfred P. (Alfred Pritchard), 1875-1966.
Summerfield, Arthur Ellsworth, 1899-1972.
Taft, Robert A. (Robert Alphonso), 1889-1953.
Teagle, Walter C. (Walter Clark), 1878-1962.
Utley, Freda, 1898-
Vandenberg, Arthur H. (Arthur Hendrick), 1884-1951.
Van Wagoner, Murray Delos, 1898-
Wallace, DeWitt, 1889-1981.
Wood, Robert E.
Places:
Muskegon (Mich.)

Contents

Using These Materials

Info for Visitors

How to Request

Ordering Reproductions

Download PDF Finding Aid
RESTRICTIONS:

The collection is open to research.

USE & PERMISSIONS:

Donor(s) have not transferred any applicable copyright to the Regents of the University of Michigan. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[item], folder, box, Louis Carlisle Walker Papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

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Collection

Louis Carlisle Walker papers, 1881-1963
Call Number 86465 Aa 2
Total components 50
Last indexed 2023-12-08