McCormick-International Harvester Collection

Resources (1)

• Corporate archives hold materials on the International Harvester Company in Russia

  The firm's operations in Russia consisted of a manufacturing plant at Lubertzy (near Moscow), a general office in Moscow, and 11 branch houses, some with sub-branches, scattered throughout Russia and Siberia. The collection of Russian material, ca. 150 ft., consists of documents, records, correspondence, reports, and memoranda generated within the company's Russian sales and manufacturing organization, and between that organization and the corporate headquarters in Chicago. Material mainly 1909–25, with heavy concentration on the period ending in 1920. While not complete (it was not possible, for example, to save the records of the Lubertzy works or of the General Office in Moscow), the collection of material dealing with the operation of some of the branch houses, such as journals, ledgers, registers, inter-office memos, and general correspondence, is relatively intact and provides a view of how an American company conducted business in Russia prior to, during, and immediately following World War I.

  In chronological order, some of the more important subjects on which the correspondence, reports, and memoranda focus may be listed as follows:

  Pre-1914

  Feasibility study of manufacture in Russia. Acquisition of Lubertzy Works. Start-up and organizational problems of Lubertzy Works. Tariff matters. Cost differential between Russian manufacture and Chicago manufacture.

  1914–17

  War-time financing of Russian business. Questions of exchange and the problem of credit. Shipment of goods to Russia—problems and risks involved. Depreciation of the rouble. Efforts to safeguard IH funds in Russia. The problem of getting funds out of Russia. Manufacturing difficulties caused by war-time shortages.

  1917–20

  Regulations imposed by Kerensky government and later by the Soviets on IH and other companies. Progressive deterioration of labor relations. Confiscation of some IH properties. Closing of all IHC branches and sub-branches.

  1920–25

  Closing of the General Office in Moscow. Seizure and nationalization of Lubertzy Works and subsequent denationalization.

  1926–27

  Re-nationalization of Lubertzy Works and final suspension of all IHC claims thereto.