Inventor Name
T. Eaton Company
Repository
Archives of Ontario
77 Grenville Street, Unit 300
Toronto, ON
M5S 1B3
Canada
416-327-1600
1-800-668-9933 (Toll-free number-Ontario only)
www.archives.gov.on.ca
Physical Description
30 centimetres of textual records
Summary
T. Eaton Company Limited was a major Canadian retailer, established in 1869 by Timothy Eaton and based in Toronto. The store's early development was attributed to its catalogue business, established in 1884, and its guarantee of "satisfaction or money refunded." By the time of Timothy Eaton's death in 1907, the retail business had a Winnipeg branch store, mail order facilities in numerous farming communities, as well as overseas buying offices in London and Paris. The company also owned related companies and factories such as the Eaton Knitting Company, the Guelph Stove Company as well as Brampton Tire and Rubber. Eventually, Eaton's became one of the largest North American retailers with department stores in Montreal, Regina, Hamilton, Moncton, Halifax, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, New Westminster, Charlottetown and Vancouver. By 1987, the retailer had over 35,000 employees and 108 outlets. Series consists of records created by the Eaton Knitting Co. Limited that were used by the parent company T. Eaton Co.'s Secretarial Office during the winding up of the affairs of the knitting operation. The series consists of two major groupings. The first grouping, General Files, cover the following topics: agreements between the Eaton Knitting Company and other companies, trademarks, patents, and union and unemployment matters. These files contain correspondence , tax and legal documents, and printed forms and notices. Most files have been assigned an alpha-numeric code, however they are arranged alphabetically by title. The second grouping of files relate to employees, likely gathered for information about payments to retirees. These files contain job applications, letters of reference, records of payment etc. form the Eaton Knitting Company office in Hamilton. In addition these files include letters from F.W. Murch, Secretary-Treasurer of the Eaton's Knitting Company relating to retirement allowances and dated 1858.