Borg-Warner Corporation Gear O' Gram magazines
Scope and Contents
This collection contains copies of the Gear-O-Gram (1944-1972), a newsletter for the employees (published by the employees)of the Borg-Warner Corporation.
Dates
- 1944-1972
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Copyright Notice
Legal title, copyright, and literary rights reside with Archives and Special Collections, Ball State University Libraries, Muncie, IN. All requests to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to Archives and Special Collections.
Administrative History
In 1928, the Borg-Warner Corporation merged with three Midwestern auto part manufacturers, including Warner Gear of Muncie, Indiana. This company expanded quickly and the company’s annual sales rose from about $50 million in 1929 to over $600 million by the late 1950s when Borg-Warner became a leading manufacturer of automatic transmissions. The company also invested in the industrial plastics business. In 1978, Borg-Warner began to build a large security services business; during the 1990s, this operation, known as Borg-Warner Security and later as Burns International Services, spun off and was soon bought by a Swedish corporation. By the late 1990s, BorgWarner Inc. had again become an auto parts specialist, with about $2.5 billion in annual sales and about 1,300 employees in the Chicago, Illinois area.
The Gear-O-Gram newsletter, produced by the Warner Gear Division of the Borg-Warner Corporation, stated in its inaugural issue, entitled Give Me a Name, "the primary objective of our publication is to promote acquaintanceship between employees, and to stimulate the interest of each employee in his work and in the organization of which he is a part." The newsletter, which was "published for and by the employees of Borg-Warner" began in May 1944 and covered diverse topics such as the company's bowling league records, retirements, former employees in the military, community involvment and automobile manufacture and use.
Extent
1 Cubic Feet (3 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
This collection is arranged chronologically.
Custodial History
This collection was received by Archives and Special Collections as a donation from Ralph Satterlee on 1998/10/13.
Accruals
No further additions are expected.
Existence and Location of Copies
Digital reproductions of Borg-Warner Corporation Gear O'Gram magazines are available electronically in the Ball State University Digital Media Repository:
Processing Information
Collection processing completed 2007/07/18 by Maren L. Read. Finding aid created 2007/07/18 by Maren L. Read. Finding aid revised 2010/07/26 by Bridget K. Hahn. EAD finding aid created 2010/07/16 by Bridget K. Hahn.
- Automobile industry and trade Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Business records Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Industrialists Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Muncie (Ind.) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Periodicals Subject Source: TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms
- Title
- Borg-Warner Corporation Gear O' Gram magazines
- Status
- Completed
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Stoeckel Archives of Local History Repository
Alexander M. Bracken Library
2000 W. University Avenue
Muncie Indiana 47306 USA
libarchives@bsu.edu