The promotional photograph of L.L. Sams Furniture Co. captures the General View Machine Department of the company located in Waco, Texas. The photograph, which was taken in the early 1950s by Fred Marlar, shows the interior of the department with several workers and pieces of machinery in the background. The image is a digitized version of the original 4×5 film negative from the Fred Marlar papers, The Texas Collection, Baylor University.
L.L. Sams Furniture Co. was a furniture manufacturing and retail company based in Waco, Texas. The company was founded in 1908 by Lewis Lafayette Sams and his son, who started making wooden bed frames and eventually expanded into producing dressers, chests, and other bedroom furniture. By the mid-20th century, the company had grown into a large operation with several departments, including the General View Machine Department pictured in the photograph.
The General View Machine Department was responsible for producing parts for the furniture that L.L. Sams Furniture Co. manufactured. The department’s workers operated several types of machinery, including lathes, drill presses, and saws, to cut and shape the wooden pieces that would later be assembled into furniture. The photograph captures several workers operating the machinery while others inspect the finished pieces.
The photograph is a testament to the industrialization of furniture manufacturing during the mid-20th century. With the use of machines and assembly-line production, companies like L.L. Sams Furniture Co. were able to mass-produce furniture at a lower cost and with greater efficiency than ever before. The General View Machine Department was a crucial part of this process, providing the necessary parts and pieces for assembly-line production.
Fred Marlar, the photographer who captured the image, was a commercial photographer based in Waco, Texas. He was known for his images of people, places, and events in Central Texas during the mid-20th century. The Fred Marlar papers, which include the original negative of the L.L. Sams Furniture Co. photograph, are part of The Texas Collection at Baylor University. The collection includes thousands of photographs, documents, and other materials related to the history of Texas and the surrounding region.
In conclusion, the promotional photograph of L.L. Sams Furniture Co.’s General View Machine Department offers a glimpse into the mid-20th century industrialization of furniture manufacturing. It shows the importance of machinery and assembly-line production in mass-producing furniture at a lower cost and with greater efficiency. The image is a part of The Texas Collection at Baylor University and was taken by Fred Marlar, a renowned commercial photographer based in Waco, Texas.
Posted by The Texas Collection, Baylor University on 2020-05-06 15:48:06
