Fred Harvey Company Records

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Title: Fred Harvey Company Records

Collection Date(s): 1889-1953

Extent and Forms of Material: One box (Box 1); .5 linear feet, 6 files

Creator: Fred Harvey (Firm)

Abstract: The Fred Harvey Company Records contain a variety of archival materials
pertaining to the operation of one of America's largest restaurant and resort
companies. Records consist of materials from Fred Harvey General Offices, Indian
Department, Field (American) Museum of Natural History, Alvarado Hotel, Luce-
Southwest Press Clipping Bureau, New Mexico Railway Labor Journal, The Santa Fe
Magazine, and Kansas City Star. Document types include correspondence, clippings,
and photographs. The collection also contains approximately 14 pages of
correspondence, 8 pages of clippings, 8 photographic images, and 2 pages of a Fred
Harvey code book.

Repository: Archives Center, Greater Grand Canyon Historical Society and Archives,
Grand Canyon, Arizona. https://grandcanyonhistory.org/index.html

Collection Number: AC1184

Processing Note: Processed by Bambi Hughes, March, 2022; supervised by GGCHSA

Chief Archivist.

INFORMATION FOR USERS OF THE COLLECTION

Conditions Governing Access: The collection is open for research use.

Physical/Technical Access: Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with

gloves.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use: It is the responsibility of the user to

obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator
of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors).

Preferred Citation: Title and date of item, Fred Harvey Company Records, 1889-1946,
Archives Center, Greater Grand Canyon Historical Society and Archives,

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 Fred Harvey Company Records

box number X, folder number XX, digital file numberXXXXXXXX

IN-DEPTH INFORMATION ABOUT THE COLLECTION

Administrative/Biographical History: Fred Harvey came to America in 1850 and eleven

years later opened a restaurant in St. Louis, Missouri. This restaurant closed. He was later
involved in railroad travel which led to his creation of “Harvey Houses,” a system of restaurants
along train routes. The first “Harvey House” was opened in Topeka, Kansas and a chain of
restaurants grew from there. When Harvey passed in 1901, his sons took on the family business.
The Harvey Company then expanded to meet the interests of tourists. “Indian Detours” were
offered to allow visitation to Pueblos. The Harvey Company sold Southwestern Indian Crafts
on these tours and donated many artifacts to museums around the country. These artifacts are
now in collections at the Nelson Museum in Kansas City, Kansas and the Heard Museum in
Phoenix, Arizona. Around the 1930s, dining cars began offering meals and “Harvey Houses”
became obsolete. The Harvey Company closed most of their houses and, instead, offered dining
car service. During World War II, “Harvey Houses” offered food for American troops. After the
war, more restaurants were opened and when the company was finally sold, the firm became
the sixth largest food retailer in the United States. The company was influential in areas such as
National Park concessions, Southwestern Indian Detours, railroad dining car service, resorts,
and restaurants. In 1968, the Hawaiian-based company, AMFAC, purchased the Harvey
Company. In 1988 the company was again sold, this time to a Chicago firm called JMB Realty.

Scope and Content: The Fred Harvey Company Records contain a variety of archival
materials pertaining to the operation of one of America's largest restaurant and resort
companies dating from 1889 to 1953. Records consist of materials from Fred Harvey
General Offices, Indian Department, Field (American) Museum of Natural History,
Alvarado Hotel, Luce-Southwest Press Clipping Bureau, New Mexico Railway Labor
Journal, The Santa Fe Magazine, and Kansas City Star. Document types include
correspondence, clippings, photographs, and a code book. The materials did not have an
order. Topic designations were decided by the archival team: span dates reflect the dates
of the materials contained within the folder. These provide insight into the operations of
the Fred Harvey Company and its services.

The Correspondence series ranges from 1901 to 1910 and includes correspondence
relating to business for the Fred Harvey Company.
The Clippings series includes: the Alvarado Hotel subseries newspaper clippings dated
from 1940 to 1953. relating to the Alvarado Hotel in Albuquerque, NM; the Code Book
subseries including information from Fred Harvey’s code book and train number data;
the Belt subseries including newspaper clippings from 1932 to 1953 that give
information on Harold A. Belt of the Fred Harvey Company.
The Photographs series holds photographs of locations and people relating to the Fred
Harvey Company.

System of Arrangement: Collection is arranged in three series.

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Series 1, Correspondence, 1901-1910

File 1, Correspondence, 1901-1905
File 2, Correspondence, 1906-1910
Series 2, Clippings, 1933-1953
File 3, Alvarado Hotel, 1940-1953
File 4, Code Book
File 5, Belt, 1933-1953
Series 3, Photographs
File 6, Photographs

Acquisition Information: This collection was donated by Ira Harvey in 2022.

Related Archival Materials:

Hospitality1, a magazine "for and about the men and women of Fred Harvey", dating
from 1949 to 1969, Cline Library, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ.
Fred Harvey hotels collection, 1896-1945, AZ 326, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Fred Harvey Company Records, 1889-2018, MS 280, Northern Arizona University,
Flagstaff, AZ
Fred Harvey, Branding the Southwest Exhibit, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
Fred Harvey Co. Materials, Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX
1
Fred Harvey hospitality. (n.d.). Personnel Dept., Fred Harvey.

Access Points:

Subject/Names:
Fred Harvey
Fred Harvey (Firm)

Subject/Topical:
Hotel management--Arizona--Grand Canyon.
Tourism--Arizona--Grand Canyon.
Hospitality industry--Arizona--Grand Canyon.
Railroads--Food service.
Railroads--Dining-car service.
Restaurant management--Arizona--Grand Canyon.

Geographic:
Grand Canyon Region--Arizona--Grand Canyon.

Form/Genre:
Correspondence.
Clippings.
Code Book.
Photographs.

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CONTAINER LISTING

Box File
1 Series 1, Correspondence, 1901-1910
1 1 Correspondence, 1901-1905
1 2 Correspondence, 1906-1910

1 Series 2, Clippings, 1933-1953

1 3 Alvarado Hotel, 1940-1953
1 4 Code Book
1 5 Belt, 1933-1953

1 Series 3, Photographs
1 6 Photographs

SUMMARY

While doing the finding aid, I had a few issues along the way. The container listing had a few

nuances that I was unsure on. The first was that the example showed a column for “folder.” I believe

that the “box” in this case would be the folder and the “folder” would be the file. However, I changed

“folder” to read “file” to avoid any confusion. I was also unsure if the files should be “sub-series.”

Each file contains several items. For example, the “Photographs” file contains eight images. It seems

that the “photographs” file acts as a container for those individual photos. When making the finding

aid in the Sandbox, I wondered if I should add a “child” for each unknown photo. I decided not to do

this because the file “Photographs” is one file and I did not see an option for something more specific,

like an item or object. The “extent and forms of material” was also challenging. I assumed that

because the objects were donated in one box that I should list one box as well. As I mentioned before,

the file could also act as a “box” and there was only one file. However, I considered that the items

could be moved into other boxes containing similar information. Had the items been explicitly

organized into already available collections, I might have handled this portion differently. Besides

these few questions, I did not struggle too much using the Sandbox or creating the Finding Aid

document. I had to use my judgment on a few of the sections and am interested to find out if there is

anything I should have done differently.

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 Fred Harvey Company Records

Link
https://sandbox.archivesspace.org/staff/resources/24#tree::resource_24