BRUCE B. DAYTON:
An Inventory of His George D. Dayton Research Files at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
Creator: | Dayton, Bruce B. | |
Title: | George D. Dayton research files. | |
Dates: | 1992-1997. | |
Abstract: | Notes and references, photographs, correspondence and memoranda, photocopies of newspaper articles, and miscellaneous printed items generated in researching and writing a biography of Worthington (Minn.) banker and Minneapolis retail merchant George Draper Dayton. The materials were created or collected by co-authors Bruce B. Dayton and Ellen B. Green. | |
Quantity: | 1.2 cubic feet (3 boxes). | |
Location: | See Detailed Description section for shelf location. |
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
George Draper Dayton was born in Clifton Springs, New York, on March 6, 1857. He was the son of Dr. David Day and Caroline (Draper) Dayton, a physician and surgeon. George married Emma Willard Chadwick (1856-1931) at Lakemont, New York, on December 17, 1878. Their children included David Draper, Caroline, George Nelson, and Josephine.
George and his wife came to Minnesota in 1883 and settled at Worthington. George was involved in real estate investments there, and served as president of a bank. In 1884 he formed the Minnesota Loan & Investment Company, Worthington, and became its president. This company bought, sold, and lent money on farm lands and other real estate.
In 1902 the Daytons moved to Minneapolis, where George and two associates bought the R. S. Goodfellow Company, changing the name to the Goodfellow Dry Goods Company. In 1903 the name was changed to Dayton Dry Goods Company, and in 1911 to the Dayton Company. The firm became Dayton Corporation [ca.1967], and in 1969 was part of a merger that created The Dayton Hudson Corporation.
He was also president of the Dayton Investment Company, successor to the Minnesota Loan & Investment Company; the Dayton Foundation; and J. B. Hudson, Inc. He was a trustee of Macalester College (St. Paul), the Board of National Missions of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, the Minneapolis Board of Church Extension, Presbyterian Theological Seminary (Chicago), Union City Mission, Goodwill Industries, the Minneapolis Y.W.C.A., and other organizations.
Dayton, a lifelong Presbyterian, was an active member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Worthington; First Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis; and Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis.
Emma Dayton died January 19, 1931. George Dayton died at his home in Minneapolis on February 18, 1938, and was interred at Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis.
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The collection was accumulated by Bruce B. Dayton and Ellen B. Green between 1992 and 1997 in the course of researching and writing George Draper Dayton: A Man of Parts, a privately-printed biography (1997). Bruce Dayton was a grandson of George D. Dayton. Ellen Green was a professional historian, researcher, and writer in St. Paul, doing business as E. B. Green Editorial.
The collection consists of research notes and photocopied materials referred to and used in the preparation of the biography. It includes information about George D. Dayton�s boyhood and ancestors in New York state; his career as a banker in Worthington, Minnesota; real estate investments and partnerships in the Twin Cities; the development of his retail dry goods business in Minneapolis; and his involvement in Presbyterian churches in Worthington and in Minneapolis. There are some photocopies of minutes of the Dayton Foundation, and there is a typescript copy of Dayton�s funeral service and eulogy (1938).
The span dates given for the collection (1992-1997) are the years during which the research was undertaken and the material generated. The collection consists almost entirely of photocopies of older news stories, documents, and photographs, some of which date back to 1854.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. George D. Dayton research files. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession number: 15,533
Processing Information:
Processed by: David B. Peterson, February 2000
Catalog ID number: 09-00321563
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
LocationBox
Box | |||||||||||
P2374 | 1 | Biographical information, 1931. |
Dayton Foundation: | |||||||||||
Minutes (photocopies), 1918-1938, 1994. | |||||||||||
Miscellaneous documents (photocopies), 1917-1919, 1994. |
Funeral service of George D. Dayton, 1938. |
Newspaper research materials: | |||||||||||
Baker, Morris T. (photocopies of articles and pages from Twin Cities newspapers), 1929-1934. | |||||||||||
Minneapolis and St. Paul newspapers (notes and transcriptions), 1891-1959. | |||||||||||
Minneapolis Journal and Tribune, 1892-1932. | |||||||||||
Minneapolis newspapers (photocopies), 1895-1956. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
Includes biographical newspaper articles (obituaries, 1938). | |||||||||||
Worthington Advance (notes and transcriptions), 1881-1902. 2 folders.Location | |||||||||||
Box | |||||||||||
P2374 | 2 | Worthington Globe (photocopies), 1890-1899. |
Notes and reference material: | |||||||||||
Primarily photocopies of newspaper clippings, pages from books, photographs, legal documents, and maps. There is also some correspondence and memoranda, a few photographs, and some miscellaneous printed items. | |||||||||||
Chapter 1: Youth, undated and 1872-1997. 2 folders. | |||||||||||
Includes "To Dress and Keep the Earth: The Nurseries and Nurserymen of Geneva, New York," a publication of the Geneva Historical Society, 1993; and "The Early History of the Village of Clifton Springs [New York]," 1984. | |||||||||||
Chapter 2: Pioneer, 1883-1886, 1967. | |||||||||||
Chapter 3: Banker, 1884-1973, 1992-1995. | |||||||||||
Chapter 5: Realtor, 1887-1956, 1994-1996. | |||||||||||
Chapter 7: Presbyterian, 1883-1938, 1979-1997. | |||||||||||
Includes pictorial membership directories (1979, 1994) of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Worthington, Minnesota. |
Photographs, undated and 1878-1972. | |||||||||||
8 x 10 black-and-white prints, color slides, and 4 x 5 color transparencies. Includes photographs of a city directory advertisement for "Dayton & Smith, Druggists & Grocers," Geneva, New York (undated); Dayton's marriage certificate (1878); a Bliss family genealogy (1937); photos of greeting cards given to Emma Chadwick by John Dayton (undated); a photo of a photograph of Emma Chadwick (undated); and photographs of the pages of the Worthington Daily Globe centennial edition (1972). |
Photographs and negatives ("Don't Use"), undated and 1854-[circa 1915]. | |||||||||||
Includes photographs of the schoool, the Dayton home, and downtown scenes at Worthington; a portrait of George D. Dayton; interior and exterior photographs of Dayton's stores on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis; a horsedrawn wagon with "Dayton's" painted on its side; and a street scene at Lima, New York (1854). |
Miscellany, 1884-1936, 1990. | |||||||||||
Includes a letter written to Dayton by Erle D. Luce while visiting Berlin, Germany, in 1921, describing difficult conditions Luce found there. |
Box | |||||||||||
142.G.9.3B-1 | 3 | Bound scrapbook of research materials (photocopies), 1873-1929. | |||||||||
Newspaper articles, letters, Minnesota Land and Investment Company articles of incorporation and financial statements, and other material relating to Dayton's life and business ventures, including his boyhood in New York State and later years spent in Worthington and Minneapolis. Much of the material concerns the growth and expansion of Dayton's department store in Minneapolis, and his interest in and financial gifts to Presbyterian churches. Correspondents include business contemporaries, family members, and various church officials and ministers. |
Miscellaneous oversize items, 1893-[circa 1903]. | |||||||||||
Copy of Bank of Worthington capital stock certificate No. 2 (250 shares owned by George D. Dayton) (1893) and a color reproduction of a newspaper advertisement or handbill issued on the occasion of the changing of the name of Goodfellow Dry Goods Company to Dayton Dry Goods Company (1903). |
RELATED MATERIALS
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Bankers -- Minnesota -- Worthington -- Biography.
- Businessmen -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis -- Biography.
- Department stores -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis.
- Merchants -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis -- Biography.
- Philanthropists -- Minnesota -- Minneapolis -- Biography.
- Presbyterians -- Minnesota -- Biography.
- Places:
- Worthington (Minn.).
- Persons:
- Dayton, Emma Willard Chadwick, 1856-1931.
- Dayton, George Draper, 1857-1938.
- Green, Ellen B. (Ellen Blackman), 1945-.
- Organizations:
- Bank of Worthington (Worthington, Minn.).
- Dayton Company.
- Dayton Dry Goods Company.
- Dayton Foundation (Minneapolis, Minn.).
- Goodfellow Dry Goods Company.
- Minnesota Loan & Investment Company (Worthington, Minn.).
- Westminster Presbyterian Church (Minneapolis, Minn.).
- Westminster Presbyterian Church (Worthington, Minn.).