Finding aid for the William Anderson Haven Papers


Title:
William Anderson Haven Papers
Repository:
Western Reserve Historical Society
Phone: 216-721-5722
http://www.wrhs.org
Creator:
Haven, William Anderson
Dates:
1916-1972
Quantity:
3.90 linear feet (6 containers)
Abstract:
William Anderson Haven (1888-1973) was a chemical engineer who worked at U.S. Steel, New York Steel, Carnegie Steel, Marting Iron Company, and Republic Steel. After management differences with Cyrus Eaton at Republic Steel in 1929, he left to become vice-president of Arthur G. McKee and Company in Cleveland, Ohio. Before his retirement in 1953 he had planned or supervised the construction of numerous steel plants and oil refineries in the United States and throughout the world. The collection consists of business and personal correspondence, miscellaneous non-correspondence, and reports on the iron and steel industry in the United States and abroad.
Identification:
MS 3613
Location:
closed stacks
Language:
The records are in English

Biography of William Anderson Haven

William Anderson Haven (1888-1973) was born in Swissvale, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh, where he spent his youth attending school while working odd jobs. Haven's father, Robert Walter Haven, died in 1904, leaving William and his two older brothers to support the family. In 1905, Haven received an offer of financial aid from Andrew Carnegie to attend college. Carnegie had been a friend of Haven's grandfather, and his offer of money was further supplemented by a scholarship from Pennsylvania State College, which paid for his college fees.

Haven graduated from college in June 1909, with a degree in chemical engineering. He applied for work to over twenty companies, but the only job offer he received was from the United States Steel Corporation's South Sharon, Pennsylvania plant. Haven accepted the offer and began his career in the steel industry as an ore sampler. At that time, his pay was a mere seventeen cents an hour, that of a common laborer. For the next three years, he worked at the plant, rising from the position of ore sampler to foreman.

In 1912, he left the South Sharon Plant and from that date through 1927, he served as either a general foreman or a superintendent of blast furnace plants for the New York Steel Company, the Carnegie Steel Company, the Marting Iron Company, and the Republic Iron and Steel Company. In 1928, control of the Republic Iron and Steel Company passed into the hands of a group of men headed by Cyrus Eaton. This change of ownership led to the introduction of new top management personnel and new management policies. In an effort to maximize the company's profits, the new management instituted a policy of laying off men to such a degree that Haven felt plant operations were being affected adversely as maintenance and repairs were neglected. Unable to accept this new policy, Haven began to look for another job, and in 1929 accepted the position of vice president in charge of engineering, sales, consultation, and other activities of the metal division of the Arthur G. McKee and Company, a position he held until his retirement in 1953.

Arthur G. McKee and Company, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, designed large scale industrial equipment, such as blast furnaces and oil refineries and then built them by purchasing the necessary materials and subcontracting the actual building jobs to outside firms. In his position with the firm, Haven supervised, planned, or directed the construction of numerous projects in the United States and abroad. In 1930, he supervised the planning of the Magnitogorsk Steel Plant. The following year was spent in the Soviet Union overseeing the construction of this plant, which was the largest steel plant in the Soviet Union at the time. Located beyond the Ural Mountains, the Magnitogorsk Plant made a significant contribution to the defeat of the Germans by the Russians in World War II.

Haven made the first of three trips to China in 1933 to supervise the expansion of the Chinese iron and steel industry. He returned to China in 1934 and again in 1946. In 1940, he traveled to Brazil to draw up plans for a new plant at Volta Redonda and helped secure a loan from the United States to finance the construction of this plant. Other foreign projects in which Haven took part include the construction of the first large, modern blast furnace in England, the new steel complex of Paz de Rio in Bogata, Columbia, the rehabilitation of blast furnaces in Italy, additional plant construction in China, and numerous projects in Canada.

William Haven retired from Arthur G. McKee and Company in 1953, but continued to serve as consultant to the firm and other members of the iron and steel industry for a number of years. He died in May 1973 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was survived by his daughter, Mrs. Myron Breckenridge and two sisters.

Scope and Content

The William Anderson Haven Papers, 1916-1972 and undated, consist of business and personal correspondence, miscellaneous non-correspondence, and reports on the iron and steel industry in the United States and abroad.

This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of the steel industry in Cleveland, Ohio, in the twentieth century, and the history of business. Those studying the development of the iron and steel industry in the United States, China, the Soviet Union, and India will find this collection useful. The collection covers Haven's early life in Pennsylvania, his college years at the Pennsylvania State College, and his first years in the steel industry. Of special interest are Haven's letters concerning his trips to the Soviet Union, India, and China, and the effects of the Great Depression in 1932. The collection also includes detailed studies of the construction of new steel plants, the expansion of existing plants, and the development of steel industries for countries such as Egypt and China.

Statement of Arrangement

The collection is arranged in two series.
Series I: Personal Papers is arranged by subject and then chronologically.
Series II: Business Papers is arranged alphabetically by company or country name and then chronologically.

Restrictions on Access

None.

Related Material: Related Material

The researcher should also consult PG 116 William Anderson Haven Photographs; and PG 244 William Anderson Haven Photographs, Series II.


Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Eaton, Cyrus Stephen, 1883-1979.
Haven, William Anderson, 1888-1973.
Steel industry and trade.

Preferred Citation

[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 3613 William Anderson Haven Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Acquisition Information

Gifts of Mrs. Myron (Haven) Breckenridge in 1973 and 1976.

Processing Information

Processed by Janet R. Halttunen in 1979.


Other Finding Aid

A selected list of business correspondents represented in this collection is available at the Reference Desk of the WRHS Research Library.


Detailed Description of The Collection



Series I: Personal Papers, 1922-1972; undated

Box 1 / Folder 1-2
Business correspondence, 1922-1963




Box 1 / Folder 3-6
Personal correspondence, 1933-1972




Box 1 / Folder 7
Notebooks and address books, undated




Box 1 / Folder 8
Datebooks, 1936-1937




Box 1 / Folder 9-10
Miscellaneous drawings, diagrams, specification sheets, and notations, undated




Box 1 / Folder 11
Manuscripts of autobiography, undated




Box 1 / Folder 12
Thesis on "The distribution of Materials on the tops of Blast Furnaces and Some Effects Upon Distribution of the Size and Shape of the Large Bell, 1948




Box 1 / Folder 13
Advertising, undated




Box 1 / Folder 14-15
Articles on the iron and steel industry, undated




Box 1 / Folder 16
Booklets on the iron and steel industry, undated




Box 1 / Folder 17-18
General studies on the iron and steel industry, undated




Box 1 / Folder 19
Papers and booklets on the foreign iron and steel industry, undated





Series II: Business Papers, 1929-1969; undated

Box 2 / Folder 20
Alan Wood Steel Company, "Letter-Report on Rolling Mill Expansion Program", 1941




Box 2 / Folder 21
Alan Wood Steel Company, "Report on the Diversification of Rolled Steel Products", 1946




Box 2 / Folder 22
Alan Wood Steel Company, "Report on Proposed Bid for New Rolling Facilities", 1947




Box 2 / Folder 23
American Locomotive Company, "Report on the Manufacture of Railroad Car Wheels", 1949




Box 2 / Folder 24
American Rolling Mill Company, "Report of the Relining of Hamilton No. 2 Blast Furnace", 1940




Box 2 / Folder 25
American Steel and Wire Company, "Report and Recommendations on Improvements to Power and Water Facilities at Denora Steel Works, Blast Furnace Department", 1947




Box 2 / Folder 26
Battelle Memorial Institute, "Report on a Visit to the Madara Steel Company", 1942




Box 2 / Folder 27
Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation, "Report on Inspection of Pueblo, Colorado Plant", 1944




Box 2 / Folder 28
Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation, "Comment on Economic Study of the Corporation and Subsidiary Companies", 1947




Box 2 / Folder 29
Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation, "Report on Proposed Expansion Program for the Pueblo Plant", 1951




Box 2 / Folder 30
Empire Steel Company, "Report on Proposed Installation of New Rolling Mill Facilities at the Mansfield Plant", 1949




Box 2 / Folder 31
Ford Motor Company, "Report on Proposed Sintering Plant", 1944




Box 2 / Folder 32
Hanna Furnace Company, "Report on Rebuilding Blast Furnace 'A' and a Gas Distribution System", 1929




Box 2 / Folder 33
Hudson Valley Fuel Corporation, "Report on Troy Blast Furnace", 1937(?)




Box 2 / Folder 34
Kelly Island Lime and Transport Company, "Letter-Report on the Survey Relative to Proposed Metallurgical Lime Plant", 1951




Box 2 / Folder 35
Kopers Company, "Letter-Report on the Condition of the Sintering Plant at Granite city", 1943




Box 2 / Folder 36
Lone Star Steel Company, "Report on Proposed Addition of Steel Making and Rolling Facilities to the Dangerfield Works", 1948




Box 2 / Folder 37
Lukens Steel Company, "Report in the Rehabilitation of the Blast Furnace Plant and the Cost of Producing Pig Iron Therein", 1947




Box 2 / Folder 38
Lukens Steel Company, "Letter-Report on the Application of the Lubatti Electric-Smelting Furnace for the Production of Molten Pig Iron", 1953




Box 2 / Folder 39
Mathieson Alkali Works, "Report and Recommendations on the Construction and Operation of a Blast Furnace for the Production of Phosphor Pentoxide (P205) Gas by reduction of Phosphate Rock", 1931




Box 2 / Folder 40
McLouth Steel Corporation, "Preliminary Report on the Proposed Additions to the Plant and Equipment", 1945




Box 2 / Folder 41
Midland Steel Products Company, "Report on the Detroit Plant", 1944




Box 2 / Folder 42
Mystic Pig Iron Furnace, "Report on the Plant to Joseph R. Loring and Associates", 1960




Box 2 / Folder 43
National Lead Company, "Report and Estimates Covering Proposed Changes to Concentrates Sintering Plant", 1945




Box 2 / Folder 44
National Resources Bureau, "Estimated Cost of Electric Furnace and Other Equipment for Producing Ordnance Steel", 1947




Box 2 / Folder 45
National Resources Bureau, "Analysis of Samples", undated




Box 2 / Folder 46
National Resources Bureau, "Fuel and Power Requirements for the Distribution and Use of Fuel Development and Use of Steam and Electric Power Water Supply", undated




Box 2 / Folder 47
National Resources Bureau, fragment of a "Report on the Estimated Cost of Steel Plant Construction in China", undated




Box 2 / Folder 48
National Tube Company, "Report on Proposed Expansion Program for the Lorain Works", 1951




Box 2 / Folder 49
National Tube Company, "Report on Two Proposed Expansion programs for the Lorain Works", 1952




Box 2 / Folder 50
National Tube Company, fragment of a "Report on the Cost Figures for the Lorain Coke Plant", undated




Box 2 / Folder 51
Oliver Iron Mining Company, "Specifications and Estimates of Cost of Sintering and Modulizing Plants at Virginia Crushing Plant", 1946




Box 2 / Folder 52
Otis Steel Company, "Report of Fuel Survey at the Riverside Works", 1937




Box 2 / Folder 53-54
Reconstruction Finance Corporation, "Report on the Iron and Steel Properties of Defense Plant Corporation at Geneva, Utah Known as Plancor 301", 1945




Box 2 / Folder 55
Reconstruction Finance Corporation, "Report on Proposal for the Purchase and Development of the Eagle Mountain Deposits, Submitted by the Kaiser Company, Inc.", 1946




Box 2 / Folder 56
Reconstruction Finance Corporation, "Evaluation of the Iron and Steel Properties of Defense Plant corporation at South Chicago, Illinois Known as Plancor 422", 1946




Box 2 / Folder 57
Reconstruction Finance Corporation, "Letter-Report on Lone Star Steel Company", undated




Box 2 / Folder 58
Rotary Electric Steel Company, "Report on Possibilities of Making Alloy and Other Special Steel Products", 1937




Box 2 / Folder 59
Rotary Electric Steel Company, "Report on Visit to Inspect Scrap Melting Furnace, Detroit Plants", 1943




Box 2 / Folder 60
Transamerica Corporation, "Report on Business and Properties of General Metals Corporation, Enterprise Engine Company, Adel Precision Products Corporation, Aerco Corporation", 1947




Box 2 / Folder 61
Union Trust Company of Pittsburgh, "Memorandum on the Steel Industry", 1944




Box 2 / Folder 62
United States Pipe and Foundry Company, "Report on Reconditioning Colonial Iron Company Plant at Riddlesburg, Pennsylvania", 1941




Box 2 / Folder 63
United States War Department, "Report on Mineral Potentials", 1943




Box 3 / Folder 64
Victor Chemical Works, "Letter-Report on the Cost and Feasibility of Remodeling the Nashville Blast Furnace", 1942




Box 3 / Folder 65
Wheeling Steel Corporation, "Report on Estimated Construction and Operating Costs of the Stubenville Plant", 1943




Box 3 / Folder 66
Willamette Hyster Company, "Letter-Report on the Oregon Electric Rolling Mill Company", 1943




Box 3 / Folder 67
Wrigley, Tennessee, "Report on the Iron Blast Furnace", 1960




Box 3 / Folder 68-69
Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, "Report on a Fuel Survey and Preliminary Design of Fuel Gas Distribution System for the Campbell Plant" and "Supplementary Report", 1929




Box 3 / Folder 70
Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, "Report on Fuel Survey and Preliminary Design of Fuel Gas Distribution System for the Brier Hill Plant", 1929-1930(?)




Box 3 / Folder 71
Argentina, Fabricaciones Militares, "Report on Proposed New Facilities for the Altos Hornos Zapla Plant", 1949




Box 3 / Folder 72
Brazil, Commissao Executiva Do Plano Siderurgigo Nacional, "Report on Proposed Iron and Steel Works", 1940




Box 3 / Folder 73
Brazil, Companhia Nacional de Alcabis, "Specification Proposal for Plant Design, Assistance in Purchasing and Supervision on Construction of a Soda Ash and Caustic Soda Plant", 1944




Box 3 / Folder 74
Canada, "Report on the Manufacture of Secondary Iron and Steel Products and Its Relation to the Primary Iron and Steel Industry", 1943




Box 3 / Folder 75
Canada, Algoma Steel Corporation, Ltd., The Canadian Furnace Company, Ltd., "Inspection of No. 2 Blast Furnace in Connection With Steel Rupture", 1951




Box 3 / Folder 76
Canada, Algoma Steel Corporation, Ltd., The Canadian Furnace Company, Ltd., "Report on the Installation of a Seamless Tube Mile", 1953




Box 3 / Folder 77
Canada, Department of Munitions and Supply, "Report on the Production of Tank Armor Plates", 1940




Box 3 / Folder 78
Canada, "Report on Increasing the Production Capacities of Union Drawn Steel Company, Ltd. and Canadian Drawn Steel Company", 1941




Box 3 / Folder 79
Canada, "Report on Preliminary Information Pertinent to the Proposed Coke Ovens, Blast Furnaces and Bessemer Plants at Hamilton, Ontario", 1942




Box 3 / Folder 80
Canada, "Report on Future Demands for Pig Iron", 1942




Box 3 / Folder 81
Canada, Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, "Report on Failure of Blast Furnace Lining", 1936




Box 3 / Folder 82
Canada, Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, "Report on Application of Dry Blast Furnace Equipment to Furnace", 1941




Box 3 / Folder 83
Canada, Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, "Report on Proposed Plant at Ojibway", 1942




Box 3 / Folder 84
Canada, Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, "Report on Proposed-Specification N-2152 for Crushing, Grading and Sintering Plants", 1943




Box 3 / Folder 85
Canada, Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation, "Effect on Using Labrador Ore on Blast Furnace practice", 1956




Box 3 / Folder 86
Canada, Morrison Steel and Wire Company, Limited, "Report on Proposed Mill Construction Problem", 1941




Box 3 / Folder 87
Canada, The Steel Company of Canada, Limited, "Report on Changes That Should be Made to Modernize the Equipment in the Sintering Plants to Insure Continuous Operation", 1942




Box 3 / Folder 88
Canada, Western Canada Steel Limited, "Letter-Report on Twigg Island", 1957-1958




Box 3 / Folder 89-90
China, "Report on the Proposed Kuantung Iron and Steel Works", 1933




Box 3 / Folder 91-92
China, "General Plan for the Development on the Iron and Steel Industry in the Republic of China," volume 5 and index, 1946




Box 3 / Folder 93
China, "Preliminary Plan for the Proposed Iron and Steel Works and Tayeh", 1946




Box 3 / Folder 94
China, "Report on Proposed Iron and Steel Works", 1948




Box 3 / Folder 95
Columbia, Empresa Siderurgica Nacional de Paz de Rio, "Purchase Specifications for Engineering and Supervisory Services, Materials and Equipment", 1950




Box 3 / Folder 96
Columbia, Empresa Siderurgica Nacional de Paz de Rio, "Report on the Proposed Addition of Facilities for Manufacturing Flat-Rolled Products and Pipe, 1953




Box 3 / Folder 97
Columbia, Acerias Paz del Rio, "Report on the Proposed Addition to Plant Facilities Based on Installation of Second Blast Furnace to Supply Metallics for the Manufacture of Flat-Rolled Products", 1954-1955




Box 4 / Folder 98
Egypt, "Report on International Commission on the Creation of a Steel Industry", 1949




Box 4 / Folder 99
England, Pease & Partners, Limited, "Report on Skinningrove Iron Works", 1939




Box 4 / Folder 100
India, "Report Covering Certain Data Pertaining to the Feasibility Cost and Possibility of Profit in Building and Operating a New Iron and Steel Plant", 1937(?)




Box 4 / Folder 101
India, General Plan for Expansion and Diversification of the Tata Iron and Steel Co. Ltd.", 1947




Box 4 / Folder 102
India, "General Plans for Increasing Iron and Steel Production", 1949




Box 4 / Folder 103
India, "Letter-Report on Design and Construction on New Steel Plants", 1949




Box 4 / Folder 104
Mexico, "Report on the Estimated Cost and Earning Possibilities of Proposed Plant Extensions", 1935




Box 5 / Folder 105
Taiwan, "Report on the Proposed Establishment of an Integrated Iron and Steel Industry", 1969




Box 5 / Folder 106
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, "Construction of the Magitogorsky Dam", 1930




Box 5 / Folder 107
Miscellaneous awards and certificates, dates vary




Box 6
Oversize Container: Blueprints of various iron and steel plants, domestic and foreign, and other drawings, dates vary