Becker Brewing and Malting Company records, 1893-1954

This collection consists of sixty-eight boxes (approximately 35 linear feet) containing documents relating to the Becker Brewing and Malting Company (BBMC), its successor companies, and members of the Becker family. BBMC operated in Ogden, Utah, from 1890 until 1917 when that state's prohibition laws forced it to split into two separate concerns: the Becker Products Company, of Ogden, and the Becker Brewing Company, of Evanston, Wyoming. A small number of documents in the collection postdate this split, but the vast majority of the collection cover the years 1896-1917, more especially 1913-1917.

The collection is separated into four series. Series I comprises correspondence primarily relating to orders of Becker products, and is organized alphabetically by state, then city or town, and finally by company name or surname. Customer orders for beer make up the majority of documents in this series, and the remainder relate to sales of near beer (especially after Utah prohibition came into effect on 1 August 1917), soft drinks, ice, malt, barley, barley sprouts, potato sacks, chaff, and yeast. This series contains the records of several BBMC agents and distributors around the region as well as letters to BBMC from individuals and companies requesting an agency for Becker products. The expense account books and correspondence of six BBMC traveling agents are also included in boxes 27 and 28. Sales made by these agents may not appear in the alphabetized portion of this series. Correspondence from these agents either not relating to individual purchasers or naming multiple purchasers, is filed by the agent's last name in box 26. The following details of each agent's "rounds" is provided to assist researchers in locating individuals or businesses who made purchases through these agents.

1. Agent. Areas covered:Dates
2. J. D. Carroll. Elko, Nevada:1909
3. W. H. Dee. central Utah, central Nevada: 1896-1899
4. F. J. Hirt. northern Utah, southern Idaho: 1913
5. I. C. Horton. western states: 1913-1917
6. Dave Munro. Utah, Nevada: 1901-1917
7. A. M. Tribe. Idaho: 1913

Records of customer bottle returns are filed along with orders as BBMC allowed buyers credit for these returns on future orders. These transactions therefore related directly to customers. Finally, credit reports obtained by BBMC regarding customers and agents are also included in this series.

Series II consists of BBMC's correspondence with its suppliers. This correspondence documents specific BBMC purchases of goods and services. Like Series I, this series is organized geographically by state, then city or town, and finally by company name or surname. This organization provides a strong regional focus; purchases in the intermountain region appear to be dominated by raw materials such as barley, while West Coast, East Coast, and Midwestern purchases tend to be for equipment and expert beer-making services. boxes 21, 22, and 23 consist of railroad bills of lading. Due to the illegibility of many of these documents and the inability to determine the nature of the goods being transported, it was deemed inadvisable to incorporate these records into either sales or suppliers' records.

Series III is made up of BBMC office files, business correspondence not directly related to sales or purchases, and records of the company's print advertising. Office files include G. L. Becker's business correspondence; labor and employee records; stockholder and dividend records; government correspondence; insurance; BBMC stockholdings; legal services and litigation; correspondence relating to state and national prohibition; and correspondence regarding local, state, and federal taxes. A small collection of oversized records relating to Becker Products Company sales in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1935, is located in the Caine Collection oversize box (Caine Oversize box 1 folder 13).

Series IV contains personal correspondence and documents of J. S. Becker, G. L. Becker, A. E. Becker, and C. E. Bohn, office manager for BBMC and brother in law of G. L. and A. E. Becker. The documents in this series appear to have no direct connection to BBMC.

Series I: Boxes 1 (Addendum)-3 (Addendum), Series II: Box 1 (Addendum), and Series III: Box 1 (Addendum) were purchased from Ken Sander's Rare Books and added to the Collection in August 2011. The addendum follows the same method of organization according to state, town and customer/supplier, etc. as the primary portion. The folders in said boxes are labeled "Addendum" to differentiate them from the earlier set of folders and boxes and to avoid duplication of their numbers.