Manuscripts Collection
Harry E. Blumenthal was for many years involved in the metal and scrap business in Minneapolis and its suburbs. During World War II he was associated with the Minneapolis regional office of the United States War Production Board, where he worked as a "special assistant" in the Salvage Division. In the late 1940s he was a district representative for Minneapolis metal dealers R. Lavin & Sons, Inc. In the late 1950s he was executive vice president of American Iron & Supply Co. (Minneapolis). In the late 1960s Blumenthal and his sons went into business as Harry Blumenthal & Sons, Inc., "metal manufacturers agents" and "merchandise brokers."
The War Production Board was one of several agencies within the federal Office for Emergency Management. It was established in January, 1942 to control war procurement and production, and to direct the flow of materials and critical components through the industrial system, including the flow of scrap metals needed for war production. There were several regional offices. Region 12 was based in Minneapolis and included the states of Minnesota and North and South Dakota.
Blumenthal married Eva Hecker of Minneapolis on July 1, 1930. The Blumenthals had three sons: Allen, Fred, and Bruce.
A disassembled personal scrapbook kept by Blumenthal while a special assistant in the Salvage Division of the War Production Board (Region 12) Office during World War II. The material dates from March through July, 1943.
Materials comprising the scrapbook are focused on a salvage campaign conducted in Region 12 in the spring of 1943 that was known as the Farm Scrap Program. The campaign was targeted at farmers in Minnesota and the Dakotas and appealed to them through rural newspapers, radio announcements, and billboard advertising for scrap iron, copper, brass, aluminum, tin cans, and other items to be melted down or otherwise used in the making of airplanes, tanks, ships, guns, shells, and other war materiel.
The materials include letters, press releases, scripts for radio "spot announcements," clippings, speeches, mimeographed "Salvage for Victory" bulletins, a sample Farm Scrap Award certificate, and mimeographed copies of proclamations issued by the governors of North and South Dakota. There are examples of campaign-related advertisements sponsored by the Northern Pump Company (Minneapolis), the Minneapolis-Moline Company, and the Great Northern and Northern Pacific railway companies.
There is information about the progress of the scrap drive in Anoka, Lyon, St. Louis, Traverse, and Wadena counties (Minnesota).
Correspondents include Blumenthal, Regional Director F. Peavey Heffelfinger, and Linus E. Volpahl and Norman S. Olson of the regional office; the Northwest Scrap Dealers Association (Minneapolis); the governors of North and South Dakota; the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc.; and various others involved in the campaign.
There is little information about Blumenthal himself, his family, his civilian business activities, or his career. Such information as has been included here about him was gleaned from other sources, including Minneapolis city directories and Who's Who in Minnesota.
A print version of this finding aid is available in the repository; filed in ALPHA notebooks under the heading: Blumenthal, Harry E.
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
Accession number: 14,725
Processed by: David B. Peterson, January 1994
Catalog ID number: 09-00038300
The scrapbook was disassembled because its pages were crinkling the documents. Most of the materials have been put into chronological order, and placed within a smaller box, which, together with one oversize folder, is housed in a larger box.