Posted 10 years ago
Junkinfun
(2 items)
Would like any information available. My research has been unproductive. All I could find out was that the military did have a contract with Standard Holloware Corp.
Military box | ||
| Military and Wartime2619 of 7530 |  |  |
I'm not sure about this but I don't think this is a military box, at least not how I would think of them. I think was shipped to Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot in Indiana filled with holloware. Which would have most likely consisted of tin plates, cups, pitchers, and other metal stuff for food. Then the quartermaster would have sent them to messes throughout the military. They obviously were used by the military but I don't believe it would have been for personal soldier use.
Makes sense, but I should be able to find one like it in my research and I can't. I wanted to find more info but can't seem to access any QM records for that date. Where would I look for more info?
I just inherited the exact same box from my grandmother. Label on top is identical to the photo. They brought their stuff back to the States from Germany in it.
I think this was an Army medical chest. As per my research for my forthcoming book, "Faces From Mitchel Field" . Copyright 2025. Here is what I have.
The Standard Holloware Corporation at 150-45 12th Road, Whitestone, NY, manufactured medical kits, field equipment and shipping containers. Their patent on April 9, 1928, trademarked the small re-usable chest, “Standpak”. In July 1940, the US Government awarded SHC a $52,000 contract for manufacturing thousands of “Standpak” “Fibre Chest”, valises for the Army.
In November 1940, they received a $44,125 contract from the War Department for field equipment, identified as field chests, probably medical chests. Production delays occurred. “The Standard Holloware Corporation… which has contracts for both Plain and Modified Field Medical Chests is having difficulty in procuring the special hardware specified in the construction of these chests.” They delivered some in July of 1941, totaling an adjusted amount of $56,750.
Delays stretched into January 1942. “While the Plain Field Chests is some 92 units ahead of schedule, the Modified type is 1,428 units behind. Contract on the former calls for completion on December 26, 1941, while the contract on the Modified Chest has been delinquent since October 31, 1941. The difficulties encountered were the securing of the plywood and special hardware required in the constructions of these chests.”
In October 1941, they received a second $61,875 contract for 4,500 more fibre chests. They agreed to a contract for $117,625 for "field equipment" announced on August 15, 1942.
Primary source References provided in the book.
Thanks,