Major Catalogs:
1901
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
1907
Razors
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
1911
Razors
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
1912
Razors
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
1917
Razors
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
1919
Razors
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
1922
Razors
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
1925
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
1929
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
Garden
1930
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
Garden
1934
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
Garden
1937
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
Garden
1963
Shears
Tin Snips
Pruners
Garden
1975
Shears
Pruners
Garden
Catalogs, Brochures, Product Inserts, Cut Sheets, Correspondence, etc. by Decade:
Anniversary Publication:
A Story of Shears and Scissors: Their origin and growth in the Old World and the New, with particular emphasis on the development of the arts of making and selling fine quality shears and scissors in America, which parallels the first hundred years of J. Wiss & Sons Co., 1848-1948. The book was commissioned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the company. 40 pages.
Advertising and Publicity:
Magazine Advertisements 1896-1976. From various consumer (and some trade) magazines. Listed either all on one page, or split into seven categories.
Products:
Razors. Wiss made the highest quality straight razors until 1924. This section identifies and features pictures of razors, sets, and strops.
Pictures of Shears and Scissors. Items selected for being unusual, the pictures being really good, being in a family collection, or some whim. To get started only a few are up.
Mementos and Ephemera. Includes 1876 Exposition pass, label pins, 1948 centennial items, a rose, glassware, tie clasps, letterpress blocks, etc. Includes packaging.
Display Cases and Cabinets. Wiss distributed a variety of display cases with some doubling as stock containers. They either sat on a counter or floor, or hung from a wall. Some revolved.
History and People:
Family biographies, genealogy, photos and information.
Books with Wiss write-ups:
Early tools of New Jersey and the men who made them, by Alexander Farnham (1984) has a few pages on the Wiss company in the
Cutlers chapter. (A few inaccuracies.) The book is in many
WorldCat Libraries and at
Amazon.
Real Estate and Other Businesses:
In 1887, when the factory was opened and retail stayed downtown, a third division was established: Wiss Realty Corporation, a real estate holding company.
The Wiss Store always had a full line of cutlery, and added over the years: silver, optical, jewelry and a gift shop. In 1887, when the factory moved, the retail stayed downtown. In 1911 the store was one of the first tenants in the office building.
The
Factory was opened on Littleton Avenue in 1887. There are pictures from the beginning through its being torn down in 2013. The site has become a PSE&G switching station.
The
Wiss Office Building was built on Broad Street in 1910. This was Newark's first skyscraper north of the Morris Canal. The building was sold in 1956. There are pictures of the building through the years and pictures of it being torn down in 2013.
R. Heinisch Sons' Works was bought by Wiss in 1914, making Wiss the largest manufacturer of quality scissors in the world.
Boker Tree Brand Knives, adjacent to Wiss in Maplewood, was purchased by Wiss in March 1970. Production was kept separate, and the products were co-branded. Many commemorative knives were issued.
Property in Maplewood, NJ was bought by Wiss. In 1958 the Kroyden plant was bought and used for manufacturing. In 1962 the adjoining property was bought and a warehouse was built on it.
Audio Material:
This is New Jersey, a weekly radio series by the State Conservation and Economic Development in cooperation with the NJ Manufacturers Association, broadcast "A Story of Scissors and Shears" in 1948. The broadcast was 15 minutes long. Survives is an
Audio and Transcript: A Story of Scissors and Shears.
Patents:
J. Wiss Patents.
I found 31 patents when I searched for patents assigned to "Wiss Sons."
Pinking Shear Patents.
Pinking shears were made in conjunction with Samuel Briskman's Pinking Shears Corporation. They filed for many patents over the years. See page on
Samuel Briskman.
Internal Documents:
- Various internal documents: stockholders' and board meeting minutes from 1900-1939, memos to and from the sales manager, and a system survey undertaken by an outside CPA firm.
Sources: