E. Atkins archive / Atcraft Limited archive, furniture manufacturers

Records of E. Atkins and Atcraft furniture manufacturers of Wembley, London, comprising

• trade catalogues, 1913-1983
• ledgers
• private ledgers
• day books and salary books, 1915-1960s (the run of each series is incomplete)
• sales summaries, 1933-1973
• balance sheets, 1908, 1911, 1913-1915
• articles of association, 1922
• changes to articles of association, 1946
• minutes of Directors' meetings, 1922-1946
• designs of cartoons for nursery furniture
• address book of staff and travellers
• stocktaking book, 1881-1882
• exhibitions accounts book, 1921-1963
• address book of staff and travellers
• tables of descendants of Edwin Atkins and George Clifton Sunley
• papers relating to centenary celebrations of the firm, 1979
• photographs of company vehicles, 1950s
• press cutting of photograph of retired staff [1940s-1950s]

Many of the earlier trade catalogues bear the name of Claude Cyril Atkins, one of the Directors of the firm, and a son of Edwin Atkins the founder of the firm

The firm was established as E. Atkins in 1879 by Edwin Atkins. The firm originally had factories at Church Row, Bethnal Green, London and in Birmingham. It was incorporated in 1922, with Edwin Atkins, his son Claude Cyril Atkins and George Clifton Sunley as shareholders and directors. It later changed its name to Atcraft Ltd, and moved to a factory at the Atcraft Works, Alperton, Wembley in the 1920s. The product range consited mainly of indoor and garden chairs, occasional and garden tables, hall furniture, bureaux, hammocks and camp beds, cots and playpens, prams and invalid chairs. In later years the firm concentrated almost entirely on producing nursery and garden furniture. The firm ceased trading in the 1980s

All enquiries should be made to the Special Collections project team specialcollections@londonmet.ac.uk.

The collection was acquired via Ed Blackburn, a lecturer at the London College of Furniture, when Atcraft ceased trading in the 1980s