| Repository: | Western Reserve Historical Society |
| Creator: | Ray's Sausage Company |
| Title: | Ray's Sausage Company Records |
| Dates: | 1952-1993 |
| Extent: | 1.90 linear feet (5 containers) |
| Abstract: | Ray's Sausage Company has been located in Cleveland, Ohio, on the corner of East 123rd Street and Imperial Avenue since it was founded by Ray Cash in 1952. The company factory manufactured and sold pure pork, beef sausage, pork and beef links, head cheese, and meat souse. The collection consists of advertisement information, client reports, competitor advertisements, delivery logs, delivery receipts, expense sheets, financial reports, financial summaries, government agency forms and tax information, inventories, meat industry pamphlets, newspaper clippings, personal papers, product packages and information, supplier lists and supplier receipts. |
| MS Number | MS 5238 |
| Location: | closed stacks |
| Language: | The records are in English |
Ray's Sausage Company, an African American-led Cleveland based family business, was started by Raymond Cash, Sr in 1952. Raymond Cash Sr. was born in Bradley, Georgia, in 1919 and moved to Cleveland, Ohio, with his family as an infant. Cash began to learn about the meat industry at the age of 13 with Bill Leeb, who taught him how to make German sausage in his shop on Cedar Street in Cleveland. After graduating high school, he served as a cook in the United States military in World War II. When Cash returned to Cleveland, he became a butcher at Savmore Market on Quincy Avenue. He worked there until his wife, Thelma Cash, convinced him to realize his dream of opening up his own sausage company. On October 13, 1952, Raymond Cash Sr. opened Ray's Sausage Company, including a meat processing plant, on the corner of Imperial Avenue and East 123rd Street in Cleveland, Ohio.
Ray's Sausage Company motto was, "Pride of the Century" and the factory manufactured and sold pure pork, beef sausage, pork and beef links, head cheese, and meat souse. In 1964, the company announced its partnerships with Luke Easter, James Flagg, and James Wilson. Soon the company, by selling products to supermarkets such as Heinens and Pick-N-Pay, was able expand its products throughout most of northeast Ohio. Earl Peoples, the Supervisor of Employer Relations for the Cleveland Vocational Educational Project, helped Ray's facilitate the relationships with the larger clients.
After Cash's death in 1977, his son Raymond Cash Jr, took over the family business. In 2014, Renee Cash and Raymond Cash, along with the third generation, Leslie and Lisa Cash Lester owned and operated the company. They expanded the company's market to reach many large grocery dealers in northeast Ohio, including Acme, Giant Eagle, and Heinen's, selling products under the motto, "Shop where it pays, Bring home the Ray's."
The Ray's Sausage Company Records, 1952-1993 and undated, consist of advertisement information, client reports, competitor advertisements, delivery logs, delivery receipts, expense sheets, financial reports, financial summaries, government agency forms and tax information, inventories, meat industry pamphlets, newspaper clippings, personal papers, product packages and information, supplier lists and supplier receipts.
This collection is of value to researchers studying the history and development of Ray's Sausage Company of Cleveland, Ohio, or the biography or Raymond Cash Sr. Of importance would be the financial reports and the financial summaries, as well as the supplier and client lists. For complete histories, the researcher should pay special attention to the newspaper clippings and the personal information.
Those studying the development and growth of small Cleveland, Ohio, businesses in the second half of the twentieth century, especially those with minority owners, would find this collection useful. Those researching African American owned businesses and the history of entrepreneurship in the African American community in Cleveland will find this collection particularly useful. The newspaper clippings will be instructive as they highlight some of the social obstacles overcome by the company as well as the the special attributes which make this company unique.
This collection is also of value to researchers studying in the meat packaging industry of the latter half of the twentieth century, particularly in Cleveland, Ohio. Industry information and pamphlets which highlight new machines and techniques for processing meat are included in the collection. The collection also documents the labor history within the meat packing industry. The researcher might also consider the competitor advertisements for a large range of the sausage companies in northeast Ohio at the time as well as the supplier receipts and lists, which consists of many meat producing companies of the time.
Anyone interested in the tax processes of a company in northeast Ohio would find information in this collection useful, in particular the interactions with the Bureau of Employment and the Internal Revenue Service, which are heavily documented in these records.
None.
Related MaterialResearchers should also consult PG 601 Ray's Sausage Company Photographs.
Separated MaterialAll photographs have been removed to PG 601 Ray's Sausage Company Photographs.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 5238 Ray's Sausage Company Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Gift of Ray's Sausage Company in 1996.
Processed By Molly Clark in 2014.
Ray's Sausage Company Records 1952-1993 undated |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence, general and labor unions 1963 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Correspondence, telephone calls 1956-1957 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Customer delivery lists undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Customer delivery logs, Mt. Pleasant neighborhood undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Customer delivery logs, Woodland neighborhood undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Customer delivery logs, Youngstown, Ohio undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 7-8 | Customer order logs 1971-1972 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Customer payments 1957-1970 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Customer receipts, A-K 1963 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Customer reports, A-Z 1964-1968 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Employment information 1963 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Financial records, cost of goods 1952-1955 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Financial records, expenses (oversize material removed to Container 4, Folders 1-3 and Container 5, Folder 1) 1964-1968 1989-1993 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Financial records, miscellaneous 1962 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Financial records, reports 1966-1968 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Financial records, summary 1953 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18-20 | Financial records, tax information, federal, including correspondence from the Internal Revenue Service 1953-1985 | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Financial records, tax information, local and municipal 1960-1986 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Financial records, tax information, miscellaneous 1959-1982 | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Financial records, tax information, property 1953-1954 1981 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Financial records, tax information, State of Ohio 1960-1985 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Financial records, weekly reports 1954 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Government agencies, City of Cleveland Food and Drug Administration 1962-1963 | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Government Agencies, State of Ohio Employment Services 1953-1984 | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Government Agencies, State of Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compnesation 1963-1985 | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Government Agencies, State of Ohio Development Department, Directory of Ohio Manufacturers 1968 | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Government Agencies, State of Ohio Department of Industrial Relations 1954 | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | Government Agencies, United States Department of Health and Human Services 1991 | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | Inventories (oversize material removed to Container 5, Folder 2) 1968-1973 | |||||||||
| 1 | 33 | Meat industry information 1954-1958 1963 1969 undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 34 | Personal information regarding Raymond Cash, Sr. and Jr., including biographical data and resumes 1963-1969 undated | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Public relations, calendars (oversize material removed to Container 5, Folder 3) 1961-1973 | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | Public relations, competitor advertisements 1953 undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 3 | Public relations, logos (oversize material removed to Container 5, Folder 4) undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 4 | Public Relations, miscellaneous 1962 1983 | |||||||||
| 2 | 5 | Public relations, newspaper advertising 1963 1989-1990 | |||||||||
| 2 | 6 | Public relations, newspaper clippings 1960-1973 | |||||||||
| 2 | 7 | Public relations, programs 1963 1977 1985 1982 undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 8 | Public relations, radio advertisement scripts 1961-1963 1981 | |||||||||
| 2 | 9 | Suppliers, account information 1954-1964 | |||||||||
| 2 | 10-11 | Suppliers, meat manufacturers, A-W 1963 | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | Suppliers, meat manufacturers, Wi 1963 | |||||||||
| 3 | 2-3 | Suppliers, packaging, A-Z (oversize material removed to Container 5, Folder 5) 1957 1963 1977 | |||||||||
| 3 | 4 | Suppliers, spices, A-W 1963 | |||||||||