Sprague Log

Sprague Log

Sprague Electric Company -- Periodicals

Employees' magazines, newsletters, etc.

Electric utilities -- United States -- History -- 20th century

Industries -- Massachusetts -- North Adams -- Periodicals

Sprague Electric Company -- Employees

The Sprague Electric Company moved to North Adams in 1930 and for a time was the largest single employer in the city. At its peak, Sprague Electric employed over 12,000 people worldwide, including over 4,000 at its North Adams facilities. With a population of just under 20,000, North Adams became a "company town," and, for many years, the company promoted the idea of a Sprague family of workers through the sponsorship of a variety of social activities. In 1938 the company began publishing a company newsletter, the Sprague Log. Items in the Sprague Log fell into two major categories: those that lauded loyalty to the company and pride in a job well done, and those that promoted the happy Sprague family through wedding and birth announcements, features on the various Sprague athletic teams and countless family photographs. When the company moved its headquarters out of North Adams in 1985, the Sprague Log ceased publication. From 1938 to 1985, over 466 issues of the Log were published. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, the North Adams Historical Society and the North Adams Public Library have pooled their Log holdings to make a nearly complete run of the Sprague Log available on the internet. Digitizing and microfilming the Logs was made possible with funding from MCLA's Hardman Library Grant.

Sprague Electric Co.

MCLA

August 1938 - April 1985