Indiana Historical Society - Manuscripts and Archives Department

SAMUEL E. AND CHARLES S. RAUH
PAPERS, 1900-1948

Collection #
M 0406

Table of Contents

Collection Information
Biographical Sketch
Scope and Content Note
Box and Folder Listing
Cataloging Information 

Processed by
Paul Brockman
April 1984

COLLECTION INFORMATION

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Samuel Elias Rauh (1853-1935) was born in Germersheim, Bavaria, Germany. In 1864, his father, Elias Rauh, emigrated to the United States and established a hide and fur business in Dayton, Ohio. Two years later, Samuel along with his mother and his six brothers and sisters joined Elias Rauh and the eldest son, Leopold, in Dayton.

After employment in several Ohio industries, Samuel Rauh entered the tanning business with his father and his brothers, Leopold and Henry, under the firm name of E. Rauh and Sons. In 1874, Samuel came to Indianapolis to establish a branch of the firm. Six years later, he built a fertilizer company, followed by a slaughter house in 1885. In 1890, he was responsible for the organization and construction of the Moore Packing Company, of which he was also the president.

Rauh was named to the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis Belt Railroad and the Stock Yards Company in 1895 and was elected the firm's president two years later. In 1929, he relinquished his presidential duties and assumed the title of Chairman of the Board, a position he retained until his death in 1935. In addition to controlling the stockyards, Samuel Rauh served as director of many firms including the Continental Steel and Wire Company, the Indiana National Bank, the Union Trust Company, Rauh Realty Company, the Union Reduction Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Kokomo Steel and Wire Company. He also helped organize the Home Heat and Light Company and the Peoples Heat and Light Company.

In addition to his business interests, Samuel Rauh served as president of the Board of Park Commissioners for six years. he belonged to the Indiana Democratic Club, the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, and was active in the American Jewish Relief Committee. In 1879, he married Emma Sterne, the daughter of the founder of the Peru Woolen Mills. To their marriage were born two daughters, Estelle Rauh Weil and Hortense Rauh Burpee, and one son, Charles.

Charles Sterne Rauh (1883-1956), the son of Samuel E. and Emma Sterne Rauh, was born in Indianapolis, attended Manual High School, Culver Military Academy, and was graduated from Purdue University. While in college, he spent his summers working for the E. Rauh and Sons Fertilizer Company, and in 1916, he became president of the business by working his way up from a laborer. In 1926, he was named vice-president of the Belt Railroad and Stock Yards Company and succeeded his father as president three years later. From 1936 until his death in 1956, he also held the position of Chairman of the Board.

In addition to his positions with the Belt Railroad and Stock Yards Company, Charles Rauh was Chairman of the Board of the E. Rauh and Sons Fertilizer Company, the Wright-Bachman Lumber Company and Bessire and Company. He was also a director of Indiana National Bank, Continental Steel Corporation and a trustee of the Indianapolis Utility District, the contollers of Citizens Gas and Coke Utility. Besides his business ventures, Charles Rauh was a noted civic worker and philanthropist, contributing especially to Jewish charities. He married Jeanette Fishbein Rauh late in his life and they had no children.

Sources:
Samuel and Charles Rauh Papers, Box 2, Folders 2 & 3.
Indianapolis Star, Aug. 27, 1939, pt. 1, p. 8, c. 2.
Indianapolis Star, Aug. 3, 1956, p. 25, c. 1 (obituary of Charles Rauh).
Indianapolis Times, May 16, 1942, p. 7, c. 1.
Indianapolis Times, Feb. 22, 1956, p. 1, c. 4.
"Charles Rauh is Indianapolis Business Leader," The Purdue Phi, 11 (April, 1939), p. 4.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Samuel and Charles Rauh Papers consist of two manuscript boxes containing personal and business documents from 1900-1948. Most of the collection deals with Rauh's correspondence and financial affairs of a personal and business nature. The correspondence is made up of letters written to the Rauhs and carbon copies of Samuel and Charles Rauhs' letters. Correspondence to the Rauhs cover a variety of topics ranging from the family hide and fur business in Dayton, Ohio, to wishes for a speedy recovery following Samuel's loss of an eye in a 1923 golfing accident and letters of congratulations on Samuel's eightieth birthday in 1933. The largest portion consists of carbon copy letters written by Samuel Rauh to his nephews Milton and Elmer Rauh concerning family and business related subjects from the mid-1920s to the early 1930s. Other areas of personal correspondence include insurance documents, most of which deal with Samuel's golfing accident, and a collection of Charles Rauh's holiday greetings and messages. (Box 1)

The business dealings primarily involve industries in which the Rauhs held interests and/or directorships as well as tenants on Rauh owned property. Also included are items relating to the estates of Samuel Rauh's brothers, Leopold and Henry, including wills, estate values, and the operation of E. Rauh and Sons. There are also a small number of items concerning the Rauh's home finances. (Boxes 1 & 2; see also BV's 0711-0712 for records of the Rauh connection with Union Reduction Company of Cincinnati)

Other articles in the collection include a testimonial to Samuel Rauh in 1924, Samuel Rauh's death in 1935, and a large number of clippings of a personal and business nature. Among these items are clippings and membership cards from Charles Rauh's wallet. (Box 2)

This collection, along with the records of the Indianapolis Belt Railroad and Stock Yards Company (M 0067 and BV's 0672-0712), were donated to the Indiana Historical Society Library from the Archives of Eli Lilly and Company at the suggestion of archivist Helen Davidson in the mid-1970s. The majority of the Rauh family papers have little or no relationship to the Rauh stockyards connection. The only articles that have a direct bearing on the stockyards are several newspaper clippings in Box 2. Both collections were discovered in the basement of the Stockyard Exchange Building prior to its demolition in 1973.

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog
2. Click on the "Local Catalog" icon.
3. Search for the collection by its call number, using the letter or letters designation and four digits (e.g., M 0715, SC 2234).
4. When you find the collection, go to the "Holdings" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.

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