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ORIGINAL WWII — JUNE 18, 1944
SECOND ANNUALCOUSE PICNIC
COUSE LABORATORIESNEWARK, NEW JERSEY
ARMY-NAVY “E” PRODUCTION AWARDWAR DEPARTMENT LETTERWWII DEFENSE WORKER ROSTERS
An unusual original piece of American WWII Home Front and defense-production history.
This is the original program for the:
SECOND ANNUAL COUSE PICNICJune 18, 19448:30 A.M. to 7:00 P.M.
held for employees of Couse Laboratories of Newark, New Jersey.
What initially appears to be an ordinary company picnic program actually contains remarkable documentation of one of America\'s wartime defense manufacturers and the men and women who worked there.ARMY-NAVY PRODUCTION AWARD
One of the most historically important pages reproduces an official War Department letter dated:
29 APRIL 1944
addressed:
“To the Men and Womenof the Couse Laboratories300 Passaic StreetNewark, New Jersey”
The letter informs the employees that Couse had won, for the SECOND TIME, the:
ARMY-NAVY PRODUCTION AWARD
for meritorious service on the production front.
It states that the White Star added to the company\'s Army-Navy Production Award flag symbolized the appreciation of the Armed Forces for the employees\' continued and determined effort and patriotism.
The letter bears the reproduced signature of:
ROBERT P. PATTERSONUNDER SECRETARY OF WARAN IMPORTANT WWII CONTRACTOR
Couse Laboratories was directly involved in America\'s enormous WWII industrial effort.
Historical records document Couse manufacturing specialized MOBILE MACHINE SHOPS and PORTABLE SIGNAL TOWERS for military use.
U.S. Army historical records specifically credit Couse Laboratories of Newark with providing expert assistance in the development of light mobile repair shops used by Army engineer maintenance organizations.
Federal records document approximately $11 million in government contracts awarded to the earlier Couse corporation for products manufactured for the U.S. Army Engineer Corps and Signal Corps.
The company\'s wartime products helped provide the mobile maintenance and technical infrastructure required to keep military equipment functioning in the field.WWII DEFENSE WORKER ROSTERS
This program contains extensive lists of actual Couse employees recognized for their wartime production work.
Separate sections identify:
“EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE RECEIVED TWO ‘E’ AWARDS”
and
“EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE RECEIVED ONE ‘E’ AWARD”
Hundreds of employee names appear throughout the program.
This makes the booklet a particularly useful piece of local, industrial and genealogical history documenting the individual men and women employed by a major Newark wartime contractor.
Among the names appearing in the two-award roster is:
ROY SHOEMAKER
Shoemaker was a Couse technical serviceman whose remarkable 1944 letters from the Southwest Pacific described working with U.S. Army units operating Couse mobile machine-shop equipment.
Also appearing is:
KIBBEY W. COUSE
the principal figure behind Couse Laboratories and the company\'s specialized military equipment.THE 1944 COUSE PICNIC
The picnic was held at:
NICK\'S CIDER MILLVAUXHALL ROADVAUXHALL, NEW JERSEY
The program preserves an extraordinary snapshot of life among American defense workers during WWII.
Activities included:
• Softball games• Stage presentation• Field sports• Dancing• Men\'s and women\'s competitions• Tug of War• Three-legged races• Egg pitching contest• Wrestling• Musical entertainment
The softball teams have wonderfully industrial names including:
OLD BUILDING BEARCATSNEW BUILDING BUMSBLOWN GASKETSSHORT CIRCUITS
Even the prizes reflect wartime America.
The DOOR PRIZE was:
$25 WAR BOND
and contest finalists received:
WAR SAVINGS STAMPS.STAGE PRESENTATION
The afternoon entertainment began with the STAR SPANGLED BANNER and included music, comedy and a medley of George M. Cohan songs.
The program even preserves the names of performers, organizers, committee members, contestants and company employees.A WONDERFUL WWII HOME FRONT ARTIFACT
This program brings together several important collecting areas:
• WWII Home Front• Army-Navy “E” Award• WWII War Production• Defense Industry• U.S. Army Engineer Corps• Signal Corps• Mobile Military Machine Shops• Couse Laboratories• Newark, New Jersey History• Vauxhall, New Jersey History• WWII Factory Workers• Women War Workers• War Bonds• War Savings Stamps• Industrial Genealogy• WWII Employee PublicationsSCARCITY
I searched specifically for another June 18, 1944 “Second Annual Couse Picnic” program and have not located another exact example currently indexed for sale or a reliable exact sold-price record.
That does not establish how many were originally printed or how many survive, so I am not claiming that it is one-of-a-kind.
However, this exact employee publication appears SCARCE in today\'s searchable collector market.
Unlike a generic company picnic program, its extensive wartime employee rosters, Army-Navy Production Award material and direct association with a documented U.S. military contractor give it considerable historical interest.
An excellent original artifact of the American industrial workforce that supplied the Armed Forces during World War II.
All photographs show the actual program being offered and form an important part of the description.
Carefully researched and offered by Echoes of WWII, specializing in original military, wartime and historical material.
