In September, 2025, while visiting the Heywood-Wakefield corporate archives at the Levi Heywood Memorial Library in Gardner, MA, we found an old can of film with a hand-written label reading "Carborundum Company - Open House at Heywood-Wakefield: From Lumber to Furniture." There was no date but we were excited and curious to see what was it was.
Upon the recommendation of Marita Klements, the Director of the library, we sent the film to Northeast Historic Film (NHF) in Bucksport, ME to be evaluated and, if possible, digitized. NHF is a non-profit dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing moving images about the history of New England.
Joe Gardner at the NHF hooked up the film to one of their old reel-to-reel projectors, watched it, and wrote us to say it was a fascinating tour of the Heywood-Wakefield factory in Gardner, MA.
The film was produced by the Carborundum Company (a manufacturer of sand paper and grinding wheels) showing the process of transforming wood boards into high-quality furniture (from the Ashcraft, Old Colony and Modern lines). We hope you enjoy this wonderful look back at mid-century production of Heywood-Wakefield furniture. Our factory is much, much smaller these days (there are no trolleys carrying furniture from one department to another, and the finishing is much more hands-on) but the focus on quality and beauty is the same.