Draper Corporation

The Draper Corporation was founded by the Draper Brothers in 1816. The company’s primary Mill was located in Hopedale, Massachusetts. The company developed and refined automatic looms, as well as the first automatic bobbin-changing loom.

In 1908, South Carolina giant James C. Self made arrangements to visit the Draper Corporation. He met with Eben Draper, then governor of Massachusetts, who was substituting for his brother, George, the company's manager. Eben Draper listened intently while Self explained the dire need for the looms. The talks ran so long that Draper suggested they have dinner in his home. At the end of the evening, Draper said, "Your collateral is worthless, but I'll take a chance on your integrity. Give your specifications to our engineers tomorrow." An elated Self returned to Greenwood and began preparing for the arrival of the new machinery. But George Draper wrote to Self and explained that there would be no machinery without good, hard collateral.

Self took the first train back to see George Draper, who had broken his brother's pledge of assistance. Although widely recognized for austerity in his business dealings, Draper was persuaded by the vigor and enthusiasm of his visitor. Self explained to Draper, "Your brother on my last visit here promised to let us have the looms, and in the South, sir, we do what we promise." Draper finally agreed to let Self have several hundred new, wide Draper looms.

As one editorial writer expressed it, with that successful deal, Self had set the stage for a career that led him "from the days of dark adversity in the difficult years before the turn of the 20th Century to the pinnacle in the industrial world."


Certificate: Capital Stock, issued in the 1960’s

Printer: John A. Lowell Bank Note Company

Dimensions: 8” (h) x 11 1/2” (w)

State: ME-Maine

Subject Matter: Textiles and Related

Vignette Topic(s): Unique Theme

Condition: Vertical fold lines, punch hole cancels in signature areas and body, some toning and edge faults from age.