| | Abstract: | TRW, Inc. was established in 1900, in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Cleveland Cap Screw Company. It began producing automotive parts and underwent several reorganizations, becoming the Electric Welding Products Company (1908), the Steel Products Company (1915), and Thompson Products Inc. (1926). It expanded to include branch plants and the production of aircraft parts, and fostered a company union, the Automotive and Aircraft Workers Alliance (later the Aircraft Workers Alliance). It grew during World War II due to defense contracts. After the war it entered the jet and aerospace industries. It merged in 1958 with Ramo Wooldridge Corp. to become TRW Inc. Outside activities include the National Air Races and the Crawford Auto-Aviation Collection of the Western Reserve Historical Society. The collection consists of minute books, correspondence, memoranda, financial records, newsletters, histories, and publications, the bulk of which relate to Thompson Products, Inc. and its subsidiaries during the 1930s and 1940s and bear largely upon labor management relations. Detailed information on interactions with the CIO, the National Labor Relations Board and the National War Labor Board is included. | |
