Editing Scranton Button Company (section)

==History==
For much of its early history, this company was controlled by [[Canadians|Canadian]] immigrant [[William Connell (Pennsylvania)|William Connell]] (September 10, 1827 – March 21, 1909).<ref>[http://www.libraries.psu.edu/do/digitalbookshelf/27843275/27843275_part_114.pdf Biography of William Connell]</ref> Connell's family moved to Scranton when he was a small child,<ref name=Times-Tribune>{{cite news|first=Cheryl A.|last=Kashuba|title=At one time, Scranton had button industry sewn up|url=http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2008/09/14/news/local_history/sc_times_trib.20080914.d.pg1.tt14history_s1.1945116_his.txt|work=The Times-Tribune|location=Scranton, Pa.|date=September 14, 2008 |accessdate=March 31, 2009}}</ref> and, at the age of seven he left school to work in the coal industry to help support his family.<ref name=Times-Tribune/> With time, he moved up to supervisory positions and became wealthy enough to buy the company when its charter expired. Connell then became an influential Scranton businessman, serving on several boards of directors, and purchased the Scranton Button Company shortly after its founding.<ref name=Times-Tribune/>

In addition to [[button]]s, the company manufactured parts for [[telephone]]s and advertising novelties.<ref>[http://www.pagenweb.org/~luzerne/bot/BoardofTrade2.html Listing of companies in the Scranton area, from the Scranton Board of Trade Journal, April 1906]</ref> By 1915, the company was pressing three million buttons per day.<ref name=Times-Tribune/> Many of the buttons were made from [[shellac]]. During the 1920s, the company branched out from making buttons into pressing [[phonograph record]]s by expanding its use of the same material. It subsequently offered full-service record production to any retailer that desired its own label.

In 1924, it bought [[Emerson Records]] and in July 1929 it merged with [[Regal Records (1921)|Regal Records]], [[Cameo Records]], [[Banner Records]] and the US branch of [[Pathé Records]] to form the [[American Record Corporation]].

From 1929 on, the company pressed [[Brunswick Records|Brunswick]], [[Melotone Records (US)|Melotone]], [[Perfect Records|Perfect]], [[Banner Records|Banner]], Regal, [[Domino Records (1924)|Domino]], [[Conqueror Records|Conqueror]], [[Vocalion Records|Vocalion]] and other ARC labels. (Even though [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] was bought by ARC in 1934, Columbia records were pressed at Columbia's Bridgeport, CT. plant.)

The Scranton plant was acquired in 1946 by [[Capitol Records]]. Though some sources have asserted that Capitol closed the factory in 1970,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/business/scranton-neighborhoods-changed-after-decline-of-big-manufacturers-1.1282584| title = Scranton neighborhoods changed after decline of big manufacturers {{!}} News {{!}} thetimes-tribune.com}} </ref> the label continued to operate the plant until July 1973 and then sold it in November of that same year to a [[Pittsburgh]] firm, North American Music Industries,<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19731108&id=vY0hAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pJkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2538,4652210 "Scranton Record Plant Sold." Reading Eagle, Nov. 20, 1973, p. 20.]</ref> which kept the plant in business until its final closure {{circa|1980}}.