For those who want to know more about the rise and catastrophic fall of Oneida Ltd., John P. L. Hatcher will provide the insider’s scoop when he presents his recently published book, “Oneida (Community) Limited: A Goodly Heritage Gone Wrong,” at Oneida Public Library on Friday, Dec. 16, at 2 p.m.
Hatcher, a great-grandson of the Oneida Community founder John Humphrey Noyes, began work at Oneida Limited in 1961, first in its factory in Northern Ireland and moving up to become the managing director of its operations in the United Kingdom. Returning to Oneida in 1970, he took charge of the company’s long-term planning and advocated a strategy of diversification.
By 1973, Hatcher was a member of the Oneida Ltd. Board of Directors and, several years later, became its director for North American Subsidiaries, including Camden Wire. However, like many descendants of original Oneida Community members who worked at company headquarters, he was increasingly marginalized by the company’s new leadership during the 1980s. He retired in 1995.
Hatcher’s book chronicles the rise of Oneida Ltd. from its utopian and “communistic” roots in the Oneida Community to its demise under the management of “outsiders” who abandoned the social and business principles of the early company leaders. According to one reviewer, his book offers “a discursive financial balance sheet leading up to an analysis of the collapse,” due to “insufficient management, poor judgement and extravagance.”
Copies of the book will be available for sale at the book talk. For more information about the program, stop by the Oneida Library, 220 Broad St., or call 315-363-3050.