Theodore J. Kraft

Biography

Theodore J. Kraft, born at Boston, went to work on the bench in the old Emerson factory at the age of fifteen. He had the privilege of training under the well-known masters Neff and Chelius, a grounding demonstrated in the pianos that now bear his name as maker. For over twenty years Kraft was connected with the Emerson Piano Company as piano-maker and in retail and wholesale roles, before becoming associated with the Boston firm of Kraft, Bates and Spencer. This entry is a fragment carried over from the preceding (unavailable) page. The text states that a salesman established his own business in 1903, and that the resulting company was incorporated in 1911 with Theodore J. Kraft as president, Walter J. Bates as manager, and Harry L. Spencer as treasurer. The name of the firm is not given within the excerpted pages, so no company affiliation can be confirmed beyond this presidency.

Highlights

• Trained on the bench at the Emerson factory from age fifteen
• Spent over twenty years with the Emerson Piano Company before pianos bore his own name
• Worked as a salesman before establishing his own business in 1903
• Became president when the company was incorporated in 1911

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 122, 123.

Public domain.