W. W. Grainger
American industrial supply company
W. W. Grainger, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 industrial supply company founded in 1927 in Chicago by the company's namesake William W. (Bill) Grainger. He founded the company to provide consumers with access to a consistent supply of motors. The company serves more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with offerings such as motors, lighting, material handling, fasteners, plumbing, tools, and safety supplies, along with inventory management services and technical support. Revenue is generally from business-to-business sales rather than retail sales. Grainger serves its customers through a network of approximately 331 branches, online channels (such as Grainger.com, KeepStock and eProcurement), and 34 distribution facilities. Their motto is "for the ones who get it done".
History
The company was founded as a supplier for businesses by William Wallace Grainger (1895 - 1982) in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, and incorporated as W. W. Grainger, Inc., in 1928. Sales in the early days were generated primarily through mail order via post cards and a catalog. The MotorBook, as the catalog was originally called, was the basis for the modern Grainger catalog.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “W. W. Grainger” as american industrial supply company. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as american industrial supply company. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1627894. VIAF identifies the subject as 125781529. The Library of Congress control number is no94025561. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927, 1895, 1982 and 1928.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “W. W. Grainger”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow W. W. Grainger primary sources, W. W. Grainger archive and Grainger research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “W. W. Grainger”?
- What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “W. W. Grainger” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.