If you call the Husqvarna/Viking/White company at 1 800 446-2333, they will date your machhine for you.

White was, next to Singer, perhaps the largest and best known of the US sewing machine companies. Unlike Singer, they did not offer many different models, or change models very often. Their engineering was extremely good, and their products stood the test of time. The introduced their VS machine in the late 1870's and manufactured it with minor improvements into the early 1900's. They introduced a new model, the Family Rotary, or FR, which was a very well designed and strong machine, in the late 1890's and manufactured this design, with some variations, up until WW II.

Unfortunately, there is nowhere near as much information on the White Company as on Singer. The company was founded by Thomas White, who had some prior experience in sewing machine manufacture. He located in Cleveland, Ohio (down a main street from where I lived as a child, actually). The company was formed in 1876. White was a large and prosperous company, giving Singer a run for their money. White took over the Domestic and King sewing machine companies and eventually became White Consolidated Industries. They ceased manufacturing in the United States sometime after WWII, probably the late 60's or early 70's. After that their machines were made in Japan.

The White FR or Family Rotary is the most common White. They are a truly outstanding machine. If you find a good one, don't pass it up. One caution on this model... I always tell people that "White is Singer spelled backwards...". Everything about the White is the reverse of the Singer... the handwheel rotates away from you instead of toward you, and the thread rolls off the bobbin in the favored, or easy, direction, not cutting back over a lip as on Singer round bobbins. One of the more common "help" calls on Treadle On is from new White owners who can't get their machine to stitch because they are trying to make it turn the same direction as a Singer.