1 Photograph (lantern slide, black-and-white, 3.25 in. x 4in.)
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Lantern slides
Place:
Miscellaneous Billboards and Signage (Summit, New Jersey)
United States of America -- New Jersey -- Union -- Summit
Date:
[between 1914 and 1949?]
Collection Restrictions:
Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Collection Rights:
Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.
Sponsor:
A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.
Photographs of numerous and popular actors of the 19th century.
Scope and Contents:
Cigar/cigarette cards and cabinet photographs portraying actors (male and female) from the late 19th century. The photographs are predominantly American actors but some English and French performers are also included. Some of the more prominent persons represented are Lulu Glaser, Francis Wilson, and Georgia Cayvan, plus others listed below.
Arrangement:
Divided into 3 series: Series 1: Cigar/Cigarette Cards, undated; Series 2: Cabinet Photographs, 1878-1897,and Miscellaneous, 1868-1892.
Biographical / Historical:
The cult of celebrity is not a 20th century phenomenon. In the latter part of the 19th century innovations in the use of photography as advertising spurned a new avenue of celebrity likeness-based souvenirs. Portraits of personalities from the stage who were previously portrayed in engravings and traditional portraiture were now available to an interested public in a more realistic and affordable form – the cigar/cigarette card included as an incentive in the purchase of a smoking product and cabinet photographs sold as souvenirs by theatrical promoters. These photographs depicted celebrities as well as scenes from plays in which they performed. They were avidly collected by a public interested in the personalities of minstrelsy, vaudeville and the legitimate theatre.
This collection was created, or acquired, by Daisy Templin (1874?-1956) of Alton, Illinois. Templin was an avid collector of Victoriana and filled the home (1605 Washington Avenue) of she and her brother, Roger P. Templin (1872?-?), with furniture, ceramics, bric-a-brac and all types of predominately Victorian ephemera. She wrote that ". . . whatever interested me I bought." Her brother was a former wholesale grocery salesman in St. Louis, MO. By the time of her death, Templin had contemplated donating much of her collection to the Smithsonian Institution. Her collection was willed to her brother who donated a sizable portion of the collection (over 1,000 items) to the museum in 1958. The home she and her brother shared was demolished to make way for a shopping center in 1961.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by Roger P. Templin in memory of his sister Daisy Templin in October 1958.
The Grace Jeffers Collection of Formica Materials consists of textual files, photographs, slides, negatives, drawings, blueprints, posters, advertisements, product brochures, newsletters, and informational pamphlets documenting the history of the Formica Corporation and the use of Formica brand plastic laminate.
Scope and Contents:
The Formica Collection, 1913-2003, consists of textual files, photographs, photo slides, drawings, blueprints, posters, advertisements, product brochures, informational pamphlets, and research notes documenting the history of the Formica Corporation and the use of Formica brand plastic laminate.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into ten series.
Series 1: Corporate Records, 1920-1992, 2003
Subseries 1.1: Annual reports, 1949, 1966, 1988
Subseries 1.2: Correspondence and company identity, 1920-1988
Subseries 1.3: Corporation histories and timelines, 1949-1991, undated
Subseries 1.4: Newspaper clippings and articles, 1934-2003
Subseries 1.5: Awards, 1940s-1987
Subseries 1.6: Patent information, 1925-1994
Subseries 1.7: Photographs, 1927-1966
Series 2: Personnel Records, 1943-1992
Series 3: Newsletters, Magazines, and Press Releases, 1942-1990
Subseries 3.1: Newsletters, 1942-1988
Subseries 3.2: Press releases, 1973-1990
Series 4: Product Information, 1948-1994
Series 5: Advertising and sales materials, 1913-2000
Subseries 5.1: Advertising materials, 1913-2000
Subseries 5.2: Sales materials, 1922-1993
Series 6: Subject Files, circa 1945, 1955-1991, 2002
Series 7: Exhibits, 1981-1994
Series 8: Grace Jeffers Research Materials, 1987-1997
Series 9: Audio Visual Materials, 1982-1995, undated
Series 10: Martin A. Jeffers Materials, 1963-1999
Subseries 10.1: Background Materials, 1965-1999
Subseries 10.2: Employee Benefits, 1963-1998
Subseries 10.3: Product Information, [1959?]-1997
Subseries 10.4: Advertising and Sales Records, 1987-1999
Biographical / Historical:
Since its founding in 1913, the history of the Formica Company has been marked by a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. The history begins with the discovery of Formica by two men who envisioned the plastic laminate as breakthrough insulation for motors. Later, Formica became a ubiquitous surfacing material used by artists and architects of post-modern design. The various applications of the plastic laminate during the twentieth century give it a prominent role in the history of plastics, American consumerism, and American popular culture.
The Formica Company was the brainchild of Herbert A. Faber and Daniel J. O'Conor, who met in 1907 while both were working at Westinghouse in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. O'Conor, head of the process section in the Research Engineering Department, had been experimenting with resins, cloth, paper, and a wide array of solvents in an effort to perfect a process for making rigid laminate sheets from Kraft paper and liquid Bakelite. O'Conor produced the first laminate sheet at Westinghouse by winding and coating paper on a mandrel, slitting the resulting tube, and flattening it on a press. The finished product was a laminated sheet with the chemical and electrical properties of Bakelite that were cut into various shapes and sizes. O'Conor applied for a patent on February 1, 1913, but it was not issued until November 12, 1918 (US Patent 1,284,432). Since the research was done on behalf of Westinghouse, the company was assigned the patent, and O'Conor was given one dollar, the customary amount that Westinghouse paid for the rights to employees' inventions.
Herbert Faber, Technical Sales Manager of insulating materials, was excited about O'Conor's discovery. Faber saw limitless possibilities for the new material. However, he quickly became frustrated by Westinghouse's policy limiting the sale of the laminate to its licensed distributors. After failing to persuade Westinghouse to form a division to manufacture and market the new material, Faber and O'Conor created their own company. On May 2, 1913, the first Formica plant opened in Cincinnati, Ohio. On October 15, 1913, the business incorporated as the Formica Insulation Company with Faber as president and treasurer and O'Conor as vice-president and secretary. The company began producing insulation parts used in place of or "for mica," the costly mineral that had been used in electrical insulation.
Like most new companies, Formica had modest beginnings. Faber and O'Conor faced the challenge of looking for investors who would let them maintain control over the company. Finally, they met J. G. Tomluin, a lawyer and banker from Walton, Kentucky, who invested $7,500 for a one-third share in the Formica Company. Renting a small space in downtown Cincinnati, Faber and O'Conor began work. The company's equipment list consisted of a 35-horsepower boiler, a small gas stove, and a variety of homemade hand screw presses. By September 1913, Tomluin had brought in two more partners, David Wallace and John L. Vest. With the added capital, O'Conor, Faber, and Formica's eighteen employees began producing automobile insulation parts for Bell Electric Motor, Allis Chalmers, and Northwest Electric.
Initially, the Formica Company only made insulation rings and tubes for motors. However, by July 4, 1914, the company obtained its first press and began to produce flat laminate sheets made from Redmenol resin. Business gradually grew, and by 1917 sales totaled $75,000. Fueled by World War I, Formica's business expanded to making radio parts, aircraft pulleys, and timing gears for the burgeoning motor industry. In the years that followed, Formica products were in high demand as laminate plastics replaced older materials in washers, vacuum cleaners, and refrigerators. By 1919, the Formica Company required larger facilities and purchased a factory in Cincinnati.
During this time, patent battles and legal suits emerged to challenge Formica's success. On June 11, 1919, Westinghouse sued Formica for patent infringement on its laminated gears; Formica won. Later that year, Westinghouse brought two new lawsuits against Formica. The first was for a patent infringement on the production of tubes, rods, and molded parts; the second was over an infringement based on a 1913 patent assigned to Westinghouse through O'Conor. Formica prevailed in both suits.
Legal battles did not deter the company. Having to defend itself against a giant corporation gave Formica a reputation as a scrappy contender. Finally, Faber and O'Conor made a quantum leap in 1927, when the company was granted a U.S. patent for a phenolic laminate utilizing lithographed wood grains of light color, forming an opaque barrier sheet which blocks out the dark interior of the laminate. In 1931, the company received two more patents for the preparation of the first all paper based laminate and for the addition of a layer of aluminum foil between the core and the surface, making the laminate cigarette-proof. These patents would allow Formica to move from a company dealing primarily with industrial material to the highly visible arena of consumer goods.
In 1937, Faber had a severe heart attack which limited his activity within the company. O'Conor continued as president, encouraging new product lines, including Realwood, as a laminate with genuine wood veneer mounted on a paper lamination with a heat-reactive binder. With the introduction of Realwood and its derivatives, manufacturers started
using Formica laminate for tabletops, desks, and dinette sets. By the early forties, sales of Formica laminate were over 15 million dollars. The final recipe for decorative laminate was perfected in 1938, when melamine resins were introduced. Melamine was clear, extremely hard, and resistant to stains, heat, light, less expensive than phenolic resins. It also made possible laminates of colored papers and patterns.
Due to World War II, Formica postponed the manufacturing of decorative laminate sheets. Instead, the company made a variety of war-time products ranging from airplane propellers to bomb buster tubes.
The post-World War II building boom fueled the decorative laminate market and ushered in what would come to be known as the golden age for Formica. The company, anticipating the demand for laminate, acquired a giant press capable of producing sheets measuring thirty by ninety-six inches for kitchen countertops. Between 1947 and 1950, more than 2 million new homes were designed with Formica brand laminate for kitchens and bathrooms.
Formica's advertising campaigns, initially aimed at industry, were transformed to speak to the new decorative needs of consumer society, in particular the American housewife. Formica hired design consultants, Brooks Stevens, and, later, Raymond Loewy who launched extensive advertising campaigns. Advertising themes of durability, cleanliness, efficiency, and beauty abound in promotional material of this time. Advertisers promised that the plastic laminate, known as "the wipe clean wonder," was resistant to dirt, juices, jams, alcohol stains, and cigarette burns. Atomic patterns and space-age colors, including Moonglo, Skylark, and Sequina, were introduced in homes, schools, offices, hospitals, diners, and restaurants across America.
The post-war period was also marked by expansion, specifically with the establishment of Formica's first international markets. In 1947, Formica signed a licensing agreement with the British firm the De La Rue Company of London for the exclusive manufacture and marketing of decorative laminates outside North America, and in South America and the Pacific Basin. In 1948, Formica changed its name from the Formica Insulation Company to the Formica Company. In 1951, Formica responded to growing consumer demand by opening a million square foot plant in Evendale, Ohio, devoted to the exclusive production of decorative sheet material. In 1956, the Formica Company became the Formica Corporation, a subsidiary of American Cyanamid Company. A year later, the international subsidiaries that Formica formed with De La Rue Company of London were replaced by a joint company called Formica International Limited.
The plastic laminate was not merely confined to tabletops and dinette sets. Formica laminate was used for skis, globes, and murals. Moreover, well-known artists and architects used the decorative laminate for modernist furniture and Art Deco interiors. In 1960, Formica's Research and Development Design Center was established, adjacent to the Evendale plant, to develop uses for existing laminate products. In 1966, the company
opened the Sierra Plant near Sacramento, California. Such corporate expansion enabled Formica to market its laminates beyond the traditional role as a countertop surface material.
In 1974, Formica established its Design Advisory Board (DAB), a group of leading designers and architects. DAB introduced new colors and patterns of laminate that gained popularity among artists and interior designers in the 1980s. In 1981, DAB introduced the Color Grid, a systematic organization of Formica laminate arranged by neutrals and chromatics. The Color Grid was described as the first and only logically arranged collection of color in the laminate industry. DAB also developed the Design Concepts Collection of premium solid and patterned laminates to serve the needs of contemporary interior designers.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the corporation continued to produce laminates for interior designers, artists, and architects. In 1982, Formica introduced COLORCORE, the first solid-color laminate. Due to its relatively seamless appearance, COLORCORE was adopted by artists for use in furniture, jewelry, and interior design. The introduction of COLORCORE also marked the emergence of a wide variety of design exhibitions and competitions sponsored by the Formica Corporation. In 1985, Formica Corporation became independent and privately held. Formica continues to be one of the leading laminate producers in the world with factories in the United States, England, France, Spain, Canada, and Taiwan.
For additional information on the history of the Formica Corporation, see:
DiNoto, Andrea. Art Plastic: Designed for Living. New York: Abbeville Press, 1985.
Fenichell, Stephen. Plastic: The Making of a Synthetic Century. New York: Harper/Collins, 1996.
Jeffers Grace. 1998. Machine Made Natural: The Decorative Products of the Formica Corporation, 1947-1962. Master's thesis. Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts.
Lewin, Susan Grant, ed. Formica & Design: From Counter Top to High Art. New York: Rizzoli, 1991.
Related Materials:
Materials at the Archives Center
Leo Baekeland Papers, 1881-1968 (AC0005)
DuPont Nylon Collection, 1939-1977 (AC0007)
J. Harry DuBois Collection on the History of Plastics, circa 1900-1975 (AC0008)
Earl Tupper Papers, circa 1914-1982 (AC0470)
The Division of Medicine and Science holds artifacts related to this collection. See accession # 1997.0319 and #1997.3133.
Provenance:
This collection was assembled by Grace Jeffers, historian of material culture, primarily from materials given to her by Susan Lewin, Head of Formica's New York design and publicity office when the office closed in 1995. The collection was donated to the Archives Center by Grace Jeffers in September 1996.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Researchers must use reference copies of audio-visual materials. When no reference copy exists, the Archives Center staff will produce reference copies on an "as needed" basis, as resources allow. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
A New York bookseller, Warshaw assembled this collection over nearly fifty years. The Warshaw Collection of Business Americana: Accounting and Bookkeeping forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Subseries 1.1: Subject Categories. The Subject Categories subseries is divided into 470 subject categories based on those created by Mr. Warshaw. These subject categories include topical subjects, types or forms of material, people, organizations, historical events, and other categories. An overview to the entire Warshaw collection is available here: Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Scope and Contents:
Temperance contains material documenting perspectives on alcohol use and regulation as well as the impact of various temperance movements on society and the government. The collection covers the issues related to these movements through multiple eras and social lenses, and addresses both pro and anti-temperance perspectives though there is significantly more material that supports the temperance and prohibition movements.
Materials represent a sampling of newsclippings, realia (ribbons, fans, and pendants), artwork in various mediums, and educational resources. No extensive records of any particular group or region exist, and no particular depth is present for any singular subtopic. The subject of temperance often overlaps with news and developments about the women's suffrage movement, elections, and wars.
While newsclippings are divided into specific subject categories, there may be significant overlap between regional issues and files pertaining to legislation and elections due to newsclippings frequently addressing multiple issues.
Arrangement:
Temperance is arranged in four subseries.
Perspectives
Organizations
Regional Issues
Political Parties
Individuals
Genre
Cigarette and Tobacco Documentation
Event Documentation
Images, Writings, and Music
Realia
Serial Publications
Subject
Medicinal Uses
Temperance and Government
Temperance and Religion
Temperance and Society
Temperance and War
Oversize
Miscellaneous
Related Materials:
Forms part of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana.
Missing Title
Series 1: Business Ephemera
Series 2: Other Collection Divisions
Series 3: Isadore Warshaw Personal Papers
Series 4: Photographic Reference Material
Provenance:
Temperance is a portion of the Business Ephemera Series of the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, Accession AC0060 purchased from Isadore Warshaw in 1967. Warshaw continued to accumulate similar material until his death, which was donated in 1971 by his widow, Augusta. For a period after acquisition, related materials from other sources (of mixed provenance) were added to the collection so there may be content produced or published after Warshaw's death in 1969. This practice has since ceased.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Temperance, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
Background and biographical information consists of Nesbitt's resume, an artist/designer statement, list of clients and accomplishments of Nesbitt Associates, Ltd., press releases, articles, and photographs of the designer.,The materials in this collection document Nesbitt's work from 1951 through 1984.
The records of the office of public relations cover the years 1955-1963 and include press releases and clippings describing some Nesbitt's products, his theories on consumer motivation, and the results of his surveys, as well as correspondence with members of the press. General office correspondence is boxed separately.
Color slides, color and black & white transparencies, and black & white photographs of most of Nesbitt's designs for packaging from 1951-1981 are included. Oversized materials include books jackets and booklets designed by Nesbitt, as well as some renderings for packaging designs done in color.
Three samples of fitted presentation boxes designed by Nesbitt are included, as well as a prototype for a design award for Parsons School of Design in New York, and two "Multiplication" cubes commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Arrangement:
This collection has been reboxed in archivally-sound containers, but the materials have only been partially processed and arranged. Record groups include: 1) Backgound and Biographical Information; 2) Records of the Public Relations Office, 1955-1963; 3) Correspondence; 4) Slides, Transparencies, and Photographs; 5) Oversized Materials; and 6) Samples.
Biographical / Historical:
Packaging, industrial, and graphic designer. Born in New York City, August 10, 1920. Nesbitt was a student of sculptor Chaim Gross and studied art at many New York institutions including: Art Students League; New York University; Columbia University; Pratt Institute of Art; and the New School.
He served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945 where he worked as a cartographer and as the head of the visual aid section in a military intelligence training center. In 1945, he joined the staff of Harper's Bazaar magazine where he was an illustrator assisting art director Alexey Brodovich. In 1946, Nesbitt was hired by the industrial design studio of Raymond Loewy as a handletterer and packaging designer.
He worked with Lippincott Industrial Design from 1948 to 1951. Nesbitt opened his own design studio, Nesbitt Associates, Ltd. in 1951. The firm specialized in package design, trademarks, and corporate identities. Some of his most recognizable designs were for the label for Campbell's Soup and the Florists' Telegraph Delivery (F.T.D.) Winged Mercury 'Interflora' figure, still used today. Nesbitt's other clients included: Franco American; Revlon; Ballantine Beer; Borden; Champion spark plugs; Kodak; Philip Morris cigarettes; Schick razors; and Archway cookies. In addition, Nesbitt developed the "Karry Kit" for Ballantine Beer which came to be widely used and known as the six pack.
Nesbitt was known for his revealing studies and surveys of the buying needs and preferences of the "average American housewife" and consumers in general. His opinions on what he referred to as "underpackaging" were widely publicized in professional magazines and journals. In 1984, Nesbitt retired from the design field and went to California to resume his career as a sculptor until his death in 1993.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
NMAH.AC.0367 Campbell Soup Advertising Oral History and Documentation Project
NMAH.AC.0552 Caroline R. Jones Papers
NMAH.AC.0060 Warshaw Collection of Business Americana
Collection donated by the designer's wife, Mrs. Saul Nesbitt, in 1994.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
It is possible that this is a self-portrait by Katherine Joseph, but there is no evidence.
Arrangement:
Box No. 5.
Local Numbers:
AC0944-0000090.tif (AC Scan No.)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access on site by appointment. Gloves required with unprotected photographs.
Collection Rights:
Copyright held by donor. Written permission required prior to obtaining reproductions. Consult with Archives Center staff for contact information. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The papers document independent inventor Solomon Adler's work with sewing machine technology through correspondence, photographs, notes, drawings, sketches, patents, litigation records, and printed materials. The collection provides insight into both an independent inventor's process of invention and Japanese work culture during the post-World War II period.
Scope and Contents:
The papers include correspondence, photographs, notes, drawings, sketches, patents, litigation records, and printed materials, primarily documenting Adler's work with sewing machine technology. The papers provide insight into an independent inventor's process of invention and Japanese work culture during the post-World War II period.
Series 1, Personal Materials, 1920s-1950s and undated consists primarily of high school chemistry and biology notes, business cards, photographs, speeches, and writings of Sol Adler. The photographs contain one black-and-white portrait of Adler, November 1958, and two negatives of him from the nineteen teens; and one scanned copy of a photograph, circa the 1920s of Sol Adler with his children, R. Michael and Diane Zoe Adler. There is a small booklet, Agreement between Manufacturers Machine and Tool Co., Inc., and Amalgamated Machine and Instrument Local No. 475 from 1941. Adler worked for Manufacturers Machine and Tool Co., Inc.
Series 2, Inventions, is divided into two subseries: Subseries 1, Other, 1919-1980 and undated, and Subseries 2, Sewing Machines, 1938-1962 and undated. Arranged chronologically, both subseries highlight Adler's inventive work. While the primary focus of Adler's invention work was on sewing machines, his interests were broad.
Subseries 2.1, Other Inventions, 1919-1980 and undated, contains documentation in the form of drawings and sketches, photographs, correspondence, and patents. Overall, the documentation is uneven. The inventions include a dividing head (a specialized tool that allows a workpiece to be easily and precisely rotated to preset angles or circular divisions); decorative window treatment; telescoping umbrella; can opener; question/answer machine; correlating device; radio station recording device; receptacle tap; fountain pen; television projection device; combined ash tray and cigarette holder; automatic machine gun; juice blender; thermonuclear idea; apparatus for producing pile fabric; an extensible, retractable and concealable table; and textile machinery.
Only some of Adler's inventions were patented. However, many of his ideas were well documented through drawings or descriptive text. In some instances prototypes were built.
The question and answer machine, 1939, was approximately three feet by four feet and was powered by a battery, the device was intended for educational use by children and adults. It used interchangeable answer cards on a broad range of subjects and informed the user of a correct and wrong answer by lights and a buzzer.
The correlating device, 1942, was designed for automobile use, and it combined driving directions and maps on a roll of paper data mounted on the dashboard. Although patented (US Patent 2,282,843), the device was never manufactured.
The radio station recording device, 1939, was a device to maintain a record of radio stations tuned on a radio receiver during a twenty-four hour period using recording disks.
The receptacle tap (Siphon-It), 1939, was patented (US Patent 2,184,263). The Siphon-It was designed to fit any size bottle, can, or the like containing fluids without removing the bottle cap. The "tap" punctured the bottle cap and was then turned like a screw several times. It allowed the contents under pressure to not lose carbonation and be poured easily.
The combined ash tray and cigarette holder and lighter, 1951, was Adler's only design patent (US Patent Des. 163,984). Purely ornamental, the tray would light and hold a cigarette.
The automatic machine gun, 1952, was conceived of by Adler and his son R. Michael Adler. The drawings and accompanying narrative text detail a method for cooling the gun through the use of an automatically operated gas turbine centrifugal air compressor and a gun of simple design with few parts and capable of an extremely high rate of fire. Adler submitted his drawings and text to the United States Army Ordance Department at the Pentagon, but it was not manufactured.
Adler's thermonuclear fusion proposal, a technical paper written in 1960, was never realized. The paper, titled "Attempt to Utilize the Concentrated Magnetic Field Around a Pinched Plasma Column as the Focal Point for Particle Acceleration," details through text and schematics Adler's ideas about a thermonuclear reactor. Additionally, there is correspondence, journal articles, newspaper articles, and a notebook with notes from other publications and some loose drawings related to thermonuclear issues.
An apparatus for producing pile fabric (US Patent 3,309,252), was patented in 1967. The intention of the apparatus was to create a method for producing carpets and rugs in a fast, practical, and inexpensive way.
Adler's work with non-woven textiles and fabrics (see US Patent 3,250,655) is well documented through correspondence, drawings, notes, fabric samples, and photographs. Adler founded the Adler Process Corporation in the 1960s as a research and development organization specializing in the development of products for domestic and industrial uses. The corporation also built machinery for the commercial production of the products which included pile fabric (such as carpeting), non-woven fabrics, and leather-like material. A prospectus details the "Adler Process."
Method and apparatus for production of pile carpeting and the like (US Patent 3,424,632, 3,592,374, and 3,655,490)
Subseries 2.2, Sewing machines, 1938-1962 and undated, consists primarily of documentation about the development of the Pacesetter sewing machine and its predecessors through correspondence, drawings and sketches, photographs, guide manuals, and promotional materials. Adler constructed skeletal aluminum models to better understand the functions and internal mechanisms of sewing machines. Between 1940 and 1948, he designed and constructed a sewing machine prototype, which he called his "Parent Machine." The Parent Machine would become known as the Pacesetter. Seven patents were awarded for the novel mechanisms contained within this prototype (US Patent 2,561,643), the most notable being for a compact sewing machine that could expand to a full-sized machine. Additional sewing machine inventions include the needleless sewing machine; a zig-zag sewing machine, and an attachment for a zig-zag sewing machine (US Patent 3,016,030).
While working as an engineer for the Brother International Corporation in Japan in the early 1950s, Adler developed the Pacesetter sewing machine. This portable machine was designed to meet the rapidly growing popularity of multiple decorative and embroidery patterns. A selector dial, which Adler called the "Wishing Dial," controlled sixteen internal cams, multiple cam selectors and followers to automatically sew thirty different basic decorative stitch patterns. Since the Pacesetter could sew both zigzag and straight stitches, varying the width and length of the basic patterns made it possible to create thousands of decorative variations. Adler introduced the Pacesetter sewing machine at the Independent Sewing Machine Dealers Show in New York, July 18, 1955.
Series 3: Brother International Corporation, 1954-1959 and undated
Started in 1908 by Kanekichi Yasui, the Yasui Sewing Machine Company manufactured and repaired sewing machines. The company was later renamed Yasui Brother Sewing Machine Company by Masayoshi Yasui, the eldest of Kanekichi's ten children, who inherited the company. The new name reflected the involvement and spirit of cooperation of other "brothers" in the Yasui family.
In 1934, the Yasui brothers liquidated the Yasui Brother Sewing Machine Company and created the Nippon Sewing Machine Company in Nagoya, Japan. Nippon emerged in response to a Japanese sewing machine market dominated by imported products, and it began mass producing industrial sewing machines. In 1941, Brother Sales, Ltd. was established as a sales outlet for the Japanese market, and in 1954 Brother International Corporation (BIC) was created as an exporting company with offices established in New York City. The company actively promoted exporting in advance of other Japanese companies.
Adler joined BIC in 1954 as a consultant for their product design and development work. This work was previously done in-house by design and engineering staff, so Adler, an American, was charting new territory. The materials in this series consist of corporate histories, and annual report, correspondence, product literature, conference materials, and notebooks maintained by Adler. The latter constitutes the bulk of the material along with the correspondence.
The "conference" materials document a meeting Adler attended, presumably in Japan in 1957. The file contains detailed notes about product marketing and production factors. A flow chart for "product coordinating factors" outlines the motivations, idea sources, management control, and execution of an idea generally.
The correspondence, 1954-1958, consists of letters and inter-company communications (memorandum), patents and drawings between Sol Adler, Max Hugel and the legal firm of, Kane, Dalsmier and Kane of New York. The correspondence relates almost exclusively to patenting matters, especially by Adler and legal matters involving Singer Sewing Manufacturing Company alleging that Brother International infringed on certain Singer-owned patents.
The notebooks of Solomon Adler, approximately 1951-1958, consists primarily of materials documenting Adler's work in Japan on sewing machines. The materials were assembled by Adler and titled "notebook." Some of the materials are three hole punched (indicating they may have been in a three-ring notebook) and are both handwritten and typescript. Also included are chronologies of his work; translations of Japanese words into English; drawings in pencil on tracing paper; sketches in pencil on scrap paper and letterhead; detailed notes about mechanisms and methods of sewing machine operation; business cards; comparative data for sewing machines; and correspondence.
Of note is the "digest" or chronology of events from 1958 to 1959 maintained by Adler to detail the alleged patent infringement of BIC on Singer Sewing machine patents. The digest also notes the value, author of a document, to whom it was sent, date, and a brief description. Adler created a ranking system for his digest, assigning different values, very important, urgent, important, and general. He also compiled a chart of competitor sewing machines by brand name. Many of the Japanese documents--patents and drawings--bear Adler's "chop" or rubber stamp with Japanese characters for his surname.
The Litigation Materials, 1952-1961 and undated, consists of documents (numbered exhibits) assembled by Adler for use in litigation against Brother International Corporation (BIC). The exhibits were used as documentary evidence in court, and the materials are primarily typescript notes and correspondence, newspaper clippings, articles, technical drawings by Adler, patents, photographs and some product literature detailing aspects of the BIC sewing machines.
In 1958, Singer Sewing Machine Company filed a lawsuit against Nippon Sewing Machine Company for patent infringement by BIC's Pacesetter and Select-O-Matic sewing machines. Adler, on behalf of Nippon, conducted extensive patent research into the allegations, working with BIC attorneys in New York as well as creating new sewing machine designs to overcome Singer's claims. In 1959, Singer filed another lawsuit alleging that Nippon was violating United States customs laws by shipping automatic zigzag sewing machines to the United States, which were alleged to infringe on Singer patents. Correspondence related to this patent infringement can be found in Series 3: Brother International Corporation.
Adler returned to the United States in April of 1959 as the representative for Nippon and the Japanese sewing machine industry to help prepare the case and act as a consultant. BIC and Singer representatives appeared before the United States Tariff Commission (USTC). Adler officially testified on behalf of BIC, explaining the three angle cam structure difference between the Singer #401 sewing machine and imported Japanese sewing machines. Adler's testimony was successful, and with patent problems resolved, Adler resigned from BIC in July of 1959 and commenced a long negotiation with the company for financial compensation for his invention work.
Series 5, Publications, 1953-1967, consists of select issues of theNew Japan Sewing Machine News, which followed developments in the Japanese sewing machine industry and other publications featuring articles and brief pieces about sewing machines in general.
References
(http://welcome.brother.com/hk-en/about-us/history.html last accessed on March 24, 2011)
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into four series.
Series 1: Personal Materials, 1920-1950s and undated
Series 2: Inventions, 1938-1980
Subseries 1: Other, 1938-1980
Subseries 2: Sewing, 1938-1962 and undated
Series 3: Brother International Corporation, 1952-1961
Series 4: Publications, 1953-1967
Biographical / Historical:
Solomon "Sol" Adler is probably best known for his sewing machine inventions, but his portfolio of work also includes ideas and patents for a fountain pen, a window treatment, a receptacle tap, a telescoping umbrella, an ashtray, a retractable table, and jewelry designs. Adler wrote fiction as well (mostly short stories) that reflected his experiences during the early 1900s in New York City. He filled pages with themes on social protest, radicalism, mobs, unions, poverty, and sweatshop operators. In 1958 Adler wrote about theories of nuclear physics, noting, "Indeed a very bold attempt and definitely a long way from sewing machines." Adler's flow of ideas was constant, and he sought to express them constantly.
Sol Adler was born on July 8, 1901, [Russian?] on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, one of Isaac and Mindel Adler's five children. Isaac was a tailor, so sewing machines were part of Sol's life from the beginning. As a young man, Adler apprenticed in machine shops, honing his skills until he became an expert machinist and toolmaker; these skills eventually allowed him to build the machines he visualized. Adler's design drawings show his precision as a draftsman and engineer (he attended the City College of New York) and provide good insight into the drawing abilities that he later used in preparing patent drawings. Adler also enjoyed metalworking. His home workshop boasted a geared lathe, tilling head machine, drill press, bench grinder, and an assorted hand tools.
Adler's work on sewing machines began in the late 1930s with tinkering with his sister-in-law Bess's treadle-operated Singer machine. Bess wanted a lightweight, motorized sewing machine that had enough space between the frame and the needle for large projects such as quilts. Using his own basement machine shop, Adler began building simple frameworks for sewing machines to understand better the relationships between the parts and their functions. Adler's first sewing machine (which he dubbed the "parent machine") earned U.S. Patent 2,561,643, issued in 1951. The machine was a full-size home machine, with a concealed motor and power cord that could also expand into a commercial-size machine. Six subsequent patents for subassemblies were derived from the "parent machine" over the next several years.
During the Second World War, Adler worked for Manufacturing Methods Technology (MM&T) as a development engineer and experimental machine shop supervisor.
Analyzing the evolving U.S. domestic sewing machine market gave Adler ideas for further inventions, refining the machines and adding new features. Unfortunately, success was elusive; his machine with zigzag and straight-stitch capability was rejected by several U.S. and European sewing machine manufacturers. But in 1954, Adler met Max Hugel, president of the Asiatic Commerce Corporation of New York, later known as Brother International Corporation (BIC), a subsidiary of the Nippon Company. Nippon wanted to solve certain design and operational problems it was having in developing a zigzag sewing machine for sale in the United States. Adler joined BIC, moved to Japan, and succeeded in helping correct the design issues. Adler named the machine the "Select-O-Matic" because by turning a few knobs, an operator could select one of the six patterns that the machine produced.
Adler stayed with BIC until 1959, and worked on a variety of sewing machines, including an automatic zigzag machine and the versatile "Pacesetter," which was unveiled in the United States to great acclaim at the Sewing Machine Show in New York City on July 18, 1955 (a version of the Pacesetter is still sold by Brother). Additionally, he worked on a line of industrial and domestic sewing machines, home washing machines, home knitting machines, and other small appliances. Adler earned several Japanese patents for his work.
Among Adler's writings is a pronouncement of his passion for invention: "When an idea is conceived by an inventor, it never leaves him in peace, it possesses him day and night until it is expressed, after which he enjoys a sense of relief and accomplishment."
Adler married Fay (neé Kagan) in 1928. They had two children, Ralph Michael Adler and Diane Zoe Adler. Adler died on May 31, 1989 at the age of 88.
Issued United States Patents:
Receptacle tap (2,184,263)
Correlating device (2,284,843)
Sewing machine (2,561,643)
Sewing machine feed (2,473,934)
Bobbin winder for sewing machine (2,455,638)
Extension leaf for sewing machines (2,464,838)
Sewing machine feed (2,473,934)
Threading device (2,516,171)
Sewing machine pressure bar (2,554,970)
Sewing machine needle bar operating mechanism (2,554,971)
Sewing machine (2,561,643)
Sewing machine (2,709,978)
Attachment for zigzag sewing machines (3,016,030)
Sewing machine (3,053,207) assigned to Nippon Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company
Sewing machine (3,055,325) assigned to Nippon Sewing Machine Manufacturing Company
Method and apparatus for making non-woven fabric (3,236,711)assigned to Adler
Process Corporation
Method for producing non-woven fabric (3,250,655)
Method and apparatus for producing pile fabric (3,309,252) assigned to Adler Process Corporation
Method and apparatus for production of pile fabric and the like (3,424,632) assigned to Adler Process Corporation
Combined ashtray, cigarette holder and lighter (Des. 163,984)
Separated Materials:
The Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) holds artifacts related to this collection, including several sewing machine prototypes, the Siphon-It and the combination ashtray, lighter and cigarette holder. See Accession numbers: 2009.0118 and 2009.0114.
Provenance:
The collection was donated by R. Michael Adler and Diane Zoe Adler, September, 2009. Additonal materials were donated by R. Michael Adler in 2012.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Papers documenting inventor Earl S. Tupper, his inventions, Tupperware and the Tupper Company.
Scope and Contents:
The collection documents the life of inventor Earl S. Tupper through correspondence, notes, photographs, drawings and sound recordings.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into five series.
Series 1: Personal Papers, 1910-1989
Series 2: Early Business Papers and Scientific Notes, 1930-1965
Series 3: Tupper Corporation/Tupperware Business, 1908-1983
Series 4: Neil Osterweill Oral Histories and Research Notes, 1926-1989
Subseries 4.1: Research Files, 1926-1989
Subseries 4.2: Original Masters, 1987-1989
Subseries 4.3:Research Copies, 1987-1989
Subseries 4.4:Research Copies, 1987-1989
Subseries 4.5: Preservation Copies, undated
Series 5: Center for Advertising History, Oral History Interviews, 1992
Subseries 5.1: Original Masters, 1992
Subseries 5.2: Research Copies, 1992
Subseries 5.3: Research Copies, 1992
Subseries 5.4: Preservation Copies, 1992
Subseries 5.5: Abstracts and Transcripts, 1992, 2003
Biographical / Historical:
Earl Silas Tupper was born in 1907, to a New Hampshire farming family of modest means. During his youth and boyhood in New England, his mother Lulu Clark Tupper, took in laundry and ran a boarding house, while his father, Earnest Leslie operated a small family farm. Earnest Tupper loved to tinker, developing labor-saving devices for the farm and family greenhouses; one of his devices, a frame to facilitate the cleaning of chickens, was granted a patent. It is from his father that Earl Tupper is said to have developed a love for invention. Even as a boy, Tupper showed an enterprising and entrepreneurial spirit. At the age of 10, Earl discovered he could move more of the family's produce by selling door-to-door, bringing the product directly to the customer.
After high school graduation in 1925, Tupper continued to work in the family greenhouses in Shirley Massachusetts for two years. Tupper was an ambitious young man, though, and he was determined to earn his first million by the time he was thirty. During the twenties, he set out on a number of different paths, including work as a mail clerk and on a railroad labor crew. In 1928, he took a course in tree surgery, with the idea of setting up his own tree surgery and landscaping business. He continued to help out with the family business, and got married in 1931. Through the early thirties, the landscaping and nursery business continued to grow and thrive, despite the Depression, enabling Tupper to pursue some of his ideas and inventions. His scientific notebooks for this period reflect the diversity of his interests. Even after Tupper Tree Doctors was forced into bankruptcy in 1936, Tupper remained optimistic about his ability to develop and manufacture some of his inventions.
In 1936, Tupper met Bernard Doyle, the inventor of Viscoloid, the plastics manufacturing division of DuPont, located in nearby Leominster, Mass. He went to work for DuPont in 1937, but stayed there only one year. Later, Tupper would say it was at Dupont "that my education really began." Tupper took the experience he had gained in plastics design and manufacturing at DuPont, and struck out on his own. In 1938, he formed the Earl S. Tupper Company, advertising the design and engineering of industrial plastics products in Leominster, Massachusetts. Much of the fledgling company's early work was performed under subcontract to DuPont. Business was good during the war, because despite the difficulty of acquiring the raw materials necessary for plastics production for the domestic market, Tupper Plastics was able to garner several defense contracts, molding parts for gas masks and Navy signal lamps.
After the war, Tupper turned his attention to developing plastics for the growing consumer market. Many of his earliest designs, which included plastic sandwich picks, cigarette cases, and an unbreakable tumbler for the bathroom, were offered as premiums with other products. For example, Tek toothbrushes offered the tumbler with purchase of a toothbrush, and cigarette companies and other businesses offered cigarette cases imprinted with their logo.
Plastics was still in its infancy in the forties, and the commercial market for plastics product was limited by plastic's reputation for being brittle, greasy, smelly and generally unreliable. Tupper's contributions were twofold. First, he developed a method for purifying black polyethylene slag, a waste product produced in oil refinement, into a substance that was flexible, tough, non-porous, non-greasy and translucent. Second, he developed the Tupper seal, an airtight, watertight lid modeled on the lid for paint containers. Together, these innovations laid the foundations for the future success of Tupperware. Nevertheless, marketing the new product presented a challenge. Tupper experimented with department store sales, but as Businessweek reported in 1954, "in retail stores it fell flat on its face." It seemed clear that the new lid required explanation or demonstration.
In the late 1940s, Thomas Damigella (in Massachusetts) and Brownie Wise (in Florida) were selling household products through Stanley Home Products. Purchasing through local plastics distributors, both began offering Tupperware as part of their product line, and were moving enough Tupperware to attract Earl Tupper's attention. In 1948, Tupper met with Damigella, Wise, and several other local distributors at a Sheraton in Worcester Massachusetts to discuss a new distribution plan. Modeled on the home party plan pioneered by Stanley Home Products and expanded and refined by Brownie Wise, the home party plan became and remains the exclusive outlet for Tupperware. Wise was named Vice President of the company (named Tupperware Home Parties) in 1951, a position she held until 1958, when Tupper sold the company to Rexall for $16 million.
Tupperware's success stems from the combined genius of Earl Tupper, the self-styled Yankee inventor and entrepreneur and Brownie Wise, the consummate saleswoman and motivator. If Tupper personified reverence for the product, Wise personified respect for the sales force. "If we build the people," she was fond of saying, "they'll build the business." Almost half a century later, their legacy remains an important part of Tupperware's continuing success.
Earl S. Tupper died on October 5, 1983.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Leo Baekeland Papers (AC0005)
DuPont Nylon Collection (AC0007)
J. Harry DuBois Collection on the History of Plastics (AC0008)
Celluloid Corporation Records (AC0009)
Albany Billiard Ball Company Records (AC#0011)
Brownie Wise Papers (AC0509)
Ann and Thomas Damigella Collection (AC0583)
Materials at the National Museum of American History
Tupperware related artifacts are located in the Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life), the Division of Medicine and Science and the Division of Work and Industry. See accessions: 1983.0711; 1984.1098; 1985.3014; 1985.3015; 1987.0180; 1990.3055; 1992.0209; 1992.0605; 1993.0257; 1994.0118; 1994.0124; 1995.0109; 1998.0070; 1998.0220; 2012.0133; and 2014.3077.
Provenance:
The materials were donated to the Archives Center in 1992 by Glenn O. Tupper, Earl Tupper's son.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but master (preservation) tapes are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Correspondence, administrative records, operational records, company newsletters, news clippings, photographs, photograph albums, and audio-visual materials.
Scope and Contents:
Series 1: History of Krisy Kreme, includes records and materials which document the history of Krispy Kreme Doughnut Company and Corporation. Included are stories about the company and its founder, Vernon Rudolph ("A Man and an Enterprise" is in booklet form while "Brief Outline of the History of Krispy Kreme" is 115 pages) and also a story about the employees and facilities of the Corporation; a report that includes the organization's history and brief biographies of the management team; and overall operating reports from 1948 and 1950. There is also information pertaining to Krispy Kreme's association with Beatrice Foods Company as well as a biography of William Lewis Rudolph, brother of Vernon. This series also contains a draft (from 1952) of a report to the Government Purchasing Agencies about Krispy Kreme's mix plant operations, comprising a detailed list of equipment, cost controls, and a chronology of Krispy Kreme store openings. These are located in a folder marked "Historical Data." There is also a folder entitled "Vernon Rudolph" which contains a photocopy of two photographs -- one is of the front of a house while the other is of a family -- and a funeral tribute, dated 1973, to Vernon Rudolph.
Series 2: Administrative Records, contains those records which deal with the overall operation of the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Company and Corporation. This series is arranged into the following subseries:
Subseries 2.1: Correspondence, contains copies of letters to and from Vernon Rudolph and vendors, banks, Krispy Kreme stores and office personnel, local organizations, government agencies. The dates range from the 1930s through 1972. There is one original letter and its accompanying envelope from 1939.
Subseries 2.2: Executive Records, contains the articles of incorporation, bylaws, minutes, and resolutions of the Board of Directors. The dates range from 1946-1977. This subseries also includes an organizational chart from the mid-1970s as well as an article of incorporation for Frozen Products, Inc., a subsidiary of the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation. There is also an Incorporation Plan from 1946 that includes a plan of organization, bills of sale, and a balance sheet. The folder marked "Miscellaneous," contains minutes from the first meeting of the incorporators in 1946 and a short note from 1952 concerning floor space at the Ivy Street plant.
Subseries 2.3: Financial Records, ca. 1940-1996, includes annual and audit reports, gross sales statements for the company and the corporation as well as for doughnut mix. This subseries also contains balance sheets, a general accounting ledger, and operating reports. In the folder "Canceled Checks," there are signed checks by Vernon Rudolph as well as a handwritten listing of expenses that is titled "Personal Bank Records." There is also a prospectus dated from 1975 which is one year before the merger with Beatrice.
Subseries 2.4: Legal Records, 1947-1982, deals mostly with trademark issues. It contains the correspondence and registration applications pertaining to trademark laws. Also included are the actual trademark registrations from all 50 states (since expired) as well as a list of expiration dates for the registrations. This subseries also contains correspondence between Krispy Kreme and Prudential Insurance Company concerning loans. There is also a folder "Miscellaneous Agreements and Contracts" that contains a lease agreement from 1957 and an accident claims agreement from 1955.
Subseries 2.5: Personnel Records, dates range from the 1950s-1985. It includes information concerning employee benefits and manuals on selling doughnuts and running doughnut machines. Female employees are provided with guidelines in both a booklet, ca. 1963, titled "Salesgirl," and a plaque from the early 1960s that instructs them on appearance, retail manner, and attitude. Also contained in this subseries are award certificates given for years of service and a photograph of service award pins, jewelry, watches, and a clock. Other certificates were those for Associates and store operators certifying that they are fully capable and properly trained to operate a Krispy Kreme store. In the "Miscellaneous" folder, there are memorandums to employees, want-ad clippings, and a thank you card from the Corporation to its employees for 50 years of success.
Subseries 2.6: Professional Associations, contains a certificate of membership into the US Chamber of Commerce, 1955.
Subseries 2.7: Stock Records, deals with the purchase and sale of stocks from 1947-1975. There are copies of two agreements -- one regarding Krispy Kreme selling an employee stocks and the other concerning Krispy Kreme buying stocks in the Pinebrook Real Estate and Development Corporation. The folder "Stockholders," contains a 1950 end of year letter to stockholders and a brief report on a court case entitled "How Not to Sell Company Stock to Key Employees" from a 1949 newsletter, "Estate and Tax Letter." There is a stockholders ledger dated 1947-1975 which also has a list of stockholders attached to one page.
Subseries 2.8: Testimonial Letters, are from customers and date from 1994-1997. In some cases, Krispy Kreme responses were attached with the original, in others they were not. All the letters are copies of the originals and are on acid-free paper.
Subseries 2.9: Miscellaneous, contains drawings and pictures of the Corporation headquarters in Winston-Salem, NC, and of exterior store signage. It also includes logo designs from the 1960s through 1989, samples of stationery, a brochure for and a photograph of the Krispy Kreme plane, and a program for the 1994 Krispy Kreme Annual Conference. There is also a folder containing Holiday greeting cards from Krispy Kreme management and a program from their 1990 Christmas party.
Series 3: Operational Records, contains those records which pertain to all aspects of the production and sale of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. This series has the following subseries:
Subseries 3.1: Advertising and Promotions, ca. 1947-1993, contains small and full page newspaper advertisements from 1947 through 1993 (including some undated advertisements), the mats and layouts that the retail stores used in their own in-store advertising, and information and correspondence concerning billboard advertising. This subseries also includes television commercial storyboards and an audience pre-test report for three of them. There is also materials on the different promotions Krispy Kreme used. The "Miscellaneous" folder contains a variety of indoor and outdoor advertisements.
Subseries 3.2: Equipment and Engineering, is itself broken down into three categories: American Gas Association (AGA), Equipment Design, and Equipment Information. The "American Gas Association" section contains correspondence between the AGA and Krispy Kreme regarding AGA inspection of and seal of approval for Krispy Kreme-made equipment. "Equipment Design" contains the notes, sketches, test results, and photographs of various pieces of equipment designed and made by Krispy Kreme. "Equipment" information includes equipment brochures and booklets and more detailed information on the use of the equipment.
Subseries 3.3: Franchises/Associates, ca. 1940s-1990s, contains literature to attract potential new franchisees as well as samples of franchise agreements. This subseries also includes photographs and press releases concerning store openings. These are located in three folders: "Grand Opening Summary," "Knoxville Grand Opening," and "Krispy Kreme Locations." There is also a videocassette that highlights Krispy Kreme's foray into New York City in 1996.
Subseries 3.4: Fundraising, includes a variety of materials that concern Krispy Kreme's program of assisting local organizations in their fundraising efforts. The dates range from the 1940s-1990s. It contains brochures, ca. 1940s-1990s, which explain the fundraising plan and its benefits. There are also guides geared towards Krispy Kreme salespersons to help them present the plan to potential clients. In the "Miscellaneous" folder, there is a newspaper advertisement from September 1988 promoting the fundraising plan. There is also a photo collage done by Krispy Kreme Fundraising Representative, Sharon Craig, to commemorate a local parade in Memphis, TN (at the Elvis Presley Boulevard plant).
Subseries 3.5: Marketing, contains a 1996 marketing standards manual and press kits from 1997. The marketing manual was directed to store operators to assist them in promoting and selling their products. The press kits were given to the Smithsonian when discussions concerning Krispy Kreme's donation to the museum began in the spring of 1997.
Subseries 3.6: Packaging, ca. 1930s-1992, contains examples of the different packaging used by Krispy Kreme to market their food products and mixes. Also included are designs for new packaging. One example is for doughnuts done by Comet Products Inc. (of MA) in 1979. Four samples of pie packaging designs were created by Pike & Cassels, Inc. (of NC) in late 1991 and early 1992. In the "Miscellaneous" folder there are examples of other Krispy Kreme packaging.
Subseries 3.7: Quality Control Laboratory, ca. 1959-1976, consists of two items. The first one, which was originally housed in a binder, is a notebook of information on lab procedures and on the chemical consistency and test concerning doughnut ingredients. This belonged to David Downs, Chief Chemist at Krispy Kreme. The second item is a "pictorial" prospectus of the entire Krispy Kreme operation -- departments, individual stores, products and packaging -- which belonged to the Laboratory.
Subseries 3.8: Sales Records, ca. 1950s-1980s, contains materials that would assist both franchise managers and operators (with in-store sales) and route salespeople (in selling wholesale Krispy Kreme products to groceries, etc). It includes a Route Book, ca. late 1950s, that contained order information and belonged to Robah G. Hendrick, a Krispy Kreme salesman. There is also a sales order pad, ca. 1950s-early 1960s, used by a Krispy Kreme store in Memphis, TN. There are also two in-house catalogs -- in folders "Posters, inserts, cards..." and "Shelf talkers catalog" -- that contain items that can be ordered by managers and that are used to sell store products. Shelf talkers are signs posted near the merchandise or on grocery display shelves. They, like the posters, inserts, cards, are used to attract customers with specials and promotions. Samples of shelf talkers are included in this subseries. There is also a "Miscellaneous" folder which contains a Krispy Kreme coupon, a book of gift certificates, another example of a shelf talker sign, and brochures of different store displays.
Subseries 3.9: Store Operations, ca. 1960s-1970s, deals primarily with items that are meant for store operators and mangers to help them in running a Krispy Kreme store. Two manuals -- Production and Extruded Doughnut manuals -- instruct managers in producing high quality products. Two other manuals -- Associates Operations and Branch Plant Managers' Manual -- discuss doughnut production, but also give directives and policies on other store issues, such as safety, sanitation, and personnel. The Branch Plant Managers' Manual also delves into the natural gas crisis in January 1977 and deals with advertising, security, and photo requests. This subseries also includes five 8"x6" laminated cards that contain doughnut recipe information and checklists of cleanup and sanitation procedures. There is also a plaque entitled "What is a Customer?" which explains to employees why a Krispy Kreme customer is so important. In the "Miscellaneous" folder there are two guides that advise on how to promote and sell items and a store/production area sign containing the store mission statement. [Also see Series 2: Administrative Records, Subseries E: Personnel, for a guide entitled "Salesgirl" which instructs the female Krispy Kreme employee on matters pertaining to dress and attitude.]
Series 4: Newsletters, 1957-1998, includes, Krispy Kreme News, Krispy Kreme Management Circle, and Hot Doughnut News.
Krispy Kreme News, 1957-1998, is geared towards all members of the Krispy Kreme community -- management, operators and managers, and employees. Its articles discuss new store openings, Corporation news, community (or news-related) events, and provides instructions and reminders concerning store upkeep and sanitation. There are sections announcing upcoming retirements, congratulating outstanding employees, and honoring long service to Krispy Kreme. Also included are articles that do not necessarily pertain to Krispy Kreme, but, rather, add a human element to the newsletters, such as humorous stories, articles on birds, and tips on highway safety. Some articles of interest are a history of chocolate (September 1963), "You Can Improve Your Memory" (May 1967), "A Communist is a Rich Marxist" (July 1967), and a discussion on skirt lengths and their relation to economics (February 1970). [In addition, there are two early issues of Krispy Kreme News (May 9 and May 15, 1951) in a folder entitled "Brief Outline of the History of Krispy Kreme, 1977" which is located in Series 1: History of Krispy Kreme.]
Also included in this subseries and relating to Krispy Kreme News are a subject index, a questionnaire form, and signed release letters.
Krispy Kreme Management Circle, 1995-1997, is a quarterly newsletter geared towards Krispy Kreme management and leadership. The articles focus on product quality, marketing and promotions, and training. At the end of each issue, there is a ranking of stores in different sales categories, i.e., average customer purchases (in dollars), highest percentages of customers buying beverages with their food or buying a second dozen doughnuts.
Hot Doughnut News, 1997, caters primarily to Krispy Kreme store operators, providing reports on stores and ideas for marketing.
Series 5: Press Clippings, 1949-1998, contains articles and stories that cover the Corporation, its history, its founder and subsequent leaders, and its community programs and promotions. The bulk of the clippings are from newspapers with a scattering of magazine articles. The largest number clippings come from the Winston-Salem Journalof Winston-Salem, NC, where Krispy Kreme is based. All articles have been copied onto acid-free paper.
Some clippings have been separated from the rest. One folder, "Davey Allison," contains clippings concerning the sudden death of this popular NASCAR driver and Krispy Kreme spokesman, in 1993. The folder titled "Ralph Simpson and Associates, July-Sept 1995" contains articles and news briefs on Krispy Kreme and its competitors collected by a Winston-Salem public relations firm. Two other folders with clippings from the Simpson PR firm concern Krispy Kreme's donation into the Smithsonian in July 1997. The contents of these two folders are not on acid-free paper. "School Computers" documents the efforts of the Krispy Kreme Corporation to help distribute computers to schools across North Carolina. The "TV Monitoring Report, July 1997" folder does not contain any clippings, but includes a listing of news stories that appeared on television about the Krispy Kreme donation to the Smithsonian.
Series 6: Photographs, ca. late 1930s through the mid 1990s, consists of black-and-white and color photographs and some negatives and transparencies. This series is divided into the following subseries:
Subseries 6.1: Corporate Staff, Associates, and Store Managers, ca. 1940s-early 1990s, is broken down into the following two categories: "Corporate Staff" and "Associates and Store Managers." Corporate Staff contains photographs of the officers of the corporation as well as members of the staff at the headquarters in Winston-Salem. Most are portrait shots with some group photos, e.g., the Board of Directors. There are also photographs of a 1974 retirement party for Mike Harding (Chairman of the Board and CEO) and Louise Joyner (editor of the Krispy Kreme News) and of a wedding cake made in 1990 for the wedding of headquarters accountant Cathy Rogers. The cake and the wedding were featured in the winter 1991 issue of Krispy Kreme News. [Also of interest are two photocopies of photographs -- of a house and a family -- located in Series 1: History of Krispy Kreme, Folder: "Vernon Rudolph."]
The Associates and Store Managers photographs consist mostly of group portraits taken at their respective annual meetings: Associate Operators' Meeting and Store Managers' Conference. Also included are scenes of store manager training, which was mandatory for all new Krispy Kreme managers.
Subseries 6.2: Corporate Headquarters, date from the late 1940s through the late 1980s. This subseries contains photographs of the General Offices, Equipment Department, Laboratory, Mix Department, and Warehouse. [Other photographs pertaining to these areas can be found in Series 6: Photographs, Subseries H: "Tour Given to Smithsonian Staff."]
The General Offices photographs include exterior and interior views of the headquarters on Ivy Avenue. The Equipment Department photographs show various pieces of doughnut equipment as well as the designing, manufacturing, and assembling of said equipment by Krispy Kreme. [For more technical information on the different equipment, please refer to Series 3: Operational Records, Subseries B: "Equipment and Engineering."]
The Quality Control Laboratory photographs consist of views that show the interior of the laboratory and of the chemists at work. There are also some images of test results of the doughnut mixes for quality and consistency. In addition, there are pictures of lab results of tests on glaze made with and without stabilizers.
The Mix Department photographs contain views of the different stages of department operations. They also show the equipment used to prepare the dry doughnut mixes, which later are sent to the Krispy Kreme stores. The Warehouse photographs show bags of Krispy Kreme prepared mixes stacked in a large warehouse at the headquarters and waiting to be shipped.
Subseries 6.3: Retail Shops and Plants, ca. 1937-1994, contains photographs of specific Krispy Kreme stores. They show the exterior and interior views of the shops including storefront, signage, retail, and production areas, as well as employees and customers. The bulk of the photos range from the 1950s through the 1970s. They are arranged by state, by city within the state, and then by street name within the city.
Subseries 6.4: General Photographs, ca. 1940s-mid 1990s, concern unspecified Krispy Kreme shops and plants. They include views of store exteriors (storefront and signage) and interiors (production and retail areas and signage). The production area photographs show the various stages of the production of doughnuts, pies, and honeybuns. There are also photographs of customers, employees, and of students participating in the Krispy Kreme fundraising plan. The employee photographs consist of general in-store action and posed shots as well as views of employees receiving service awards for years of service. The fundraising photographs show students picking up boxes of doughnuts from Krispy Kreme shops or selling those boxes in an effort to raise money.
This subseries also contains photographs of the trucks used by the Krispy Kreme stores throughout the years to deliver their products to groceries and other food stores. [A a set of press clippings that detail the use of Kripsy Kreme trucks in delivering school computers to North Carolina schools. These can be found in SERIES 5: Press Clippings, in the folder titled "School Computers, May-June 1993."]
Subseries 6.5: Trade Shows, range in date from the 1950s through 1970s. This subseries includes photographs of Krispy Kreme displays at trade shows in the United States (Atlanta and St. Louis) and in Greece, Indonesia, Japan, and Pakistan.
Subseries 6.6: Products and Packaging, ca. late 1940s-early 1990s, shows samples of various grocery store displays as well as photographs of doughnuts, fried pies, and honeybuns -- with and without packaging. There is also a folder that contains shots of Krispy Kreme coffee cups.
Subseries 6.7: Advertising and Promotions, dates from 1965-1990s. The bulk of the photographs centers around shots of Davey Allison's race car. Allison was a Krispy Kreme spokesman for their Race to Daytona Sweepstakes in 1991. The other photographs consist of views of various advertising posters used in shops and grocery stores. There are also photographs that show Krispy Kreme advertising displays in airports.
Subseries 6.8: Photo Albums, consist of six albums, all falling within the date range of the 1950s through the mid 1980s. The first album, "Exterior and Interior shots of Unspecified Retail Shops," contains photographs that date from the late 1970s-mid 1980s; these consist of exterior and interior views of various stores.
The second album, entitled "Krispy Kreme Album," dates from 1962. A Christmas gift to Vernon Rudolph from the Corporate staff and associates, it contains photographs of the individual staff members and associates as well as group shots of the associates at annual meetings. There are also photographs of various shop storefronts. This album also includes exterior and interior views of the corporate headquarters.
"Krispy Kreme Doughnut Co.," ca. 1950s-1960s, is the third album. It served as a pictorial marketing tool used to attract new associates and franchisees. It shows exterior views of the corporate headquarters, various storefronts, and views of a typical Krispy Kreme trade show display. There are also photographs showing retail doughnut production as well as images of packaging and final products. In addition, there is a price list of equipment and mixes.
The "Plant and Production" album dates from the 1960s. It consists of photographs showing the different stages of doughnut production and the preceding steps involving the equipment and mix departments and laboratory. There are also exterior views of various retail shops and of the headquarters in Winston-Salem.
The "Production Equipment Album," ca. 1960s-early 1970s, is similar to the "Krispy Kreme Doughnut Co." album with regards to the subject of the photographs. Additionally, there are photographs of the officers of the Corporation as well as images of advertising posters used in grocery stores.
The sixth album, entitled "Social Gatherings Album," dates from 1951-1971. It contains photographs of female corporate staff members at various social gatherings, such as bridal and baby showers, picnics, birthdays, and Christmas parties.
Subseries 6.9: Tour Given to Smithsonian Staff, contains photographs that were taken on May 28, 1997. The photos, taken by Smithsonian photographer Rich Strauss, depict a tour of the Corporation headquarters in Winston-Salem, NC. One highlight of interest is a view of the safe where the secret Krispy Kreme recipe is kept (located in the "Quality Control Laboratory" section of this subseries). The photographs are arranged according to the order of the tour.
Series 7: AUDIOvisual Materials, remains unprocessed as of the date of this finding aid. This series consists of training films, videotapes, TV and radio commercials, and slide presentations. A rough inventory of these materials is provided in the container list.
Biographical / Historical:
The Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation started with a recipe, a Pontiac, a pack of cigarettes, and a dream. Add in hard work and a commitment to quality and consistency and what emerges is a company that is at the top of its field and beloved by its customers. It is an organization that has been innovative over the years, but has also remained true to its belief in making top quality products and ensuring excellent customer service. All of this has made Krispy Kreme doughnuts and its company a Southern icon.
The story of Krispy Kreme is the story of one man: Vernon Rudolph. Vernon Rudolph opened his first Krispy Kreme shop in the 1930s and from there built a corporation which he led until his death in the early 1970s. There is another part of the story and that is the continuation of the dream by Joseph McAleer. It was after some years under corporate food giant, Beatrice Foods, that McAleer, beginning in 1982, steered Krispy Kreme back to its traditional emphasis on excellent doughnuts as well as on a family atmosphere within the entire corporation.
The story begins on June 30, 1915 in Marshall County, Kentucky with the birth of Vernon Carver Rudolph. He was the eldest son of Rethie Nimmo Rudolph (mother) and Plumie Harrison Rudolph (father) and had a strict, but loving, upbringing. Vernon Rudolph did well in school, both academically and athletically. He also found time to work in his father's general store as well as helping his neighbors with odd jobs.
After graduating from high school, Rudolph then began his life's work when he went to work for his uncle, Ishmael Armstrong. It seems Armstrong bought a doughnut shop -- along with the assets, name, and recipe -- from a Frenchman from New Orleans, Joe LeBeau. So in 1933, Rudolph began selling the yeast-based doughnuts door to door for the Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop in Paducah, Kentucky. Not only did Rudolph sell doughnuts, he took part in producing them, thereby giving him an all-around experience in the doughnut business.
The economic depression that rocked the country also affected the shop. Armstrong decided to move from Paducah to the much bigger Nashville, Tennessee, hoping that business would be better there. Vernon Rudolph went with him to the new location, hoping for the same. But after trying, Armstrong, in 1935, decided to sell the shop and return to Kentucky. Rudolph wanted to buy it, but unfortunately did not have the money. However, his father -- whose general store had closed and who was working for the doughnut shop as a salesman -- stepped in. He borrowed the money and soon after Krispy Kreme was operating under new ownership. It was also at this time that one of Rudolph's younger brothers, Lewis, joined the family business.
The shop was doing well, enough so that in 1936 Rudolph's father opened another shop in Charleston, West Virginia. Awhile later, a third shop opened in Atlanta, Georgia. While this growth was occurring, Vernon Rudolph still wanted to own his own Krispy Kreme store. In the summer of 1937, he left Nashville with two friends in their new 1936 Pontiac and $200. Carrying start-up doughnut equipment the three young men set out towards an unknown destination, but with a known dream.
Louise Skillman Joyner, Krispy Kreme News editor, recounts how Rudolph and his friends settled on Winston-Salem, North Carolina as the location for their shop.
After some disappointments in looking for a suitable location, Vernon Rudolph, standing on a street corner in Peoria, [Illinois], one evening, wondered what the next move should be. Rents were quite high in that section of the country and the trio was running out of money. He took a pack of Camel cigarettes from his pocket and noticed that they were manufactured in Winston-Salem, N.C. "Why not Winston-Salem?" he thought, "A town with a company producing a nationally advertised product has to be a good bet." So off across the mountains to North Carolina they went.
With only $25 left, they arrived in Winston-Salem. Using that money to rent a space on Main Street and then getting the ingredients and some equipment on credit (which they paid back promptly), the three men began making yeast doughnuts. That day was July 13, 1937. Vernon Rudolph believed in producing only doughnuts of high quality and those were the only ones that were ever sold. That belief (as well as the mouth-watering doughnuts) endeared them to the people of Winston-Salem. What also caught their eye (and their taste buds) was the doughnut production that occurred in the store's front window and the free samples given away in the evenings.
Krispy Kreme at this time was primarily a wholesale enterprise. Using trucks to deliver the products, Rudolph was able to sell doughnuts throughout the area. But soon the wonderful aroma that came from the shop caused passersby to ask for doughnuts right there on the spot. This led to the beginning of Krispy Kreme's retail operations.
In the midst of all this, Rudolph met and married an Atlanta woman, Ruth Ayers, in 1939. This family increased by one in 1943 when the Rudolphs adopted a baby girl, whom they named Patricia Ann. Sadly, Ruth Ayers Rudolph was killed in an automobile accident in Orangeburg, South Carolina in 1944.
The number of Krispy Kreme stores continued to grow in the years that followed. But instead of Rudolph owning all of them outright, he entered into partnerships or into associate (franchise) relationships. The arrangements gave the operators of these particular shops that use of the Krispy Kreme name, recipe, and later the ingredients. But more importantly, they had to agree to adhere to the Krispy Kreme philosophy of producing only the highest quality doughnuts. In those early years, the business was truly family-oriented. This atmosphere continued with these associate owners.
In 1946, Rudolph began thinking about consolidating all the Krispy Kreme resources together under a corporation. This umbrella, he believed, would enable Krispy Kreme to grow further and also give the shops a sense of uniformity. So on October 1, 1946 a corporation named the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Company was formed. Less than a year later, on June 3, 1947, a new corporation, the Krispy Kreme Corporation, was incorporated. The Company concerned itself with individual store operations, while the corporation took care of producing dry mixes used by the shops. Vernon Rudolph served as President and Chairman of the Board.
It was also in 1946 that Rudolph married again -- to Lorraine Flynt of Winston-Salem. Their family of three grew over the years to include Vernon Carver Jr., Sanford, Curtis, and Beverly.
The formation of the corporation was followed by the creation of three important departments within Krispy Kreme: the Mix Department, the Laboratory, and the Equipment Department. Each had an essential role in the overall success of the company. The Mix Department has grown since its creation in 1948. Its primary mission: to mix, in bulk, the key ingredients needed by the shops to make doughnuts -- both yeast- and cake-doughnuts -- but also newly added products -- fried pies and honeybuns. By providing these mixes, Krispy Kreme was able to ensure that all stores made the same excellent products.
The Laboratory was created in 1949. Vernon Rudolph's beliefs in top quality and uniformity were put in action. The Laboratory tested ingredients that were in the prepared mixes and experimented with others to see if perhaps a new ingredient would make a great product better.
Rudolph started the Equipment Department because Krispy Kreme's main supplier of yeast doughnut machines, the Doughnut Corporation of America, decided to enter the retail doughnut business itself. So with the help of consultants and staffed with engineers and machinists, the Equipment Department began manufacturing its own equipment in 1949.
The push towards automation that swept the nation also affected Krispy Kreme. One piece of equipment that illustrates this is the Ring King Junior. Designed for cake doughnut production and taking up only seven square feet, the Ring King Junior cut, fried, turned, and cooled about 30 to 75 dozen per hour. How different from the early days of Krispy Kreme when everything had to be done by hand -- measuring, cutting, frying. The Ring King not only saved space and time, but also ingredients used. And it gave a uniformity to the doughnuts produced -- something Vernon Rudolph liked very much.
Over the years, Krispy Kreme has followed a philosophy of excellent quality and customer service. It recognizes the importance of the customer -- because without him or her there would be no reason to be in business. Along with giving their customers the best, getting involved in the community is another way Krispy Kreme has endeared itself to them. They do this by primarily helping area schools raise money for equipment, uniforms, trips, etc. In order to accomplish its goals, the company needs hard-working and dependable people. Krispy Kreme recognizes the value of its employees. The family atmosphere of those early days has continued.
Vernon Rudolph believed in that philosophy and always strove to make Krispy Kreme the best in the doughnut business. His death on August 16, 1973, left a large void and the years immediately afterwards were tough. Then, in 1976, Krispy Kreme merged with corporate giant Beatrice Foods Company of Chicago. It was still headquartered in Winston-Salem and continued its operations, but as a subsidiary.
For Beatrice, showing a profit was extremely important. To help its Krispy Kreme division, Beatrice encouraged additions to the menu and substitutions of ingredients in the doughnut mixes. This did not appeal to long-time Krispy Kreme associates, but unfortunately there was not much that could be done at that time.
Beatrice's association with Krispy Kreme was not as profitable as it had hoped it would be. So in 1981, the food corporation decided to sell its subsidiary. One Krispy Kreme associate saw this as an opportunity to bring the doughnut company back to the basic traditions upon which it had built a successful enterprise. The associate, Joseph A. McAleer, Sr., had been with the company for almost thirty years when this situation arose. An Alabama native, he went to work for the company in 1951 after he saw an advertisement in the Mobile Press Register for qualified people to join a profitable organization -- the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation. After meeting with Vernon Rudolph, McAleer worked at the Pensacola, Florida store for $1 per hour in order to learn all aspects of a shop's operations. Rudolph had initially wanted McAleer to work for no pay, but with a family to care for, McAleer could not do this and so the $1 an hour agreement was arranged.
McAleer worked 120 hour weeks for over a year. This experience enabled him, in 1953, to start a shop of his own, in Pritchard, Alabama, a suburb of Mobile. His first effort there was not a success -- due to a poor location. He opened another shop in 1956 -- this time off of a busy street in Mobile -- and this time was successful. Over the next 17 years, McAleer opened up other Krispy Kreme shops in Alabama and Mississippi and all promised to provide the highest quality product and the best service. And continuing the family-oriented tradition, members of his immediate family worked in the different shops.
The death of Vernon Rudolph and Beatrice's purchase of Krispy Kreme seemed to send the doughnut company in a new direction -- one not everyone, including McAleer, liked. When Beatrice wanted to sell Krispy Kreme, McAleer talked with his fellow associates and those with ties to the company -- people, like him, who had a stake in Krispy Kreme's success -- and through his efforts was able to form a group of investors. In 1982, the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation had new owners.
These new owners, though, saw Krispy Kreme as a specialty-type of operation with a certain uniqueness and familial closeness and one which needed to concentrate on its basic foundation. That is, going to back to Vernon Rudolph's philosophy of top quality and top service as well as focusing on people, both customers and employees. They are beliefs and values that have proven successful and have helped Krispy Kreme grow from a small doughnut shop in Winston-Salem to a large corporation that still makes the same much-loved doughnut.
Related Materials:
There is a folder of duplicate Krispy Kreme material in Archives Center collection #439, the Sally L. Steinberg Collection of Doughnut Ephemera. The Archives Center also contains collection #662, two scrapbooks from the Doughnut Corporation of America. Artifacts donated by the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation to the National Museum of American History are located in the Division of Cultural History and the Division of the History of Technology.
Provenance:
This collection was donated to the National Museum of American History, Archives Center on July 17, 1997, by the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation. Additional items were donated on July 17, 1997, by V. Carver Rudolph and on August 6, 1997, by Steve Cochran.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection includes thirty-eight punchboards, all unpunched and in very good to excellent condition, and featuring a range of products and imagery. The collection also includes two punchboard manufacturers' catalogs from the 1940s, which detail the money-making opportunities for jobbers and retailers.
The collection also contains correspondence, employment forms, promotional literature, photographs and sales training literature from Evan "Ding" Rangeloff=s early career as a sales representative and regional sales manager for Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company. Of particular interest are sales training manuals which explore the psychology of selling in the 1950s, manuals which detail sales cigarette marketing strategies at military bases and on Indian reservations, and materials relating to Liggett & Myers sponsorship of Formula One car racing in the 1970s.
Arrangement:
Series 1: Business Records, circa 1954-1991
Series 2: Photographs, circa 1920-1970
Series 3: Sales Training Literature, circa 1955-1957, 1974, 1979
Series 4: Punchboards, circa 1910-1970
Historical:
During and after his employment as a salesman and regional sales manager with Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company in Duluth, Minnesota, Mr. Rangeloff began collecting the gambling and sales promotion devices known as punchboards. In 1999-2000, he donated a large and representative selection of punchboards to the Archives Center. The term "punchboard" (or in some cases "punch board," "push board," "punchcard," or "pushcard") refers to a gambling device popular in the United States from roughly 1910 until 1970. Punchboards could be used for fundraising, sales promotion and gambling--sometimes all at once. Punchboards were typically found in places where men gathered socially, such as bars, pool halls, barber shops, and men's clubs. Punchboards also could be found in beauty parlors, drug stores, and other small retail establishments. With their promise of easy money, punchboards enjoyed great success during the Depression, and continued to enjoy popularity during and after World War II. According to Scarne's Complete Guide to Gambling (New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, 1961), approximately 30 million punchboards were sold between 1910 and 1915. Scarne estimated that 50 million punchboards were sold in 1939 alone, at the peak of their popularity. Punchboard sales declined significantly after WWII, and by the mid-1970s the boards had been outlawed in most states.
Punchboards trace their lineage to 18th century lottery game boards. These handmade boards, with the winning ticket placed by the operator, offered no safeguards against corruption, however, and their misuse may have contributed to the game=s waning popularity. In 1905, C.A. Brewer and C.G. Scannell patented a new version of the traditional game. By 1910, modern manufacturing techniques, including the invention of board stuffing machines and ticket folding machines, contributed to the reinvigoration of the punchboard. The new punchboards were constructed out of cardboard, with a sheet of paper or foil covering both front and back of the board. This covering was intended to prevent the operator from discovering where the winning tickets were or otherwise tampering with the board. Cheap, portable, disposable, and offering a ready vehicle for advertising, punchboards are an exuberant, if ephemeral, expression of 20th century mass culture.
A modern punchboard typically consists of a square or rectangular piece of pressed wood or cardboard (from 2 inch to one inch in thickness) in which hundreds or thousands of holes have been drilled in a regular pattern, then loaded with tiny slips of rolled or folded paper. Each slip of paper had a number or symbol printed on it. Both front and back of the board were covered with a foil or paper seal. The front of the board typically featured some form of attention-getting commercial imagery and a chart listing the winning number or combination of numbers and symbols, along with the prizes or cash amounts to be awarded to the winners. The boards were sold with a metal stylus or "punch" for the players to use.
A player paid the punchboard's operator a set amount of money (typically a nickel, dime, or quarter) for a chance to use a metal stylus to break the seal on the hole of his choice, and punch one of the slips of paper out of the board. If the number or symbols found on the slip of paper matched one of the pre determined winning combinations, the player was awarded the corresponding prize.
Punchboard manufacturers sold the boards blank or preprinted. Blank boards were sold to "jobbers" or salesmen who then added their own imagery or advertisement, and many surviving punchboards feature advertisements for products that were inexpensive and had mass appeal, such as peanuts, candy and cigarettes. Some of these boards offered the advertised product as the prize; these came to be known as prizeboards. Some prizeboards were constructed with a shadow box meant to contain prizes such as rhinestone sunglasses, wristwatches, Bowie knives, or even handguns. Punchboard manufacturers also sold the board pre-printed with various kinds of commercial imagery--sports, gambling, and patriotic imagery were well-represented, as were folk figures, racial and ethnic stereotypes, and the ubiquitous pin-up girls. Most of these boards were played for cash.
Provenance:
Gift of Evan Rangeloff, October 1999.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
An extensive collection of magazine advertisements featuring celebrities from entertainment, sports, royalty, and the arts.
Scope and Contents:
A wide-ranging collection of over 1,000 celebrity advertising endorsements, ca. 1897-1979. The endorsements were culled by a collector/hobbyist from high-end magazines publications such as Fortune, McCalls, Playbill and Vogue. They feature a wide range of celebrities from the fields of performing arts, sports, business, politics and "society." The products endorsed vary greatly with heavy concentrations of cigarettes, beauty products and electronic equipment predominating. The bulk of the collection covers the 1920s-1970s with an especially high concentration of material from the 1930s-1940s. The majority are in color.
Advertisements are filed according to the profession or background of the endorser Thereunder, ads are arranged alphabetically by the last name of the endorser. Where more than one endorser is featured, the advertisement is filed under the last name of the endorser most prominently featured in the advertisement. If they are all of equal status within the advertisement, the advertisement is filed under the last name appearing earliest in the alphabet.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into five series.
Series 1: Performing Arts
Series 2: Business/Politics
Series 3: Sports
Series 4: Society, fashio, Royalty
Series 5: Writers, Musicians, Artists, Singers
Biographical / Historical:
The use of celebrities for promoting a product is an advertising device that has been used with increasing frequency since the latter part of the 19th century. Personalities from all walks of life, society, sports, and entertainment have regularly lent their image for product endorsement. These products have ranged from alcohol to moth crystals to cigarettes and a variety of other products. The trend continues to grow and refine itself expanding from the realm of print media into television, radio, motion pictures, and the internet.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History by Gary and Sandra Baden, of Chevy Chase, D.C., in 1997.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Sports, Entertainment and Leisure Search this
Extent:
4.5 Cubic feet (8 boxes, 1 map folder)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Letters (correspondence)
Programs
Paper dolls
Interviews
Clippings
Awards
Photographs
Magazines (periodicals)
Advertisements
Date:
1910 - 2003
Summary:
Yolande Betbeze was crowned Miss America in September, 1950. During and after her reign she was influential in both the Civil Rights and Feminist movements. Her papers document her reign as Miss America, her life after Miss America, and the Miss America pageant itself.
Scope and Contents:
Scope and Content: This collection documents the life of Yolande Betbeze who reigned as Miss America 1951. Though the collection focuses heavily on the year of her reign from September 1950 to September 1951, it also includes information about her life before winning the Miss America pageant, the Miss Alabama and Miss America pageants of 1950, and her life post-Miss America. Visual imagery in the collection documents life and fashion in the 1950s through 2000. Newspaper articles offer evidence of the culture of the 1950s. This collection contains newspaper clippings, magazine articles, photographs, awards, and memorabilia of Miss America pageants throughout the twentieth century in the form of booklets, brochures, and paper dolls.
Series 1, Miss America Reign, 1950-1951, 1994, undated, includes newspaper articles, magazine articles, and awards from the House of Representatives, programs and brochures relating to Ms. Betbeze's activities as Miss America. All publicity articles—whether promotional or editorial-are included in this series. Betbeze traveled extensively during her reign, and her trips are documented here. Also included in this series are her visits to military installations, promotion of Miss America pageant sponsors, promotion of her own opera career, and most importantly her verbal attacks against the objectification of women in pageants while she wore the Miss America crown.
Subseries 1, Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Articles, 1950-1951, undated,
includes newspaper clippings about Betbeze during her reign as Miss America, documenting nearly every event she attended and delving into her love life and home life. The clippings are arranged by month and year from September 1950 through September 1951. The newspaper articles from Betbeze's reign that are without a date are arranged by topic behind the dated clippings. This subseries also includes several articles published in magazines about Betbeze during her reign. The articles are arranged in chronological order by year behind the newspaper clippings.
Subseries 2, Awards, 1950, includes awards given to Betbeze by the House of Representatives after she was named Miss America in Atlantic City, as well as an award by the town of Chickasaw naming Betbeze an honorary citizen.
Subseries 3, Programs and Brochures, 1950-1951, includes mini-photo books of Betbeze from her reign as Miss America, as well as pageant programs from pageants she attended as Miss America. It also includes programs and brochures of events she attended and participated in as Miss America, such as her Coronation Ball and a Symphony in Fashion runway show. The materials are arranged with the photograph books first, followed by pageant programs, then programs from various events.
Subseries 4, Promotional Advertisements, 1950-1951, includes promotional advertisements for Nash Automobile, the Official Car Company of Miss America, and Everglaze Fabric. These advertisements are arranged in chronological order.
Subseries 5, Materials Related to Miss America Reign, 1950-1951, 1994, includes material relevant to Betbeze's reign as Miss America, such as her schedule book from September 1950 to September 1951 and a 1994 interview regarding her life, her reign, and her beliefs. The materials are arranged in chronological order by year.
Series 2, Post-Miss America Reign, 1951-2001, undated, documents Betbeze's life after her reign as Miss America through newspaper clippings, magazine articles, and Betbeze's copy of pageant judging guidelines for Miss America 1957. It also documents the changing view of women from the 1950s through the turn of the twenty-first century. Betbeze pursued a career in opera after Miss America, but this career ended with her marriage to Matthew Fox. Materials also relate to her marriage to Matthew Fox, her relationship with Cherif Guellal, her life in Georgetown in Washington D.C in the 1960s, and her participation in later Miss America pageants.
Subseries 1, Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Articles, 1952-2001, undated, includes newspaper clippings and magazine articles about Betbeze after her reign as Miss America. They document her relationships, lifestyle, causes, and career. The clippings are arranged chronologically by year. The magazine articles are arranged chronologically by decade behind the newspaper clippings.
Subseries 2, Miss America Activities, 1957, comprises of Betbeze's copy of judging guidelines from the 1957 Miss America Pageant. It includes a schedule of events and the judging criteria for each woman, illustrating the changing perception of women in the United States of America from the 1950s through the twenty-first century.
Series 3, Photographs, 1950-2000, undated, documents Betbeze's life from the 1940s to the turn of the twenty-first century. It includes several photographs from her childhood and teen years. The majority of the series focuses on her reign as Miss America, including photos of her travels, glamour photos, publicity photos, and candid shots. It also includes photographs of Betbeze after her reign. There are negatives for several of the photographs. Photographs are arranged by topic.
Subseries 1, Pre-Miss America Reign, 1949-1950, contains Betbeze's life as a teenager and the Miss Alabama pageant. The photographs are arranged by topic.
Subseries 2, Miss America Reign, 1950-1951, undated, provides visual evidence enhancing the printed materials in the other series. It includes photographs of Betbeze's travels throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico, and the Caribbean. It also includes glamour photographs, candid shots, and publicity events that she attended as Miss America. There are a few photographs of her in a swimsuit. The photographs are arranged by topic.
Subseries 3, Post-Miss America Reign, 1951-2001, includes photographs of Betbeze in later life, especially at Miss America pageants in the 1990s. The photographs are arranged by topic.
Series 4, Materials Related to Miss America Pageants, 1910-2003, undated, documents the institution of the Miss America Pageant and its development throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. It includes memorabilia from Atlantic City, the pageants, and Miss America advertisements. It includes official pageant yearbooks and correspondence to Betbeze regarding the seventy-fifth anniversary of Miss America, including a booklet about the pageant. It also includes Miss America Through the Looking Glass (1985), a book documenting the Miss America Pageant from its inception to the 1980s.
Subseries 1, Official Pageant Yearbooks, 1946-2003, comprises of Official Pageant Yearbooks. They illustrate the changing fashions and culture surrounding the pageant. They are arranged in chronological order by year.
Subseries 2, Miss America Memorabilia, 1910-2001, undated, consists of memorabilia of the Miss America Pageant and Atlantic City. The materials include a package for a hairnet from the 1920s, advertisements using the Miss America label for Lucky Strike cigarettes, sheet music for the Miss America and Miss Alabama official songs, Miss America Through the Looking Glass, various stickers advertising the pageant and Atlantic City, Miss America paper dolls, cards and postcards. The memorabilia is arranged in chronological order by year.
Subseries 3, Seventy-fifth Anniversary of Miss America, 1995, includes correspondence between pageant directors and Betbeze regarding the seventy-fifth Anniversary of the Miss America Pageant, as well as a brochure about the pageant. The materials are arranged by type; first is the correspondence regarding the seventy-fifth anniversary, then the brochure advertising Miss America.
Series 5, Yolande Betbeze Personal Papers, 1949-1999, undated, documents life behind-the-scenes through telegrams and letters from friends and fans, invitations and Betbeze's schedule book as Miss America. It includes magazine articles and newspaper clippings from her pre-Miss America years, and the layout of an interview she gave in 1994.
Subseries 1, Personal Correspondence, 1950-1995, undated, consists of personal letters between Betbeze and her friends, including Lenora Slaughter, the head of the Miss America Pageant when Betbeze was Miss America. It also includes fan-mail and autograph requests. The correspondence is arranged chronologically by year.
Subseries 2, Telegrams, 1950-1951, consists of telegrams that Betbeze received as Miss America. They consist of well wishes for her reign, birthday, and Christmas. The telegrams are arranged chronologically by year.
Subseries 3, Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Articles, 1949-1950, consists of newspaper clippings and magazine articles saved by Betbeze. They include reviews of her performance as Musetta in La Boheme in Mobile in 1949 and articles about Matthew Fox. The clippings are arranged chronologically by month and year. The magazine articles are arranged by year behind the newspaper clippings.
Arrangement:
Tyhe collection is divided into five series.
Series 1: Miss America Reign, 1950-1951, 1994, undated
Subseries 1.1, Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Articles, 1950-1951, undated
Subseries 1.5, Materials Related to Miss America Reign, 1950-1994
Series 2: Post Miss America, 1952-2001, undated
Subseries 1, Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Articles, 1952-2001, undated
Subseries 2, Miss America Activities, 1957
Series 3: Photographs, 1950-2000, undated
Subseries 3.1, Pre-Miss America Reign, 1949-1950
Subseries 3.2, Miss America Reign, 1950-1951, undated
Subseries 3.3, Post Miss America Reign, 1951-2001
Series 4: Materials Related to Miss America Pageants, 1910-2003, undated
Subseries 4.1, Official Pageant Yearbooks, 1946-2003
Subseries 4.2, Miss America Memorabilia, 1910-2001, undated
Subseries 4.3, Seventy-fifth Anniversary of Miss America, 1995
Series 5: Yolande Betbeze Personal Papers, 1949-1999, undated
Subseries 5.1, Personal Correspondence, 1950-1995, undated
Subseries 5.2, Telegrams, 1950-1951
Subseries 5.3, Newspaper Clippings and Magazine Articles, 1949-1950
Biographical / Historical:
Yolande Betbeze, Miss America 1951, was born in 1929 in Mobile, Alabama. Her mother was of Basque ancestry, so Yolande ended up with a foreign sounding name and dark European looks, quite different from the general populace of Mobile. Early on she aspired to become a famous opera singer, and took voice lessons throughout her teenage years. In 1949 she starred as Musetta in Puccini's La Boheme, through the Mobile Opera Guild.
In 1950, Yolande entered the Miss Mobile Beauty Pageant, hoping to win and continue to state and national levels to receive a scholarship to study voice in New York City, or even abroad. When she entered the pageant she gave her age as 21, but at her next birthday in late 1950 (presumably her 22nd) she confessed that she had lied about her age. Really, she was 20 when she entered the Miss America pageant, and this was her 21st birthday.
She was crowned Miss Mobile, then Miss Alabama. In September 1950, she made her way to Atlantic City to compete for the title of Miss America. Newspapers in Alabama raved about her. Even journalists in the north predicted that Yolande would be crowned the next Miss America. In an interview, pageant director Lenora Slaughter says that from the moment she saw her she felt that Yolande would be crowned the next Miss America. During preliminaries, Yolande won first place in the swimsuit competition, while Miss Connecticut won first place in the talent competition. Nonetheless, Yolande wowed them with her singing. When she won the title of Miss America, her schedule quickly filled with singing engagements.
On September 9th, 1950, Yolande Betbeze was crowned Miss America. She became an overnight success due to her grace, poise, beauty, and talent. However, she had received an education at a convent school, and felt a bit squeamish about 'cheesecake poses' in a bathing suit. Every Miss America had done a swimsuit tour, even though it wasn't in their contracts that they must, and Yolande was expected to follow in their footsteps. But she wanted to be an opera star, not a pin-up girl, she declared. After winning Miss America, she refused to pose in a swimsuit unless she was going swimming.
The Catalina Swimwear Company, a sponsor of the Miss America pageant, did not like Yolande's stance on swimsuits. They contended that the Miss America pageant had become less focused on the beauty of the contestant and more on their talents and personality. They wanted to bring beauty back. They pulled their sponsorship and created a new pageant line which now includes Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA. This pageant focuses only on the physical beauty of a competitor. Even today there is no talent portion, and even the interview portion has been diluted.
Another issue of the Miss America pageant involved the marriage of a Miss America. Though Yolande had no plans to marry, or even a boyfriend, the papers certainly wanted to know the details surrounding her love-life and ability to marry with the title Miss America. Yolande explained that she received an extra $4000 for staying single throughout the year, but if she wanted to marry she could ask permission from the 18 pageant directors. "Wouldn't it be easier to wait a year?" she asked.
Her year as Miss America was an eventful one. She traveled throughout the United States, the Bahamas, Mexico, France, and Italy. She met with Congressmen, foreign leaders, opera stars, and famous fashion designers. According to Lenora Slaughter, Yolande had the fullest schedule of any Miss America to that date. Everyone agreed that she had put class into the Miss America pageant.
After her reign, she was succeeded as Miss America by Colleen Kay Hutchins, originally Miss Utah. The two became friends and Yolande was in Colleen's wedding some years later. Yolande took up philanthropic causes—fighting for racial equality in the pageants, for instance. She also marched in civil rights demonstrations, participated in sit-ins, and marched in a feminist demonstration in Atlantic City. In 1954 she married a motion picture and television producer, Matthew Fox. They had one daughter before his death in 1964. After she was widowed, Yolande moved to Georgetown in the District of Columbia, where she lives to this day.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center, National Museum of American History
The Miss America 1943 [Jean Bartel] Photographs, 1943-1944 (AC0902)
Separated Materials:
The Division of Work and Industry, Natiuonal Museum of American Historu holds artifacts related to this collection: the Miss America crown, scepter, and sash of 1950-1951, worn by the donor, and the Miss Alabama sash and Miss America ribbon of 1950-1951.
Provenance:
Donated by Yolande Betbeze in 2005.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions. Reproduction restricted due to copyright or trademark.
Kaslov, wearing hat and overcoat and smiling, looks at little girl while he seems to be exchanging an object, possibly a cigarette, with an old woman slightly behind him.
Biographical / Historical:
See collection register for information about Steve Kaslov, etc.
Local Numbers:
AC0161-0000044 (AC Scan No.)
General:
Stamped number 039 and light pencil notations, including "Kaslov", on verso.
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site, by appointment. Researchers must handle unprotected photographs with gloves.
Collection Rights:
Photographs by de Wendler-Funaro are available for reproduction. Fees for commercial use. Permission to reproduce photographs by Alexander Alland must be granted by the photographer's estate; other photographs may have copyright restrictions.
[Gypsy man lighting a little boy's cigarette, black & white photoprint.]
Photographer:
Wendler-Funaro, Carlos de, 1898-1985 (language teacher, also known as Carl Funaro) Search this
Collection Photographer:
Alland, Alexander, Sr. (Alexander Landschaft), 1902-1989 Search this
Collection Author:
Kaslov, Steve, ca. 1888-1949 (King of the Red Bandanna Romany Gypsies ) Search this
Extent:
1 Item (Silver gelatin on paper., 4.1" x 3.8")
Container:
Box 6, Folder 22A
Type:
Archival materials
Photographs
Date:
Circa 1937
Scope and Contents:
Tent in the background.
Local Numbers:
AC0161-0000028 (AC Scan No.)
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site, by appointment. Photographs must be handled with cotton gloves unless protected by sleeves.
Collection Rights:
Photographs by de Wendler-Funaro are available for reproduction. Fees for commercial use. Permission to reproduce photographs by Alexander Alland must be granted by the photographer's estate; other photographs may have copyright restrictions.
As a teenager, Virgil Johnson [b.1918] became interested in the designs and symbols on cigarette packs like "Black Cat" and "White Roll", and he began actively collecting in the 1930s. His interest intensified during the 1940s when he was stationed in North Africa and across the Mediterranean region as a photographer with the U.S. Navy. Mr. Johnson collected cigarette packs for over fifty years, and was a member of the Cigarette Pack Collector's Association.
Approximately 6000 cigarette packages, foreign and American, arranged in 24 albums. Manufacturers include names such as those shown below.
Scope and Contents:
The collection consists of approximately 6,000 cigarette packages, ca. 1890-1997, arranged in 24 albums. The cigarette packages offer a strong base for research into the categories of visual imagery created, associated with, and manipulated for the sale of tobacco products. Researchers interested in the history of design will also find these packages a useful source, as they reflect design modifications (in image, logo, typeface, and package features) over time for virtually every brand marketed in the U.S. and an enormous selection of those marketed overseas, by both U.S. and other global tobacco concerns.
Series 3: BOOKS ABOUT TOBACCO AND TOBACCO COLLECTING These titles have been transferred to NMAH Library.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into 3 series.
Series 1: Cigarette Packages
Series 2: Articles and Other Publications About Tobacco
Series 3: Books About Tobacco and Tobacco Collecting
Biographical / Historical:
As a teenager, Virgil Johnson [b.1918] became interested in the designs and symbols on cigarette packs like Black Cat and White Roll, and he began actively collecting in the 1930s. His interest intensified during the 1940s when he was stationed in North Africa and across the Mediterranean region as a photographer with the U.S. Navy. Mr. Johnson collected cigarette packs for over fifty years, and was a member of the Cigarette Pack Collector=s Association.
Related Materials:
The Archives Center is nationally recognized as a site in which to pursue research into the history of tobacco advertising. The Warshaw Collection (AC 60) include many thousands of tobacco advertisements and cigar box labels from the 19th and 20th centuries; the Ayer Collection (AC 59) includes advertising proofsheets for American Tobacco, Phillip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and other cigarette and cigar manufacturers since the 1870s. The Marlboro Collection (AC 198) includes print ads, company publications, and oral history interviews with tobacco industry and advertising agency personnel. The Walter Landor/Landor Associates Industrial Design Collection (AC 500) includes documentation on package design for numerous tobacco companies since the 1950s, and the newly acquired Sandra and Gary Baden Collection of Celebrity Endorsements in Advertising (AC 611) contains several hundred ads featuring movie stars, singers, politicians, and athletes promoting tobacco products since the 1890s.
4,000 cigarettes, also donated by Mr. Johnson, each contained in a screw top glass vial, were donated to the Center for Disease Control's Office of Smoking and Health in Atlanta, Georgia.
Separated Materials:
Thirty (30) empty wood, metal, and plastic cigarette packs are also part of the Virgil Johnson Collection. They are housed with the Consumer Culture Collections in the Cultural History Division (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) which also holds several dozen cigarette packs from the Walter Landor/Landor Associates Industrial Design Collection (NMAH.AC.0500).
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History in July 1998, by Mr. Virgil Johnson, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia.
The collection was donated to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History in July 1998, by Mr. Virgil Johnson, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Jones, William (Vice President, Zippo Lighter) Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Domestic Life Search this
Extent:
0.75 Cubic feet (2 boxes, 3 oversize folders)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pamphlets
Posters
Articles
Date:
1937 - 1998
Scope and Contents:
Advertising brochures, posters, and articles on the company.
Biographical / Historical:
The Zippo Company has made over 300 million cigarette lighters since it was founded in 1932. The founder, George Blaisdell, believed that the policy of planned obsolescence repulsive, so he guaranteed his product "forever". Any Zippo lighter sent back to the factory has always been repaired at no charge to the customer. According to the company's official history, the lighter's qualities, windproof and rugged, caught on big during World War II when just about every man in the service, dogface to Dwight D. Eisenhower, had one. There are numerous stories of the lighter being used to illuminate airplane instrument panels and as emergency signaling devices. There is a confirmed instance of a lighter working after being frozen in solid ice for four months, and one which survived an 1,100 foot fall. Zippo began diversifying in 1962 into such products as money clips, flashlights and pocket rules. The Case Cutlery Company has been a subsidiary of Zippo since 1993.
Related Materials:
Collected in conjunction with accession no. 1983.0394, Division of Home and Community Life (now Division of Cultural and Community Life).
Provenance:
Collection donated by William Jones, Vice President of Zippo, March 1983.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
