Product packaging
Scope and Contents
A collection of 610 product labels and packaging created between 1929 and 1930. The material in this collection had been sent to the United States Patent Office by companies to copyright their artistic and literary creations. The labels and packaging in the collection were used for advertising and packaging a wide variety of products, including toilet paper, chocolates, and cockroach poison.
The size, shape, and color schemes of the collection's material are wide-ranging. Nearly every item has a handwritten number on the verso, and many carry an oval stamp that reads "Mail Division U.S. Patent Office" with the date received. Most items also have a small pin hole in them, perhaps from being processed. The labels were deaccessioned from the patent office and held in a private collection for over a decade.
The collection includes 18 different examples of advertising wrappers for toilet paper from Scott's, which is still in the toilet paper business, and specialty toilet paper such as Worthman's, billed as a medicated toilet tissue for treating hemorrhoids. According to Toiletology.com, as early as the mid 1800s, paper was used to clean up after using the toilet. By the late 1800s, Clarence and E. Irvin Scott developed a type of toilet paper that could be rolled onto a small cardboard tube, speeding and simplifying manufacturing and packaging processes.
Dates
- Creation: 1929 - 1930
Creator
- From the Collection: Scott Paper Company (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Extent
From the Collection: 6.02 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
General
The list of items under this series record was generated from a list by the immediate source of the acquisition: Johnson Rare Books & Archives. A given item in the list could be stored in any of the collection's five boxes.
Repository Details
Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States
specol@usc.edu