Product labels and packaging collection
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
- Scott Paper Company (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Collections at specol@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Extent
6.02 Linear Feet (5 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
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. After the U.S. Patent office deaccessioned the labels and packaging, they were held in a private collection for over a decade. 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 collection shows examples of printing practices, graphic design styles, and innovations in products and food during the period that the labels and packages were created.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Johnson Rare Books & Archives, March 1, 2022.
Source
- United States. Patent Office (Organization)
Subject
- Scott Paper Company -- Archives (Organization)
Genre / Form
Topical
- Advertising -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Branding (Marketing) -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
- Food -- Labeling -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Package printing -- Archival resources
- Packaging -- United States -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Title
- Finding aid for the Product labels and packaging collection
- Status
- Minimally Processed
- Author
- Bo Doub -- with many of the collection's notes adapted from the seller: Johnson Rare Books & Archives
- Date
- 2022 April
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
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