Product labels and packaging collection, 1929-1930

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Summary

Creators:
United States. Patent Office and Scott Paper Company
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.
Extent:
6.02 Linear Feet 5 boxes
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Product labels and packaging collection, Collection no. 6252, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Background

Scope and content:

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.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Johnson Rare Books Archives, March 1, 2022.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

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.

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder no. or item name], Product labels and packaging collection, Collection no. 6252, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Location of this collection:
Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189, US
Contact:
(213) 740-5900
specol@usc.edu
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