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Product labels and packaging collection
6252
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Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Product labels and packaging collection
source:
United States. Patent Office
Creator:
Scott Paper Company
Identifier/Call Number: 6252
Physical Description:
6.02 Linear Feet
5 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1929-1930
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.
Language of Material:
English
.
Container: 1
Container: 2
Container: 3
Container: 4
Container: 5
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.
Advance notice required for 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.
Rights Statement for Archival Description
Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
[Box/folder no. or item name], Product labels and packaging collection, Collection no. 6252, Special Collections, USC Libraries,
University of Southern California
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Johnson Rare Books & Archives, March 1, 2022.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
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
Labels (identifying artifacts)
Advertisements
Product labels
Product packages
Promotional materials
United States. Patent Office
Scott Paper Company -- Archives