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Charles H. DeMirjian collection of DuPont Consumer Products Division photographs and ephemera

Creation: 1913-1984
 Collection
Accession: 1995-273
View selected items online in the Hagley Digital Archives.
View selected items online in the Hagley Digital Archives.

Abstract

Charles H. DeMirjian (1925-) was a packaging design manager with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. He collected pictures, advertisements, and publications showing DuPont consumer products, as well as some of the products and packages themselves. The collection consists of brochures, advertisements, photographs, and ephemera showing DuPont Company consumer products from 1913 to 1984.

Dates

  • Creation: 1913-1984

Creator

Extent

6 Linear Feet

Physical Description

[228 items; 402 slides: color; 35mm; 45 photographic prints; 1 album; 1 videocassette: VHS]

Biographical Note

Charles H. DeMirjian (1925-) was a packaging design manager with E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. He attended a fine arts school in Philadelphia that is now part of the University of the Arts, followed by studies at the Charles Morris Price School of Advertising and Journalism that was housed in the Poor Richard Club. He was employed, from approximately 1951 to 1954, as Sales Promotion Manager of the Sun Ray Drug Company, then the largest drug store chain in Philadelphia.

Seeking a job with greater design responsibility, DeMirjian joined the Fabrics & Finishes Department of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company in July 1954, at a time when DuPont was placing greater emphasis on marketing to the consumer. In that role, DeMirjian worked primarily with the marketing of Duco® and Lucite® paint products. A new Consumer Products Division was formed within the department in 1963, and DeMirjian became Manager of Packaging Design. He was primarily a manager of designers, helping to establish design parameters and making the final selections from work submitted by subordinates and subcontractors. DeMirjian supervised an integrated approach that combined marketing research, advertising and package design.

DeMirjian began working with the Corian® line in the early 1980s and helped turn what had been a profit losing business into a profit making one through the enlistment of proper advertising and merchandising. Launched in 1967, Corian is widely used non-porous solid surface material that is stain resistant, repairable and even recyclable. It is largely used in bathroom and kitchen applications as countertops. Offered in a wide variety of colors, Corian can also be formed into any shape, making it a popular medium for use by designers.

DeMirjian collected pictures, advertisements, and publications showing DuPont consumer products, as well as some of the products and packages themselves. He retired from the DuPont Company in June 1991.

Scope and Content

The collection consists of brochures, advertisements, photographs, and ephemera showing DuPont Company consumer products from 1913 to 1984. Chief among these products are paint and car care products such as car wash, polish, and antifreeze. Much of the material was aimed at dealers, showing how packaging could efficiently promote the products. There are a few company memorandums and copies of published articles about packaging, as well as some awards that the DuPont Company received for its advertising and packaging.

A deck of cards has images of DuPont Company products on the face of the cards. An album from 1913 contains Harrison Brothers Company paint can labels, brochures, color samples, advertising, and photographs of interiors of paint stores. The DuPont Company acquired Harrison Brothers. There is a complete set of Weatherly Indexes for DuPont car care products from 1970 to 1982. These illustrate the containers for each of these products. There are over 400 slides of DuPont consumer products and advertising assembled by DeMirjian. Finally, there is a VHS videocassette (copy tape) of DuPont car care product television commercials from 1970 to 1981.

Related Material

Charles DeMirjian oral history interview transcript (Accession 2269), Manuscripts and Archives Department, Hagley Museum and Library.

Text of two speeches by Charles H. DeMirjian (Accession 2481), Manuscripts and Archives Department, Hagley Museum and Library.

New Concepts in Color with DuPont Paints (TC .D93 19--b), Imprints Department, Hagley Museum and Library.

DuPont Color Conditioning for Industry (PAM), Imprints Department, Hagley Museum and Library.

Artifacts are housed in the Hagley Museum Division as Accessions 95.26, 2001.21 and 2002.15.

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Provenance

Purchase and gift from Charles H. DeMirjian

Separated Materials

Charles H. DeMirjian DuPont Consumer Products Division records (Accession 2566), Manuscripts and Archives Department, Hagley Museum and Library.

Related Names

Subject

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title:
Charles H. DeMirjian collection of DuPont Consumer Products Division photographs and ephemera
Author:
Jon M. Williams, 1999. Revised
Date:
2010
Description rules:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description:
English
Script of description:
Latin

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Audiovisual Collections Repository

Contact:
PO Box 3630
Wilmington Delaware 19807 USA
302-658-2400