Finding Aids

Avon Products, Inc. is a manufacturer and direct selling company of beauty products. It is one of the oldest direct selling companies in America. The company was founded in 1886 by David H. McConnell (1856-1937) as the California Perfume Company (CPC). McConnell established a manufacturing headquarters and research laboratory in Suffern, New York, in the 1890s. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, CPC expanded its line of products to include cosmetics, household cleaners, food flavorings, and toiletries. The collection consists of photographs, negatives, slides, films, videos and sound recordings date from 1856 to 2000. The materials depict Avon products, their manufacture, packaging and sale, Avon employees and representatives and the offices, laboratories, factories and other structures owned by Avon Products, Inc. The collection is organized into ten series: Administration, Conferences, Non-sales employees, Domestic locations, International locations, Public relations, Sales managers and representatives, Selling methods and sales aids, Company history and philosophy, and Library, music, and museum.

Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks best known for its ginger ale. Canada Dry had its beginning when John McLaughlin (1865-1914) opened a small carbonated water plant in Toronto, Canada, in 1890 to manufacture soda water. In the 1930s the company introduced other Canada Dry mixers. Canada Dry expanded worldwide during this period. The album was created as a salesman's flip chart for Canada Dry distributors to show retailers. There are images of Canada Dry products, views of bottling plants and the manufacturing process, as well as advertisements and merchant testimonials.

DuPont Motors, Inc. was a manufacturing company of luxury automobiles, founded by E. Paul du Pont (1887-1950) in 1919 in Wilmington, Delaware. This collection consists of thirty-eight photographs primarily showing the exteriors of DuPont Motor’s Models A, B, D, and G.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont Company. This collection consists of six safety calendars issued by the DuPont Company. The illustrators who created these calendars--Stanley Massey Arthurs (1877-1950), Clyde Osmer DeLand (1872-1947), Gayle Porter Hoskins (1887-1962), and Frank Earle Schoonover (1877-1972)--were all artists who studied under Howard Pyle (1853-1911) at the turn of the twentieth century.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company, which began as a manufacturer of gunpowder in 1802. The collection consists of photographs and prints that document the early history of the DuPont Company’s involvement in the gunpowder and explosives industries from the 1860s through the 1920s. The bulk of the collection are photographs of employees, executives, and plant views, including aftermaths of explosions and construction. This collection also includes a variety of advertisements for the DuPont Company as well as other non-DuPont related trades. A large portion of this collection are oversize materials (panoramic photographs and advertising posters).

The Textile Fibers Department of the DuPont Company, established in 1936 as the Rayon Department, specialized in researching and developing synthetic fibers for fabrics such as Rayon, Nylon, Teflon, Corian, and Kevlar. This collection primarily contains video tapes (VHS and U-Matic). Most of the content on the VHS videotapes are different than that on the U-Matic videotapes, there are a few duplicate videos that are in both formats. The videotapes content are employee training videos related to management, customer service and safety, as well as, informational videos about product and services, company history and events. Additionally the collection contains photographs, slides, advertising and promotional materials.

The Hay’s Fruit Juice Company produced “Hay’s Five Fruit,” fruit juice syrup used to make and flavor beverages and desserts. The company was founded in 1900 in Portland, Maine. The Hay’s Fruit Juice Company album contains photographs and advertisements. The photographs are primarily of the factory’s interiors.