1957 Tupperware Jubilee Plate

Description:

This commemorative plate marks the 1957 Tupperware Jubilee and was presented to the dealers and distributors attending the jubilee. It depicts the Wishing Well that was installed at the Tupperware headquarters.

Beginning in the 1930s, chemist Earl S. Tupper (1907–1983) experimented with polyethylene slag, a smelly, black waste product of oil refining processes, to develop uses for it. He devised translucent and opaque colored containers that he first marketed in 1942 as "Welcome Ware," then added lids with a patented seal later in the decade.

Modeled after the lid of a paint can, the lid to a Tupperware container was to be closed with a "burp," to create a partial vacuum and make the seal tight. The product was designed to appeal to the growing number of housewives who worked in suburban kitchens with modern appliances, including large refrigerators that allowed once-a-week trips for grocery shopping at the supermarket. These women formed a market for new and effective methods of food storage. Tupperware's water-tight, airtight seal promised preservation of freshness and limited spills or spoilage.

Yet the capabilities of the new product were not obvious to consumers at first, and Tupper's containers did not sell well in retail stores. A Michigan woman named Brownie Wise thought of marketing Tupperware through the home-sales method. Wise developed the system of Tupperware parties, at which a demonstrator could show the uses and advantages of Tupperware. As Tupperware became a staple of many American kitchens, some women found job opportunities in Tupperware sales.

Associated Dates: 1957 07 / 1957 07

Maker: unknown

Related Event: Tupperware Jubilee

Subject:

See more items in: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass, American Enterprise, Domestic Furnishings

Exhibition: American Enterprise

Exhibition Location: National Museum of American History

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1994.0124.01Catalog Number: 1994.0124.01Accession Number: 1994.0124

Object Name: plate

Physical Description: ceramic, earthenware, refined (overall material)Measurements: overall: 10 1/4 in; 26.035 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-0e69-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1161979

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.