1957 Tupperware Jubilee Plate
1957 Tupperware Jubilee Plate
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- 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.
- Object Name
- plate
- associated dates
- 1957 07 / 1957 07
- maker
- unknown
- Physical Description
- ceramic, earthenware, refined (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 10 1/4 in; 26.035 cm
- ID Number
- 1994.0124.01
- catalog number
- 1994.0124.01
- accession number
- 1994.0124
- Tupperware Jubilee
- 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
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