Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.
This O-Fine-O brand apple crate label was used by the Oneonta Trading Corporation of Wenatchee-Yakima, Washington during the early 20th century. The lithographed label has a dark blue background, with an illustration of two red apples in the upper right. These apples came from Wenatchee, part of a region that claimed to be the “Apple Capital of the World.”
This shipping crate side contained King William IV brand blended Scotch whisky that was produced by John Gillon & Company Ltd. of Glasgow, Scotland during the early 20th century. The company was established in 1817, and produced this brand of Scotch until the 1980s when the Distillers Company Ltd., who owned the brand, was bought out by Guinness.
This shipping crate side contained Diamond Fast Color Eyelets made by the United Fast Color Eyelet Company of Boston, Massachusetts during the first half of the 20th century. The crate side bears the slogan “never wear brassy.” A shoe with a brassy eyelet would look old, and Diamond Fast Color eyelets had nickel barrels with tops of solid color that would never wear brassy. This crate contained 25,000 eyelets.
This is an end panel of a Borden’s Evaporated Milk shipping crate. Gail Borden Jr. patented his method for producing condensed milk by vacuum in 1856 and established the New York Condensed Milk Company in 1857. The company changed its name to the Borden Condensed Milk Company in 1899, which was simplified to the Borden Company in 1919.
This shipping crate end is imprinted with “Calument Baking Powder” text and Native American head trademark. William Wright formulated Calumet Baking Powder in Chicago, Illinois in 1889. The powder was named after Calumet City, a town near Chicago. Calumet was also the Native American term for peace pipe, and Calumet used the profile of a Native American in a headdress as its trademark. Calumet was bought by General Foods bought in 1929.
This shipping crate label is for Exceptional brand Valencia oranges that were grown and packed by the Mupu Citrus Association of Santa Paula, California during the early 20th century. The label has the Sunkist orange logo on it, a designation given to high quality oranges grown by the California Fruit Growers Exchange. Mupu was the name of a Chumash Native American village in what is now the town of Santa Paula, in Ventura County, California.
This shipping crate contained American Club brand refugee beans that was distributed by the Burt Olney Canning Company of New York around 1900-1950. The wooden crate side bears black text in a stencil font.
Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.
This Uncle Tom brand apple crate label was used by North Western Apples during the early 20th century. This lithographed label was produced by the Traung Label Company of Seattle, Washington. The label has an illustration of a young African American child standing on a background of grass staring up at an oversized red and golden apple.
Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.
This Chief Joseph brand apple crate label was used by the Ryan Fruit Company of Yakima, Washington during the early 20th century. The label was lithographed by the Louis Rocsh Lithograph Company of San Francisco, California. The label has a central image of an arrowhead with an illustration of a Native American wearing a headdress. The depiction of Native Americans was a common theme in fruit label art.
This is a side panel of a shipping crate for Del Monte canned pumpkin. Del Monte is the premium brand of the California Packing Corporation (Calpak). The Calpak cooperative heavily promoted Del Monte as its high quality, premium product through full-page color ads in national publications. In 1967, Calpak changed its name to the Del Monte Corporation to capitalize on the brand’s recognition.
This shipping crate end is imprinted with “Hershey’s Chocolate and Cocoa, Guaranteed Absolutely Pure.” The Hershey Chocolate Company was founded by Milton Hershey in 1894 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1900, Hershey’s production of milk chocolate began in earnest. Through Hershey’s new methods of mass-production, milk chocolate became affordable to the general public for the first time.
Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.
This Don't Worry brand apple crate label was used by the George F. Joseph Company of Yakima, Washington during the early 20th century. The lithographed label was produced by the Lehmann Lithograph Company of San Francisco, California. The label has a dark brown background, with an illustration of a young child with a ruddy glow in his cheeks holding a once bitten apple. Apple growers stressed the health benefits of eating apples in their advertising.
This is an end panel of an Albers Brother’s Wheat Flakes shipping crate. The Albers Brother’s Milling Company was founded in 1895 in Portland, Oregon. The Albers Brothers Milling Company produced a variety of grain products, such as corn meal, grits, oats, wheat mush, and flour under a variety of brands, like Carnation, Peacock, Del Monte and Sunripe. In 1929 the Carnation Milk Products Company purchased Albers Brother’s Milling Company, but kept Albers as a subsidiary.
This shipping crate side originally contained petroleum lubricating grease made by an unknown manufacturer during the first half of the 20th century. The plain wooden crate side has black text.
This shipping crate side contained Hawaiian Chief brand sliced pineapple that was packed by the Pearl City Fruit Company Ltd., of Honolulu, Hawaii during the early 20th century. George Lycurgus founded the Pearl City Fruit Company in 1892, and competed with the Hawaiian Fruit and Packing company for packing and shipping pineapples. This crate contained four dozen 11-ounce tins.
Labels are an important marketing device. They often go beyond merely identifying contents and are designed to help establish brand distinction and generate customer loyalty for a largely interchangeable product.
This Sea Plane brand oyster meat crate label was used by the Biloxi Fishermen’s Packing Company of Biloxi, Mississippi during the early 20th century. The label has an image of two oyster shells split apart on the left side, and a central image of a sea plane taking off. The crate contained 8 ounce cans of oyster meat.
This shipping crate end is imprinted with the Zerolene Polar Bear logo. Zerolene (also sometimes called Polarine) was an engine lubricant first manufactured by the Standard Oil Company of California in 1907 . The Standard Oil Company of California became its own entity after the 1911 breakup of Standard Oil. In 1977, the Standard Oil Company of California became the Chevron Corporation.
This shipping crate side originally contained Hercules brand explosives powder. The Hercules Powder Company was spun off of the Dupont Corporation in 1912 as a result of the federal antitrust case. Hercules Powder was well known for its production of smokeless powders, and manufactured the powder for a variety of ammunitions. There is an illustration of the mythical character of Hercules on the crate side, with his iconographic club and lion skin.
This shipping crate side contained Berkeley F brand men’s shoes manufactured by the United States Rubber Company and Associated Companies. This shipping crate contained 24 pairs of shoes, sizes 6-10.