One of 174 specimens of essential oils used in pharmacy donated by McKesson & Robbins in 1883 to the Section of Materia Medica, U. S. National Museum. Soon after the Section of Materia Medica was established in 1881, curator James M. Flint, a Navy Surgeon, began soliciting examples of pharmaceutical products from a few major American drug wholesalers such as McKesson & Robbins. Only about fifty of these specimens remain in the collection as of 2023.
In 1833, John McKesson and Charles Olcott established a drug import and wholesale business in New York City. The company was renamed McKesson & Robbins in 1853 when Daniel Robbins became a partner after Olcott’s death. The company soon expanded into drug manufacturing providing a full line of acids, extracts, elixirs, pills, syrups, tinctures, wines and waters, as well as the essential oils used in medicine, flavoring, and perfumery.