National Biscuit Company photograph album, 1900-1935

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Summary

Creator:
National Biscuit Company
Abstract:
The National Biscuit Company was founded in 1898, the product of a merger among the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company, the New York Biscuit Company, and the United States Baking Company. The new conglomerate was headquartered in New York City with 114 bakeries across the United States. Over the next several decades the company grew by acquiring companies such as the F.H. Bennett Company, maker of Milk-Bone Pet Products, and the Shredded Wheat Company, maker of Triscuit Wafers and Shredded Wheat Cereal. The name "Nabisco" was first used as the name for a cracker introduced in 1901, but the corporate name did not change to Nabisco until 1971. The Uneeda Biscuit, National Biscuit Company's first packaged cracker, was the subject of the company's first million-dollar advertising campaign. Collection comprises a photograph album containing 129 gelatin silver prints and two cyanotypes by anonymous photographers. The majority of the photographs feature storefront and grocery displays of National Biscuit Company cookies and crackers, including Oreos, Animal Crackers, Fig Newtons, Graham Crackers, Uneeda Biscuits, among others. Several of the photographs indicate that the images were taken in Buffalo, New York, and many document the National Biscuit Company's sales force there, posed formally, attending sales meetings, or engaged together in leisure activities. The album also contains photographs of horse drawn delivery wagons, a display for Milk Bone dog biscuits, children dressed in costumes that promote company products, and a classroom of children "playing store."
Extent:
0.6 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English
Collection ID:
RL.00929

Background

Scope and content:

Collection comprises a photograph album containing 129 gelatin silver prints and two cyanotypes by anonymous photographers. The majority of the photographs feature storefront and grocery displays of National Biscuit Company cookies and crackers, including Oreos, Animal Crackers, Fig Newtons, Graham Crackers, Uneeda Biscuits, among others. Several of the photographs indicate that the images were taken in Buffalo, New York, and many document the National Biscuit Company's sales force there, posed formally, attending sales meetings, or engaged together in leisure activities. The album also contains photographs of horse drawn delivery wagons, a display for Milk Bone dog biscuits, children dressed in costumes that promote company products, and a classroom of children "playing store."

Biographical / historical:

The National Biscuit Company was founded in 1898, the product of a merger among the American Biscuit and Manufacturing Company, the New York Biscuit Company, and the United States Baking Company. The new conglomerate was headquartered in New York City with 114 bakeries across the United States. Over the next several decades the company grew by acquiring companies such as the F.H. Bennett Company, maker of Milk-Bone Pet Products, and the Shredded Wheat Company, maker of Triscuit Wafers and Shredded Wheat Cereal. The name "Nabisco" was first used as the name for a cracker introduced in 1901, but the corporate name did not change to Nabisco until 1971. The Uneeda Biscuit, National Biscuit Company's first packaged cracker, was the subject of the company's first million-dollar advertising campaign.

Acquisition information:
Purchase, 2008
Processing information:

Processed by: Alice Poffinberger, February 2010

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, February 2010

Accession(s) described in this finding aid: 2008-0275

Physical location:
For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. The library may require up to 48 hours to retrieve these materials for research use.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], in the National Biscuit Company photograph album, 1900-1935, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.