Repository

Heinz History Center

Title

H.J. Heinz Company Records,

Collection Number

MSS#57

Extent

36 cubic feet (39 boxes + shelf volumes)

Date

1850s-1996 (bulk 1920-1940, 1950-1970)

Abstract

The H.J. Heinz Company was founded in 1869 by Henry John Heinz (1844-1919). The collection contains advertisements, correspondence, label books, pamphlets, scrapbooks, programs, postcards, and other sundry items. The collection primarily documents the products manufactured by the Company between 1920-1939 and 1950-1960.

Language

The material in this collection is in English.

Author

This guide to the collection was originally prepared by: Craig Moore on March 24, 1996. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process in Fall, 1999.

Sponsor

Funding for additional processing was made available by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission in 2014.

Publisher

Heinz History Center

Address

1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org

History of the H.J. Heinz Company (1869-1995)

The H.J. Heinz Company was founded in 1869 by Henry John Heinz (1844-1919). Along with his partner, L.C. Noble, H.J. Heinz began to cultivate horseradish on a less than one-acre plot in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. Heinz and Noble, producing their product under the brand of Anchor Pickle and Vinegar Works, expanded their business to include over one hundred acres of land, a work force numbering over one hundred, and new products such as pickles, vinegar, and celery sauce. In 1872, E.J. Noble entered the partnership to become Heinz, Noble & Company, and the plant moved to Second Avenue in Pittsburgh. In 1875, when Heinz contracted to buy the products produced by a pickling and bottling company in Woodstock, Illinois, branch distributing houses were opened at St. Louis and Chicago. The Panic of 1873, however, eventually caused Heinz, Noble & Company to go bankrupt by 1875. H.J. Heinz began a new business two months later with help from his brother John and his cousin Frederick. The company became known as F.& J. Heinz from 1876 until 1888. The year 1876 was also significant because they introduced tomato ketchup to the Heinz product lines. Additional products such as apple butter, pepper sauce, and mince meat were also introduced in these early years.

In 1888, H.J. Heinz acquired controlling interest in the Company from his brother John, thus establishing the H.J. Heinz Company. The H.J. Heinz Company expanded dramatically in 1890 with the construction of the factory in Allegheny City along Main Street (later called Progress Street) on the North Side. This plant is still in operation and continues to be the central office. Plants and branch houses were also built in Muscatine, Iowa; Hicksville, New York; and Holly, Michigan, among others. In order to further promote the Heinz name, the Heinz Company participated in many World Fairs, including the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago where the very first pickle pin was distributed. The H.J. Heinz Company became international when the London grocery house of Fortnum and Mason contracted to sell Heinz products. A branch house was established in London, England in 1895 and the first plant opened in England in 1905. The familiar Heinz "57 Varieties" trademark was adopted in 1896 when H.J. Heinz was inspired by an advertisement for "21 Styles" of shoes. Another important milestone occurred in 1898 with the construction of the Heinz Ocean Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where Heinz products and objects of art were exhibited. Advertising continued to play an important role in 1899 with the erection of the largest electrical sign in the world promoting Heinz 57 varieties at the corner of Twenty-third and Broadway in New York City. Furthermore, beginning in 1899, thousands of visitors were escorted through the Pittsburgh plant annually as a way of introducing people to Heinz products.

The H.J. Heinz Company was officially incorporated in 1905 (Pennsylvania approved the incorporation in 1900 and the County Law Department in 1905) with $4 million in stock owned by H.J. Heinz, his cousin Frederick Heinz, his son Howard, W.H. Robinson, R.G. Evans, and his brother-in-law Sebastian Mueller. The Company continued to expand by introducing new products and building more plants at home and abroad. By 1902 there were seven branch factories in the United States and 21 salting stations (salting stations were responsible for pickling cucumbers). An olive factory was built in Seville, Spain, in 1904. Also in 1904, H.J. Heinz had the original two-story brick building (known as "The Little House Where We Began") moved by barge from its original site in Sharpsburg to the plant on the North Side. Heinz stressed the purity of his food products and went to great lengths to maintain clean conditions in his factories for employees. Heinz lobbied for the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act signed by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. Heinz practiced a paternalistic approach to management and employer-employee relations. Heinz had an auditorium, roof garden, dining rooms, and a library constructed for the benefit of his employees. Employees received gifts during the holidays and went on company outings to such places as Rock Springs, Pennsylvania.

H.J. Heinz died of pneumonia in 1919 at the age of 75, but the H.J. Heinz Company continued to expand and flourish under his son Howard Heinz (1877-1941). H.J. Heinz chose his second oldest son Howard over his eldest son Clarence to succeed him because of Clarence's ill health and lack of interest in managing the Company. By 1919, the H.J. Heinz Company had over 6,500 employees, 25 branch factories, 85 salting stations, 53 tomato receiving stations, and 111 pickle receiving stations. Business overseas continued to prosper in England and elsewhere in Europe. Additions and renovations continued to be made to the Pittsburgh plant on the North Side. Like his father, Howard maintained a paternalistic relationship with his employees. Many of the improvements made to the Pittsburgh plant were for the welfare of the workers. In 1930, a new auditorium and service building was dedicated to the Heinz employees by Herbert Hoover in a broadcast from the White House. The H.J. Heinz Company survived the Great Depression and continued to build more factories, hire more employees, and undertake ambitious advertising campaigns. Despite labor problems elsewhere, the first strike at Heinz did not occur until 1938 when employees struck for higher wages. The H.J. Heinz Company now had 25 factories in four countries and over 11,000 employees. The successful Heinz line of condensed soup and strained foods was introduced in the 1930s. Howard Heinz died in 1941 and was succeeded by his son H.J. "Jack" Heinz II (1909-1987).

H.J. Heinz II began working for the Company at age 16. He worked with the Company in a number of capacities until he was named president after his father's death. H.J. Heinz II was very concerned with nutrition and public health. The Company became an underwriter for the Nutrition Foundation to help Americans maintain health standards during World War II. In 1944, a Nutritional Research Laboratory was established at Heinz. During the war, Heinz produced canned foods, such as soup and ham and eggs, for the soldiers. In 1942, in an unusual departure from food production, the Heinz factory in Pittsburgh began manufacturing plastic parts for gliders and airplanes to aid in the war effort. Heinz also distributed a number of products manufactured by other companies, such as Sun-Maid Raisins, Lake Shore Honey, and Van Houten's Golden Seal Cocoa. Among the new foods introduced in these years were juices, and dry spaghetti, noodles, and macaroni. The Company became a public corporation in 1946 when it entered the New York Stock Exchange. In 1948, H.J. Heinz II announced that a 15 million dollar building program was scheduled for the Pittsburgh plant. The building program included a new warehouse, vinegar building, and research center. The "Little House Where We Began" was disassembled brick-by-brick and moved from the Heinz plant in Pittsburgh to Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan in 1954. It was reassembled there and exhibited, along with Heinz memorabilia, amidst the other historic buildings.

By the second half of the 20th century, the H.J. Heinz Company had become the global corporation we know today. In 1961, the Company set a record with over 300 million dollars in worldwide sales. The Company purchased the capital stock of Star-Kist Foods, Inc. in 1963; Ore-Ida Foods, Inc. in 1965; and Weight Watchers International, Inc. in 1978. With the death of H.J. Heinz II in 1987, the Company elected Anthony J.F. O'Reilly as the first non-family member became president of the Company. In 1992, a processing plant for soup and baby food was added to the Pittsburgh plant in a project called "HeinzSite, our vision for the future." The Company acquired the All American Gourmet Company and Quaker Oats North American Pet Foods Division in 1995. By 1995, the H.J. Heinz Company's global sales were over 8 billion dollars with almost half coming from its overseas operations and seventy percent from non-Heinz brand products.

Scope and Content Notes

The H.J. Heinz Company Records are housed in 39 archival boxes and is arranged alphabetically by folder title with oversized items, loose volumes, and subsequent additions to the collection arranged to the rear. The collection contains advertisements, correspondence, label books, pamphlets, scrapbooks, programs, postcards, and other sundry items. The collection primarily documents the products manufactured by the Company between 1920-1939 and 1950-1960. The early history of the H.J. Heinz Company between 1869 and 1900 is not well represented in this collection. The Heinz and Noble period of the Company (1869-1875) is not present at all. There are catalogs and invoices from the Fand J Heinz Company and the early H.J. Heinz Company of the 1880's, but not much else. There are very few records related to employees.

The strengths of the collection include the label books and the advertisements. The label books illustrate the complete line of Heinz products between 1888 and 1962. The earliest label books are extremely fragile and for this reason are restricted in their use. The advertisements, arranged by product and then chronologically, detail the marketing strategies of the Company between 1901 and 1989, notably the campaign for purer foods at the turn of the century. Additional advertisements can be found in the oversized portion of the collection. (See Separation Note below.)

The correspondence in the collection includes letters to H.J. Heinz from his sons Howard and Clifford between 1896 and 1902. There is very little correspondence related to the history of the Company. Noteworthy in the correspondence from H.J. Heinz, however, is a letter written to his cousin Fred Heinz regarding the purchase of the original "House Where We Began" in 1904. In addition, there are numerous letters to Howard Heinz from his sons, H.J. Heinz II and Rust Heinz, while they were attending school in the 1920's. Several letters are addressed to the Heinz Archivist, Ed Lehew, in regard to H.J. Heinz Company memorabilia. Additional material from the Heinz family include the wills of H.J Heinz I, Howard Heinz, Clifford Heinz, and Irene Heinz Given (box 38); as well as real estate records (boxes 37 and 38), including original deeds, indentures and financial records, for properties that the family (primarily Vera Heinz and John L. Given Jr.) and the Sarah Heinz House Association purchased in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Note that the deeds and other items in the real estate records span many decades (mostly the 1880s through the 1950s), but were purchased by the Heinz family between 1957 and 1963.

The two linear feet of pamphlets and leaflets are generally promotional materials and giveaways. The pamphlets often contain recipes, short histories of the Company, and product information. The pamphlets are arranged by size to the rear of the collection. Significant leaflets include the Heinz Exhibits at the 1939 New York World's Fair, the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago, and the 1939 Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco.

The section labeled "business material" contains the only substantial records of the company in the collection. Included are sales data between 1907 and 1952, a weekly pickle report detailing the number of bushels and acreage of the crop produced at various locations from 1910 to 1944, and tomato acreage, yield, and distribution reports from 1911 to 1970 (box 36).

There are numerous postcards (Box 32) which illustrate factory work in the H.J. Heinz Company, the Heinz Ocean Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and other attractions.

There are 12 original recipe books (boxes 17 and 18) containing experimental recipes for various products between 1902 and 1923. Two additional recipe books can be found in box 34. One is labeled "G.H. Elstow's Receipt Book" (London, 1844), which contains 48 handwritten recipes dated from the 1850s, primarily for sauces, pickling vinegars, and condiments, including tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and horseradish. The second recipe book is a record book, dated 1896, that contains recipes for pickles, sauces, and preserves, many of which are identified with Heinz product numbers.

Later additions to the collection include a number of financial ledgers that document account balances, real estate accounts, and produce statistics between 1895 and 1956 (boxes 34 and 35). Also included are three minute books of the Branch Factory Managers Convention in 1903 and 1905 (box 34). The conversations from these meetings are well documented in narrative form. Common topics include matters of management, product preparation, and policies.

The scrapbooks in the collection, which have been wrapped and shelved, contain clippings on the deaths of H.J. Heinz and Howard Heinz; three volumes of clippings from the American Wind Symphony Orchestra; advertisements between 1920 and 1980; and 14 volumes of publicity scrapbooks consisting of national news clippings from 1936 to 1949.

Accession 2003.0108, 1898-1922 (box 39)

Included in this accession is a photograph of Mckee School mothers during a visit to the Heinz plant (1918); instructional manuals and booklets from the Heinz Accounting Department (1898-1922); and a record of outstanding accounts (1914-1922).

Accession 2008.0253, c.1880s (box 39)

This accession is a business letter enquiry from F. and J. Heinz to Mr. W. H. Moon about white silverskin pickling onions.

Arrangement

The H.J. Heinz Company Collection is housed in 39 archival boxes and is arranged alphabetically by folder title with oversized items, loose volumes, and additions arranged to the rear. The advertisements are arranged by product and chronologically. The pamphlets are arranged by size to the rear of the collection. Additions to the collection, processed in May, 2015, are housed in boxes 34-39.

Conditions Governing Access

Label Books 1888-1899 are fragile and require staff supervision.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

The bulk of these materials were received in one accession in 1994; subsequent additions were accessioned between 1997 and 2003.

Acc# 1994.0310 Gift of the H.J. Heinz Company (Pittsburgh, PA.)

Acc# 1997.0167 Gift of the H.J. Heinz Company

Acc# 2000.0015 Gift of the H.J. Heinz Company

Acc# 2002.0092 Gift of the H.J. Heinz Company

Acc# 2003.0240 Gift of the H.J. Heinz Company

Preferred Citation

H.J. Heinz Company Records, 1850s-1996, MSS 57, Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Craig Moore on March 24, 1996.

Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Janet Begnoche on October 1, 1999.

Additions arranged by Nick Hartley in April, 2015.

Separated Materials

To the Photographic Collection, 77 linear feet of photographs have been separately arranged and described as MSP# 57.

To the Printed Collection, 17 books have been individually cataloged. These books are miscellaneous works on H.J. Heinz, Pittsburgh, food preservation, and other publications.

To the Oversized Collection, 20 linear feet of oversized materials have been separately arranged and described as MSO# 57.

To the Audiovisual Collection, 30 linear feet of film, record albums, and slides have been separately arranged and described as MSC# 57.

Container List