Portrait of H.J. c. 1872. HHC Detre L&A, MSP57.B006.F02.I01.

By Brian Butko

20 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 The H.J. Heinz Company’s grand display at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. HHC Detre L&A.

t first, there were hardly any visitors to the Heinz display at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Not that Athe fair lacked for people: by the end of its six-month run in 1893, more than 27 million had experienced this showcase for One of the original tags the H.J. Heinz technology, commerce, and consumer products. They came away Co. distributed at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition that promised awed by the innovations and architecture, amazed by a midway “a novel watch charm” (below) to attendees who presented this card at of carnival rides that included the first Ferris Wheel, and dazzled their display on the second floor of the Agricultural Building. at night by 120,000 incandescent bulbs powered by George HHC Detre L&A. Westinghouse’s alternating current. The Heinz exhibit, however, sat in solitude despite free samples of sauces, , and preserves, elegantly presented from a hand-carved oak display by four women of French, English, German, and Spanish descent.1

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 21 Heinz was but one company among the Building to get their free souvenir. The charms have one too. That’s an amazing feat when you rows and rows of food manufacturers in the could hang from a lady’s brooch or a man’s consider how difficult it is to get the public to fair’s massive Agricultural Building—itself just pocket watch. Police were called to control the buy a product, let alone like the company too. one of 200 buildings on 633 acres crisscrossed crowds and support beams were added below. H.J. Heinz built his company based by canals and lagoons. The first floor of the hall Foreign food exhibitors, watching customers on moral lessons his family embraced. He was dominated by foreign companies due to rush past to get to the second floor, filed a enshrined his favorite mottos on signs and the assumption that imported foreign foods complaint, while American companies gave in stained glass windows of his impressive were better and of greater interest to visitors. Heinz a lovingly inscribed silver cup. factory. The most-quoted one explains his Few who toured the first floor bothered to Heinz gave away a million pickle charms at basic philosophy: “To do a common thing then climb the long stairs to see American food the fair. The New York Times reported3 on the uncommonly well brings success.” But his makers on the second floor. After all, there medals that Heinz won for its condiments— favorite, which was posted in offices and were 65,000 other exhibits to walk out and see.2 not to mention the sagging floor— Henry Heinz himself attended the fair’s fulfilling H.J.’s belief that the best opening, and seeing only a straggle of visitors way to advertise your products to his floor, headed to the nearest print shop. and promote your name was by The Heinz exhibit was already handing out letting the public do it for you. H.J. Heinz c. 1864. HHC Detre L&A. souvenir pickle charms to the few who came It was an unexpected journey by, so he printed small “baggage checks” on for H.J. Heinz, from bankruptcy brass-colored cardboard with the promise to toast of the fair. The company that presenting it at the Heinz exhibit earned still gives out nearly a million the bearer a free souvenir. Henry had workers pins a year, but now mostly by hand them out and boys scatter them across mail upon request. They figure the grounds. more than 100 million have been It didn’t take long for people to start given away. Somewhere, maybe finding the second floor of the Agricultural in a dresser drawer, you probably

A model of H.J. Heinz’s boyhood home, originally located in Sharpsburg. HHC Collections, 93.240.2813.

22 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 hallways, better explains his rise from adversity: German immigrants Anna Schmitt and John turnips, leaves, or wood fiber. Heinz wanted “Do the best you can, where you are, with what Henry Heinz married in 1843. Six years later, clear glass to show he had the whitest, purest you have today.” they settled in Sharpsburg, a few miles up the roots. His success at selling proved not only that That food factory, a marvel of modern Allegheny River from downtown . customers were willing to pay for convenience, amenities, was not started until 1890. His Families there all tended gardens, but the but that a superior product would sell on its own popular catch-phrase—57 Varieties—was Heinz family’s was prosperous enough to feed merit if properly packaged and promoted. not dreamed up until 1896. Yet it was his their children (soon to be eight) plus leave Meanwhile, he also helped at his father’s vision in the previous decades that led him to extra for selling. In 1852, at age eight, first-born brickyard, creating a lifelong fascination with those achievements. H.J.’s mother, especially, son Henry John, or H.J., began peddling the the earthen product. In 1854, 10-year-old H.J. taught him a genuine respect for every person, surplus door-to-door in baskets. Two years helped make the brick for a new house and and lived by her favorite principle: “Always later his parents gave him his own 3/4 of an then helped his dad build the family home. As remember to place yourself in the other acre and he began using a wheelbarrow to another biographer explained, the house “was person’s shoes.” deliver. By 12, he’d enlarged to three-and-a- like a part of his own flesh and blood.” It was The History Center has just opened a half acres plus bought a horse and cart to sell later moved to the Heinz plant, and then to major exhibition that traces the history of H.J. to merchants too. Greenfield Village near Detroit. A letter inside Heinz and the global food company he started His specialty was , a pungent what is now a house museum explains how in his mother’s garden. It features artifacts and root used to season food. As biographer Robert much it meant to him, “how he was aware of, photos from the History Center’s collections C. Alberts explained, “Freshly grated horseradish and loved, each separate brick.”5 that illustrate the ever-changing variety of made dull food palatable and good food—such His parents hoped H.J. would become a Heinz’s early products that both mirrored as beef and raw oysters—better.”4 H.J. had long minister but it was apparent he was destined for and shaped our tastes and eating habits. It also helped his mother harvest, scrub, scrape, grate, business and sales. At 15 he became his father’s explores H.J. himself and his motivations that and bottle horseradish in . The job, rough bookkeeper and assistant at the brickyard; brought both success and innovation. on knuckles and the eyes, created a market for when he turned 21, he bought a half-interest.    prepared horseradish; however, these were Brickworks normally closed for the winter, bottled in green and brown glass, allowing for but H.J. installed heating equipment so they fillers such as coal tar dyes, boiled dried apples, could stay open and build up inventory for the spring rush. In 1868 he partnered in another brickyard with L. Clarence Noble. Later that year, H.J.’s father took an extended trip back to Europe to visit relatives. H.J. surprised him while he was In 1852, at age eight, first-born son away by building a new, larger family home— Henry John, or H.J., began peddling brick, of course—and paying for it by collecting debts his father had written off as uncollectible. the surplus produce door-to-door in The old homestead was converted for baskets. Two years later his parents food production, and 25 acres were planted just in horseradish. In 1869, the 25-year-old gave him his own 3/4 of an acre and H.J. married Sarah Sloan Young, or Sallie, and he began using a wheelbarrow to most importantly, decided to concentrate on growing and bottling food. He again partnered deliver. By 12, he’d enlarged to three- with L.C. Noble to create the Anchor Brand, starting, naturally, with horseradish. and-a-half acres plus bought a horse They added celery sauce, pickled and cart to sell to merchants too. cucumbers, sauerkraut, and vinegar to the Anchor line. Soon Heinz and Noble took over the house next door. In 1872, L.C.’s brother E.J. joined as a partner, and the business became

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 23 Heinz, Noble & Company. They leased a four- A man is nowhere without money…. I feel sad story factory in downtown Pittsburgh for office, and constantly worried.” Locals whom he owed H.J. Heinz Keystone-brand displayed its top-of- store, and warehouse. By 1875, their business harassed him and accused the family of having the-line status with an octagon- was wildly successful, especially notable since and hiding money. Perhaps worst of all, the shaped bottle that sported a label with medals won in packaged condiments were mostly imported Noble brothers blamed H.J. for the failure— Paris in 1889. from Europe. The firm grew to include 160 and told employees so. This was surely H.J.’s HHC Collections, 93.240.0105. acres in and around Sharpsburg, a business lowest point. office and vinegar factory in St. Louis, and a Still, the Heinz name meant good food branch distributing warehouse in Chicago. products, and the family all knew how to The coordination of agriculture played cultivate and preserve. H.J. still had his talent a key role, from the quality of produce to for selling and publicity but could not enter transporting and processing it. The company into a partnership until the bankruptcy had needed cucumbers for pickles, tomatoes for been discharged. Family members pooled what ketchup, cabbage for sauerkraut, apples for little they had left, including his mother, brother vinegar, and fruits for jellies and preserves. John, cousin Frederick, and wife Sallie, who sold The largest commitment was made in 1875 to property she jointly owned. In February 1876, take the output of 800 acres of cucumbers and F. & J. Heinz Company was launched with cabbage in Illinois at a set rate. 32-year-old H.J. as manager at $125 a month. Heinz, Noble & Company had become H.J. could not be a partner, yet without a doubt one of the country’s largest makers of processed, he was the guiding force of the enterprise. preserved, and packaged foods. Despite Neither did he ignore what had happened: H.J. such success, they were short of capital and carried a notebook marked “M.O.” listing his overextended. At first, the company seemed to Moral Obligations to all creditors. buck the depression that had taken hold across It was a rough road to restore the business, the U.S., but money was short everywhere. Then let alone respectability. No one would loan came a phenomenal harvest of cucumbers in them money. The distrust, and even hostility, Illinois, bringing with it skyrocketing costs to caused H.J. physical and mental strain. They pay for and process it all. Their ability to meet pinched pennies to buy back equipment of their contracts crumbled and the Pittsburgh the bankrupt company. Once they had prided plant was closed by the landlord’s warrant, themselves on the impressive teams that pulled and then H.J. himself was arrested on charges of fraud filed by creditors. Released on bail, the next day the sheriff placed a levy on the family’s Heinz insisted on personal belongings and arrested him again. clear glass. His success Heinz filed voluntary bankruptcy. That Christmas, H.J. and Sallie had no at selling proved not money for presents for firstborn daughter only that customers Irene (1871) or son Clarence Noble (1873, named in honor of their business partner). were willing to pay for Within a few weeks they even lacked money for food and begged to buy on credit. H.J.’s convenience, but that a parents’ furniture and house were advertised superior product would for sheriff’s sale. As word of their problems spread, neighbors, friends, even relatives sell on its own merit if turned on them. H.J. wrote that Christmas properly packaged Day, “I had not a true friend in the world…. and promoted.

24 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014  Learn More Online Explore the History Center’s H.J. Heinz Company photographic collection.

Though the Industrial Revolution is associated with machinery, it was the expansion of the railroad and refrigerated cars that provided much more access to fresh foods and raised health standards.

The ability to transport Heinz products quickly from the Pittsburgh plant to grocery stores via refrigerated rail cars boosted consumer access to fresh and safe products. HHC Detre L&A, MSP57.B003.I04.

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 25 Like automakers would do decades later, Heinz made products aimed at different their wagons. Now they had one blind horse. price points. Some products did not even But after that first trying year, respectable have the Heinz name on profits gave a ray of hope.    them. Howard Catsup was The food empire that Heinz created—the named for H.J.’s second kind that dominates food growing, processing, and sales today—was unheard of until the son, born 1877. late 1800s. Mass shipments of fresh meat and produce were impossible. Only canned and salted foods enhanced bland diets, particularly in winter. Though the Industrial Revolution F. & J. Heinz’s Howard brand Catsup, is associated with machinery, it was the named for H.J.’s second son who would expansion of the railroad and refrigerated cars later take over the company. HHC Collections, 93.240.0294. that provided much more access to fresh foods and raised health standards. F. & J. Heinz’s Standard brand Catsup, c. 1880s. H.J. Heinz embraced this, and other HHC Collections, 93.240.2304. technologies, to create a demand for products

BELOW: The company was as particular that others had never thought to mechanize. about its glassware as it was with the Home preparation of horseradish, ketchup, food within. The H.J. Heinz glass works produced all the company’s bottles between jams, even vinegar took long hours and hard 1885–1910. work. Once H.J. learned that homemakers HHC Detre L&A, MSP57.B011.I01. welcomed the convenience of ready-made, store-bought products, he predicted that as the U.S. became more urban and industrialized, there would be an untapped national market for prepared foods. Groceries at the time displayed goods behind a counter that were fetched by the grocer, so food manufacturers had to advertise to both consumers and to the grocers who purchased the products. H.J. developed advertising that encouraged grocers to suggest Heinz products to customers, but also encouraged customers to ask their grocers to carry Heinz. H.J. realized that he had to distinguish his products from those of the many competing picklers and makers of preserves. He designed eye-catching labels and developed distinctive trademarks. Long before “57 Varieties,” F. & J. Heinz branded its products as the Keystone pickle and vinegar works to create brand recognition. Like automakers would do decades later, Heinz made products aimed at different price points. Keystone and Octagon were top-of-the- line, Standard second, Duquesne brand third,

26 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 This ad shows an expanded variety of products that would skyrocket Heinz’s soup sales in the 1940s. HHC Detre L&A. and Home Made at the bottom. Some products did not even have the Heinz name on them: Howard Catsup (the equivalent of Standard) was named for H.J.’s second son, born in 1877. A decade after its founding, F. & J. was larger than ever. H.J., overseeing everything, worried that he was working too hard, plus he had a dilemma. His younger brother John was in charge of manufacturing (including gardens and agencies) but did not have nearly the drive of H.J. John’s irregular hours had production constantly falling behind. H.J. wrote that all he got was ingratitude and it “was driving more nails in my coffin than all other cares.” Finally, John withdrew from the company, letting H.J. take over his duties—in addition to everything else H.J. was already doing. A year later, in 1888 with his debts all paid, their mother suggested the firm name change to H.J. Heinz Soup Company. It was then that H.J. was able to Soup has long provided an inexpensive yet hearty meal to struggling families. As the Great Depression launch his most ambitious plans yet. deepened in the 1930s and companies cut back their product offerings, Heinz expanded its soup line.    CEO Howard Heinz, fiscally conservative son of the company founder H.J. Heinz, set the company in The thousands of labor strikes and walkouts in a good position to expand advertising and offer 23 varieties of soup by 1939. Two years later, Heinz the 1880s impressed upon H.J. to find a way sold $18 million in soup compared to $8 million in ketchup. That was also the year Heinz launched to run a business that would eliminate the condensed soups, spurred by war rationing, and forsaking his concern that consumers were more likelihood of such violence. He had studied interested in a homemade recipe that did not require the addition of water. the paternalistic ways of German factories For the next decade, soup was a top-selling Heinz product, often outselling ketchup, pickles, and baked and likewise wanted to build a community beans. Along with its new varieties such as Cream of Spinach, Cream of Oyster, and Mock Turtle Soup, of workpeople who would be so content with Heinz offered portable “soup kitchens” to restaurants, accounting for a quarter of the 1941 soup- their jobs that they’d never dream of rebelling related sales. against the company. By the 1960s, however, the Heinz soup line was in trouble in the United States. The company was losing The first step was a new start to ensure that valuable market share to Campbell’s, which had been selling condensed soup since the 1890s. Heinz the Pittsburgh offices and manufacturing would made several attempts to revive its line but with little success. Today the company sells only private be in one place. He chose a site a half-mile up label-brand soups. the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh, at the edge of Allegheny City, which had a large ~ Emily Ruby, Curator German population. The 24 lots already had buildings, including a sawmill, brewery, and The Heinz church. The new buildings would portray solid Electric Soup Kitchen in architecture—made of glazed pressed brick in action at a Romanesque style. There were eventually 17 red Walgreen Store c. 1949. structures around a grassy courtyard. HHC Detre L&A. The plant not only processed food but also made the packaging, from cans to boxes. It incorporated the latest innovations in motors, the most modern stables, and conveniences

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 27 ABOVE: A postcard shows the Pittsburgh plant and offices, started in 1890. HHC Detre L&A, MSS 57, Box 32, Postcards. BELOW: Heinz factory workers label cans of food before they are placed in shipping crates. WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY FALL 2014 28 | HHC Detre L&A, MSP57.B015.I08. Baked Beans for the health and pleasures of employees: Baked beans were a staple of the British diet during World War II. Though many Heinz products could a restaurant, dressing rooms, emergency not be found in Britain due to rationing, baked beans—seen as a key source of protein—stayed in hospital, gymnasium, rooftop garden, self- production at Heinz’s London factory. The beans, however, were packed in glass with no pieces of improvement classes (from singing to pork, reflecting wartime shortages of tin and meat. Even after being bombed by the Germans, the dressmaking), and carriage rides through the Heinz plant at Harlesden, in North West London, carried on and even pioneered a self-heating can park (on work time!). Employees could enjoy for soup and milk that could be lit with a cigarette in the field. Allied troops carried these cans when showers, private lockers, laundered uniforms, they landed at Normandy on D-Day. weekly manicures, and a suggestion box when it was a treat just to have rest rooms with For such devotion, baked beans surprisingly were little known in England prior to Heinz introducing running water (which were not always present them in the early 1900s. In fact, baked beans are a thoroughly American invention. Early colonists in factories or even homes). learned the art of baking beans in fire pits from American Indians. When beans arrived in England The showpiece was the Time Office where they were an expensive luxury import; in 1928, when Heinz began production in their British factory, employees checked in and out; the small square prices plummeted and sales soared. building was made of terra cotta Pompeian As the British economy struggled to recover after the war, baked beans continued to supply a low brick, stained glass windows, and a dome of cost, healthy food. Popular advertising slogans such as “Beanz Meanz Heinz” in the 1960s and gold leaf topped by a golden eagle. The move “Heinz Buildz Brits” in the 1990s kept Heinz ranked as the leading brand of baked beans there, a into the new buildings began in October 1890, trend that continues. The history of baked beans in the United Kingdom demonstrates that Heinz not though it took eight years to complete the only reacts to consumer demand, but also creates demand. complex. ~ Emily Ruby, Curator Sales methods were changing too. Traditionally, salesmen covered their territory in wagons, delivering the goods as they sold them. Heinz outfitted them with a team of sharp horses and a brightly painted enclosed wagon A wartime ad that served as a mobile billboard. Starting in reporting on 1899, salesman called on their accounts, from Heinz’s efforts to get more grocers to hotels, with a sample case and took baked beans to orders to be delivered later. consumers. HHC Detre L&A, MSO57. To make sure the public knew the B001.I01. products, Heinz plastered his name on delivery wagons and billboards and buildings. Always with an eye and ear for catchy advertising, in 1896 he was reading the signs on an elevated train in New York City when he was impressed by one advertising “21 styles of shoes.” He liked the idea of advertising a number of products; though he was already making more than 57, there was something about that number, the sound, the long-held magic of the number 7, that stuck with him. He even put massive “57” signs made of concrete on hillsides. If there was a local outcry for such a blight on the landscape, all the better; H.J. would then make a public apology for the misstep, earning favor and positive publicity. Like other manufacturers and merchants, H.J. distributed trade cards to promote his

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 29 A vibrant advertising card touting Heinz’s celery sauce and products that won first prize at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. HHC Detre L&A, MSS57.B007.F001.I01.

Heinz used charming children on brightly colored trade cards to convey the idea that the products were likewise wholesome and healthy. HHC Detre L&A.

products. Thanks to innovations in color appearance. Until the early printing that could be produced inexpensively, 1900s, there were no laws to the front boasted bright colored illustrations, regulate food manufacturing. while the reverse described the products in H.J. knew it was easier and better a list or even a cryptic puzzle. These early business to use pure ingredients advertisements revealed a consistent theme in that were properly packaged. Heinz’s marketing strategy: the use of adorable He and son Howard eventually healthy children and wholesome young women lobbied for laws to regulate the conveyed the idea that Heinz foods were also \ food industry; they were prime healthy and wholesome. proponents of the Pure Food Heinz never missed the chance for and Drug Act of 1906. positive publicity. After the Pittsburgh plant    was finished in 1898, H.J. opened the factory It was H.J.’s kindness to others to tours of the ultra-modern facilities, the first that perhaps shaped his actions industrialist to do so; soon, any visit to the city and company the most. A random line from An advisory board of eight to ten men had to include the “Heinz pickle works,” from his diary of February 6, 1884, reads, “It is supervised daily operating procedures, yet H.J soup-filling to can-making to pickle-bottling. more pleasant to remember others than to be still made his own decisions. In 1896, without Each tour ended with complimentary samples remembered.” In an interview in 1900, Heinz consulting the committee, H.J. raised the of Heinz products and a pickle pin to take was asked whether it was prudent business wages of women at the Pittsburgh factory by home. Tens of thousands of school children, to offer so many services to employees: “I 12.5 percent. senior citizens, church groups, card clubs, and have never given that side of the matter any It was this focus on people, with an eye on foreign tourists visited the factory each year. thought. We are fully repaid when we see our the bottom line, that led Heinz in three decades In 1900, the Heinz Company established employees enjoying themselves.” The reporter, to build one of the country’s largest and most a chemistry laboratory to check the quality not believing, pressed him: profitable businesses. In that time, Heinz of produce, accuracy of recipes, cooking Very well then, if you don’t like the senti- became the largest maker of pickles, ketchup, procedures, cleanliness of manufacturing ment that attaches to the plan, I want you vinegar, sauerkraut, and horseradish. process, and uniformity of finished products. to distinctly understand that it is good Before his death, one last connection business as well. It “pays,” it increases my The “food technologists” also conducted remained to his humble beginnings. The research to improve nutrition, flavor, and output. But I don’t want to put it merely on a dollars and cents basis.6 family and company had long ago moved from

30 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 Slow ketchup, fast food A Heinz ketchup ad Starting in the 1950s, traditional restaurants faced increasing competition from the emerging aimed at home cooks. HHC Detre L&A, MSO57.B001.F001.I01. drive-in restaurants and fast food chains. Heinz likewise found itself with a reputation of being behind the times: Once a clear leader in ketchup sales, Heinz now had only a one percent margin over Hunt’s ketchup and Del Monte followed close behind. In the early ’60s, Heinz hired the lead advertiser from Proctor & Gamble as well as a new marketing firm in New York. Billboards were replaced by a blitz of TV commercials shot in color and only 30 seconds long. Heinz debuted the “too thick, too rich to run” campaign and a variety of bottle sizes which helped them gain back their shrinking market share of ketchup. To reach a younger demographic they worked with the Beatles’ agent to provide life-size posters of the pop stars when consumers mailed in Heinz labels. Ketchup bottles for restaurants were given a neckband that stated “Served by Fine Restaurants Everywhere.” In 1968, individual packets debuted, a risky move then but a staple of the fast food industry today. Later came the Vol-Pak, a large sack of ketchup used to refill containers so that a restaurant’s ketchup stays fresh longer. These efforts put Heinz back in the lead, a position it retains a half-century later.

~ Emily Ruby, Curator

 Learn More Online Check out some Heinz recipes.

Heinz made efforts to appeal to a younger audience with fresh advertising in the 1960s such as this Beatles poster promotion. HHC Detre L&A.

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 31 Sharpsburg, but the house remained. He had grated and bottled his first horseradish there, launched his first business with Noble there. Now he went back and arranged to have the house transported to the factory. Everything about the move was tenuous, from keeping the house intact, to pulling it out of mud during transportation, to it being inundated with water before it could be loaded on a barge. The journey five miles downriver was just as perilous, but it arrived to cheering crowds. By time of his death from pneumonia in 1919, Heinz’s company had 6,500 employees and 25 factories, its own freight cars, a branch company in London, and agencies around the world. His son Howard took over and deftly Heinz baby food available in China. continued to guide the company towards HHC Collections. further expansion and innovations. The “Little House Where We Began” remained for decades as a museum to the company and China and Baby Food to the many curios H.J. had collected on his travels. In 1957, the house was moved again, In the early 1900s, Heinz attempted to break into Asian markets by sending Alexander MacWillie this time disassembled brick-by-brick and there to promote Heinz products. MacWillie came back predicting it would be many years before rebuilt at Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village. It Heinz made a name for itself in the region. continues to inspire visitors there with H.J.’s Jump to the 1980s and the company still lacked a strong presence in the Far East. But in 1984, story of achieving success by doing a common concern by the Chinese government over the lack of fortified baby foods led to an invitation—due to thing uncommonly well. Heinz’s global dominance in the baby food market—to be the first Western company to produce dry infant cereal in China. A factory, opened in 1986, produced four instant rice and soy cereal products. Director of Publications/Editor Brian Butko has written about food-related industries in Heinz, of course, had been producing baby food since the 1930s. It began with concern during books including Klondikes, Chipped Ham, & the Depression that babies were not receiving enough nutrients in their diets. In response, Heinz Skyscraper Cones: The Story of Isaly's, and introduced strained foods for babies in 1931, just a Diners of Pennsylvania. His next books are about few years after Gerber became the first company to sell Kennywood and Luna amusement parks. strained packaged baby foods in stores. The first strained food flavors included peas, carrots, mixed vegetables, and An earlier version of this article appeared in Pennsylvania Heritage, Spring 2012. The images spinach packaged in 4.5 ounce enamel-lined cans. Heinz here are all from the History Center’s collection, expanded in 1938 with Junior Foods for toddlers. During the which numbers some 3,000 objects and more than baby boom of the 1950s, Heinz produced a complete line of 10,000 images taken between 1864 and 1991. baby food in glass jars, adding screw-on lids a few years The general collection (MSS 57) contains later, both industry firsts. 67 cubic feet (33 boxes) of advertisements, correspondence, label books, pamphlets, Heinz baby food became one of the company’s top sellers scrapbooks, programs, postcards, and other and they heavily advertised and promoted the product, ephemera. including booklets and filmstrips offering nutritional and The photograph collection (MSP 57) contains parenting advice. 71 cubic feet (137 boxes) of images that depict work at the Heinz factory in Pittsburgh, ~ Emily Ruby, Curator Heinz produced an illustrated products, equipment, employees, salesmen, and guide for parents learning to executives, mostly after 1900. feed their children baby food. HHC Detre L&A, MSS57.B014.F003.I04.

32 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | FALL 2014 Heinz employees across the world contributed funds to commission Emil Fuchs to create this memorial to H.J. after his death in 1919. 1895 The statue originally stood in the rotunda of the Administration Building at the Heinz factory on the North Side. 1998 Courtesy H.J. Heinz Co. Photo by Paula Andras. Some Heinz pickle pins through the 1896 years. In the center is the original charm handed out in 1893. HHC Collections 93.240. Photo by Liz Simpson.

1960 1904 1893

1947 1915

1939 1925

1930

SOURCES The best and most complete source for information on H.J. Heinz and his company is a biography by Robert C. Alberts, The Good Provider: H.J. Heinz and his 57 Varieties (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973). Also a good source is an article that accompanied the opening of the Heinz exhibit at the Senator John Heinz History Center by Elizabeth Siegel Watkins, “Heinz 57 Varieties on Six Continents,” Western Pennsylvania History 82:1 (Spring 1999). For a look at the extensive presence overseas, see Stephen Potter, The Magic Number: The Story of “57” (London: Max Reinhardt, 1959). Two more recent books are Debbie Foster and Jack Kennedy, H.J. Heinz Company (Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2006), and Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr., H.J. Heinz: A Biography (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2009). Some early history can be found online at www.heinzketchup.com/ and www.heinz.com/our-company/about- heinz/history.aspx/.

1 Much of the basic history is gleaned from documents in a Pickle Pins folder in the Heinz collection at the History Center (MSS 57). 2 The World’s Columbian Exposition: Idea, Experience, Aftermath, an online hypertextual thesis by Julie K. Rose at http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/WCE/history. 3 “[T]he gallery floor of the Agricultural Building has sagged where the pickle display of H.J. Heinz Company stood, owing to the vast crowd which constantly thronged their stand to taste their goods or procure a watch charm.” From “Narrow Escape at World’s Fair,” The New York Times, November 15, 1893, p. 5. 4 Robert C. Alberts, The Good Provider: H.J. Heinz and his 57 Varieties (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973), 6. 5 Stephen Potter, The Magic Number: The Story of “57” (London: Max Reinhardt, 1959), 31. 6 Alberts, The Good Provider, 144-145.

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