Crown Cork and Seal Collection - PP33

Collection finding aids of photograph collections in the Special Collections Department

CROWN CORK AND SEAL COLLECTION

1939-1945

PP33

 Special Collections Department, H. Furlong Baldwin Library
Maryland Historical Society
201 West Monument Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201

Container list created by Katherine Cowan with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, October 1999
Revised by James Singewald, 2011

 
History

The Crown Cork and Seal Company of Baltimore was founded in 1892 by William Painter soon after he patented the “crown cork”. The plant was located in the Canton area of Baltimore City. In 1898, Painter automated the process of filling and capping bottles. The company grew quickly, and by the time of Painter’s death in 1906, the company had plants in Europe, Asia, and South America. By the 1930s, Crown Cork and Seal produced half of the world’s supply of bottle caps. The company moved its headquarters to Philadelphia in 1958, and in the 1900s moved out of Baltimore City. The company and its subsidiaries still manufacture cans and other food containers in the Rosedale section of Baltimore County, and in Salisbury, Belcamp, and Havre de Grace, Maryland.

Collection Origin

Purchase, 1981 (75774).

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of twelve photographic negatives and positives on 17 x 14 inch glass plates. The plates were used as an alternative step in the photolithographic process of printing bottle caps, designed for printing 72 caps onto sheet metal stock. They originated in 1939-1945, at the Crown Cork and Seal Company of Baltimore. Included are soda and beer bottle cap designs for companies in Baltimore and elsewhere in Maryland, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, and Cuba.

Arrangement

The negatives are arranged according to negative catalog numbers in three boxes.

Container List

All negatives are 17 x 14 inches