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Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages

National Museum of American History

Afghanistan
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Finding aid
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Object Details

sova.nmah.ac.0645
GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep81f1b5b19-6b53-4b74-b6ee-a25c259175eb
Creator
Brown and Williamson.
Johnson, Virgil
American Tobacco Company.
Benson and Hedges.
Philip Morris, Inc.
Lorillard.
Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company.
Reynolds, R. J.
Topic
Packaging -- 1850-1900
Packaging -- 20th century
Tobacco -- 1850-2000
Tobacco -- 20th century
Cigarettes -- 1850-2000
Cigarettes -- 20th century
Provenance
The collection was donated to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History in July 1998, by Mr. Virgil Johnson, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia.
The collection was donated to the Archives Center of the National Museum of American History in July 1998, by Mr. Virgil Johnson, a resident of Alexandria, Virginia.
Creator
Brown and Williamson.
Johnson, Virgil
American Tobacco Company.
Benson and Hedges.
Philip Morris, Inc.
Lorillard.
Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company.
Reynolds, R. J.
See more items in
Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages
Summary
As a teenager, Virgil Johnson [b.1918] became interested in the designs and symbols on cigarette packs like "Black Cat" and "White Roll", and he began actively collecting in the 1930s. His interest intensified during the 1940s when he was stationed in North Africa and across the Mediterranean region as a photographer with the U.S. Navy. Mr. Johnson collected cigarette packs for over fifty years, and was a member of the Cigarette Pack Collector's Association. Approximately 6000 cigarette packages, foreign and American, arranged in 24 albums. Manufacturers include names such as those shown below.
Biographical / Historical
As a teenager, Virgil Johnson [b.1918] became interested in the designs and symbols on cigarette packs like Black Cat and White Roll, and he began actively collecting in the 1930s. His interest intensified during the 1940s when he was stationed in North Africa and across the Mediterranean region as a photographer with the U.S. Navy. Mr. Johnson collected cigarette packs for over fifty years, and was a member of the Cigarette Pack Collector=s Association.
Extent
25 Cubic feet (26 boxes)
Date
circa 1890-1997
Archival Repository
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier
NMAH.AC.0645
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Albums
Citation
Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Arrangement
The collection is divided into 3 series. Series 1: Cigarette Packages Series 2: Articles and Other Publications About Tobacco Series 3: Books About Tobacco and Tobacco Collecting
Processing Information
Collection processed by Mimi Minnick, July 1998
Rights
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Genre/Form
Albums
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of approximately 6,000 cigarette packages, ca. 1890-1997, arranged in 24 albums. The cigarette packages offer a strong base for research into the categories of visual imagery created, associated with, and manipulated for the sale of tobacco products. Researchers interested in the history of design will also find these packages a useful source, as they reflect design modifications (in image, logo, typeface, and package features) over time for virtually every brand marketed in the U.S. and an enormous selection of those marketed overseas, by both U.S. and other global tobacco concerns. Series 3: BOOKS ABOUT TOBACCO AND TOBACCO COLLECTING These titles have been transferred to NMAH Library.
Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
Related Materials
The Archives Center is nationally recognized as a site in which to pursue research into the history of tobacco advertising. The Warshaw Collection (AC 60) include many thousands of tobacco advertisements and cigar box labels from the 19th and 20th centuries; the Ayer Collection (AC 59) includes advertising proofsheets for American Tobacco, Phillip Morris, R.J. Reynolds and other cigarette and cigar manufacturers since the 1870s. The Marlboro Collection (AC 198) includes print ads, company publications, and oral history interviews with tobacco industry and advertising agency personnel. The Walter Landor/Landor Associates Industrial Design Collection (AC 500) includes documentation on package design for numerous tobacco companies since the 1950s, and the newly acquired Sandra and Gary Baden Collection of Celebrity Endorsements in Advertising (AC 611) contains several hundred ads featuring movie stars, singers, politicians, and athletes promoting tobacco products since the 1890s. 4,000 cigarettes, also donated by Mr. Johnson, each contained in a screw top glass vial, were donated to the Center for Disease Control's Office of Smoking and Health in Atlanta, Georgia.
Separated Materials
Thirty (30) empty wood, metal, and plastic cigarette packs are also part of the Virgil Johnson Collection. They are housed with the Consumer Culture Collections in the Cultural History Division (now Division of Cultural and Community Life) which also holds several dozen cigarette packs from the Walter Landor/Landor Associates Industrial Design Collection (NMAH.AC.0500).
NMAH.AC.0645
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep81f1b5b19-6b53-4b74-b6ee-a25c259175eb
NMAH.AC.0645
ACAH
Record ID
ebl-1562730435369-1562730435376-0

  • Images 11 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Archival materials 128 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1860s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1870s 1 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1880s 2 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1890s 2 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1900s 2 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1910s 2 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1920s 3 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1930s 3 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1940s 3 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1950s 7 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1960s 4 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1970s 7 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1980s 6 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • 1990s 6 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages 128 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages / Series 1: Cigarette Packages / 1.1: Foreign 77 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages / Series 2: Articles and Other Publications About Tobacco and Tobacco Collecting 23 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages / Series 1: Cigarette Packages / 1.2: American 10 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages / Series 3: Books About Tobacco and Tobacco Collecting 9 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages / Series 1: Cigarette Packages 3 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Virgil Johnson Collection of Cigarette Packages / Series 1: Cigarette Packages / 1.3: Index Cards 3 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • CC0 128 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
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  • Yes 14 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • ead_component 128 Filter by term plus Exclude term minus
  • Israel

  • Afghanistan

  • Austria

  • Other manufacturers, A-M

  • Cambodia

  • Brown & Williamson

  • Mexico

  • Algeria

  • Great Britain

  • Japan

  • American Tobacco Company

  • Cigarette Packages

  • Foreign

  • American

  • European Economic Community

  • Unknown Origins

  • Greece

  • Hong Kong

  • Brazil

  • Chile

  • Cigarette Brands, 1927

  • Sobel, Robert. They Satisfy: The Cigarette in American Life. NY: Doubleday

  • Philippines

  • Spain


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