THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

Dry goods are products such as textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, and sundries. In U.S. retailing, a dry goods store carries consumer goods that are distinct from those carried by hardware stores and grocery stores, though "dry goods" as a term for textiles has been dated back to 1742 in England . Dry goods can be carried by stores specializing just in those products, or may be carried by a general store or a department store or more recently, a big box store. In the beginning of the 19 th century, dry goods were often combined with other commodities to form the merchant's stock in trade, that it was difficult to determine where the former began or the latter ended. Trading of all kinds was of a generalized character, merchants handling a like dry goods, groceries, and sundries in the same establishments. The stocks represented in such stores were incongruous in the extreme; cottons and silks from India , and velvets and woolens from Europe , were placed in...

The rubber industry in the United States can hardly be said to have had any real and tangible existence until the discovery of the process of vulcanization in 1844 by Charles Goodyear. The first rubber ever imported into this country was brought into Boston in the year 1800 and came in In that same year a patent was granted to one Jacob Hummel, of Philadelphia, for a gum-elastic varnish; of which, however, there seems to have been no further mention. Some ten years later, in 1823, a Boston sea-captain, coming from South American ports, brought with him a pair of gilded rubber shoes which excited the greatest interest. Two years later, 500 pairs of rubber shoes, made by the natives along the Amazon, were brought into Boston, this time without the fantastical refinement of gilding. They were exceedingly thick, clumsy, and unshapely shoes, and yet they sold readily, bringing from $3 to $5 per pair as they were found that they were a secure protection against dampness. This was the e...

Similar to the UK billheads advertising the royal warrants, many US billheads advertised the number and type of exposition medals the company won. Exposition officials rewarded participants and exhibit winners with elaborately engraved commemorative certificates, diplomas, or award medals. These exposition award medals were big and beautifully designed works of art, like art medals. They were executed upon a design prepared under the Departments of Fine Art. Award medals are often inscribed to recipients, in effect creating a unique medal. The medals were made many times of bronze metal. These award medals were a big deal. They were chosen from hundreds and many times thousands of US and foreign exhibitors. Medal award winners took pride and general satisfaction in their awards. They often printed a copy of their medal on their flyers and advertising media if they had a commercial product. Check out www .expomedals.com for more information. I have placed some examples below.

Soap making in the American colonies was largely a household art in the beginning. When the second ship sent out from England to the Jamestown colony arrived, there were landed a number of Germans and Poles, skilled craftsmen, among whom were several proficient in handling fat and soap- ashes. The candle and the tallow dip, then the ordinary means of illumination, have always constituted in their manufacture a branch of the soap maker's business, but in those days it was a far more important one than it is to-day. Newport , R. I., had a number of these establishments by the middle of the last century. Boston and all New England were likewise active in this trade, owing to the large whaling interests there, which furnished the sperm- oil. While there were small soap- boiling establishments in nearly all the large towns by 1795, it is safe to say that they did not produce a great deal over $300,000 annually. The bulk of the product consumed was, as has already been stated...

It is said that pork was cured and packed in barrels in Salem, Mass., in 1640, and it is certain that, about 1690, Boston did quite a trade in that line; but the paternity of the Western packing business belongs to Cincinnati. In 1818, Elisha Mills established as a packer in Cincinnati. The first drove of hogs ever received in Chicago was in 1827, but no attempt at packing seems to have been made until 1832. In that year George W. Dole packed some pork for Oliver Newbury, of Detroit; but Chicago does not figure in the statistics of packing points until 1850. The development of the agricultural resources of the Western States, especially from Ohio to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, cheapened the cost of producing animals, particularly hogs; and attention to their production was stimulated and encouraged by the demands from Southern and Eastern dealers for product for their markets. Packing operations naturally followed in many places west of Cincinnati, more or less directly in com...

Paint, Oil, and Varnish Industry. The paint industry in the United States started in New York City , in 1715, when linseed oil was put on the market as an article of commercial value. This first mill was closely followed in 1718 by one in Connecticut , erected by John Prout, Jr. Later in 1750 the Dunkers, in Lancaster Co., Pa. , started the industry and by 1786 had four mills in operation. While paint had been used many years before the linseed-oil industry was started, yet its manufacture added a great stimulus to the use of paints because it aided greatly in the manufacture of paints and varnish and later became a necessary adjunct to the business. The rapid growth of the linseed-oil industry had not been without its effect in stimulating the use of paints. These colors were, however, wholly imported, and grew but slowly in general favor. Nevertheless by 1714 painters' colors were for sale in Boston , and while their employment, even for painting the churches, was fr...

Hardware includes a great variety of articles. These, in their manufacture and sale, fall naturally into certain groups, any one of which frequently constitutes an interest in itself. Domestic hardware includes agate, tin, and iron utensils and other household furnishings. Builders' hardware explains itself in a long line of bolts, locks, knobs, and trimmings, in addition to building staples, while tools, agricultural implements, machinists' supplies, cutlery, and saddlers' hardware are common trade distinctions. The early hardware industry imported goods, and for the most part of English make, the mother country continuing to be the principal source of supply throughout the colonial period. With independence came the beginnings of hardware manufacturing, which if small were at any rate prompt and significant. Soon the War of 1812, emphasizing the separation from England, and throwing the people on their own resources, gave a great impetus to all manufacturing interests. Bu...