Armour Packing (3 results)

No Binding. Condition: Collectible-Very Good. Original billhead printed in black ink on light beige paper. Also includes handwriting in purple colored pencil. Datelined August 28, 1895 in San Francisco, California. 8 1/2" x 5 1/2." Billhead is very clean and intact overall except for light age toning, two vertical fold lines, light to moderate wrinkling, slight tearing at punched holes at top, and slight wear to extremities. A Very Good copy. An original billhead from the Armour Packing Company of San Francisco, California to "Sarles & [Widemann?]." There is one line item, "1 Box 49er [--?]," which is likely a meat product. The printed header reads, "Bought of Armour Packing Company. General Office, Kansas City, Mo. Terms Cash--Payable with Exchange par at San Francisco. All Meats Carefully Weighed and Inspected Immediately Before Shipment." The San Francisco location is listed at 211 Clay Street. The Armour Packing Company was one of the iterations of the meatpacking business, Armour & Company. Armour & Company was founded in 1867 by Philip Danforth Armour (1832-1901) and his brothers, Simeon and Andrew Armour, in Chicago. Andrew's sons, Kirk and Charles Armor, also helped run the business. Another meatpacking industrialist, John Plankinton, was instrumental in bringing one of the company's branches to Kansas City in 1871. Armor & Company was very profitable over the years. For example, the company made millions of dollars selling meat to the United States Army during the Civil War. However, Armour & Company was not without controversy as it was staunchly anti-union, employees were forced to work long hours at low wages, and labor and safety violations pervaded the company. Armour & Company was also one of the meatpacking companies at the center of the tragic "United States Army Beef Scandal" (also known as the "Embalmed Beef Scandal") of 1898 in which thousands of U.S. soldiers who were serving in the Spanish-American War were poisoned or killed after eating contaminated canned beef sold by Armour & Company, Morris & Company, and Swift & Company. The reputations of these meatpacking companies never fully recovered, especially after the publication of Upton Sinclair's muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). The muckraking movement did result in labor and safety reforms in the meatpacking industry and Armour & Company unionized in the 1930s. Several mergers and acquisitions over the decades have dissolved Armour & Company as an independent business, but the Armour brand can still be seen to this day on certain meat products.

No Binding. Condition: Collectible-Very Good. Original billhead printed in black ink on light beige paper. Also includes handwriting in pencil. Datelined September 7, 1896 and March 15, 1897 in San Francisco, California. Each 8 1/2" x 5 1/2." Billheads are very clean and intact overall except for light age toning, a few vertical fold lines, light to moderate wrinkling, a few pinholes at top, and slight wear to extremities. A Very Good copy. A collection of two original billheads from the Armour Packing Company of San Francisco, California to "A. [Widemann?]." The September 7 billhead has several line items and the March 15 billhead has one line item. Among the item descriptions are "Bacon" and "Lard." The printed header reads, "Bought of Armour Packing Company. General Office, Kansas City, Mo. Terms Cash--Payable with Exchange par at San Francisco. All Meats Carefully Weighed and Inspected Immediately Before Shipment." The San Francisco location is listed at 211 Clay Street. The Armour Packing Company was one of the iterations of the meatpacking business, Armour & Company. Armour & Company was founded in 1867 by Philip Danforth Armour (1832-1901) and his brothers, Simeon and Andrew Armour, in Chicago. Andrew's sons, Kirk and Charles Armor, also helped run the business. Another meatpacking industrialist, John Plankinton, was instrumental in bringing one of the company's branches to Kansas City in 1871. Armor & Company was very profitable over the years. For example, the company made millions of dollars selling meat to the United States Army during the Civil War. However, Armour & Company was not without controversy as it was staunchly anti-union, employees were forced to work long hours at low wages, and labor and safety violations pervaded the company. Armour & Company was also one of the meatpacking companies at the center of the tragic "United States Army Beef Scandal" (also known as the "Embalmed Beef Scandal") of 1898 in which thousands of U.S. soldiers who were serving in the Spanish-American War were poisoned or killed after eating contaminated canned beef sold by Armour & Company, Morris & Company, and Swift & Company. The reputations of these meatpacking companies never fully recovered, especially after the publication of Upton Sinclair's muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). The muckraking movement did result in labor and safety reforms in the meatpacking industry and Armour & Company unionized in the 1930s. Several mergers and acquisitions over the decades have dissolved Armour & Company as an independent business, but the Armour brand can still be seen to this day on certain meat products.

40 pp. Embossed stiff wrappers enclose many wonderful lithographic ads by the American Lithographic Co. for some of the many preserved meat products made by Armour. The catalogue doubles as a fortune telling device. From the era before Upton Sinclair, one wonders about the exact composition of some of these canned meats.