1940s

Overton Hygienic MFG Co., est. 1898

Museum Artifact: Overton’s High Brown Face Powder, 1944

Made By: The Overton-Hygienic Manufacturing Company, 3621 S. State Street, Chicago, IL

“High-Brown Face Powder clings so closely and matches the skin so perfectly that no one ever suspects the powder is there. The quality is rare, the perfume rich and fragrant. . . . Every known facility and method for the manufacture of face powder are employed so as to yield the famous High Brown quality demanded by the ‘lady who knows.’” —Overton Hygienic MFG Co.

Superior Match Co., est. 1937

Museum Artifacts: Superior Match Promotional Matchbook and Company Catalog No. 612, 1940s

Made By: Superior Match Company, 7530 S. Greenwood Ave., Chicago, IL

“Book Matches are silent salesmen, on the job for you constantly, never taking a day off, never late for work, never taking a vacation or asking for a raise in pay! . . . For just as surely as a match is used to light a cigarette,

Empire Spice Mills MFG Co., est. 1936

Museum Artifact: Burma Brand Spices: Pure Ground Cinnamon Tin, c. 1940s

Made By: Empire Spice Mills Manufacturing Company, 917 S. Western Ave., Chicago, IL

Chicago’s Empire Spice Mills Manufacturing Company (no relation to the current Empire Spice Mills of Winnipeg, Canada) was a peculiar little enterprise that only existed for a little over a decade, from the late 1930s to a few years beyond the Second World War.

Wilson Jones Co., est. 1893

Museum Artifact: Marvel 60 Hole Punch, c. 1940s

Made By: Wilson Jones Company, 3300 W. Franklin Blvd., Chicago, IL

Long before any Marvel superhero ever punched a villain, the mighty Marvel Hole Punch was already dispensing its own brand of justice on unsuspecting sheets of binder paper. This lever-operated “paper perforator” was originally designed by Alexander and Chesley Dom of the Samuel C.

Webster-Chicago Corp., est. 1914

Museum Artifact: Webster “Electronic Memory” Wire Recorder, Model 180-1, c. 1949

Made By: Webster-Chicago Corp., aka WebCor, 5622 W. Bloomingdale Ave., Chicago, IL

“The Electronic Memory is truly one of the most useful additions to the modern home. Not only does it afford the never-failing amusement of hearing one’s own voice or dramatic productions, but it is also invaluable for wire-recording outstanding programs and fine music from radio or record discs,

Hammond Organ Company, est. 1928

Museum Artifacts: Hammond Solovox Keyboard Model J, Series A (1940s) and Hammond Organ Generator Oil Can (c. 1950s)

Made By: Hammond Organ Co., 2915 N. Western Ave. and 4200 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago, IL

“Smaller than a piano, a midget in comparison with the vast pipe organs of traditional style, yet capable of 253 million different tones; this is the electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond of Chicago.”

Exhibit Supply Company, est. 1901

Museum Artifact: “Blind Dates” Arcade Collector Cards, 1941

Made By: Exhibit Supply Company, 4222-4230 W. Lake Street, Chicago, IL

“One cannot mention the words ‘penny arcade’ without thinking of the Exhibit Supply Company of Chicago. For over twenty-seven years its president, Mr. J. Frank Meyer, has been engaged in his tireless task of advancing the arcade business. Today, the acorn of more than a score of years ago has developed into a giant oak tree and the Exhibit Supply Company has become the symbol of all that is fine in the line of penny arcade machines.” —Bernard Madorsky (Eastern Distributor for Exhibit Supply Co.),

W. D. Allen MFG Co., est. 1887

Museum Artifact: Allen “Red Arrow” and “The Ring” Lawn Sprinklers, c. 1940s

Made By: W. D. Allen MFG Co., 5650 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL , offices at 566 W. Lake Street

W. D. Allen’s cast-iron “Red Arrow” lawn sprinkler first blasted off in the late 1930s, taking on an eventual space-rocket shape that landed it somewhere between the trends of Streamline Moderne and Atomic Age design.

Airguide Instrument Co., est. 1930

Museum Artifact: Airguide “Highlander” Wall Barometer, MK III Clinometer, and No. 36 Field Glasses – 1940s

Made by: Airguide Instrument Co. / Fee & Stemwedel, Inc, 2210 W. Wabansia Ave.

“Into every Airguide instrument go the finest of materials, the painstaking care of skillful workers, and the thorough inspection of an exacting laboratory. No instrument leaves the factory until it has proved its dependability under conditions more severe than those actually encountered throughout the year.

Shure Brothers, Inc., est. 1925

Museum Artifact: Shure 708A Stratoliner Crystal Microphone, 1940s

Made By: Shure Brothers, Inc., 225 West Huron Street, Chicago, IL

“We know very well that absolute perfection cannot be attained, but we will never stop striving for it.” —Sidney N. Shure, founder of Shure Brothers, Inc.

Introduced in 1940, the “Stratoliner” microphone in our museum collection finds the world famous Shure,

Olson Rug Company, est. 1874

Museum Artifact: Olson Rug 75th Anniversary Calendar, 1949

Made By: Olson Rug Co., 2800 N. Pulaski Rd., Chicago, IL

No other manufacturing business in Chicago ever had a headquarters quite like that of the Olson Rug Company. From 1935 to 1965, the sprawling Olson factory campus at the northwest corner of Diversey Avenue and Pulaski Road—with its stunning man-made waterfalls, rock gardens, sculptures,

Citrus Products Co., est. 1919

Museum Artifact: Kist Beverages Soda Bottle, c. 1940s

Made By: Citrus Products Co., 11 E. Hubbard St., Chicago, IL

Most Notable Factoid: In 1933, the vice president of Citrus Products fired a gun at his own wife (and missed) after he saw her kissing the president of the company at a party.

Best known for its “Kist” brand of carbonated beverages,

R. R. Donnelley & Sons Co.

Museum Artifact: “The Lakeside News” company newsletter, July 1949

Made By: R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company / Lakeside Press, 350 E. Cermak Road (Calumet Plant), Chicago, IL

Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.

Florsheim Shoe Company, est. 1892

Museum Artifact: Florsheim Ladies Shoes, c. 1940s

Made By: Florsheim Shoe Company, 3963 W. Belmont Ave. and 130 S. Canal Street , Chicago, IL

“I have always attributed our success to three essentials: a good shoe, an efficient organization, and advertising—always keeping in mind that our shoe measured up to everything that we said in our advertising.” —Milton S. Florsheim,

Revere Camera Company, est. 1939

Museum Artifact: Revere 88 Movie Camera and Revere 85 Movie Projector, 1940s

Made By: Revere Camera Company, 320 E. 21st St., Chicago, IL

“The Revere takes the clearest and steadiest home movies you have ever seen. Its advanced design (pocket size), its exclusive automatic film-threading sprocket, five speeds (including slow motion), precision construction, and many other proven features make Revere the outstanding value of 8mm movie cameras.”

Mid City Uniform Cap Co. & Citation Hat Corp., est. 1925

Museum Artifacts: Citation Beaver Quality Fedora, c. 1950s, and Mid City Khaki Garrison Cap, 1948

Made By: Citation Hat Corp. / Mid City Uniform Cap Company, 2330 W. Cermak Rd., Chicago, IL

“I hate like hell to praise myself, but at the same time I cannot go away from the truth.” —Harry Lev

In the summer of 1955,

Platt Luggage, Inc., est. 1921

Museum Artifact: Platt “Airess” Train Case, c. 1940s

Made By: Platt Luggage, Inc., 2001 N. Elston Ave., Chicago, IL

Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.

G. Felsenthal & Sons, est. 1898

Museum Artifact: Altitude Correction Computer, c. 1945

Made By: G. Felsenthal & Sons, 4100 W. Grand Ave., Chicago, IL

“No sign posts on the mountains . . . no concrete highways in the soup . . . no rocky peak so kind it steps aside to let a plane go by. Yet, with the navigational instruments precision made by Felsenthal, in Felsenthal Plastics,

Electro MFG Corp., est. 1930

Museum Artifact: Portable Lamp, c. 1940s

Made By: Electro Manufacturing Corporation, 2000 W. Fulton Street, Chicago, IL

Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.

Chicago Printed String Company, est. 1915

Museum Artifact: Ribbonette Ribbon Spool Dispenser, c. 1940s

Made By: Chicago Printed String Co., 2300 W. Logan Blvd, Chicago, IL

“In the decorative wrapping and ribbon business, you can’t find any larger than Chicago Printed String.” —Chicago Tribune, August 5, 1960

While the name would certainly suggest a homegrown original, the Chicago Printed String Company could actually trace its beginnings about 4,500 miles to the east,

American Bird Products, Inc., est. 1926

Museum Artifact: American 3 Vees Bird Nesting, c. 1940s

Made by: American Bird Products, Inc., 2610 W. 25th Place, Chicago, IL

Starting with the pet canary craze of the ‘20s and ‘30s up through the post-war budgie boom, Chicago’s American Bird Products, Inc. (aka the American Bird Food MFG Co. and American Bird Corp.) established a nice niche for itself—evolving from a mere seed supplier into something more like a lifestyle brand for the feathered set.

Chicago Die Casting MFG Co., est. 1918

Museum Artifact: Promotional Display Sign for Die Cast Drive Pulleys, 1949

Made By: Chicago Die Casting Manufacturing Company, 2500 W. Monroe St., Chicago, IL

Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.

Electric Corp. of America, est. 1942

Museum Artifact: Hand Painted Baseball Figurine, 1940s

Made By: Electric Corp. of America / ECA Toys, Inc. / ECA MFG Co., 2518 W. Montrose Ave., Chicago, IL

Dating from the early 1940s, our sleepy ceramic Little Leaguer here was produced a few years after the first Hummel figurines hit the U.S. market, making him a sort of hyper-Americanized, wartime knockoff of those popular German collectibles.