McCormick's Limited

Vibrant archive of marketing, presentation, mailing, advertising and sales materials for a wide assortment of (primarily) candy and other confections from McCormick's Limited and affiliated bakeries — consisting mainly of a colorful collection of 175 original photographs of various McCormick products.

• Sold as a set of 175.
• McCormick's Limited (American).
• [London, Ontario]: [McCormick's Limited], 1953–1982.
• Collection of 175 C prints in various sizes:
• Plus assorted branded ephemera (approximately 40 items) including: company correspondence, safety & sanitation posters, brochures, stickers, three leaflets, placards calendars, packaging, mailing envelopes, inter-office memo pad, petty cash slips, billing and order forms.

The company was established in the 19th century as the McCormick Biscuit and Candy Company, and by the years represented in this collection, was owned by George Weston Limited (producer of Wonder Bread for the Canadian market). Concerned with promotion and publicity from its early years, McCormick's was a provider of biscuits to the Dionne Quintuplets, a recipient of their youthful endorsements, and a donor of sizable royalties to their trust fund. In an included four-page spread from September 1967's The Merchandiser, the company proudly notes this connection while advertising its own advertising prowess through the decades: "The brochures are attractive and mouth-watering."

Included brochures verify this claim; pictured products range from familiar vintage confections like cherry cordials and Walnut Shorties ("WALNUTS make the difference"!) to discontinued exotica like Ceylon Mallows, Pie Face & "Fat Emma" candy bars (a Minneapolis invention of the 1920s, all but disappeared by the 1970s, now extinct); Golden Humbugs, Canada Lozenges and Sea Kings/Roi de la Mer. McCormick also produced accessories, edible and otherwise, through the Imperial Cone Company, represented here by an illustrated leaflet with photos and dimensions of Torch Cones, Buddy Waffles, Sweetheart Straws, etc.

The small selection of dated items range from 1953 to 1982, though most materials are undated; the majority of the archive consists of product photographs in vibrant, glowing color, for use in promotional materials, catalogs and store displays. Most of these prints date from the 1960s through the early 1970s, with several showcasing 1967 Canadian Centennial packaging. Shut down in the 2000s, the abandoned McCormick factory has become a tantalizing attraction to urban explorers.

Though a Canadian company, there is something of the quintessentially mythic innocent post-war North American childhood captured in these indelible primary-color images. Simultaneously an engaging record of this important culinary company and an undeniably nostalgic document.