Williams Timeline

This article provides an overview of the J.B. Williams company and products. Please cite sources wherever possible, preferring primary sources to secondary or tertiary ones.

• 
  [*]Development of Williams' Genuine Yankee Soap by James Baker Williams in Manchester, Connecticut. [1]
  

• 
  [*]Moved to Glastonbury, Connecticut. [1]
  

• 
  [*]First known advertising for shave stick, retail price 25 cents. Other prices: Yankee shaving soap 10 cents, luxury 25 cents, barber six for 40 cents.[2]
  

• 
  [*]Earliest known mention of the Williams Holder Top Shaving Stick, wholesale price 35 cents. Reference includes prices for a large number of other products. [3]
  

• [*] December
  • [*] 8: Williams registers "marbelite case" as a trademark for the Holder Top. Around this time the package changed from plated tins to the red bakelite or catalin.[4]

• 
  [*]Holder Top price wholesale price 35 cents. [5]
  

• 
  [*]Holder Top price wholesale price 40 cents.[6]
  

• 
  [*]Williams acquires assets of Conti Products.[7]
  

• 
  [*]Holder Top wholesale price 49 cents. [8]
  

• 
  [*]Acquired by Pharmaceuticals, Inc.[1]
  

• 
  [*]Headquarters move to Cranford, NJ. A group of employees forms Glastonbury Toiletries, producing shaving soaps, bathroom soaps, castile soap, aerosol shaving creams, body lotions, and shampoos.[1]
  

• 
  [*]USPS introduced zip codes. However it may have taken a few years before Williams began printing a zip code on their labels.[9]
  

• 
  [*]Holder Top price retail price 48 cents, reload 28 cents.[10]
  

• 
  [*]In the USA, Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966 comes into force 1967-07-01, requiring net weights and ingredient lists. However labels may have taken a year or more to catch up with the new law, and a net weight may have preceded any list of ingredients under the notion that "soap" was the only ingredient.[11]
  

• 
  [*]Holder Top wholesale price 59 cents, reload 35 cents.[12]
  

• 
  [*]Acquired by Nabisco. [1]
  

• 
  [*]Packaging for mug soap includes USA bicentennial mug offer, labeled "NET WT. 1 3/4 OZ.", no bar code, retail price 23 cents discounted to 19 cents.[13]
  
  [*]Last known mention of the Holder Top in print. [14]
  

• 
  [*]Glastonbury Toiletries shuts down. [1]
  

• 
  [*]Beecham acquisition.[15]
  

• 
  [*]In the USA, changes to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1966 require metric quantities as of 1994-02-14.[11]
  

• 
  [*]GlaxoSmithKline acquisition.
  

• 
  [*]Combe acquisition. Beginning of modern formulation.
  

1. ^ a b c d e fJohnson, Leith and Salerno Aldo E., Finding Aid for J. B. Williams Company Records, Archives & Special Collections at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut.
2. ^Scientific American, 29 July 1899, p78.
3. ^American druggist and pharmaceutical record, Volumes 58-59, p. 113, Google Books.
4. ^Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, 1931.
5. ^Druggists' Circular, vol. 83, p217.
6. ^Drug Topics Redbook, p175.
7. ^Business Week, 1950, p60.
8. ^American Druggist Year Book and Price List, p572.
9. ^Wikipedia article: Zip_code
10. ^USA Senate Hearings, subcommittee of the Committee on Commerce, 1964
11. ^ a bWikipedia article: Fair_Packaging_and_Labeling_Act_(US)
12. ^Drug Topics Redbook, vol. 71, p520.
13. ^Photos in vintage soap thread, post 5179893.
14. ^Drug Topics Redbook, vol. 80, p461.
15. ^"...late 1982..." according to Business Week, Iss. 2823-2830, p.86.