Recent Archive Submissions
In an early example of co-branding, Clorox® bleach partners with the new Philco Duomatic washing machine for this circa 1960 television advertisement.
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As the Philco salesperson explains, this advanced new combination washer/dryer featured a pullout automatic bleach dispenser to inject liquid bleach into the wash cycle after detergent is fully dispersed. Clorox® bleach labels from this period encouraged consumers to visit their Philco dealer for a demonstration of "The Wonderful New Philco Duomatic".
Could Kingsford® Hunter’s Heater really date as far back as 1944, when Smokey the Bear first issued his famous warning, featured on every can?
Once made in Iron Mountain, Michigan, for use by ice fisherman, duck hunters and campers, Hunter’s Heater cans contained Kingsford® charcoal briquets infused with Sure-Fire® instant, odorless fire-starter fluid, and provided three to four hours of uniform heat for camp cookery, comfort and warmth.
To use the product, campers would punch holes around the top and bottom with a beverage can opener before igniting with a match …we think.
If any sportsmen out there can tell us more about Hunter’s Heater, how it works or when it was on the market, let us know by submitting your comments!
We need your help! The Clorox Company Archive is looking for Clorox® bleach bottles from the 1990s. You can usually find a bottle's year printed on the label, next to a copyright symbol on the back (e.g., © 1995).
If you have any Clorox® bleach bottles dated 1990-1999 that you are willing to donate to the collection, please send them to:
Attn: Corporate Archive
The Clorox Company
1221 Broadway, Rm 2314B
Oakland, CA 94612Email questions to Corporate.Archive@clorox.com
Thanks for your help!
For nearly 40 years, our corporate archive has been preserving the heritage of The Clorox Company with your help. As we celebrate American Archives Month in October, we invite you to donate historical items related to Clorox, our people, products and operations.
Established in 1972 to serve as the company’s core corporate memory, the Clorox Archive contains many "antiques," such as old Clorox® bleach bottles and early advertising, photos, financial documents and correspondence dating back to the company’s founding in 1913. According to Toni Anderson, who was involved in the early days of the archive, “The vision of the founders and the intense physical and financial struggle of a fledgling company are felt as one reads through the correspondence and memoranda of the early years.”
Today, the archive has grown to include more than 10,000 items, mostly donated by company employees, retirees and friends. Our archivists work to find and preserve historical materials, and respond to business and research requests. Every day, the Clorox Archive plays a vital role in supporting the business and preserving the company’s history, but we're not finished — our growth depends on your donations!
If you have something you think belongs in the Clorox Archive, let us know! Contact our archivists at corporate.archive@clorox.com, or send items to The Clorox Corporate Archive, 1221 Broadway, Rm. 2314B, Oakland, CA 94612.
Though it shares common elements with labeling from later years — including our trademark diamond logo and “The White Line is the Clorox Line” slogan — this rare label tells its age with the mark of the first outside company to distribute commercial Clorox® bleach:
“L.A. WOLFF, Inc., Sole Distributors, San Francisco, Calif.”
In 1914, when The Clorox Company was still in its infancy, Wolff approached our board of directors with a proposition to purchase its entire stock of hypochlorite bleach at 40 cents a gallon. In return for exclusive distribution rights, they would bear the entire cost of labels, advertisements and handling, selling Clorox® bleach to local French laundries for 75 cents per gallon. Though the agreement lasted only one year, L.A. Wolff, Inc. helped develop the early market for Clorox® bleach in the Bay Area.
Clorox and Cat Litter - Jonny Cat litter is named after its founder, John Alan Stephens who considered himself more of an academic than a businessman.
Stephens started the Excel-Mineral Company in 1949 and, after acquiring vast deposits of opal sedimentary clay that could absorb up to its own weight in liquid, developed a small processing plant to crush, dry and screen the raw material into granules. The product was at first used to absorb grease and oils, but in the early 1950s a chemist friend of John’s noticed how his cats had taken to it. Because the granules absorbed both moisture and odor, it became a no-brainer to replace the shredded paper and sand mixture that was a mainstay in catboxes at the time — and Jonny Cat was born!
In 1999,The Clorox Company acquired the First Brands Corporation, which included Jonny Cat, Ever Clean®, EverFresh® and Scoop Away® cat litter brands. Though we sold the Jonny Cat business to the Oil-Dri Corporation in 2002, our other cat litter products remain an important part of our brand portfolio.
The Other N.R.A. - No, not the National Rifle Association. The "NRA Member" stamp on Clorox® bleach bottles in the 1930s signified The Clorox Company's participation in the New Deal.
The "NRA Member" stamp on Clorox® bleach bottles in the 1930s signified The Clorox Company's participation in the National Recovery Administration, one of President Roosevelt's "alphabet soup" of New Deal programs undertaken to help the nation recover from the Depression.
The NRA sought to stabilize the economy by ending cutthroat competition, overproduction, labor conflicts, and deflating prices. To do so, representatives of business, labor, and government established codes of "fair practices" that would set prices, production levels, minimum wages, and maximum hours within each industry.
It was a voluntary program, and businesses that got on the bandwagon received a placard with a "blue eagle" on its face. Above the eagle was the inscription "NRA", and below the phrase "We Do Our Part." Citizens were encouraged to buy where the blue eagle was on display.
Oakland plant, 1933. Photo donated by the James C. Johnson Family.
Over 500 industries signed codes covering 22 million workers, and by the end of the 1933, the nation's ten largest industries were on board, as well as hundreds of smaller businesses. The NRA's success was short-lived however. In 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously declared it unconstitutional, ruling that it infringed the separation of powers under the United States Constitution.
Your Donations Count! - Check out the generous donations we received from an employee who worked at our original plant for 45 years.
James C. Johnson was the foreman on the factory floor of The Clorox Company's original High Street location in Oakland, California. His tenure at Clorox lasted 45 years and he was recognized at various times with commemroative pins as shown above. Mr. Johnson's son, Ted, and wife, Gale, donated this photo, numerous staff photographs as well as a vintage Clorox® liquid bleach bottle. This is just one example how employees contribute so much to our corporate archive.
Thanks to Ted and Gale for their generous donations. If you think you have something that would enrich the collection, let us know!
Pick a Card – See how employees of The Clorox Company shuffled their way to the finish line at the Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco, California in 1987.
Bay to Breakers, the annual 12K footrace held in San Francisco, California, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. While people of all ages from the Bay Area have competed in this historic event over the years, in 1987, 54 employees from The Clorox Company participated and even made history.
Representing the 52 cards in a deck, and two jokers, all employees were strung together as playing cards and competed in the “centipede division” of the race. The group was the longest centipede in Breaker history at the time.
Happy Founders' Day! – The Clorox Company was founded 98 years ago today as the Electro-Alkaline Company. But who were those original five Bay Area founders that started a humble bleach company back in 1913?
We don’t know much about the five Bay Area men who founded the Electro-Alkaline Company with an initial investment of $100 apiece in 1913. What we do know is that with some hard work and the help of William C.R. Murray in 1916, these founders were able to develop a product that has reached households around the world over the past 98 years.
Edward Hughes may have provided the company with sales expertise as he was a wood and coal supplier in the Bay Area. With his experience, he may have helped forge sales relationships and manage the original distribution networks for Clorox® liquid bleach.
Charles Husband served as the Alameda County deputy treasurer prior to investing in the Electro-Alkaline Company. We think he may have been the numbers guy in the group to help the company get its start.
William A. Hussey was a native of Berkeley, California and graduated from the University of California. He was a well-known mining engineer and spent time working for the Crown Mines of Johannesburg, South Africa. As a founder of the Electro-Alkaline Company, he had the experience needed to work with the salt ponds in Alameda County from which the original bleach was manufactured.
Archibald George Taft was the president of San Francisco’s Harbor Bank and was a prominent figure in the area. He served as the Electro-Alkaline Company’s first board president until his resignation in June of 1914. At that time he became secretary of the Oakland Box Company and later in 1921 he plead guilty to embezzlement charges. Although we’re sure he was a great asset to our company, it may have been a good thing that he didn’t stay for more than a year.
Rufus B. Myers was an attorney and former probate judge from North Dakota. In 1888, he moved to the Bay Area “under doctor’s orders” and provided legal expertise for the company. Rufus lived in Oakland and was active in local politics. In fact, his son, Romaine Myers, was a successful engineer in the Bay Area. Records from our archives show that Romaine was the first chief engineer at the Electro-Alkaline Company and he even oversaw the original manufacturing process that used electricity to create bleach.
We sure have come a long way from the Electro-Alkaline Company in 98 years and we’re excited to see where we’re headed in the future.
