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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
History Happenings: Quaker tin mystery solved
It appears the tins, with directions in 6 languages, started in 1908
Readers may recall that in April we asked for help finding information about a Quaker Oats tin of compressed rolled oats that sports instruction in half a dozen languages.
Sandra Hudson of Iowa City has used the 5-inch tin as a bookend for decades, and she’d had no luck tracking down any information about its history.
Your correspondents had similar difficulties. Fortunately, loyal readers, you came to our rescue.
We heard, for example, from Ray Buck as well as Ellen and Connie Heck. Buck and the Hecks each have a 2.5-Inch tall version of Quaker tins. Ellen Heck worked at Quaker Oates for 33-1/2 years, and her tin -- which still has its original key -- is one of the mementos of her career.
Dan Sullivan pointed us toward an article in the July 15, 1889, edition of the Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, which included as he put it, “very interesting sales/marketing techniques from the 1880s.” Thomas Lynch found news about Quaker Oats and the U.S. armed forces in the June 18, 1943, Gazette. Neither article, however, solved our mystery.
Glenn Ebert called The History Center to share that he went to work for Quaker Oats in 1944 -- a time of severe labor shortages because of World War II -- at the age of 16. He remembered three lines running 24 hours a day, packaging pea soup, bean soup and oatmeal. He reported soldiers were the intended recipients of much of this production. But that still didn’t give us any details about Sandra Hudson’s tin.
All is revealed
Then we heard from Alan Koechner, who has worked for PepsiCo/Quaker Oats for more than 32 years in a variety of capacities and locations around the country. These days, he lives in Cedar Rapids, and our column caught his eye.
He reached out to some Quaker Oats Co. history buffs he knew from his time working in Chicago, and one them, Bob Chatel, found some information in a book titled “Brands, Trademarks and Good Will” by Arthur Marquette, which recounts the history of Quaker Oats advertising and promotion, and another book from 1933, “The History of the Quaker Oats Company” by Harrison John Thorton.
Chatel came to this conclusion: “I … believe that Hudson's tin is a typical export tin used in the early 1900s.”
As evidence, Chatel cites page 221 of Marquette’s book:
“The export tin, devised originally by Ferdinand Schumacher for his overseas trade and modified by Crowell, was a durable and ingenious container. It had to protect the cereal from rough handling, seawater, humidity, pests and filth of all kinds, and at the same time ship economically and advertise itself through an attractive label.
“Twenty ounces of oatmeal were compressed into a metal package half the size of the cardboard container used in the United States. This economy led famous Arctic and Antarctic explorers to carry Quaker's export tins on their expeditions.”
Chatel found more details concerning polar expeditions on page 206 of Thorton’s book where he tells of the export tins being carried into the polar regions by Peary, Amundsen, Scott, Shackleton and Byrd, and to Tibet by Hedin.
A footnote stated Quaker “has in its possession in Chicago a number of tins of Quaker Oats that went to the South Pole with Scott in 1914, and which were brought back with his unused surplus. As one of these tins is occasionally opened, the contents are found altogether fresh and wholesome.”
1908 distribution
While Hudson speculated that her tin dated from World War II, Chatel cities Marquette again to suggest that it likely does not:
All communication with German, Danish and Dutch companies ended when the United States entered World War II, plus there was a shortage of tin since the government needed it.
Chatel found that the export tins were first distributed around the world in 1908. Destinations included Latin America, Japan, China, Egypt, India and the Congo -- which explains the preparation directions in six languages on Hudson’s tin.
Chatel was unable to find an end date for use of the export tins. We speculate, however, that World War II may have hampered production, given Marquette’s note about the shortage of tin in the U.S. during the war.
Koechner, for his part, told us a Quaker Oats milling operation in Cupar, Scotland, packages the product in tins for export to Saudi Arabia and some African nations.
Summing up, Chatel offered: “Sandra's tin includes ‘MADE IN U.S.A.,’ ‘COMPRESSED QUAKER OATS,’ and it looks like the label weight is 1 pound 6 ounces. More than likely it was packed in Cedar Rapids or Akron (Ohio). So, it looks like a typical export tin of Quaker Oats and not a promotion.”
We’re grateful to Chatel and Koechner and all those who wrote in to help crack the case of the Quaker Oats. Case closed.
Jessica Cline is a Leadership & Character Scholar at Wake Forest University. Her dad, Rob Cline, is not a scholar of any kind. They write this monthly column for The History Center. Comments: HistoricalClines@gmail.com
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