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Bemis Company Records, 1904-1994

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Bemis Company
Title
Bemis Company Records
Dates
1904-1994 (inclusive)
Quantity
11 boxes plus oversize materials, (10.5 linear feet)
Collection Number
1994.15
Summary
The collection documents the activity of the Seattle plant of the Bemis Brothers Bag Company (later the Bemis Company, Inc.), manufacturer of textile, paper and plastic bags and packaging. It includes business records, equipment blueprints and manuals, promotional materials, original bag artwork and photographs of Seattle plant facilities, equipment and personnel.
Repository
Museum of History & Industry, Sophie Frye Bass Library

P.O. Box 80816
Seattle, WA
98108
Telephone: 2063241126 x102
library@mohai.org
Access Restrictions

The collection is open to the public by appointment.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Historical Note

J.M. Bemis & Co. was founded in 1858 when Judson Moss Bemis opened a factory in St. Louis, Missouri to produce the first commercially machine-sewn, color-printed textile bags in the United States, bags that had previously been hand sewn and hand stenciled. The business grew steadily, and by 1881 J.M. Bemis & Co. had additional offices in Boston and Minneapolis. After Bemis' brother Stephen took charge of the St. Louis plant in 1885, the official name of the company changed to the Bemis Brothers Bag Company. That same year, the company was incorporated and introduced its cat-in-the-bag logo.

By 1900, Bemis Bro. Bag Company operated eight textile bag factories across the country, making burlap and cotton bags for grain, flour, feed and other products. By the early 20th century, the company also ran two cotton mills and became the worldæs largest importer of burlap from India. In 1913, Bemis built its first paper mill in Peoria, Illinois, beginning its expansion from cotton and burlap packaging into the manufacture of paper products.

Judson Moss Bemis died in 1921, to be succeeded first by his son, Albert Farwell Bemis, then his nephew J.S. Bemis, and later his grandson F.G. Bemis. The company continued to expand, with some factories producing other canvas goods such as tents and tarpaulins. In the 1930s, the company began to design and manufacture machinery to fill and close bags, and in the 1940s, it expanded into plastics, using polyethylene for bags and packaging materials, and as an additive to strengthen its textile products.

In the late 1950s, Bemis entered a phase of growth characterized by heavy acquisition of companies that used related technologies. During this period, in 1964, the Bemis Bro. Bag Co. became the Bemis Company, Inc. and abandoned its cat-in-the-bag logo for the "b" shaped bar and oval still in use today. The acquisitions period ended in the 1970s, to be followed by phase of internal restructuring and growth focusing on increasing profits.

In the 1980s, Bemis sold the rest of its textile mills and expanded manufacturing to produce plastic film for packaging foods, polyethylene packaging and pressure sensitive materials. The company continued to develop new plastic film products and modernize its plants through the 1990s. Today Bemis continues to be a major producer of flexible packaging and pressure sensitive materials.

The Seattle plant was one of Bemis' many facilities across the country. Built in an industrial area just south of the downtown business district, the Seattle plant became the ninth branch of the Bemis Bro. Bag Company. Traveling to Seattle from the Omaha plant with a rail car full of bags to be broken down for delivery, Robert MacAusland set up a small sales office in Seattle in 1904. With the permission of company president Albert Farwell Bemis, MacAusland and J.M. Bemis' son-in-law Reginald Parsons joined forces to build a Bemis plant in Seattle. The new building was constructed on Colorado Avenue near Atlantic Street in 1904 and bag production began the following year. A 1917 addition to the original building, designed and constructed by Thomas M. Scruggs, more than doubled the floor space of the plant. The original building was badly damaged in the 1949 earthquake and a third building was subsequently constructed.

The Seattle plant began with production of textile bags and expanded into manufacture of paper bags in 1941, with textile production phased out completely in 1978. The Seattle plant closed in 1993 and its production was transferred to the Vancouver, Washington plant. The four-story brick building was subsequently bought by a group of artists who reopened it in 1996. The Bemis Building currently operates as a space for artists to live and work and includes a gallery for fine art exhibitions.

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Content Description

The collection includes employment and financial records, equipment manuals and specifications, blueprints of Bemis facilities and equipment, and ads and promotional publications; most of these are specific to the Seattle plant though a few items (such as an annual report and some promotional materials) relate to the Bemis Company in general. The series comprised of the original artwork for over 400 accounts gives an indication of the range of products and companies for which the Seattle Bemis plant produced bags. The collection also includes a biography of company founder Judson Moss Bemis, as well as a 1912 article by Bemis.

The photographs in the collection document the original Seattle plant building, the 1917 addition to the building, earthquake damage and subsequent construction. The various work areas of the interior of the plant are depicted, including equipment being delivered, installed and in use in the plant. Photographs show employees working on various aspects of the production of bags, from graphic designers drawing bag graphics to finished bags being prepared for shipping. One photo album documents the construction of 1917 addition to the Seattle plant; a second album includes a collection of photographs of Bemis employees at company events such as parties, picnics and performances.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

View selections from the collection in MOHAI's online collections.

Restrictions on Use

The Museum of History & Industry is the owner of the materials in the Sophie Frye Bass Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from MOHAI before any reproduction use. The museum does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.

Preferred Citation

Bemis Company Records, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection has been arranged into series:

  • Series 1: Judson Moss Bemis
  • Series 2: Personnel, legal and financial records, 1915-1980
  • Series 3: Manuals, blueprints and specifications for equipment and facilities, 1909-1993
  • Series 4: Artwork for bags, 1920s-1984
  • Series 5: Promotion and sales, 1926-1982
  • Series 6: Ephemera
  • Series 7: Photographs
  • Series 8: Photo Albums

Location of Collection

14a.3.8-10

Location of Collection

1a.3.8 (oversize)

Location of Collection

VI.a.17 (posters)

Acquisition Information

Donated by the Bemis Company, Inc. in 1994.

Processing Note

Processed by Anne Petersen in 1995 and Jody Hendrickson in 2006.

Two additional copies of Bemistory employee magazine from 1968 and 1976 were added to the collection in September 2014.

Separated Materials

These materials are part of a donation that also included a number of artifacts. These artifacts are cataloged and stored separately by MOHAI's Collections Department. A complete inventory of the Bemis artifacts is also available in the Library.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Bags--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Employees--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Factories--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Industry--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Packaging--Washington (State)--Seattle
  • Presses--Washington (State)--Seattle

Personal Names

  • Bemis, Judson Moss, 1833-1921

Corporate Names

  • Bemis Bro. Bag Company

Geographical Names

  • Seattle (Wash.)

Form or Genre Terms

  • Blueprints
  • Drawings
  • Photographic prints

Finding aid prepared by Jody Hendrickson
2006

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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