Brown & Bigelow was founded in 1896 by Herbert Huse Bigelow and Hiram Brown. The company began by selling printed calendars from a small second-floor print office and soon grew into a large-scale operation. In 1902, Brown & Bigelow opened a sales office in Boston followed by an industrial plant in 1914. In 1980, the company moved it's headquarters to St. Paul, MN.
Collection includes 29 small calendars produced by Brown & Bigelow promotional products from 1953-1955. The majority of the calendars feature illustrations of pin-up girls illustrated by Earl Moran and Ted Withers, prominent pin-up artists in the 1950s. Seven of the calendars have text on the front rather than illustrations. The calendars advertise the following companies: Grant & Company (Los Angeles), Perry Kilsby Inc. Steel Tubing (of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle), and Brumley-Donaldson Company Industrial Materials (Los Angeles and Oakland). They were mailed to Mr. Marion A. Cassell, a purchasing agent for Pacific Coast Iron Pip & Fitting Co. in South Gate, California.
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Purchased, 2016-04-25