University of Wyoming
Interviews -- audio-tapes -- cassette.
Anniversary celebrations -- film -- 16 mm.
Wilbur Cross (1918-2019) was senior editor for Continental Oil Company's publishing and advertising department when he compiled, edited, and wrote "Conoco: The First One Hundred Years." Published in 1975, the book was a history of Continental Oil Company (later Conoco) which drew on company records and interviews with employees to tell the story of Conoco and its partner and subsidiary companies. The project was complicated by the lack of a central company archives.
Continental Oil Company was founded in 1875 in Ogden, Utah. It became part of Standard Oil in 1884 but regained independence in the Standard Oil divestiture of 1911. It was acquired by Marland Oil Company in 1929; however the merged companies operated as Continental Oil Company. Although the name Conoco was used in marketing, the company did not formally change its name to Conoco Inc. until 1979.
The collection contains research materials gathered by Wilbur Cross in order to write "Conoco: The First One Hundred Years." The materials include Conoco advertising (1929-1974); correspondence (1974-1975); subject files on Marland Oil Company, Consolidation Coal Company (Consol), Conoco executives, natural gas, oil pipelines and petroleum exploration (1909-1974); miscellaneous maps; the manuscript for "Conoco: The First One Hundred Years"; film of Conoco's 75th and centennial anniversary celebrations; photographs and negatives of Conoco refineries, advertising, employees, coal mining and oil drilling (1884-1975); and audio cassette tapes and transcripts of interviews conducted by Cross with former Conoco employees (1973). Also included are brochures, calendars, memorabilia, and other material from the United States Bicentennial celebration in 1976.
There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
There are no known other archival collections created by Continental Oil Company at the date of processing.
Finding aid available in repository.
The collection was received from Wilbur Cross between 1978 and 1982.
The collection was organized and described by Linda J. Dunlap, 1980-1982 and updated by D. Claudia Thompson in 2019.
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Collection Name, Collection Number, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
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