National Plastics Center & Museum

Earl Tupper (1907-1983) founded Tupperware Brands Corporation in 1938. Tupper's method of purifying a by-product of the oil refining process resulted in affordable polyethylene -- plastic -- products in a rainbow of colors for a wide range of kitchen and home uses. Tupper introduced the line in 1946 through department and hardware stores; sales were steady but modest until the advent of Tupperware Home Parties (based on a similar strategy developed by Stanley Home Products). The Home Parties were an immediate success and in 1958 Earl Tupper was able to sell the company for $16 million.

Tupperware spread to England and thence to Europe in the 1960s. As of 2009 Tupperware was being sold in nearly 100 countries -- still primarily through the home party method, though in some cases under alternate product names (for example, Kompakt-System in Germany and Eleganzia in England).

From the guide to the Tupperware Collection, 1949-2004, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)

Reed-Prentice Corporation is a manufacturer of injection molding machines, based in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

From the guide to the Reed-Prentice Corporation Collection, 1940-1968, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)

Founded in 1982, the National Plastics Center (NPC) was a non-profit institution dedicated to preserving the past, addressing the present and promoting the future of plastics through public education and awareness. The Center, which closed in 2008, had an extensive museum collection of plastic parts, machinery and memorabilia and the archives and library contain numerous books and collections on many subjects, companies and people prominent in the industry. In 2011, much of the NPCM collection was donated to Syracuse University.

From the guide to the Plastics Product Literature Collection, 1890-2012, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)

Bakelite was developed in 1907–1909 by a Belgian, Dr. Leo Baekeland (who also invented Velox photographic paper, bought by Kodak); shortly thereafter Baekeland founded the General Bakelite Company (1910) to produce and distribute his invention. The material's ingredients are phenol and formaldehyde, often with a wood flour filler. Electrically nonconductive and heat-resistant, it has been used in everything from radio and telephone casings and electrical insulators to kitchenware, jewellery, and children's toys. In 1924 Baekeland, then president of the American Chemical Society, appeared on the cover of Time magazine. In 1993 the American Chemical Society named Bakelite a National Historical Chemical Landmark as "the world's first completely synthetic plastic."

The Bakelite Corporation was formed in 1922 by a merger of the General Bakelite Company, the Condensite Company, and the Redmanol Chemical Products Company founded by L.V. Redman. The patent on the Bakelite formulas expired in 1927 and numerous companies began manufacturing Bakelite items. Another company, Bakelite Limited, was formed in England in 1926 from three suppliers of phenol formaldehyde materials; in 1939 the company was acquired by the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation.

From the guide to the Bakelite Collection, 1924-1956, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)