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This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 100.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 34,000 items) |
| Abstract | Lunsford Richardson (1854-1919) began marketing various remedies in Greensboro, N.C. in 1898. The operation became Vick Chemical Company in 1911 and made increasing profits with its Vicks VapoRub cold remedy. The Company was managed over the following decades by Richardson's sons H. Smith (1885-1972) and Lunsford, Jr. (1891-1953). After various mergers and acquisitions, it became Richardson-Vick, Inc., in 1980. In 1985 the Richardson family sold the company to Procter & Gamble Co. The collection includes files kept by H. Smith Richardson, Sr., while he was president of Vick Chemical Company, 1919-1929; files pertaining to the operation of the company, chiefly generated by the General Manager's Department; files from the Advertising and Sales Department, including campaign books; financial and legal papers; personnel materials; files from the Production Department; "historical material"; clippings; files of H. Smith Richardson, Jr., concerning hostile takeover bids; Richardson family papers; product samples; photographs; and audio-visual materials. Although the papers include material from the early years of the company through its sale to Procter & Gamble Company in 1985, the bulk of material dates from the years 1919-1929. Coverage of the years before 1919 is scant, consisting of a few mementoes and some correspondence. Coverage of the years 1929-1985 is very uneven. A notable exception is material from the Advertising and Sales Department, which is nearly complete from 1920 to 1960. |
| Creator | Richardson-Vicks, Inc. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Historical Information
In 1890, Lunsford Richardson (1854 1919), realizing that his prospects were limited in the town of Selma, N.C., sold his successful but small drugstore, and moved with his wife and children to the larger town of Greensboro, N.C. There he hoped to find bigger markets and more opportunities.
Richardson and a partner, John Fariss, bought the Porter and Tate Drugstore on Elm Street in Greensboro, renaming it the Richardson and Fariss Drugstore. There, Richardson began to sell the home remedies that he had developed over the years. In 1894, he introduced a product that was destined to make him a fortune, Vicks Magic Salve, a cure for croup.
The origin of the name Vicks has been clouded by time. However, according to company lore, Lunsford Richardson thought his own name was too long and cumbersome to attach to a product. He decided to use the shorter Vicks, in honor of his brother in law Joshua Vick, a doctor in Selma.
In 1898, Richardson's interest in making remedies prompted him to sell his share in the thriving drugstore to his partner and start a new company, Lunsford Richardson Wholesale Drug Company. Among other cures, he continued to make Vicks Magic Salve under a new name, Vicks Croup and Pneumonia Salve.
Richardson quickly tired of fighting with the other stockholders in the company about what to do with the profits. While he wanted to put any profits back into the business to finance more advertising, they wanted them as dividends. As a result, Richardson sold his share of the business in 1905.
Richardson took his savings and opened a new business, Vick Family Remedies Company, this time owned solely by him. He made twenty one different remedies under the Vicks name, and marketed them in twenty surrounding counties.
Despite his hard work, Lunsford Richardson's new business did not make a profit, and he began to run out of savings. In 1907, he asked his oldest son Henry Smith Richardson (1885 1972) to be advertising and sales manager for the fledgling company in hopes that his son could rescue it.
Smith Richardson, as he was called, attended Davidson College for a time before transferring to the Naval Academy. He was dismissed from the Academy for low grades in 1905, during a purge that resulted in the dismissal of nearly a fourth of the cadets. Following his expulsion, Smith went to New York and worked in a number of jobs. While he was working in the basement of Gimbles, Richardson's talents as a salesman were discovered by the Bedford Manufacturing Company of Massachusetts. He joined Bedford and was working for that company when his father requested his help. In 1907, Smith Richardson brought his talents home to North Carolina to turn his father's business around.
Smith Richardson's prescription for a healthy company was to focus its efforts on selling the product that brought in the most money Vicks Croup and Pneumonia Salve. By about 1911, the other remedies had been dropped, and the company had changed its name to Vick Chemical Company and its product's name to the catchy Vicks VapoRub.
Richardson was an aggressive salesman and an innovative advertising manager. He traveled all over North Carolina, and then the southeast, from drugstore to drugstore, and country store to country store, selling VapoRub. First he and the sales force traveled by horse and buggy, and then by Model T Ford. For his efforts, Smith Richardson was made a partner in 1911.
The company's advertising strategies were revolutionary. Vick Chemical Company was one of the first businesses to use such techniques as road signs, store displays, street car advertising, "mark out" slogans, and free samples. When the company began expanding its territory north and west, it was one of the first companies to take advantage of Rural Free Delivery, by sending samples through the mail.
In 1913, Smith Richardson's brother Lunsford Richardson, Jr. (1891 1953), known as "Lump," began working for the company as office manager and assistant sales and advertising manager. By 1917, he was made a partner.
The great influenza epidemic of 1918-1919 gave VapoRub a tremendous boost. The company produced VapoRub twenty four hours a day, and still could not keep up with the demand. In 1919, Lunsford Richardson died, leaving a booming business to his two sons. Smith Richardson became the company's president.
The company grew rapidly in the 1920s. Another plant was built in Philadelphia in 1923. Also in 1923, VapoRub was exported overseas to England, and south to Mexico. An export department was opened in New York in 1924, to handle what was to become big business for the company, selling VapoRub overseas.
In 1925, the Richardsons decided to sell one fourth of their stock in Vick Chemical Company to the public. The stock was primarily bought by employees and people in the drug trade. Smith Richardson turned over the presidency to his brother Lunsford in 1929, and took on the responsibility of long range planning for the now very successful business. He realized that Vick Chemical Company was a one product organization, that the growth potential of that product was limited, and that the company needed to diversify. To that end, Vick Chemical Company merged in 1930 with Sterling Products, Bristol Myers Company, Life Savers, and United Drug Company to form a giant conglomerate called Drug Inc.
Despite the stock market crash of 1929 and the economic chaos that followed, Vick Chemical Company continued to do well. People still caught colds, depression or no depression. In 1931, Va tro nol Nosedrops and Vicks Cough Drops were introduced. Both were almost instantly successful.
Although Vick did well, some of the other Drug Inc. companies were failing. As a result, Drug Inc. "demerged" in 1933, and Vick Chemical Company was on its own again.
In 1938, William Preyer, the Richardsons' brother in law, took over the presidency of the company. The same year, Vick merged with the William J. Merrell Company, the nation's oldest pharmaceutical company. Merrell was the first in a long line of Vick acquisitions. Others included J. T. Baker, an industrial and laboratory chemical company, in 1941; Prince Matchabelli, a perfume and cosmetic company, in 1941; Jensen Salsbury, a veterinary pharmaceutical company, in 1946; Extruded Plastics, Inc., a container company, in 1953; National Drug Company, in 1956; and Walker Labs, in 1958.
After William Preyer retired in 1948, Edward Mabry became the first non family member to be president of the company. The family, however, continued to play an important role in the company on the board of directors. Smith Richardson spent much of his energy developing a thirty five year plan to guide and direct the company's growth. Smith Richardson, Jr. (b. 1920), succeeded Mabry as president in 1958. He served until 1962, when Robert Marschalk replaced him.
The company changed its name in 1960 to Richardson Merrell, Inc., thereby honoring the founders of the two biggest divisions of the company and reflecting its diversified nature.
Richardson Merrell, Inc., continued to grow in the 1960s and 1970s. It acquired still more divisions and exported many of its products all over the world. Smith Richardson, Sr., died in 1972, with the company firmly under family control.
In 1980, the company decided to narrow its focus from pharmaceuticals to consumer products. Merrell was sold to Dow Chemical Company, and the company's name was changed to Richardson Vicks, Inc. The company produced and sold the traditional cold care products like VapoRub, cough syrup, and cough drops; and many other products including Vidal Sasoon and Pantene hair care products, and Clearasil and Oil of Olay face care products.
In fall 1985, Unilever, a Dutch/British company, attempted a hostile takeover of Richardson Vicks, Inc. In order to prevent the takeover attempt, the Richardson family, which owned a controlling thirty six percent of the stock in the company, decided to sell the business to the Procter & Gamble Company. After eighty prosperous years, the Richardsons were forced to give up the company that made their fortune on the contents of "the little blue jar," Vicks VapoRub.
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Scope and Content
This collection documents the history of Richardson Vicks, Inc., and of the Richardson family's involvement with the company. The collection consists of the files of H. Smith Richardson, Sr., while he was president of the company from 1919 to 1929; files pertaining to the operation of the company, chiefly generated by the General Manager's Department; files from the Advertising and Sales Department, including campaign books; financial and legal papers; personnel materials; files from the Production Department; "historical material"; clippings; files of H. Smith Richardson, Jr., concerning hostile takeover bids; family papers; product samples; photographs; an audio disc; and a video tape.
Although the papers include material from the early years of the company through its sale to Proctor & Gamble Company in 1985, the bulk of material dates from 1919 to 1929, the period when H. Smith Richardson, Sr., was president of the company. Coverage of the years before 1919 is scant, consisting of a few mementoes and some correspondence. Coverage of the years 1929 to 1985 is very uneven. A notable exception is material from the Advertising and Sales Department, which is nearly complete from 1920 to 1960.
Every attempt was made during processing to preserve or reconstruct the original order of these files. This proved difficult for most of the material since the records reached the Southern Historical Collection in much disarray. The arrangement of Series 1, Subseries 2.7, and Series 3 does closely reflect the original filing system. In other cases, material has been organized into series and subseries primarily according to subject matter, and within each series and subseries in alphabetical order according to the original folder titles. All discernible original folder titles have been preserved, and the original order of items within folders has been maintained.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. H. Smith Richardson Files, 1916-1929.
Arrangement: alphabetical by folder title.
Chiefly correspondence between H. Smith Richardson or his secretary and employees, stockholders, retail and wholesale drug sellers, bankers, stock brokers, friends, and family members. Also included are some memos, reports, notes, bills, receipts, speeches, and other materials relating to the correspondence.
The distinction between the material in this series and material pertaining to H. Smith Richardson in other series is that the material in these files seems to have been handled personally by H. Smith Richardson or his secretary, whereas H. Smith Richardson papers in other series derive from files maintained by others in the company.
These files document a wide range of H. Smith Richardson's professional and personal activities during the period when he was president of Vick Chemical Company, from 1919 to 1929. Some earlier material from the period when he was Advertising and Sales Manager is also included.
For material pertaining to the company, consult folders bearing the names of organizations, companies, and banks. For individual correspondents, check the general alphabetical files (e.g., the "A" file), and folders bearing individual correspondents' names. See folders labeled "Clubs," "Hunting," "Fishing," "Residences," "Receipts," "Servants," and "Speeches" for material pertaining to Richardson's personal activities. Family correspondence is filed under the names of family members, chiefly Richardsons and Smiths. The Smiths were H. Smith Richardson's wife's family, which included a number of prominent southern educators, like Henry Louis Smith, president of Washington and Lee University. Richardson's commitment to charity and service is well documented in the series under "Boy Scouts," "Benevolences," "Community Chest," and "YMCA." Also included is material concerning Davidson College's Board of Trustees, upon which Richardson served (folders 110-119). Richardson was also involved in the domestic war effort during World War I. See "United War Work Campaign" (folders 386-388), and also "Letters to Vick Employees Fighting Overseas" (folders 401-402).
Richardson's speeches on tax reform are included in this series (folders 364-368). See Subseries 2.6. Taxes for more information on tax reform. Some material on H. Smith Richardson's stock trading is included here (folders 371-373), but also see Subseries 4.2. Investments for more complete coverage of Richardson's investments. For personal correspondence that predates or antedates the period covered in this series, see Subseries 8.4. Richardson Family Material (folders 1713-1716).
Information on Richardson's trip to England to begin the company's export business is included in this series (folders 132-147). For more information on exports see Subseries 3.4. Export Department.
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Series 2. Operations Material, 1919-1984.
The material in this series deals with the overall operation of the company and was chiefly generated by executives in the General Manager's Department. The bulk of the material dates from 1916 to 1940. The materials in this series differ from the materials in subsequent ones in that these files deal with the company as a whole, whereas other series pertain to the operations of specific departments of the company like the Advertising and Sales Department, Production Department, and Legal Department. This series is divided into nine subseries: 2.1. Conferences; 2.2. Memoranda; 2.3. Office Manuals; 2.4. Reports; 2.5. 35 Year Plan; 2.6. Taxes; 2.7. Lunsford Richardson, Jr. Files; 2.8. Drug Inc.; and 2.9. Other Operations Materials.
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Subseries 2.1. Conferences, 1922-1953.
Arrangement: alphabetical by conference, then chronological.
Chiefly minutes of various executive conferences of Vick Chemical Company with some relevant memoranda, notes, reports, and exhibits included. These conferences were called by various names: Annual Conferences, General Managers Conferences, and Management Conference Programs. They all seem to have been meetings at which the executives of the company reviewed the progress of various departments, made plans for the coming years, and discussed policy. Some were yearly meetings, others monthly. The records of these conferences are incomplete. There are no records of conferences prior to 1922, from 1923 to 1926, or from 1930 to 1948, and no records after 1953. Also included is material concerning an annual conference of Richardson Realty, a subsidiary of Vick Chemical Company.
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Subseries 2.2. Memoranda, 1919-1977.
Arrangement: alphabetical by folder title.
Chiefly memoranda between executives of Vick Chemical Company. Some notes and correspondence relevant to the subject of the memos are included. The memos deal with a wide variety of topics, including the budget, new products, office orders, publicity, and subsidiary companies. The folder titles used are original, but the alphabetical arrangement does not reflect the original order. The folders marked "Miscellaneous" carry material that was found loose or in unmarked folders.
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Subseries 2.3. Office Manuals, 1916-1947.
Arrangement: alphabetical by title.
Office manuals, also called handbooks, instructions, and office orders, documenting the general organization and official procedures of the Vick Chemical Company. See also Series 7 (Production) for manuals used in Vick factories and Series 3 (Advertising and Sales) for manuals outlining procedures used in the Advertising and Sales Department.
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Subseries 2.4. Reports, 1921-1971.
Arrangement: alphabetical, then chronological.
Annual reports of Vick Chemical Company and various other reports on a variety of subjects, made either to the president of the company or to the board of directors.
The annual reports are complete from 1933 to 1985. They are followed in the arrangement of this subseries by other reports. Other reports from the earlier period, 1921 to 1938, are chiefly monthly and weekly reports to the president from other executives in the company. A report on peppermint oil and menthol, ingredients of VapoRub, also is included. Later items, primarily from the 1960s, consist of reports made to the board of directors on various subsidiary companies and divisions of Richardson Merrell, Inc.
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Subseries 2.5. 35-Year Plan, 1926-1950.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Correspondence, memos, reports, exhibits, manuals, booklets, notes, and drafts pertaining to H. Smith Richardson's brainchild, the "35 Year Plan." The "35 Year Plan" was the plan of action designed to make Vick Chemical Company ""an enduring enterprise."" The process of articulating and fine tuning the plan was long and arduous, spanning the years from 1926 to 1950. The bulk of material in this subseries consists of many drafts of the ""35 Year Plan"" with corrections, comments, and memos attached; memos to the board of directors of the company about the plan; and material about the "Greensboro Experiment," which was an attempt by management to discover both how well employees understood the plan and their commitment to it.
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Subseries 2.6. Taxes, 1923-1928.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Correspondence, memos, notes, and clippings pertaining to H. Smith Richardson's campaign to reform the North Carolina tax laws in order to make the state more attractive to business and investment. Richardson made speeches, wrote letters to friends and to organizations, and wrote articles and pamphlets urging tax reform. These files were kept by C. M. Ketchum, Richardson's assistant, who did much of the research on the tax issue, and handled Richardson's correspondence on the matter. See Series 1. for drafts of Richardson speeches, and see Subseries 8.2. for clippings on taxes
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Subseries 2.7. Lunsford Richardson, Jr., Files, 1916-1917.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Correspondence, memos, form letters, forms, notes, employee examinations, and statistics from the files of Lunsford Richardson, Jr., during 1916 and 1917, when he was office manager and assistant sales manager for Vick Chemical Company. This is one of the few sets of files that arrived at the Southern Historical Collection intact and as originally organized. It reflects how the company was managed when it was a small business run out of one office, and when the Richardsons were involved with the daily operational minutiae. The files include sales and advertising, personnel, personal, production, and basic housekeeping materials, frequently mixed in a way that reflects the very fluid and flexible nature of the company at the time.
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Subseries 2.8. Drug Inc., 1930-1933.
Arrangement: alpahbetical by folder title.
Correspondence, memos, minutes, documents, and other material pertaining to Vick Chemical Company's merger with five other drug companies to form Drug Inc. in 1930. This material documents the company's relationship with Drug Inc. until the conglomerate dissolved in 1933. Included are H. Smith Richardson's memos to members of Drug Inc. suggesting its dissolution (folders 779-783).
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Subseries 2.9. Other Operations Material, 1919-1984.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Correspondence, proxy statements, studies, statistics, vouchers, documents, and other materials that deal with the operation of Vick Chemical Company and subsequent companies, but which do not fit neatly into the other subseries in Series 2. Of particular interest is material on a contract Vick Chemical Company had with the U. S. government in the 1940s to manufacture shoe dubbing to waterproof the boots of soldiers fighting in World War II (folder 812), and documents relating to reorganization of Vick Chemical Company in 1925 and 1929 (folders 808-809).
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Series 3. Advertising and Sales, 1912-1966 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Materials dealing with the advertisement and sales of Vick's products both domestically and in foreign markets. Although advertising and sales were covered by the same department, there was a definite separation of duties between advertising and sales, with each section keeping separate records of its activities. The advertising section dealt with outside ad agencies, originated some advertising itself, and dealt with newspapers, radio stations, and others that ran Vick's advertisements. The sales section handled orders for products and distribution, and ran promotional campaigns aimed at retailers and wholesalers.
The arrangement of the series reflects the organization of the Advertising and Sales Department. Subseries 3.2, "General," contains only material that deals with the department as a whole, material that does not fall neatly into either the advertising or the sales sections. Subseries 3.2, "Domestic Advertising," and 3.3, "Domestic Sales," deal with domestic advertising and domestic sales respectively. Subseries 3.4, "Export Advertising Sales," deals with both the advertising and the sale of Vick's products in foreign markets. Subseries 3.2 arrived in no recognizable order and arrangement was imposed on it during processing. The rest of the series was kept in its original order and the original folder titles retained.
See Series 9 ("Volumes") for additional material relating to campaign histories.
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Subseries 3.1. General, 1922/23-1966.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly memos, minutes, and agendas of Vick's annual sales and advertising conferences and "idea" conferences, coverage being strongest for the 1920s. These conferences brought the component sections of the advertising and sales department together, along with the general management of the company. Each section reported its activities and goals for the year. Budget allocations within the department were also worked out in these conferences.
Some miscellaneous memos and trainee profiles are also included. The trainee profiles contain pictures and short resumes of trainees recruited by the advertising and sales department from colleges across the country.
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Subseries 3.2. Domestic Advertising, 1912-1958, and
undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Copy proofs, samples of ads, original sketches, advertising records, medical reviews of ads, memos, and correspondence detailing the Vick Company's extensive use of advertising in marketing their products throughout the company's history. Samples of ads and copy proofs have been separated from the other materials where possible, but researchers should note that some copy can be found attached to insertion orders, within the yearly "data books," and in the medical reviews of ads. The medical reviews also contain verbatim scripts of Vick's radio ads. The yearly "data books" were originally bound and contain memos, letters to newspapers, records of costs, schedules of publication, and samples of ads run. Note that the bulk of ad samples and copy proofs came from newspapers. The folders labeled "correspondence between New York and Greensboro" held correspondence between the ad office in New York and company management in Greensboro. The oversize advertising material (see folder 964) consists primarily of carcards, apparently produced for streetcar advertising. See also Series 9 for proofbooks and samples of materials used in advertising campaigns.
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Subseries 3.3. Domestic Sales, 1909-1959.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly correspondence and form letterbooks (to jobbers, retailers, and wholesalers), promotional campaign files, memos, sales orders, and manuals relating to the sale and distribution of Vick's products. The original folder titles have been maintained.
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Subseries 3.4. Export-Advertising and Sales, 1922-1955.
Arrangement: alpahbetical by country, followed by general subject files.
Chiefly campaign histories covering both the advertisement and sale of Vick's products in over 117 foreign countries. Some copy proofs, ad samples, booklets, and correspondence are also included. The bulk of the material was originally in binders, and the original order has been maintained. Researchers should note that some material pertaining to the England campaign can be found in Series 1. See also Subseries 11.1.
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Series 4. Financial Material, 1914-1929.
The material in this series concerns two major aspects of Vick Chemical Company's finances from 1914 to 1929 the investment of the company's assets and the sale of public stock in 1925. Because members of the Richardson family were at first the only stockholders in the company, and then, after 1925, the controlling stockholders, the assets of Vick Chemical Company were the family's private fortune. Therefore, the management of the Richardson family's investment was company business.
The material is arranged into four subseries: Subseries 4.1, "Auditors' Reports"; Subseries 4.2, "Investment"; Subseries 4.3, "Financial Holding Companies"; and Subseries 4.4, "Vick Chemical Company Stock."
For other financial papers see Stock and Bond Trading(folders 371 373) in Series 1, Budgets (folders 443 446) in Subseries 2, and Lunsford Richardson, Jr.'s personal financial material (folders 1728 1733) in Subseries 8.4.
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Subseries 4.1. Auditors' Reports, 1916-1929.
Arrangement: chronological.
Auditors' reports made on the finances of Vick Chemical Company. Annual reports are in the files for each year listed; some quarterly reports for the years listed are missing.
| Folder 1289 |
1916 #04468, Subseries: "4.1. Auditors' Reports, 1916-1929." Folder 1289 |
Folder 1290-1291
Folder 1290Folder 1291 |
1923 #04468, Subseries: "4.1. Auditors' Reports, 1916-1929." Folder 1290-1291 |
Folder 1292-1299
Folder 1292Folder 1293Folder 1294Folder 1295Folder 1296Folder 1297Folder 1298Folder 1299 |
1924 #04468, Subseries: "4.1. Auditors' Reports, 1916-1929." Folder 1292-1299 |
Folder 1300-1309
Folder 1300Folder 1301Folder 1302Folder 1303Folder 1304Folder 1305Folder 1306Folder 1307Folder 1308Folder 1309 |
1925 #04468, Subseries: "4.1. Auditors' Reports, 1916-1929." Folder 1300-1309 |
Folder 1310-1316
Folder 1310Folder 1311Folder 1312Folder 1313Folder 1314Folder 1315Folder 1316 |
1926 #04468, Subseries: "4.1. Auditors' Reports, 1916-1929." Folder 1310-1316 |
| Folder 1317 |
1927-1928 #04468, Subseries: "4.1. Auditors' Reports, 1916-1929." Folder 1317 |
| Folder 1318 |
1929 #04468, Subseries: "4.1. Auditors' Reports, 1916-1929." Folder 1318 |
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Subseries 4.2. Investments, 1914-1929.
Arrangement: alpahbetical by folder title.
Correspondence, memos, reports, minutes, receipts, and notes pertaining to the investments of Vick Chemical Company and the Richardson family. Correspondence with bankers and stock brokers, statistical information on stocks and bonds, and minutes of the company's investment committee are included in this material. Similar material can be found in Series 1 filed under the names of specific banks and brokers as well as under "Stock and Bond Trading" (folders 371-373).
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Subseries 4.3. Financial Holding Companies, 1923-1928.
Arrangement: alphabetical by folder title.
Correspondence, memos, reports, and notes of two financial holding companies of Vick Chemical Company, Piedmont Finance and Realty Company and Piedmont Finance Company. Piedmont Finance and Realty Company was organized in 1923, and was dissolved and reformed as Piedmont Finance Company in 1926. These two companies handled much of the routine work involved in buying and selling stocks and bonds for the company and the Richardsons, and also seem to have provided a tax shelter for the company.
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Subseries 4.4. Vick Chemical Company Stock, 1925-1927.
Arrangement: alphabetical by folder title.
Correspondence, memos, statistics, and notes dealing with the sale of Vick Chemical Company stock to retailers, employees, and others in 1925.
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Series 5. Legal Material, 1918-1978.
Arrangement: alphabetical by folder title.
Correspondence, memos, exhibits, documents, advertise ments, and clippings pertaining to various legal cases in which Vick Chemical Company and its successors were involved. Cases include: the Association of American Advertising Agencies case, which involved a dispute between Vick Chemical Company and AAAA about whether Vick should be allowed, when advertising direct, the discount that newspapers give advertising agencies; the Batten case, which concerned Vick's dissatisfaction with Batten advertising and the company's refusal to pay for the unsatisfactory services; the Thalidomide case, which dealt with birth defects resulting from pregnant women's use of the drug thalidomide; and the Vick Chemical Company versus the Vick Medical Company case, which concerned the Vick Chemical Company's dispute with the Vick Medical Company over the use of the Vick name. Items of interest include the drafts of various Vick advertisements used as exhibits in the Batten case and Vick Chemical vs. Vick Medical Company, and documentation of the litigation expenses in the Thalidomide case. Coverage of these cases is limited, and many other legal disputes are not represented in this material.
Also included is personal legal advice from James F. Hoge (general counsel for the company) to H. Smith Richardson concerning real estate, taxes, stocks, life insurance, and the changing of the current game laws. See addition of August 1989 for materials on Bendectin case.
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Series 6. Personnel, 1916-1980.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Applications, time books, employee examinations, reports, handbooks, company newspapers, notes, correspondence, memos, statistics, and opinion surveys documenting the relationship between Vick Chemical Company and its employees. This series is a hodgepodge of material dealing with a wide variety of personnel issues including hiring, morale, training, bonuses, and benefits over a period of sixty years. No particular period is thoroughly documented, although there is some material for most years.
Of particular interest are the employee examinations that the company administered to applicants to test intelligence and general knowledge. The examinations are frequently accompanied by applications and carbons of acceptance letters. Some of the top executives' original entry tests and applications are included (folders 1516-1527). Also of interest are thank you letters from employees who received cash bonuses during the Depression (folder 1562). See Subseries 2.5 for material on the "Greensboro Experiment" which was an attempt by the management of Vick Chemical Company to determine how committed employees were to the "35 Year Plan."
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Series 7. Production, 1918-1962.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Manufacturing records, material pertaining to formulas and ingredients, manuals, memos, and a laboratory log dealing with Production Department of the Vick Chemical Company and its successors. Items of particular interest are the index of recipes, remedies, and tonics (Folder 1582), and the company log (folder 1589). The log not only lists daily production problems and occurrences but mentions the whereabouts and activities of company officials and details of everyday events at the Vicks plant in Greensboro, including sicknesses, social events, and weather.
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Series 8. Other Files, 1885-1987.
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Subseries 8.1 Historical, 1885-1982.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Correspondence, memos, histories, recollections, lists, statistics, songs, poems, notes, and other material dealing with the history of Vick Chemical Company. Most of the material in this subseries was probably collected by Nell Callahan, the company historian. Correspondence includes letters from former employees and memos from company executives asking for information. There are a number of histories of the company written by employees and also by people outside of the company. Of particular interest is Early History and Management Philosophy of Richardson Merrell, Inc., written by H. Smith Richardson, and edited by his son H. Smith Richardson, Jr. (folder 1612). Also of interest are recollections of the early days of the company by employees (folders 1648 1650). Material in "Miscellaneous" consists of receipts, remedy books, prescriptions, and other mementoes from the early days of Lunsford Richardson's business, beginning around 1885. Also included in "Miscellaneous" are statistics, brochures, and other material documenting the history of the company. See also addition of August 1989.
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Subseries 8.2. Clippings, 1900-1987.
Arrangement: chronological.
Clippings and photocopies of clippings from newspapers and some magazines. Clippings chiefly concern the Vick Chemical Company and its successors and the Richardson family. Clippings from 1900 to 1966 are scant, but clippings from 1967 to 1971 and 1985 are especially complete. Clippings from 1985 document Unilever's attempt to take over Richardson Vicks, Inc., and the subsequent sale of Richardson Vicks, Inc., to Proctor and Gamble Company. Some clippings deal with specific topics that are noted in the folder list. Of particular note are clippings concerning H. Smith Richardson's efforts to change the North Carolina tax laws in 1927, and clippings from 1985 to 1987 concerning hostile takeovers. See Subseries 2.6 for more material on taxes, and Subseries 8.3 for material about hostile takeovers.
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Subseries 8.3. Hostile Takeovers, 1985-1987.
Arrangement: alphabetically by file title.
Correspondence, reports, printed materials, articles, and writings of H. Smith Richardson, Jr., concerning hostile takeover in general, and the hostile takeover bid of Unilever for Richardson Vicks Inc. in 1985. Following the loss of Richardson Vicks to Procter and Gamble Company in the aftermath of the Unilever bid, Richardson became an outspoken critic of the hostile takeover of companies by corporate raiders. He corresponded extensively with academics, politicians, business people, and journalists soliciting support for his views. Correspondents include Daniel Bell, professor of sociology at Harvard University; Louis Lowenstein, professor of Law at Columbia University; Irving Kristol, editor of The Public Interest; Margaret Cox Sullivan, president of Stockholders of America; Martin Feldstein, president of the National Bureau of Economic Research; Rollie Tillman, Jr., of the Institute of the Study of Private Enterprise, UNC CH; Warren Rudman, United States senator; William Proxmire, United States senator; and Melvin Laird. Richardson also wrote articles, gave speeches, sat on panels, and helped fund a Harris Poll on hostile takeovers. See Subseries 8.2 for clippings relating to hostile takeovers, and Subseries 11.3 for a videotape of an interview with Richardson at the Brookings Institute on the subject of hostile takeovers. See also additions of August 1989, February 1990, and September 1991.
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Subseries 8.4. Richardson Family Materials, 1895-1984.
Arrangement: alphabetical by family member.
Correspondence, mailing lists, rent books, bank books, material concerning obituaries and memorial services, financial papers, and other material concerning the personal affairs of the Richardson family. Of particular interest are early letters of H. Smith Richardson to his family, written from Davidson College and the Naval Academy (folder 1713); progress reports mailed by H. Smith Richardson to his family during his various illnesses (folders 1720-1721); material on the Richardson Foundation (folders 1717 and 1722-1723); and a joke book written by Grace Richardson, H. Smith Richardson's wife, mailed to family and friends after her death in 1962 (folder 1724). The joke book contains examples of traditional Southern humor, mostly about the relationship between wealthy whites and their black servants. See also additions of August 1989 and September 1991.
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Series 9. Volumes, 1905-1964.
Arrangement: chronological.
Chiefly advertising campaign histories and proof books. Some stock records are included following the advertising records.
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Series 10. Museum Items, 1910s-1960s.
About sixty samples of products of Vick Chemical Company. The bulk of these samples are from the 1950s. Samples collected by the company for their own archives were transferred to the North Carolina Museum of History in 1986; the samples here are duplicates of some of those items.
| Museum Item MU-4468/Box 1 |
Museum Items #04468, Series: "10. Museum Items, 1910s-1960s." MU-4468/Box 1 |
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Series 11. Audio-Visual Materials, 1900-1985.
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Subseries 11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975.
Black and white pictures, color slides, lantern slides, and oversize negatives documenting various aspects of the Vick Chemical Company. Many of the pictures have captions prepared by the company. See also addition of August 1989.
Image P-4468/1-33
P-4468/1P-4468/2P-4468/3P-4468/4P-4468/5P-4468/6P-4468/7P-4468/8P-4468/9P-4468/10P-4468/11P-4468/12P-4468/13P-4468/14P-4468/15P-4468/16P-4468/17P-4468/18P-4468/19P-4468/20P-4468/21P-4468/22P-4468/23P-4468/24P-4468/25P-4468/26P-4468/27P-4468/28P-4468/29P-4468/30P-4468/31P-4468/32P-4468/33 |
Advertising: Billboards, Campaigns, Window Displays #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/1-33 |
Image P-4468/34-63
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Africa: Manufacture, Distribution, Demonstrations #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/34-63 |
Image P-4468/64-106
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Ammonium Perchlorate: Manufacturing Setup for Government Contract, 1942 #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/64-106 |
Image P-4468/107-149
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Asia: Manufacture, Distribution, Demonstrations #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/107-149 |
Image P-4468/150-166
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Australia and New Zealand: Manufacture and Demonstrations #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/150-166 |
Image P-4468/167-169
P-4468/167P-4468/168P-4468/169 |
Chambers Building: Ceremony Laying Cornerstone at Davidson College #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/167-169 |
Image P-4468/170-190
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Corporate Buildings: J. T. Baker Chemical Company #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/170-190Interior and exterior shots as well as some early workforce photos circa 1907. |
Image P-4468/191-257
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Corporate Buildings: Milton Street Manufacturing Division #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/191-257Interior and exterior views spanning the years 1914-1950. Plant is located in Greensboro. |
Image P-4468/258-272
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Corporate Buildings: Miscellaneous #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/258-272 |
Image P-4468/273-285
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Corporate Buildings: Philadelphia Laboratories #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/273-285 |
| Image P-4468/286 |
Corporate Buildings: Jensen Salsbery Labs, Kansas City, Missouri #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/286 |
Image P-4468/287-290
P-4468/287P-4468/288P-4468/289P-4468/290 |
Corporate Buildings: Wilton site in Connecticutt, New Corporate Headquarters, 1973 #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/287-290 |
Image P-4468/291-320
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Corporate Buildings: Wendover Avenue Location, Greensboro, N.C. #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/291-320Interior and exterior views. |
Image P-4468/321-353
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"Corporate Men and Situations" #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/321-353 |
Image P-4468/354-368
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Cupra, Inc. #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/354-368 |
Image P-4468/369-412
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Employees at Work #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/369-412 |
Image P-4468/413-434
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Employees at Work: Early Salesmen and Their Cars, circa 1920 #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/413-434 |
Image P-4468/435-470
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Employee Portraits and Group Pictures #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/435-470 |
Image P-4468/471-510
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Executive Portraits and Group Pictures #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/471-510 |
Image P-4468/511-515
P-4468/511P-4468/512P-4468/513P-4468/514P-4468/515 |
Greensboro Historical Museum: W. C. Porter Drugstore Replica #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/511-515 |
Image P-4468/516-524
P-4468/516P-4468/517P-4468/518P-4468/519P-4468/520P-4468/521P-4468/522P-4468/523P-4468/524 |
Latin America: Brazil: Employees #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/516-524 |
Image P-4468/525-569
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Latin America: Manufacture, Employees, Distribution, and Demonstrations #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/525-569 |
Image P-4468/570-577
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Manufacturing Division: Group Photos and Shots of Manufacturing Process #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/570-577 |
Image P-4468/578-646
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Merrell: Employees, Manufacturing, and Testing of Merrell Pharmaceuticals #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/578-646Many pictures are captioned. |
Image P-4468/647-659
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Products and Product Testing #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/647-659 |
Image P-4468/660-667
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Raw Materials #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/660-667 |
Image P-4468/668-690
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Richardson, H. Smith #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/668-690 |
Image P-4468/691-696
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Richardson, Lunsford and Lunsford II #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/691-696 |
Image P-4468/697-709
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Richardson, Lunsford: Ceremony Launching the Liberty Ship Lunsford Richardson, 1944 #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/697-709 |
Image P-4468/710-757
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Vick International: Employees, Advertising, and Demonstrations Dealing with Vick's Foreign Sales #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/710-757Most pictures are from Europe. |
| Image P-4468/758 |
Painting of early Vick's Manufacturing Equipment, Possibly a Melting and Mixing Pot #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/758 |
| Image P-4468/759 |
Framed Portrait of Ronald Lee Anderson, 1987 (adddition of August 1989) #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." P-4468/759 |
Image Folder PF-4468/48-52
PF-4468/48PF-4468/49PF-4468/50PF-4468/51PF-4468/52 |
About 300 Slides Showing People at Work, Employee Portraits, Meetings, and Some Early Advertising #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." PF-4468/48-52About 100 show the growing and processing of mint. |
Lantern Slide LS-4468/1-7
LS-4468/1LS-4468/2LS-4468/3LS-4468/4LS-4468/5LS-4468/6LS-4468/7 |
Employees at Work and Corporate Buildings #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." LS-4468/1-7 |
Lantern Slide LS-4468/8-58
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Vick Employees When They Were Children #04468, Subseries: "11.1. Pictures, circa 1900-1975." LS-4468/8-58 |
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Subseries 11.2. Audio Disc, circa 1960.
Audio disc recording of the presentation of an achievement award to H. Smith Richardson by the North Carolina Society of New York. Included are an introduction by James Hoge and a short speech on the virtues of North Carolina by H. Smith Richardson.
For cassette tapes, see addition of September 1991.
| Audiodisc D-4468/1 |
Audio Disc #04468, Subseries: "11.2. Audio Disc, circa 1960." D-4468/1 |
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Subseries 11.3. Videotape, 1985.
Interview with H. Smith Richardson, Jr., conducted at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., on 11 December 1985, dealing with the topic of hostile takeovers.
See also addition of September 1991.
| Videotape VT-4469/1 |
Videotape #04468, Subseries: "11.3. Videotape, 1985." VT-4469/1 |
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Additions after 1988.
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Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989.
Some materials have been annotated by the donor.
| Folder 1737 |
Legal Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1737Final summaries in the Mekdeci case of 1981, in which the Merrell National Laboratories, a division of Richardson-Merrell, Inc., was sued over Bendectin, an anti-nauseant. |
| Folder 1738 |
Historical Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1738Correspondence, memos, recollections, notes, and other materials relating to attempts to document the history of the Richardson-Vicks Corporation, 1968-1989. |
| Folder 1739 |
Historical Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1739Rough draft of proposed history of Richardson-Vicks, called A Biography of A Business by Karl E. Prickett of Greensboro, North Carolina, which was never published, 1971. |
| Folder 1740 |
Historical Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1740Swine flu materials, consisting of a history of efforts to develop drugs to fight the disease, assembled by H. Smith Richardson, Jr., from various sources (interoffice memos, correspondence, clippings), 1977. |
| Folder 1741 |
Historical Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1741File copies of history by H. Smith Richardson of the William S. Merrell Company, which was acquired by Vicks in 1938, 1980. |
| Folder 1742 |
Hostile Takeover Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1742Correspondence, clippings, and other materials collected by H. Smith Richardson, Jr., on the general topic of hostile takeovers, 1988-1989. |
Folder 1743-1747
Folder 1743Folder 1744Folder 1745Folder 1746Folder 1747 |
Hostile Takeover Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1743-1747Materials relating to the Unilever Corporation offer for and the Proctor & Gamble merger with Richardson-Vicks, including correspondence, copies of board meeting minutes, reports, Proctor & Gamble's tender offer statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the SEC's recommendation in the case, and a file of letters addressed to H. Smith Richardson, Jr., reacting to the merger, 1985-1988. |
| Folder 1748 |
Richardson Family Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1748General geneological and other materials, 1928-1972. |
| Folder 1749 |
Richardson Family Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1749H. Smith Richardson, Jr., materials including his personnel evaluation from 1950, 1945-1985. |
Folder 1750-1751
Folder 1750Folder 1751 |
Center for Creative Management Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of August 1989, 1928-1989." Folder 1750-1751Correspondence, memos, reports, and other materials documenting the history of the Center for Creative Management, established by the Smith Richardson Foundation to stimulate the development and application of innovative management techniques, 1962-1988. |
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Addition of February 1990, 1985.
Photocopies of materials relating to Unilever Corporation's 1985 tender offer for Richardson-Vicks, Inc. All materials date from September 1985.
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Addition of September 1991, 1965-1991.
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Addition of August 1992, 1930s-1980s.
Arrangement: unprocessed.
Items may be used with staff assistance; videocassettes cannot be viewed on departmental playback machines. Slides, videotapes, and films in this addition are to be transferred to appropriate storage when the addition is fully processed.
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Addition of February 1993, 1960s-1992.
Some materials have been annotated by the donor.
| Folder 1774 |
Center for Creative Leadership #04468, Subseries: "Addition of February 1993, 1960s-1992." Folder 1774Correspondence, memos, reports, and other materials particularly relating to the Vicks historical display mounted at CCL in 1989. |
| Folder 1775 |
Corporate Governance #04468, Subseries: "Addition of February 1993, 1960s-1992." Folder 1775Correspondence, memos, recollections, notes, and other materials, chiefly from the 1990s, relating to the idea of corporate governance in which Richardson-Vicks was a pioneer. |
| Folder 1776 |
Historical Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of February 1993, 1960s-1992." Folder 1776Correspondence, memos, recollections, notes, and other materials relating to attempts to document the history of the Richardson-Vicks Corporation, especially regarding displays of Richardson-Vicks and family materials at various museums. |
Folder 1777-1782
Folder 1777Folder 1778Folder 1779Folder 1780Folder 1781Folder 1782 |
Hostile Takeover Materials #04468, Subseries: "Addition of February 1993, 1960s-1992." Folder 1777-1782Correspondence, clippings, reports and other materials collected by H. Smith Richardson, Jr., on the topic of hostile takeovers, 1980s-1992. |
| Folder 1783 |
Institute of Political Leadership #04468, Subseries: "Addition of February 1993, 1960s-1992." Folder 1783Correspondence, memos, notes, reports, and other matereials, 1989-1992, relating to the Institute of Political Leadership of Wilmington, a group offering leadership training in practical politics with which H. Smith Richardson, Jr., was active. |
| Folder 1784 |
H. Smith Richardson's 35th Anniversary Party, 1981, and Retirement Party, 1985 #04468, Subseries: "Addition of February 1993, 1960s-1992." Folder 1784Volume 4468/S-66: 35th Anniversary scrapbook; Video Tape 4468/4: 35th Anniversary videotape; Video Tapes 4468/5-6: Retirement dinner. |
Folder 1785-1787
Folder 1785Folder 1786Folder 1787 |
Wilmington Excellence #04468, Subseries: "Addition of February 1993, 1960s-1992." Folder 1785-1787Correspondence, memos, notes, reports, and other materials, 1986-1991, relating to Wilmington Excellence, a community planning and improvement group with which H. Smith Richardson, Jr., was active. |
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Addition of April 1998, 1933-1980s.
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Items Separated
Processed by: Marion Presler, with assistance from Winifred Fordham, Mike Van Cott, and the Techincal Services Staff, March 1998
Encoded by: Margaret Dickson, February 2006
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