Grey black and red text on an off white label over a white background

The Victor Manufacturing and Gasket Company was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1909. They specialized in manufacturing gaskets for automobiles as well as oil seals. In 1966 it was purchased by the Dana Corporation.

A precursor to the bill hook and money clip was the draft organizer of 323 BCE Mesopotamia, used to hold notes detailing grain storage. A similar invention akin to a large paperclip came from Japan in 300 CE. Bill holders evolved with European currency to clip bills to the owners clothing and discourage pickpocketing. American money clips came into fashion in the early 1900s.

White background. Black and white text. A thin rectangular black line goes around two overlapping circles - one orange, one beige.

Provident National Bank was officially founded in 1957 when Provident Trust Company of Philadelphia and Provident Tradesmens Bank & Trust Company merged. The Provident Trust Company has roots dating back to 1922 in a parent company called Provident Life & Trust Company which itself dates back to 1865. Originally the Provident Life & Trust Company was founded by Quakers and informally referred to as "The Quaker Bank". 

In 1983 the company took on its modern incarnation when Pittsburgh National Bank and Provident National Bank merged. With this merger PNC Financial Corp. or as it is commonly known "PNC" was born. PNC was one of the first banks to introduce a credit card, and was one of the first and main users of online banking.

Illustration of a hand making a peace/victory sign at center bottom of the button. Black text at top and bottom with red text inbetween on a white background with a red outer edge.

Petri Wine was the main product produced by Raphael Petri's "Petri Wine Company". The company was founded in 1896 in the San Joanquin Valley.In an effort to expand production a second vineyard was added to the company in 1916. This new vineyard was located in Escalon North of Modesto. More members of the family joined into the company as Raphael's grandson, Louis Petri, joined in 1935. 

In 1944 Louis Petri became president of the company and rapid expansion began to occur under new leadership. Petri wines began purchasing companies and Louis Petri incorporated Petri Wine Company into a wine conglomerate he created called Allied Grape Growers. Through the 1950s, Petri's wine company held a ever growing market share and in 1968 publicly sold the company to Heublein. In 1982 Heublein was sold to the R.J Reynolds Tobacco Company that would eventually merge and become incorporated into Nabisco.

The land and grape that produced Raphael's original wine is not lost though - in 2003 Bronco Wine Company purchase the 1916 expansion vineyard and from that produces over 60 kinds of wine (some of which are stocked in the low end at Trader Joe's).

Green background with dark yellow text.

Parisian Novelty Company was the oldest Button Company in Chicago - served Chicago for roughly 120 years. Founded in 1898, the company was a national leader in all things related to buttons, production, machinery, etc. 

In 2008, another classic Chicago Company, The Matchless Group (founded 1885) purchased the Button division of Parisian Novelty Company to become the Matchless Parisian Novelty Inc. Matchless Parisian Novelty is currently still a company specializing in button production, located in Chicago on West 49th Place. 

Some of the decor that you find in the Busy Beaver Button Company actually came from the Parisian Novelty Company and was purchased when the company formally went out of business.

Beige button with stains and blue text.

In business around the turn of the 20th century, the National Registry Company was located at 45 Pine Street, New York.  According to an issue of the United States Investor published on April 23, 1898, the National Registry Company worked in conjunction with Fidelity & Casualty Co.  While the latter furnished the insurance policy, the National Registry Co. kept a record of policyholders and a designated person to be contacted should the policyholder be seriously injured or become unconscious.  With an annual registration fee of one dollar, the company also furnished subscribers with an identification card for a carrying case.  If the case was lost or stolen, the National Registry Co. offered a one dollar reward for the return of the case and its contents to the company’s office.  

Gray and blue text around illustration of a cyber pac-man with two squares shooting forward from his mouth on white background.

LSI Logic Corporation was an electronics company specializing in data storage and computing, founded in 1981 in Milpitas, California by Wilfred Corrigan, Mitchell Bohn, Bill O'Meaa, and Rob Walker. Corrigan, the lead founder, served as CEO up until 2005. LSI Logic had many early investors and had its IPO valued at $153 million when it went public in 1983. LSI Logic is noted for the work it performed in collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment. The popular Sony game system, the Playstation, had its singular CPU chip fitted by LSI. In 2014, the Singaporean company Avago acquired LSI Logic for $6.6 billion.

Red text on an off white background.

The Jefferson County Co-op Service Company is the name of an agricultural cooperative located in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. In 1947, the co-op purchased a feed business from a Wisconsin resident who was surnamed Gurr. The co-op operated mills in Lake Mill, Hebron, Sullivan, and Jefferson, Wisconsin.

Green text along top edge and very small green text along the bottom edge with a green and white illustration of cotton on a blue circle on a white background.

Made for Ingenue Magazine, a teen magazine. "I Cotton to You" is a phrase meaning "I like you" or indicating attraction to someone. It is said this came about because cotton was often cargo on riverboats and it would get stuck to workers' and passengers' hair or clothing. 

Lowercase black text along top edge with uppercase black text below on an yellow background.

Hippy Sippy was a Japanese candy produced in the late 1960s and imported into the United States by R.J. Albert & Sons. The packaging was shaped like a syringe and the candy resembled brightly colored pills. The candy played on the popular hippy and drug culture happening in the United States at the time, and each package came with a button that typically stated "hippy sippy says" and then another phrase alluding to drug usage slang such as "I'll try anything". The FDA ultimately recalled the candy in 1969 because of the controversy surrounding the drug paraphernalia inspired packaging.

An illustration of a green and white bumble bee with wings and human-like hands. The bee is holding a three leaf clover. The top half of the button is white and the bottom half is green.

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