Kilmer House

In recognition of the 100th anniversary of the passing of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson in 1910, this is one of several posts looking at the earliest years of Johnson & Johnson, Robert Wood Johnson as our first president, and the Company’s first senior management transition.

Illustration of Johnson & Johnson from an April, 1887 article in the Detroit Pharmaceutical Era, from our archives.  Our first building is on the left.

Johnson & Johnson opened its doors in 1886 with fourteen employees.  By 1887, that number had grown to 125, and the Company had expanded from the original four-story former wallpaper factory building into several surrounding buildings, overseen by James Wood Johnson, who was in charge of manufacturing.  We also had a sales office managed by Edward Mead Johnson in downtown Manhattan. (It was at 32 Cedar Street, in case anyone’s curious.) 

Robert Wood Johnson

Company founder Robert Wood Johnson initially spent a lot of his time in the New York office, notifying his many friends and acquaintances in the medical products field that he had joined Johnson & Johnson, and helping get the new business off the ground.  In 1887, Robert began spending more and more time in New Brunswick.  The original fourteen employees knew him from Seabury & Johnson, but the newer employees, used to the quieter and more laid back style of James Wood Johnson, were initially in awe of Robert Wood Johnson, who created a flurry of energy and activity wherever he went.  Their first impression of R.W. – as he was known – was that he was authoritative, opinionated and had a quick temper, but once they got to know him, they liked what they saw.  Johnson had the ability to rally and inspire his employees and get them excited about the work they were engaged in – making products that would help save patients’ lives.  “’He injects his enthusiasm, his grit and his faith into everyone else, and when ‘R.W.’ says ‘It’s a go!’ we push forward with all of our strength,’” said Fred Kilmer, who ended up so inspired by Johnson that he sold his business and came to work for the Company.  [Robert Wood Johnson: The Gentleman Rebel, by Lawrence G. Foster, Lillian Press, 1999 p. 69] 

One of the Company’s early benefits:  subsidized employee housing on Morell Street in New Brunswick

Johnson enacted a wide range of benefits for employees that made them fiercely loyal to the new company.  When R.W. wasn’t at Johnson & Johnson, he was walking downtown to talk to the local merchants about business.  He also stopped into the New Brunswick pharmacies to make sure they carried Johnson & Johnson products.  One of those pharmacies was Fred Kilmer’s Opera House Pharmacy, right down the street from Johnson & Johnson, and he and Kilmer struck up a friendship that led to Kilmer joining Johnson & Johnson as our scientific director in 1889. 

Fred Kilmer’s Opera House Pharmacy

Kilmer was a gifted writer, and he left some vivid eyewitness descriptions of his friend and employer.  Here’s one of Kilmer’s descriptions of Company founder Robert Wood Johnson that paints a picture of what Johnson was like:  Kilmer described Johnson as tall and stout, with dark hair and eyes, and a forceful, outgoing personality.  “‘If you see him you will always remember a peculiar roll of the head which accompanies his laughter and his arguments.  It is performed by dropping the chin, and ascribing there a small circle, of which the spine is the center.  It is a family roll.  He has it and all of his brothers have it…If you get into an argument with him, he will soon utter some dogmatic statement with a determined air and branch off into something else, as if he had settled the subject.  While he is undecided he is willing to listen, but when his course is once settled, I would not care for the job of turning him in another direction.’”  [Robert Wood Johnson: The Gentleman Rebel, by Lawrence G. Foster, Lillian Press, 1999, p. 69] 

Johnson & Johnson office in 1895, with R. W. Johnson in the window looking out at the main office.

Robert Wood Johnson involved himself in every facet of the new business.  He opened the Company’s mail every morning.  He would gather a few of his managers in a room, and when the sacks of mail were brought in, they opened all of it, sorted it and responded personally to customer orders, inquiries and suggestions.  Johnson had a very good memory, and could rattle off detailed up to the minute sales figures.  He could tell you which products sold in which markets and how much they sold, how much inventory the Company had and how much could be produced and shipped in any time period, and he could recite a wide variety of economic information about the various countries in which we sold our products.   

Another facet of the business Johnson involved himself in was advertising.  Johnson & Johnson worked with a young advertiser who had bought a small agency for $500 and renamed it after himself:  J. Walter Thompson.  He and Robert Wood Johnson had been friends for several years, and Thompson personally handled the Johnson & Johnson account.  Johnson didn’t hesitate to write to Thompson with minutely detailed constructive suggestions about how to improve his ads.  (A trait his son, the future General Robert Wood Johnson, would inherit.)  Here’s an example:  “‘I return the sketch and hardly see how you can make an advertisement out of it.  It needs to have a very black background in order to throw out the white letters.’”  [Robert Wood Johnson: The Gentleman Rebel, by Lawrence G. Foster, Lillian Press, 1999 p. 51]  (If anyone’s interested, here’s an ad campaign that Thompson worked on for us in 1910.)

Grey Terrace, Robert Wood Johnson’s New Brunswick, New Jersey House

As Kilmer House readers may know, Robert Wood Johnson lived in a big house on the corner of Hamilton Street and Easton Avenue in New Brunswick.  Every afternoon, he walked home to have lunch with his wife and three young children, relaxed for a bit in his library, and then he walked back to Johnson & Johnson to resume his business day.

The site of Grey Terrace today — a Rutgers University parking lot.  Although you can’t have lunch with Robert Wood Johnson the first, you CAN buy lunch from the Rutgers University food trucks that park on the site of Johnson’s former house.  The stone wall and short wrought iron fence that surrounded the house and property are all that remain.

One hundred years later, there are still traces of Company founder Robert Wood Johnson here in the traditions that he started:  disaster relief, support for our employees who serve in the military, and a wide range of employee benefits, not to mention three out of the four pillars of the Company’s operating model:  our broad base in human health (if there was a need in society for particular products to save lives or help people, Johnson saw to it that we developed or made those products), management for the long term and the Company’s value system that would see its full expression in Our Credo, written in 1943 by Johnson’s son.

Here are some quotes from Robert Wood Johnson the first:

“The worst thing that can happen to a man is to lose his courage.”

“Hire men, buy machinery and keep the wheels moving and everybody busy.”  

“We are all fortunate, in that we are engaged in manufacturing products to be used throughout the world for the relief of pain and suffering.”

And, of course, when he liked an idea and wanted to move forward with it: “It’s a go!”

It’s getting towards the end of April –  time for the Johnson & Johnson Annual Meeting of Shareholders.  Since we went public in 1944, you might be forgiven for thinking that our Annual Meetings started on a spring Thursday at the end of April 66 years ago — but they didn’t.  In fact, we’ve had Annual Meetings since 1888, they used to be in the winter, and the first one was held on a Saturday.  By special request, I’m reposting a post from last year: read on to find out how much you REALLY know about our Annual Meeting.  

The Earliest Meetings:  Meet Our Shareholders, All Three of Them
Johnson & Johnson has had annual meetings of shareholders (or stockholders as they were called then) since 1888 – almost since the beginning of the Company.  At that time, the group of shareholders – the three Johnson brothers – was so small that the annual meeting could have been held in a broom closet. 

Our Earliest Shareholders – All Three of Them:  Robert Wood Johnson (L), James Wood Johnson (Center), Edward Mead Johnson (R)

Although Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886, it was incorporated the following year (in the fall of 1887) with capital stock valued at $100,000, with the three Johnson brothers as stockholders.  Robert held 40 percent of the shares, and his brothers James and Mead held 30 percent each.  The by-laws of the new corporation stated that the Annual Meeting of Stockholders (as it was called then) should be held on the 2nd day of January, and the Secretary of the Company was required to give five days notice in writing to each stockholder to let them know there would be a meeting.  

So…When’s the Meeting?
The Company’s secretary didn’t have to write that letter for a few months.  Our first-ever Annual Meeting of Stockholders was held on January 14, 1888 at 4:00 pm in the offices at Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick.  Oddly enough, that day was a Saturday.  Stranger still, it was just a regular workday back in 1888.  (Work weeks generally stretched from Monday to Saturday, until the passage of legislation setting a 40-hour work week during the Great Depression.)  Presumably bad weather wasn’t much of a roadblock to attendance because two of the three Johnson brothers lived in New Brunswick and could walk to work.   But they may not have wanted to walk to the first Annual Meeting: the winter of 1888 was a notably cold and snowy one (the famous Blizzard of 1888 would occur later that year in March), and our first-ever Annual Meeting took place during a bone-chilling, unusually cold January.

Undated Early Photo Showing Horsedrawn Cart Stuck in the Snow at Johnson & Johnson

When the Johnson brothers were the only shareholders, scheduling was far less formal, and shareholder meetings were held when needed to elect a Board of Directors (all internal Johnson & Johnson people at that time) or when needed to discuss or consider making an acquisition or an agreement.  That was the case in March of 1892 when Johnson & Johnson held a Special Meeting of Stockholders (all three of them) to discuss whether or not to enter into an agreement with the Papoid Company.   (They voted yes.) 

Since the three Johnson brothers were all roughly in agreement about the Company’s goals, the early Johnson & Johnson Annual Meetings were far smoother than those of Robert Wood Johnson’s previous partnership, Seabury & Johnson.  The Seabury & Johnson meetings (with only two stockholders) had been noted for the acerbic written comments made by George Seabury and Robert Wood Johnson in the margins of the meeting minutes, and for the fact that the long-suffering Seabury & Johnson treasurer was often called in to perform the thankless task of break voting ties caused by the deadlocked partners.  

The earliest Johnson & Johnson Annual Meetings were always held at the Company’s offices in New Brunswick, starting the tradition of holding them in our founding city that we continue today.

Johnson & Johnson office, 1895, with founder Robert Wood Johnson in office window (at right) next to the clock.

At the February, 1907 Annual Meeting, the date of the meeting was officially changed to the first Tuesday in February, and the meeting was held on that date until 1943.  In 1944, Johnson & Johnson became a publicly traded company and the meeting date was officially changed to the first Tuesday of March at 11:00 am. 

How the Annual Meeting Ended Up in April
So how did our Annual Meeting end up in April?  It’s because of something that happened in 1946.  And that something was the Annual Report.  The March, 1946 Annual Meeting was adjourned until May 14th because the Annual Report covering 1945 (which had to come out before the meeting) wasn’t ready yet. 

Inside cover of 1945 Annual Report with notification of new date of the 1946 Annual Meeting.

Our archives don’t record the reason for the delay, but 1945 was a busy year for the Company, which was shifting from a wartime production footing back to a civilian one, further decentralizing, expanding its research and manufacturing capacity, and adding new products.  General Robert Wood Johnson summarized the eventful year that had passed in his letter to shareholders, and concluded by thanking employees:

“The men and women of Johnson & Johnson have again made an outstanding contribution to the development of the Company.  1945 was the third successive year in which production and sales have been maintained at their present record levels, and the increasing efficiency of production is a tribute to the ability and loyalty of our men and women under difficult circumstances.”  [1945 Annual Report, Robert Wood Johnson Letter to Stockholders]

From 1947 on, our Annual Meeting has been held in April…even though our modern and always on-time Annual Report comes out in March.   

Location, Location, Location
But one thing about the Annual Meeting has never changed, right? The meetings have always been held in New Brunswick.  Well…not exactly.  From 1888 to 1957, the meetings were small and were held in New Brunswick at the Company’s headquarters.  But with the 1957 opening of the Eastern Surgical Dressings Plant (or ESDP, as we used to call it) in North Brunswick, it was decided to hold the Annual Meeting there, both to show off the new state-of-the-art facility, and because it had more space. 

The Old Eastern Surgical Dressings Plant in North Brunswick, N.J.  Home of our Annual Meetings from 1957 to 1964.

The first Annual Meeting held at ESDP had about 30 attendees.  In his role as chairman of the Company, General Robert Wood Johnson conducted the meeting — a role that has been continued by every Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson since we went public in 1944. 

General Robert Wood Johnson

It was at one of the ESDP Annual Meetings that an attending shareholder gathered up his courage and asked General Johnson why he had put shareholders last in Our Credo, the one-page statement of corporate responsibility that Johnson had written in 1943, and had printed in the Company’s 1948 Annual Report.  Johnson gave the famous reply that if all of the other responsibilities in Our Credo (to doctors, patients, customers, consumers, then employees, then to the community) were performed well, then the shareholders would be well-cared for.  (And as Johnson liked to remind people when they asked that question, at the time, he himself was the largest shareholder…which probably served to end the conversation.)  

Former Chairman Philip Hofmann at the 1972 Annual Meeting.

The meetings were held at ESDP until General Johnson retired and Philip B. Hofmann became chairman.  The 1964 meeting (the first chaired by Hofmann) was held at one of the Johnson & Johnson operating company buildings in Raritan. 

Our 1972 Annual Meeting

Hofmann’s meeting theme, which he continued until his retirement, was to take the audience on virtual a trip around the world and report on the progress of the worldwide affiliate companies.  This set the stage for our current meetings, which report on the state and the progress of the Company throughout the world.  The meetings remained at the Raritan location until they moved back to New Brunswick in 1983…where they continue today after starting here on a Saturday in the dead of winter 122 years ago. 

[Many thanks to our corporate secretary’s office for digging through their archives, and a huge thank you to retired corporate VP of Public Relations Lawrence G. Foster, for digging through his memories of past Annual Meetings.]

Johnson & Johnson Plaster Mill Employee (left) and fellow soldier, Spanish American War, 1898

My last post talked about the origins of our tradition of employees volunteering in the community. Another way our employees volunteered was through military service to their countries, a tradition that began in 1898 with the Spanish American War when two Johnson & Johnson employees in the U.S. volunteered to serve in the military. 

One of Our First Two Employees to Volunteer to Serve in the Military in 1898: He Wrote the Company a Letter

One of those two employees, Richard G., had just accepted a position in sales, and was understandably nervous about how the management of Johnson & Johnson would take the news that he had just gotten here and would be leaving to serve in the U.S. military.  So he wrote a letter, and here are his recollections about what happened:

“I had been in the employ of Johnson & Johnson but a few months when our country became involved in war with Spain…Here I was with a new job – and I needed it – and my heart was set on going to the defense of our country.  I decided to take it up with the company.  I wrote them a frank letter, telling of my desire to enlist and asking if they would hold my position for me.  Very promptly I received a reply from the late Robert W. Johnson, then the president of Johnson & Johnson.  I have always kept that letter…” [THE RED CROSS MESSENGER, Vol. XIII, No. 5, 1921, p. 346]

Robert Wood Johnson

Here’s the reply from Company founder and president Robert Wood Johnson, dated April 25, 1898:

 “Dear Sir:

We have your letter of the 24th and congratulate you upon your patriotic proposition contained therein. 

While we shall greatly regret to lose your services, and would be loath to consent to having you go for any other cause, yet under the circumstances, we not only most heartily applaud your action, but will be glad to tender you every assistance in our power.  Not only will we be glad to keep your place open for you when you return, but will also continue your pay the same as heretofore during your entire absence….Wishing you good health and good luck, we are,

 Sincerely yours,

 JOHNSON & JOHNSON

 R. W. Johnson, President”

Actually, according to Richard G’s recollections, the Company didn’t live exactly up to Robert Wood Johnson’s pledge to keep his pay the same during his service: they gave him a raise.  [THE RED CROSS MESSENGER, Vol. XIII, No. 5, 1921, p. 346]  Twenty-three years later, when he gave that interview to THE RED CROSS MESSENGER, he was one of the Company’s top salesmen.

Incidentally, the Spanish American War also started the first seeds of what would become our disaster relief program, which is one of the cornerstones of our support for the community today.

World War I – Our First Female Employee to Volunteer

Our first female employee to volunteer for military service was Katherine H., who lived in New Brunswick and worked in the advertising department.  She was a trained nurse, and when the call went out from the American Red Cross in 1917 for nurses, Katherine volunteered her services as a field nurse to the U.S. Army.

The Army rapidly promoted Katherine, and she was named head nurse and superintendent of the General Hospital #6 at Fort MacPherson in Georgia.  Here’s what the Atlanta Constitution said about her: 

“..her very presence gives one confidence…with the ideal of executive strength in her composed but expressive manner, her voice one that carries its message unmistakably, but is never sharp or loud.”  [Atlanta Constitution article, quoted in New Brunswick Home News, May 21, 1918]

A New Brunswick Home News article mentioned that the hospital’s sterilization and operating rooms were “models of up-to-dateness,” which makes you wonder if our employee volunteer, because she worked at Johnson & Johnson with its rigorous clean rooms and aseptic manufacturing standards, gave the military hospital any advice regarding surgical cleanliness.  [New Brunswick Home News, May 21, 1918]  Katherine H. was so well-liked by the nurses she supervised at Fort MacPherson that they presented her with a decorative loving cup as a token of their appreciation.  [New Brunswick Home News clipping in our archives, August 16, 1918]

From Fort MacPherson, Katherine was promoted to serve with the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia 1918, and ended up as Chief Nurse of the Evacuation Hospital in Vladivostok, Siberia. When the war ended, she personally brought the last contingent of nurses from the hospital in Siberia back to the U.S.   Not only did they treat the wounded there, but they did their best to treat soldiers suffering from the deadly 1918 influenza epidemic as well. Here’s a postcard she sent back to her colleagues at Johnson & Johnson from Siberia, from our archives:

One of Our Early Employee Volunteers

Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies employees all over the world have a long tradition of volunteering in the community.  It reflects their feelings of responsibility to the communities in which they live and work, and it forms the basis of the third paragraph of Our Credo.  One thing that very few people know is that our tradition of employees volunteering in the community goes back over 100 years…and our earliest records show that it was started by women employees.  So, how did it start?

Another Early Employee Volunteer

Early Johnson & Johnson Volunteers in the Community
The earliest records we have of employee volunteers are from the Laurel Club, an organization of women employees that was started in February of 1907.  The Laurel Club Charter stated:  “The object of the club is to create a center where all may find opportunities of enjoyment and education.”  [Laurel Club Charter, from our archives, 2/14/1907]  From the beginning, volunteering and philanthropy were mentioned.  Nellie R., the Laurel Club president, noted that fundraising in the first year raised money to buy a bed for the General Hospital in New Brunswick, and that proceeds raised from a variety of club activities also paid for a holiday party and gifts for the 100 children at St. Mary’s Orphanage and the Industrial Homes in New Brunswick. 

Besides toys, the Laurel Club volunteers also bought the children hats, mittens, sweaters and other warm clothing.  Nellie R. noted that “All bills for this affair are paid and a balance of $23.00 invested in the J. & J. Savings Bank, to start another of the same nature or perform any act of kindness the club members may deem advisable.”   [Laurel Club Charter, from our archives, 2/14/1907]

The Laurel Club Building – on the corner of Hamilton and Nielson Streets in New Brunswick  – site of volunteer well baby clinics.

Well baby clinics were another early volunteering effort from the Laurel Club members.  The clinics were held for New Brunswick mothers every Thursday from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, and the idea was to keep babies well in a population that included many recent immigrants who may not have had access to regular medical care.  The Thursday clinics had a doctor and a nurse on staff.  The babies were weighed and measured every week, and the doctor advised the mothers about feeding, clothing and more.   It was stressed in the July 8, 1919 club correspondence that “NONE except the DOCTOR will be permitted to give medical advise [sic].”  [Laurel Club correspondence, July 8, 1919].  While the doctor advised the women who brought their babies to the clinic, Laurel Club members sat and talked with the mothers and kept the babies amused while they waited to see the doctor.  Viahnett S., the Laurel Club manager in 1919 wrote:  “…to save even one tiny baby will be a splendid reward for the summer work.”  [Laurel Club correspondence, July 8, 1919]. 

Laurel Club Members with wounded soldiers in rehabilitation, 1919

In 1919, after World War I had ended, women employees in the Laurel Club volunteered their time to help wounded soldiers who were being rehabilitated at the U.S. Hospital in Colonia, New Jersey.   Club members brought a number of the soldiers who were able to travel to New Brunswick, took them to a vaudeville show and a huge dinner at the Laurel Club.  (If anyone’s interested, they had a turkey dinner with mince pie and ice cream.)   THE RED CROSS MESSENGER noted that it would be the first of many outings to cheer up the soldiers during their extended stay at the hospital.  During the war, Laurel Club volunteers, combined with the Company’s male employee Glee Club (a singing group), had entertained the soldiers stationed at Camp Raritan with singing and dancing.

Member of the Laurel Club, Early 1900s

Employee Volunteers inside Johnson & Johnson
Employees also volunteered to help their fellow employees in the areas of health and safety.  One hundred years ago, Johnson & Johnson had volunteer first aid squads and fire brigades made up of trained employee volunteers – both men and women.  (Since Johnson & Johnson pioneered the first-ever First Aid Kits and First Aid Manuals, it was a given that the Company would train its own employees in first aid techniques.) 

Fred Kilmer, employee volunteer

Even scientific director Fred Kilmer volunteered, using his expertise in science and public health to teach classes for employees on health, hygiene and other topics.  Kilmer’s classes on hygiene focused on contagious diseases and the means of combating them.  In the days before antibiotics and many vaccines, that was crucial knowledge.  The class even had a written exam that participants had to pass. 

Fred Kilmer’s written exam: you had to study if you took his volunteer classes

Some of the topics covered were germs, disinfection, isolation and antiseptics, as well as the role of house cleaning, fresh air and sunshine in preventing the spread of disease.   Employees had to answer an essay question on how they would prevent contagious disease in their homes (they could choose from scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles or typhoid).  They had to name at least two disinfectants made by Johnson & Johnson (in those days, the Company made a wide variety of public health products), distinguish insect-borne diseases from those spread by animals, and discuss how frequently a person should be vaccinated to guard against smallpox.  The exam was very serious business, as was the class.

Close up of bottom of the Laurel Club hygiene class exam, with handwritten comment from Robert Wood Johnson 

Volunteerism was encouraged by the Company at the highest levels.  Company founder Robert Wood Johnson encouraged his children to give back to the community, including taking flowers to patients in New Brunswick hospitals, and co-founder James Wood Johnson’s family members helped employees make and roll bandages to help wounded soldiers during World War I. 

Another way employees volunteered was through military service and in my next post, I’ll talk about how that started, and led to a tradition that we still have today.

A Chairman and CEO is writing a book.  Having led his company through The Great Depression, he’s concerned with improving living standards to decrease what he sees as a consistent state of scarcity for large parts of the population.  He realizes that his concern about providing goods, services and wages to alleviate scarcity, and in fact the entire future of business itself, depend on something that most people weren’t even thinking about yet:  conserving and sustaining the natural resources of the planet.  The year?  1947.  The business leader:  Robert Wood Johnson.

Robert Wood Johnson

The book Johnson was writing was called Or Forfeit Freedom, and its subject was no less than an analysis of the current state of business, the economic system, and labor-management relations in the 1940s.  Robert Wood Johnson was a straightforward writer, not hesitating to call for change where he felt change was necessary and this book was no exception:  Its full title was actually “People Must Live And Work Together Or Forfeit Freedom.”  In his dedication, to the men and women he’d worked with throughout the years, Johnson reiterated his belief that “…business must and can do its work for the good of humanity.”  [Or Forfeit Freedom, by Robert Wood Johnson, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York, 1947, dedication page.]  Since management for the long term had been a guiding philosophy behind Johnson & Johnson since its founding in 1886, Robert Wood Johnson applied that long-term lens to business and economics in general in his book, citing examples from as far back as early hunter-gatherers, through the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution to the 1940s to make his points and comparisons.

As part of this long term view, Robert Wood Johnson became concerned with — among other things — the depletion of natural resources, on which not only business but society depended.  Coming from a business that made products that helped people, Johnson felt that business would be key in helping overcome the problems of the day.  And he came to the conclusion, remarkable for the 1940s, that business itself would not be sustainable without conserving, protecting and sustaining natural resources.   Fed up with the current thinking, or lack of thinking about this issue, he titled the chapter containing these conclusions “Enough Now.” Here’s what he said:

“In producing vast quantities of goods, we must see to it that natural resources are not depleted at an excessive rate.  These include metal-bearing ores, coal, petroleum, gas and forests, as well as the soil on which crops must be grown for food, fibers and plastics.  Water supplies must also be protected, whether they lie at the surface or beneath the ground.”  [Or Forfeit Freedom, by Robert Wood Johnson, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York, 1947, p. 37]

“We must use our resources wisely, avoiding waste of both raw materials and scrap, while we seek substitutes for things already in short supply.  We must employ replaceable materials where we can, must let forests restore themselves as we cut, must prevent loss and pollution of water, and must halt wasteful erosion of soil.  Means to these ends are known but are now neglected through habit and ignorance of the fact that they pay.  Sound business demands their employment, just as it demands reduction of waste in a factory or store.”  [Or Forfeit Freedom, by Robert Wood Johnson, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York, 1947, pp. 37-38] 

To put this into perspective, this was fifteen years before this famous book brought environmental awareness into broad public knowledge for the first time.  

Seward Johnson (L) and Robert Wood Johnson (R), 1920s.  They donated the land for Johnson Park in Central New Jersey

In an earlier decade, Robert Wood Johnson and his brother Seward had given 130 acres of land to Highland Park, the town across the river from Johnson & Johnson headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  Their father, Company founder Robert Wood Johnson the first, owned a summer house for the family in Highland Park, a farm called Bellevue with an historic farmhouse that had a lot of land and space for his children to play outdoors. 

The farmhouse at Bellevue Farm in Highland Park, New Jersey

That 130 acres of land – which makes up Johnson Park — was donated for use as a public park, and it remains one of the premier public parks in Central New Jersey.  It was the one exception to Johnson’s rule that he or the Company never be mentioned in connection with a grant.  Interestingly enough, the Works Progress Administration, part of the New Deal, employed around 400 men to turn the donated land into a public recreation area, helping fulfill its mission of increasing employment to alleviate some of the worst effects of the Great Depression on families.

The Raritan River and some of the Johnson & Johnson buildings, including the building (with the flag on top) in which Robert Wood Johnson had his office.

Robert Wood Johnson also felt strongly about the Raritan River, which he could see from his office window in New Brunswick, and he grew increasingly alarmed at the pollution caused by over a century of industry in a variety of towns on the river.  It was especially noticeable and irksome to Johnson that the pollution was washing up on the banks of the parkland that he and his brother had provided to the state several decades earlier.  He was determined to help eradicate this problem, which would take years of effort.  Johnson assigned one of his aides to lead the project and gain support of the communities and industries in the Raritan Valley, and he personally went to countless meetings about the effort.  Eventually, a massive trunk sewer system was built and, according to Larry Foster’s biography of Robert Wood Johnson, he kept watch from his office window as the Raritan got cleaner and cleaner.  [Robert Wood Johnson, The Gentleman Rebel, by Lawrence G. Foster, Lillian Press, State College, PA, 1999, p. 457]

Robert Wood Johnson outdoors at his home, circa 1940s

In 1962, Robert Wood Johnson was recognized by the Garden Club of New Jersey, representing around 200 chapters throughout the state.  He was presented with a gold medal for being “‘a builder of an industrial empire who still retains an interest in community betterment and pays back to nature all he has had to disturb in the name of progress.’”  [Robert Wood Johnson, The Gentleman Rebel, by Lawrence G. Foster, Lillian Press, State College, PA, 1999, p. 476]  Given his interests and his emphasis on responsibility to the community, that award greatly pleased Johnson.

Robert Wood Johnson enjoyed spending time sailing

Robert Wood Johnson’s personal experiences, his practice of looking at things through a long-term lens, his management style, and his constant self-education all played a role in his emphasizing responsible stewardship of the environment over 60 years ago.  Johnson had grown up with nature at his family’s summer farmhouse, he had served as Mayor of Highland Park, New Jersey; he liked to sail and be on the water, and he enjoyed horseback riding, both outdoor pursuits.   These things all played a part in his belief that any long term planning for the future had to include what many people now call “sustainability.”

The White House just announced the launch of a new public health initiative, text4baby.  My colleague Marc at the JNJBTW blog just did a post on it.  It’s the U.S.’s first ever free mobile health service and it provides timely expert health information for pregnant women and new mothers through SMS text messages.  Johnson & Johnson is one of the founding sponsors.  In 2010, this health information is being provided in a portable, easily accessible manner through technology; 108 years ago, Johnson & Johnson provided health information to expectant and new mothers in the most easily portable technological method for 1902 – a small booklet.

The booklet was called Hygiene in Maternity, and it was only 4 x 6 ½ inches, designed to be small enough to fit into a pocket or a purse so that women could carry it with them.  It was subtitled “Suggestions to mothers gathered from the experience of eminent authorities,” and lower down on the cover was the slogan for the Company’s maternal and child health campaign:  “Every child has a right to be born well.” 

The booklet opened with a chapter called “The First Things to Do.” Here’s the first sentence:  “As soon as she is aware of her condition, or has a belief as to its probability, the mother should place herself under the care of a physician of experience and reputation…”  [Hygiene in Maternity, Johnson & Johnson, 1902, p. 3]  It then went on to list some of the signs of pregnancy, how to calculate a delivery date, and some of the basic milestones in the development of the baby during pregnancy.  The booklet gave expectant mothers advice on keeping calm (women were advised not to read medical books – unless authorized by their doctors — or scary stories).  It also contained information on maintaining the mother’s general health during pregnancy, on clothing (telling women to abandon heavy, restrictive or tight-fitting clothing, such as corsets, during pregnancy), proper exercise during pregnancy, and proper rest and diet.   Getting back to the clothing advice for a moment, the booklet also gave this very good piece of practical advice for pregnant women:  “High-heeled shoes which impede locomotion and cause stumbling, are not to be worn.”  [Hygiene in Maternity, Johnson & Johnson, 1902, p. 6]

The Hygiene in Maternity booklet was surprisingly modern about exercise during pregnancy.  Here’s what it said: 

“Even up to the very day of lying-in, a healthy pregnant women will find herself benefited by exercise.  Extremely active exercise should be avoided, although such as is taken should be agreeable.  Exercise should be in the open air if possible; nothing is better than walking.”  [Hygiene in Maternity, Johnson & Johnson, 1902, p. 6]   

Although the booklet advised women to exercise appropriately during pregnancy, it told them to avoid heavy or strenuous housework.  In the era before modern appliances and conveniences, that advice that was no doubt received with great enthusiasm by the booklet’s readers.  Hygiene in Maternity went on to advocate plenty of sleep and devoted a long chapter to diet, recommending nutritious and easy to digest foods during pregnancy.

In another startlingly modern section, the 1902 booklet devoted a section to care of the teeth, stating that because women were more prone to tooth decay while pregnant, extra care should be taken to brush teeth at least twice daily and rinse the mouth with an antiseptic mouthwash.  Hygiene in Maternity quoted an old proverb current over 100 years ago, “for every child a tooth.”  The proverb referred to the conventional wisdom over 100 years ago about pregnancy leading to the loss of teeth.  The booklet explained that, using the latest medical knowledge, women could easily prevent that from happening.  It also covered morning sickness and how to alleviate some of its effects, preparations for labor, and making sure women and their doctors had “the maternity outfit” ready. 

One of the Company’s “maternity outfits” – Dr. Simpson’s Maternity Packet

In 1902, most babies were born at home rather than in hospitals.  Starting in the late 1800s, Johnson & Johnson made maternal and child health kits, which contained everything the doctor would need to insure a safe and health delivery for mother and baby. 

The Hygiene in Maternity booklet went on to cover what to expect during labor, what the doctor and obstetric nurse should do, and why the room in which the baby was born should be made as clean as a hospital operating room to avoid any chance of post-birth infection in the mother.  (Called childbed fever throughout history, it was a major risk for women that the Company sought to eliminate through its maternal and child health kits and through education.) 

There was a chapter containing suggestions for the nurse during labor.  This chapter stressed putting the mother and baby first at all times, giving both medical and practical advice.  Once the baby was born, the Hygiene in Maternity booklet gave instructions that included how to tie the umbilical cord, clean the baby, and care for the mother.  It also included detailed instructions for care of the mother and baby in the days following delivery, advising the obstretric nurse on proper aseptic hygiene and listing the kinds of supplies and materials that would be used.    There was a section on feeding the baby – how often and how much, and on diet for the mother.  Even the back cover had important information:  illustrations showing the new parents how to properly hold their baby.

Back cover of Hygiene in Maternity, 1902

The Hygiene in Maternity booklet must have been immensely reassuring to expectant mothers because of its volume of information and advice starting with the beginning of the pregnancy to feeding and caring for the baby.   It was a portable, easy to follow handbook with advice from medical experts.

Illustration of Dr. Cooke’s maternity kit from Hygiene in Maternity

The Hygiene in Maternity booklet and the “Every child has a right to be born well” education and information campaign grew out of the Company’s maternal and child health kits and its tradition of publishing educational materials to improve public health.  The Johnson brothers, with their emphasis on promoting antiseptic surgery to improve surgical survival rates, and Fred Kilmer, with his lifelong dedication to improving public health, saw these kits as an important way to reduce the risks associated with childbirth over 100 years ago.    

Since publishing Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment in 1888, Johnson & Johnson used education as a way to promote not only its products, but also the latest medical and health knowledge — to improve surgical conditions, public health and the health of families.  We still do that today, but now we’re using text messages to cell phones – so that women can carry the advice and information with them wherever they go, just like they did with our booklet over 100 years ago.

Some of the most beautiful and appealing ads in the history of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies are the historical ads for JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder.  One of the most popular of those ads – and still a favorite today — is the Wonderful Mother ad from 1922.  But did you know that the ad was inspired by Abraham Lincoln?  Read on to find out why.

The Wonderful Mother ad appeared in the leading magazines of its day, such as Women’s Home Companion.  The centerpiece of the ad is a beautiful illustration of a mother looking down at her sleeping baby.  Her arm is protectively around her other child.  The ad conveys nurturing, trust and comfort, and perfectly captures the parent-child bond and the love between the mother and her children.   

So what did all of that have to do with Abraham Lincoln? 

Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States…and the inspiration behind one of our most popular ads.

Believe it or not, the title of the ad and the inspiration behind the text comes from a quote from Lincoln, which is reproduced in the body of the ad:   “‘I had a wonderful mother, said Lincoln. ‘All that I am, I owe to her.’” 

Here’s a close up of the text:

The ad begins by talking about how parents can help shape their children’s futures, mentions the ways in which the product could help mothers soothe their babies so they can get the sleep they need, and finishes by bringing in another theme that ran through the Company’s advertising from the very beginning:  the scientific basis, reliability and trustworthiness of the Company’s products. 

A small paragraph on the left side of the ad (as it appeared in magazines) mentioned a new Baby Gift Box that contained the three baby products we made in 1922:  JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder, JOHNSON’S® Baby Cream and JOHNSON’S® Baby Soap.  The paragraph on the lower right, under the baby powder tin, was a shout-out to the retail pharmacists who sold our products to the public at that time, in the days before supermarkets became widespread.

Closeup of Your Druggist is More Than a Merchant paragraph of the 1922 Wonderful Mother ad

This was a reference to a national public awareness campaign the Company initiated that talked about the important role of the retail pharmacist as a trusted, ethical expert who could help people with their own and their family’s health.  It was done to give a boost to community retail pharmacists, in the face of the growing impact of the popularity of the automobile – which let people travel farther to shop.  (The campaign was thought up by Scientific Director Fred Kilmer, himself a former retail pharmacist.)

The Wonderful Mother ad was such an all-time favorite that, approximately 70 years later, our consumer operating company brought it back. 

Wonderful Mother ad circa 1990

The mother and little girl in the new Wonderful Mother ad have updated clothing and hairstyles, but the basic image is the same.  They’re in the same pose, and they’re dressed in just about the same colors as their 1922 counterparts.  The orange and white baby powder tin from 1922 is now the more modern white container of the late 1980s/early1990s.  Looking at the two ads together really gives you a sense of the history of JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder (since 1893!) and the multiple generations of parents and children it has touched.

Regular readers of Kilmer House have read about the aseptic, or sterile conditions that Johnson & Johnson maintained over 100 years ago in order to manufacture the first mass produced sterile surgical dressings and sterile sutures.  So I thought it would be interesting to post some of the rules for our Aseptic Department from 1897:  112 years ago.

You Can’t Do That!  A list of what not to do from 1897

Don’t allow a dressing to touch your person or clothing, unprepared tables, tools or apparatus.
Don’t touch any other person.
Don’t touch a dressing with hands that are not surgically clean.
Don’t, while handling dressings, touch your hands to your clothing, face, hair, eyes or mouth.
Don’t allow perspiration to drop on tables or dressings [Remember, this was before air conditioning!]
Don’t cough or sneeze over the dressings or tables.
Don’t carry or use a pocket handkerchief.
Don’t put anything in your mouth.
Don’t wear flowers, ornaments, jewelry or rings. [In case you’re wondering about this rule, many or most of the Aseptic Department employees were women.]
Don’t pick up any dressing or thing that has fallen to the floor.
Don’t use anything that has fallen to the floor without sterilizing it.
Don’t fail to have everything surgically clean before you use it.
Don’t touch anything that has not been made sterile without rewashing the hands.
Don’t be afraid to wash your hands often; they will not wash away.
Don’t allow persons who have not prepared themselves to touch a dressing or anything used in their preparation.
Don’t go out of the room and come back again without as thoroughly rewashing as when you first entered.
Don’t be afraid to be particular about everything you do or touch.
Don’t handle anything when it is not necessary to do so. 

[Aseptic Dressings, Rules and Suggestions, Johnson & Johnson, late 1800s]

The Aseptic Department in 1903.  Many of the employees in this most crucial and exacting department were women.  In 1908, this included Nora H——, the Aseptic Department supervisor.

One of the Sterilizers, 1897

Here’s a 1908 description of the Company’s aseptic manufacturing facilities.  The antiseptic laboratory contained a steam sterilizer, a sterilization method pioneered by Johnson & Johnson.   It was connected with the aseptic finishing room which, according to scientific director Fred Kilmer (who oversaw the creation of these rooms) was “…the outcome of years of study in the preparation of surgical material.”  [RED CROSS NOTES, Series VI, No. 6, New Brunswick, NJ  1908, p. 127]  Plate glass (which could easily be kept germ free) formed the partitions for this room.  The floor was made from hard wood, and the walls and woodwork were covered in smooth white enamel, as was the metal ceiling.  The tables were enameled metal with glass tops so they could be disinfected. 

A corner of the Aseptic Department – you can see the glass topped enamel table

Here’s a further description:

“The walls and ceiling are glass smooth.  The floors are filled and polished.  There are no closets or shelving, no cracks or crevices to harbor dust or dirt.  The furniture consists of glass-topped tables on iron frames, which allow effectual and easy cleaning.  Everything, whatsoever may be its nature or history, outside of this room, is considered as infected (though in fact it may be free from germ life); it is, therefore, disinfected before being taken into the room.  The entrance to this room is through an anteroom, which is a disinfecting station of the highest type.  Through this quarantine all persons and things pass before entering the aseptic room.  The inanimate objects pass through the sterilizer elsewhere described.  The operatives undergo a vigorous personal cleansing and change of clothing.”  [Asepsis Secundum Artem, Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ, 1897, pp. 6-7] 

“Materials pass in and out of this room through a locking system that at once keeps out all dust and infection.  The air of the room is filtered through cotton under pressure.  Thus there is formed a perfect protective against dust and infection from without.  The room is without apparatus or furniture, except for the necessary bowls for hand washing and for the care of washable uniforms, and white glass tables resting on enameled iron…”  [RED CROSS NOTES, Series VI, No. 6, New Brunswick, NJ  1908, p. 127] 

Aseptic Department Sinks

Aseptic Department employees had to wash their hands, arms and faces with antibacterial soap, and change into sterilized uniforms and caps before starting work.  Employees from other departments and messengers were not allowed into the aseptic room, and visitors were only admitted by special permission of the office (which meant, most likely, that you had to gather up your courage and get your request okayed by Company founder Robert Wood Johnson), and only when under the direct supervision of the nurse in charge of the room.  Visitors couldn’t “mingle with the operatives,” or employees, in the room and they weren’t allowed to touch anything.  After each day’s work had concluded, all dressing materials and finished dressings were put away and a thorough cleaning was done.  Clothing and other smaller items were sterilized in the big steam sterilizer.  Tables, floors and other big things were dusted with a wet cloth, washed with antiseptic solution and then the entire room was closed and fumigated with sulfur and steam.

List of training course work and reading materials for Aseptic Department employees, 1897

So if you just followed all of those rules, you’d be all set to work in the Aseptic Department, right?  Wrong.  Employees involved in the making of the Company’s surgical dressings had to successfully pass a training course that included studying academic medical and scientific texts and reference books, answering questions and conducting experiments that educated them about the importance of preparing sterile surgical materials, the nature of the materials used in dressings and their preparation, how the dressings were used in surgery, how bacteria grew and multiplied, infection and disinfection, sterilization and aseptic techniques in the preparation of surgical dressings, and more.  Fred Kilmer noted that the aseptic rooms were at all times under the direct supervision of graduate surgical nurses, and employees had to scrub in like modern surgeons every time they entered the aseptic room. 

Aseptic Dressing Package Seal Signed by one of the Graduate Nurses, Elizabeth W——.

Illustration of Aseptic Room employee washing hands from 1897 Asepsis Secundum Artem (“According to the Art of Asepsis.”)

This detailed training and the Company’s strict requirements for manufacturing sterile dressings and sutures were in place at a time when many surgeons were still operating in their germ-covered street clothes, and Johnson & Johnson was rightly proud of its aseptic program, having pioneered these early clean room techniques. 

The reason that Johnson & Johnson gave for taking such painstaking steps was that the dressings had to be perfect because lives depended on them, a responsibility the Aseptic Department employees took very seriously.  As Fred Kilmer wrote in 1897, “The importance of the surgical dressing, the nature of its requirements, call for the greatest care.”  [Asepsis Secundum Artem, Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ, 1897, p 16] 

You can still see one of the legacies of the Aseptic Department today, in the light, open design of buildings and interior spaces in the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies throughout the world.  The emphasis on bright white clean surfaces was absorbed by the future General Robert Wood Johnson and incorporated into our building designs worldwide…a very old tradition that we still follow to this day, over a hundred years later.

Then:  white enamel and walls with lots of light…

Now:  white buildings with lots of light