Kilmer House

We know that Johnson & Johnson employees had The Laurel Club, an organization for women employees formed in 1907 whose members started the tradition of Johnson & Johnson employees exercising at work and volunteering in the community.  And employees formed a very popular Glee Club, which performed on the radio and sang with a movie star.  But they also formed a wide variety of other clubs, too, and in the 1940s through 1960s, if there was an interest among Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies employees, there was probably an employee club to go with it. The Nut & Bolt Club, one

Johnson & Johnson employees celebrate the 125th anniversary of Johnson & Johnson As readers of Kilmer House know, Johnson & Johnson is celebrating its 125th anniversary this year.  Our employees across the world have been acknowledging this milestone anniversary in a variety of ways in their operating companies -- as well as some of their individual operating company anniversaries that also fall this year.  These ongoing events in 2011 are maintaining an anniversary tradition at Johnson & Johnson that goes back 105 years. 105 Years Ago: Johnson & Johnson celebrated its 20th

As we celebrate Veterans Day, we remember the men and women past and present who serve their countries.  At Johnson & Johnson, our employees have a long tradition of service that dates back to the Spanish American War in 1898 -- which started some traditions here that we still have today. During these times, Johnson & Johnson employees supported each other, sent care packages to their colleagues in the military, and kept each other current on the news -- both from the Company and from those serving in the military.  During World War II, employees maintained this tradition of support as

One of the most interesting organizations in the history of Johnson & Johnson was formed by employees in 1907.  One hundred years ago, women employees of Johnson & Johnson formed the Laurel Club for social and educational purposes.  The club’s charter, which was signed by its president, Nellie E. Rea, stated that the Laurel Club’s purpose was “…to create a center where all may find opportunities of enjoyment and education.”  (Laurel Club Charter, February 14, 1907). The Laurel Club had a basketball team, a Glee Club and a lending library, and provided lunches and dinners to members. 

In 2011, Johnson & Johnson celebrated its 125th anniversary. When the Company began in 1886, the original 14 employees in our first building -- that small former wallpaper factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey -- could not have foreseen that 125 years later, their tiny little business would be a global company with approximately 117,000 employees at more than 250 operating companies in 60 countries. Those early employees were very creative in developing new manufacturing techniques to make the first mass produced sterile surgical dressings and sterile sutures, and that creativity has stayed

Which former Johnson & Johnson chairman once soothed the temper of an irate resident of his town by taking out her garbage?  And why did he feel the need to do such a thing?  The chairman was General Robert Wood Johnson, and he felt it was part of his duty as Mayor of Highland Park, New Jersey.  Robert Wood Johnson, circa 1920 In the late Nineteen-teens, Robert Wood Johnson and his wife moved into the Johnson family farmhouse, Bellevue, in Highland Park, right across the Raritan River from New Brunswick.  (The house, which Johnson eventually gave to the religious

A Johnson & Johnson Employee During WWI, "Somewhere in France" There’s a fascinating blog that’s been in the news recently.  It reproduces the letters of a World War I soldier, in chronological order, 90 years after he wrote them.  The letters have an immediacy that has thousands of readers following the writer’s story from letter to letter.  Many Johnson & Johnson employees fought in World War I and, aside from writing to their families, they wrote letters to their co-workers and occasionally sent photographs, which are preserved in our archives. Two Employees Who Se

With this week being National Public Health Week and April being National Volunteer Month, it’s a perfect opportunity to go back in time and let an early Johnson & Johnson employee who was on the front lines of public health improvement talk about some of his volunteer efforts in that area.  How can we do that?  We don’t have a time machine (despite a Six Degrees of Separation connection to H. G. Wells!), but we do have a first-hand account from one of our employees who spent many years volunteering to improve public health, starting at a time when the field was in its infancy.  That emplo

Some famous fathers and sons in Johnson & Johnson history: from left, Company founder Robert Wood Johnson and his son, General Robert Wood Johnson; Fred Kilmer and his son Joyce Kilmer When you think of Johnson & Johnson, probably the most enduring image that comes to mind is that of a mother and baby.  Mothers and babies have been a feature of our consumer advertising for 90 years, beginning with print ads and encompassing some very classic television commercials.  But fathers have also played a significant role in Johnson & Johnson history. Robert Wood Johnson Company founder Rob

More than a hundred years ago, Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson and Director of Scientific Affairs Fred Kilmer spent a lot of time getting out and talking to a lot of people -- mothers, fathers and families who used our products, members of the medical profession, and the retail pharmacists who sold Johnson & Johnson products before the age of supermarkets.  Those conversations led to some pretty significant milestones in Johnson & Johnson history – such as JOHNSON’S® Baby Powder in 1894, maternity kits to make childbirth safer in the 1890s, and the first commercial f