Kilmer House

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

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