Kilmer House

In my last post I mentioned that Robert Wood Johnson (son of Company founder Robert Wood Johnson the first) had an idea about how to increase the Johnson & Johnson business.  And his idea was…to take an almost year-long trip around the world.  It’s not as farfetched as it sounds, because that trip led to Johnson & Johnson becoming a decentralized global company.  Cotton Mill Workers with Cotton Products In the aftermath of World War I, both Johnson & Johnson and the United States were recovering from the dislocation caused by the conflict.  The reacti

Thursday, April 26, is the Johnson & Johnson Annual Meeting of Shareholders – an event we traditionally hold on the last Thursday in April, even though our first Annual Meeting was actually held on a Saturday in January.  Besides continuing our last Thursday in April tradition, the 2012 Annual Meeting also continues another very rare tradition at Johnson & Johnson: a leadership transition. At this year’s meeting, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William Weldon is passing the role of Chief Executive Officer to Alex Gorsky.   (Mr. Weldon remains our Chairman of the Board.)  This

As readers of Kilmer House -- and The Duct Tape Guys’ popular website – know, duct tape was invented by a Johnson & Johnson operating company in response to a request from the U.S. military for a cloth-based, waterproof tape during World War II.  But have you ever wondered why the Army made that request, and who had the original idea for duct tape?  Well, wonder no more, thanks to Kilmer House reader Kari Santo, whose great grandmother Vesta Stoudt had the idea that led to duct tape. Meet Vesta Stoudt, whose idea led to duct tape! Photo from The Chicago Sunday Tribune, October 24th 1943 In

My colleagues Marc and Lori recently posted about Camp Baby, a recent event in which the Company invited over 50 women who are mom bloggers to New Brunswick.  The purpose of the event was for them to get to know Johnson & Johnson a little bit better, and for us folks at Johnson & Johnson to get to know the bloggers a little bit better.  One of the most interesting things about Camp Baby from the perspective of this blog is that it’s the kind of direct conversation with the public that Johnson & Johnson used to have around 100 years ago.  Here’s an example of Johnson

What do General Robert Wood Johnson, Frank Sinatra, Albert Einstein, Bruce Springsteen and Toni Morrison all have in common?  They are among the first group of inductees into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Yesterday (May 4th) General Robert Wood Johnson was among the first group of New Jersey citizens inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, sharing the occasion with other notable New Jerseyans Harriet Tubman, Thomas Alva Edison, Albert Einstein, Clara Barton, Frank Sinatra, Buzz Aldrin, Yogi Berra, Malcolm Forbes, Vince Lombardi, General Norman Schwarzkopf, Toni Morrison, Bruce Springst

First Aid Kits are so central a part of modern life that it’s hard to imagine a time in which they didn’t exist.  But before Johnson & Johnson began making the first commercial first aid kits in 1888, people were on their own when it came to gathering and maintaining the right supplies to use in treating injuries and in knowing how to help someone in case of an injury.  A century and a quarter ago, that changed in a very social media-inspired way:  through a conversation. As this story from 1882 -- concerning our very own Fred Kilmer -- shows, when someone was injured before the era of fi

On July 17, Johnson & Johnson Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer Dominic Caruso attended a meeting of the New York Stock Exchange’s Century Club.  What’s the Century Club?  It’s a group of companies headquartered in the United States, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and founded a minimum of 100 years ago -- each of which is still thriving and innovating today.  Who’s in the club besides Johnson & Johnson, and what do they all have in common?  Read on to find out! Artist's representation of the first Johnson & Johnson building, 1886, from our archives. The

In 1908 Johnson & Johnson completed an addition to the “New” Red Cross Cotton Mill.  The mill had been built in 1901 and just a few short years later, it needed to be expanded due to the growth of the surgical dressings, cotton and gauze business and the need for extra manufacturing capacity.   As was its tradition, the Company held a reception and dance for employees to inaugurate the new building…on the evening of Friday, October 2, 1908 from 8:00 pm to midnight.  Let’s step back to that evening 100 years ago and take a look. According to Oct. 3, 1908 edition of The

This year marks a very significant anniversary at Johnson & Johnson:  the 70th anniversary of Our Credo, the business philosophy that guides Johnson & Johnson.  Written in 1943 by General Robert Wood Johnson and presented to the Board of Directors in December of that year, Our Credo is one of the earliest statements of corporate social responsibility, drafted almost three quarters of a century ago. But the origins of Our Credo actually go back much further than December of 1943.  In fact, they go back to 1935 -- and back even further to the founding of Johnson & Johnson. The firs

The countless female scientists in the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies across the world are examples of the pioneering work that women in science do every day.  With so many necessary efforts underway to encourage girls and young women to study science, technology, engineering and math (referred to as STEM), women scientists are crucial role models for girls aspiring to careers in these fields.  Johnson & Johnson has known that women make good scientists for a long time.  Way back in 1907 or 1908, when the barriers to women in science were much higher, Johnson & Johnson hired