Resources for Tobacco and Pipe-Industry Research: An Investigation
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Introduction
Looking back in time, it should be no surprise that, with the assault on tobacco that began in 1962, when Great Britain’s Royal College of Physicians concluded that cigarette smoking was a cause of lung cancer, followed by the publication of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report in 1964, Smoking and Health, a proliferation of organizations, institutions, societies, and foundations was established to study “Big Tobacco” and the ill-effects of tobacco and smoking whose files would eventually contain information that supports its objective. Many such entities have a presence on the Web, but these are decoupled from the history of tobacco and pipe manufacturing and are not the sources I seek. Which organizations are dedicated to preserving the history of tobacco, pipes, and smoking culture in the United States and in Great Britain? What’s available and accessible? If there are searchable document libraries, where are they? I think that it would be nice to have such a list in case someone wants to research and write about any aspect of tobacco industry’s history in either country. Or, what if someone just wanted to read the history of the tobacco trade of either country? Where would he start?
When portraying a history of tobacco that spanned the experience of many nations and multiple efforts, only a few overviews attempt a complete picture of the cultivation, trade, manufacturing, and consumption around the world throughout the last 500 years. Books about a specific company, e.g., Bernard Alford, W. D. and H. O. Wills and the Development of the U. K. Tobacco Industry, 1786–1965 (1973), Nannie Tilley, The R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (1985), Robert F. Durden, The Dukes of Durham, 1865–1929 (1987), and Lee A. Dew, History of the Pinkerton Tobacco Company (1994) have a very narrow focus. General works, such as Meyer Jacobstein, The Tobacco Industry in the United States (1907), Joseph C. Robert, The Story of Tobacco in America (1949), and Jordan Goodman, Tobacco in History (1994) are not useful archival sources, because they are too broad. And A History of Tobacco Around the World (2011) is just a compilation of articles from around the 1900s on the origins, industry, and uses of tobacco; it does not cover the early years. I am on the hunt for both sources (places) and resources (materials) that pertain to the previous 200 years.
Those in the know say that AI is very smart, so I started my search with AI Overview on Google. When asked “Where are the tobacco industry’s history files?”, this is its answer. “To research the history of tobacco and pipes in the U.S., you can explore sources like: government publications, academic journals, special collections at libraries, tobacco industry documents, historical newspapers, and books focused on tobacco history; particularly valuable are collections detailing specific tobacco companies, regional production, and the evolution of pipe designs, with key areas to investigate including colonial tobacco use, the rise of cigarette manufacturing, and the impact of tobacco regulations.”
So I asked a different question: “Where is the history of the American tobacco industry archived?” AI’s answer: “The history of the American tobacco industry is primarily archived in the “Truth Tobacco Industry Documents” collection, which is housed at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Library; this archive contains a vast collection of internal tobacco company documents, offering insights into the industry's operations, marketing, and internal workings.”
When I reworded the question, AI responded with a different reply. “For studying the American tobacco industry through print resources, you can explore historical industry periodicals like ‘Tobacco Leaf,’ ‘Cigar Store Magazine,’ ‘Tobacco World,’ ‘Tobacco Retailer,’ ‘Tobacco Retailers’ Almanac,’ as well as government publications like the ‘Monthly Business Review’ from the Federal Reserve Bank, ‘Survey of Current Business,’ and ‘Statistics of Income’ from the IRS; additionally, the ‘Legacy Tobacco Documents Library’ at the University of California San Francisco offers a vast collection of internal tobacco company documents for detailed research.” Periodicals are secondary sources whose articles are typically written by non-professionals, whereas scholarly journal articles are typically written by subject-matter experts.
Hoping for a more informed response: “Why are there no archival materials about the American tobacco industry?,” AI advised: “The statement that there are ‘no archival materials’ about the American tobacco industry is not accurate; a significant amount of historical tobacco industry documents exist, primarily due to the ‘Master Settlement Agreement’ (MSA) of 1998, which mandated tobacco companies to release internal documents to the public, making them accessible through archives like the ‘Truth Tobacco Industry Documents’ at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) library; this collection provides a comprehensive view into the industry's operations and practices.”
It’s evident that AI is capable of providing a generic answer or information about the era of litigations and settlements against the cigarette industry, but the model may not have been trained on this topic, or it lacks the capability to understand and was unable to give me a meaningful answer. There’s also the distinct possibility that my questions were ambiguous or lacked clarity or, perhaps, I don’t know how to query AI.
According to The Library of Congress, “There are many research collections around the country that contain collections that may be of interest to those studying the industry.” So began my Web search using key words and phrases.
What follows is a list of organizations that claim to be committed to, or involved with, either the tobacco or the pipe industry. (I did not contact tobacco-production cooperatives, such as the Tobacco Associates, Inc., Raleigh, N.C., or similar organizations.) If there’s a mission statement, I’ve included it and whatever written response I received. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, most have chosen not to respond to my request for information. How should I interpret their silence? It’s difficult to know the exact reason why I received so few responses. This is not an issue of law where these organizations have a right to remain silent, but their silence suggests something. Those that did not respond may have had discomfort with the question and refused to share information, or they lacked knowledge of any archive or, worse, the archive had been discarded. I do not want to overanalyze, but I just found it very strange. My guess is that they are public outreach, media relations, or brand-development associations that deal with the issues of today, not yesterday. Or draw your own conclusion as to why those organizations with pipe or tobacco in their title declined to respond to my question.
This is the list of tobacco-industry allies that I found. As you read, you’ll encounter some strange bedfellows along the way.
United States
The Tobacco Merchants Association had a vast archive of documents about the American tobacco industry, the Howard S. Cullman Library. I had contacted it in the 1980s when its repository consisted of some 8,000 titles consuming 253 feet of shelving, supplemented by 95 library file drawers containing clippings and related information. Unfortunately, it was only accessible to its members—Industry-affiliated companies—who could visit its headquarters. Non-member access was limited.
Today Its mission statement reads: “Founded in 1915 as an industry trade association, over 100 years later TMA remains focused on the information and analysis that empowers ideas, as well as assembling stakeholders to discuss and debate tobacco and nicotine matters. …Industry Research. This section consists of current research documents relevant to the tobacco and e-vapor industries, such as conference papers, research reports, the studies cited in important news events, book reviews, and TMA summaries, just to name a few. These documents are distributed largely in PDF format, although you will also find PowerPoint presentations.”
TMA amalgamates and archives trade press publications such as Cigar Magazine, Tobacco Reporter, World Tobacco, Tobacco Journal International, Vapor Voice, SmokeShop Magazine and many more sources, allowing for advanced searches on in-depth content.” The website is not very informative, so access s3.amazonaws.com, although a bit dated, for a better understanding of its organization and mission. On its website there is this: “Read our news publications or search our extensive database (1985–present) for news or tobacco and nicotine research.” The only online database is “Companies & Finance. Query our database of financial reports, analyst info, and company data,” not exactly the information I was hoping to find. I would hope that the Cullman Library accompanied the move from its original location in New York City, then to Princeton, New Jersey, and now to Raleigh. Mining those files would be a pipe or tobacco researcher’s pot of gold.
The Library of Congress (guides.loc.gov) has the “Tobacco Industry: Sources of Historical Research,” that includes resources from U.S. government agencies, international NGOs and other nonprofits that may provide information and context for those researching the tobacco industry, e.g., the GAO, CDC, WHO, and the Department of Agriculture. These are not sources useful to an Industry historian. However, its “Research the Companies” site includes details about Brown & Williamson, Lorillard, R. J. Reynolds, Philip Morris, American Tobacco Company, and several others. Its “Doing Historical Company Research: A Resource Guide” is one avenue to research old companies, but I’ve not accessed it to see if, for example, I might find information on an American pipe manufacturer. The George Arents Tobacco Collection at the New York Public Library comprises two distinct segments of material. The first is the Arents Tobacco Collection, which constitutes the largest and most comprehensive library in the world devoted to the history, literature, and lore of tobacco. It contains printed and manuscript works—as well as prints, drawings, and ephemera—dating from 1507 to the present, representing Continental Europe, England, and the Americas. The second segment is the Digital Collections. There is a reading room, and the website has instructions regarding accessing the collection. In the last 70 plus years, there’s been no effort to expand the Arents manuscript collection.
Pipe Tobacco Council. At a time in the 1960s, Jerry Nagler was the Executive Director of the Pipe and Tobacco Council, New York, an Industry and Public Relations firm. It’s not well-known, but he established the Council’s own “Pipe Smoker of the Year” award. He may have had a repository of Industry publications, but it’s now ancient history. He had published a slight brochure A Guide to Pipe Smoking and Its History. The current Pipe Tobacco Council claims that its roots go back to 1976, but I believe that it’s the reincarnation of Nagler’s Council. Its mission statement is “Helping our members successfully navigate through this challenging business environment for almost 50 years.” It asserts: “We are the leading national trade organization for the pipe tobacco industry, available to pipe tobacco manufacturers, importers, distributors, and to companies that furnish goods, accessories, or services to or for the pipe tobacco industry. …PTC is committed to being the leading voice and advocate to ensure that the pipe tobacco industry remains strong and continues to thrive.”
The Tobacco Products Association, launched on May 17, 2024, is committed to uniting, promoting, and advancing its members in all facets of the cigar and pipe tobacco sector. Its aims are to serve the broad spectrum of the tobacco community, including cigar brands, manufacturers, retailers, pipe carvers, pipe tobacconists, and related accessories companies, with a strong focus on education, advocacy, and innovation. It aims to champion the unique values and needs of both the cigar and pipe aficionado communities. (Read “The TPA is Born, to Support the Pipe Tobacco and Cigar Sector,” cigarjournal.com). I don’t mean to be critical, but the first Board of Directors is composed of principals from only the cigar industry. (I await an answer as to why there is no board member from the pipe industry.) It’s much too early to predict what positive influence or impact it will have.
National Association of Tobacco Outlets: “Working to protect the rights of tobacco retailers and legal-age adult consumers.” Its mission is “to enhance the business interests of retailers—more than 66,000 wholesale and distributor members—that sell tobacco products, support the legislative and regulatory interests of members, and encourage the expansion of the retail tobacco segment in a responsible manner.” Its focus is legislative issues: taxes, E-cigarettes and vapor issues, FDA tobacco regulations, adult rights and retailer freedoms.
The Tobacco Institute, Washington, D.C., founded in 1958, was a trade association to promote a better understanding of the tobacco industry and its place in the national economy. Its activities included lobbying, policy work, advertising, and publishing white papers. Its website, tobaccoinstitute.com: “… is designed to provide the public with access to documents produced by The Tobacco Institute Inc. in various litigations across the country.” It published a series of pamphlets in the 1970s about tobacco in each state, e.g., Florida and Tobacco. A Chapter in America’s Industrial Growth. Its document index is unimpressive.
Premium Cigar Association. The Retail Tobacco Dealers Association (RTDA) established in 1933, became the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers (IPCPR), and is now the Premium Cigar Association (PCA). “The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) is the leading authority and advocate for the premium cigar and pipe retailer industry. “The PCA is dedicated to the current and future success of brick and mortar premium tobacconists.” And “The Premium Cigar Association (PCA) exists to protect, promote, and inspire participation and growth in the premium tobacco industry.” It hosts an annual trade show, but what it does the rest of the year for the industry is anyone’s guess. Considering its organization name, I don’t expect that the extensive RTDA files from the last 90 years conveyed or, if conveyed, are accessible.
Center for The Study of Tobacco and Society is a little-known online resource on the campus of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. It was established by Dr. Alan Blum, Professor and Gerald Leon Wallace, MD, Endowed Chair in Family Medicine, in 1998. It is “The largest collection at any university of original documents, artifacts, ephemera, photographs, and print and broadcast news coverage of efforts to counteract the tobacco industry and cigarette marketing from the 19th century to the present.” Although it is “…the sole information resource to explore the failures as well as the successes of the public health efforts to curtail the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the U.S.,” many of its online exhibitions are of general interest, e.g., “Smoke Rings: Tobacco and the Olympics,” “Cartoonists Take Up Smoking,” and “Tennis, Tobacco and Virginia Slims.” For those interested in conducting onsite research, the Center owns a large portion of the library of the late Tom Dunn, including several years’ worth of the British journal, Tobacco. A Monthly Trade Journal for The Importer, Exporter, Manufacturer and Retailer of Tobacco, Cope’s Tobacco Plant. A Monthly Periodical, Interesting to the Manufacturer, the Dealer, and the Smoker, and other late 19th-century tobacco-industry periodicals. Anyone interested in a list of its holdings, please contact me (ben70gray@gmail.com).
National Archives Foundation. “The Foundation was created to support the Archivist of the United States in developing programs, technology, projects, and materials that will introduce and interpret the Archives’ holdings to the American people and to people around the world. The purpose of the Foundation is to educate, enrich, and inspire a deeper appreciation of our country’s heritage through the collected evidence of its history.” There’s some visual information about smoking that is not anti-tobacco, such as video clips of WWI cigarette smokers.
North Carolina State University Libraries. A search of Its Special Collections Research Center reveals some 14,000 items in 157 collections pertaining to tobacco.
Duke University’s Archives and Manuscripts includes the records of British-American Tobacco Company’s operation in Petersburg, Virginia, along with several volumes from the Bland Tobacco Co. of Petersburg and the Export Leaf Tobacco Company of Richmond. Duke Homestead Education & History Corporation, Durham, N.C., has a tobacco museum, 5,500 square feet of exhibits on tobacco, tobacco farming, manufacturing and advertising.
North Carolina Government & Heritage Library at the State Library of North Carolina has more than 8,800 articles and more than 9,200 images. A quick search for tobacco yielded about 2,300 results.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Marilyn E. Jackler Memorial Collection of Tobacco Advertisements (magazine and newspaper) from 1898 to 2017 could be a good source for research. “The bulk of these materials are for cigarettes but also include cigars and tobacco. A smaller amount of material are advertisements for holders, lighters and matches, pipes, smokers’ drops, and toothpaste. Included among these materials are also some point of purchase displays and ephemera from major tobacco companies.” Another Smithsonian resource is the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Tobacco Trade and Industry (1750–1965).
The National Museum of American History offers “Smoke gets in your eyes: 20th century tobacco advertisements.”
Virginia Museum of History & Culture: “A Guide to the Larus & Brother Company, Richmond, Virginia, Records, 1877–1974.”
Washington University Libraries, Saint Louis, Missouri. “Tobacco History and Culture sources focus on tobacco-related products, and their role in American history, culture, science, and public policy.”
Hagley Museum and Library Archives. Its repository includes records of the American Tobacco Company, 1935–1953. The collection is open for research.
University of Maryland. Its Special Collections and University Archives retains the following: “Alfred Dunhill—London, England, 1921.”
Archives at Yale: William Van Duyn Tobacco Advertisement Collection and American Tobacco Company materials that are open for research.
University of Louisville Archives and Special Collection. “There are 949 photographic items in this collection, spanning from 1950 to 1961. …Most images depict advertisement design for various Brown & Williamson products. The Brown & Williamson facilities appear multiple times in the collection, including the factory as products were manufactured, professional offices, 1950-1961.”
Cleveland Public Library. “The [Robert H.] Gries Tobacco Printed Works, Manuscripts and Artifacts Collection spans the years 1650—1980, with the bulk of the items dating from the late 18th and early 20th centuries, and contains material related to the manufacturing, sale, and use of tobacco in the United States and abroad. The material was donated by Robert H. Gries in 1942–1953 and some items were acquired by the library staff.”
Joyner Library Special Collection. This library at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, retains some type of tobacco-industry archive.
In 2014, at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute School of Information, a grant proposal was written as the final project for the Film and Media Collections course to establish the long-term preservation of, and access to, films made by the British-American Tobacco Company in early 20th century China. Unfortunately, I did not find whether the grant was approved and funded.
Corning Museum of Glass. Its website states “Tobacco pipes—Archival resources,” but, on close reading, the resources are about the glass tobacco-pipe industry.
Great Britain
According to The Lancet, since 2019, the tobacco industry watchdog Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products (STOP) has maintained a database listing industry allies, organizations around the world that are acting in furtherance of the tobacco industry’s interests, but most all of these allies do not maintain databases or archives for historical research.
The Society for Clay Pipe Research is open to anyone including archaeologists, authors and researchers of clay pipes as well as pipe makers, historians, genealogists and collectors that was founded in 1983 and continues its mission in 2024. It has published an informative quarterly Newsletter since 1984.
The National Archives. A search with the key words “tobacco and tobacco pipe history” yielded nothing useful, other than “Alfred Dunhill Ltd. (“Bruyère”-pipe manufacturers and tobacco-blenders; 137-143, High St., Notting Hill Gate, London, W.11, September 13, 1929).
National Pipe Archive (pipearchive.co.uk) “…was founded to collect and preserve documentary and archaeological evidence relating to the history and culture of pipe smoking.” A publicly available display highlighting the NPA’s holdings and research can be seen in the Victoria Gallery and Museum at the University of Liverpool and the NPA’s extensive collections can be consulted by prior appointment. “Although the bulk of our holdings relate to the clay tobacco pipe industry, our extensive collections also include pipes made of all materials—briar, porcelain, metal etc.—as well as other tobacco and smoking related ephemera.” The tranche of late 18th- and early 19th-century British tobacco and pipe catalogs from the late John Adler and Jacques Cole, donated to the NPA, may eventually be listed on this site.
The International Academy of the Pipe. Established in Paris in 1984, it is now a registered charity in Liverpool that just celebrated its 40th anniversary. It maintains no archive, but its members from 21 countries and its scholarly periodical, the Journal of the Académie Internationale de la Pipe, are focused solely on antique pipes and their history.
The Pipe Club of London. Founded in 1970, in association with the now defunct Pipe Club of Great Britain, is affiliated with members from 31 countries. It promotes and protects the interests of pipe smokers, and offers them social entertainment, and educational facilities connected with pipes and tobacco. The educational facilities are not defined.
Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History (gracesguide.co.uk), a registered charity, is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. As of Fall, 2024, its website “contains 164,325 pages of information and 246,083 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.” It has digitized thousands of industry documents from 1833 to 1950, and it continues to expand its inventory. It is not focused solely on the tobacco industry but, as of this writing, if you search “tobacco,” you’ll encounter 929 pages of information.
Tobacco Collectibles. The person who runs tobaccocollectibles.co.uk is a private citizen who dedicates his time and effort “…to the collection of old Tobacco Tins, Cigarette Packets and Tobacciana.” Obviously, there are more files on British than American tobacco companies: UK Library of Cigarette & Tobacco Brands 1870–1980; Smokers’ Handbooks; and The Cigarette World Magazine (1886–1909). Also online is “Useful Resources for Collectors.”
The Worshipful Company of Tobacco Pipe Makers and Tobacco Blenders is the oldest organization affiliated with tobacco, founded in 1619, and has assumed the following roles: “Our Company celebrates the centuries-old craft of tobacco pipe making, particularly through our support for the Broseley Pipe Works museum, which provides a time capsule of working life in this traditional local industry. We also retain and develop links with all aspects of the UK tobacco trade, including leaf growers, merchants and blenders; tobacco and paper manufacturers; snuff blenders; cigar importers; retail tobacconists and manufacturers of smokeless nicotine products.” When asked about its archives, the organization’s clerk responded: “I regret we have no records of the earlier Companies.” However, I have recently learned that it has sponsored a student to start the task of “cataloging all the briar collections,” whatever that means. This will certainly take quite a while.
Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association (previously, the Tobacco Advisory Council) is the trade association for tobacco companies operating in the United Kingdom. It provides information on subjects related to tobacco and plays a role on behalf of its members in discussions with the Government on matters such as tobacco taxation.
Tobacco Retailers Alliance (previously known as the Tobacco Alliance) is a campaign group operating on behalf of retailers who sell tobacco products. It is funded by the Tobacco Manufacturers Association which, in turn, is funded by tobacco companies. The Association of Independent Tobacco Specialists is a trade organization for retailers. Its mission statement: “This site is designed to inform you about who we are, what we do and where our members are around the UK.”
British Pipe Smokers’ Council used to have an online presence, but no more. It sponsored the “Pipe Smoker of the Year” award from 1964 to 2014, but I haven’t found any current activity indicating that it is still a viable organization.
British Pipe Trade Association. There used to be an organization known as the BPTA, but according to Simon Orlik, British pipe and tobacco agent, it shuttered sometime in the 1970s. When I searched for the BPTA, what pops up now is the British Potato Trade Association.
The University of Bath. “Tobacco Tactics: The Essential for Rigorous Research on the Tobacco Industry” sounds inviting, but it’s not what I had hoped for when I scrolled through its website: “Global Tobacco and Nicotine Forum,” “Health Warnings,” etc.
University of Greenwich repository (gala.gre.ac.uk) is the Tobacco Trade Review: a monthly trade journal (1868–1937) and then as Tobacconist and Confectioner (1938–1968).
The Dunhill archives. Supposedly, they are now housed at the National Archives, Kew, Richmond, England. When I contacted the Archives, the answer was that it retains records pertaining to Dunhill and the Government. I contacted the Alfred Dunhill Museum and Archive, 5-7 Mandeville Place, London, but no reply. Then I got the answer from Cup O’ Joes. It had contacted Dunhill on my behalf and replied: “…all the archives are stored at the pipe factory in Walthamstow. Unfortunately, however, they do not allow any visitors.”
Summary
Unless I failed to conduct a more thorough investigation to find the proper organizations, I am saddened—but not surprised—that no one in the American Tobacco Industry has seen the value and the utility to trace and document its own legacy and to make it available online—or at a physical location—and our British counterparts haven’t been much better at funding and publicizing its own colorful history. Sure, the Industry in both countries has changed in many ways in the last half-century but, before then, both were long, proud, and storied. Isn’t it irresponsible, thoughtless, and imprudent to forget rather than to remember?
On the basis of what I have found, I conclude that tobacco-industry archival research on both sides of the Atlantic appears to be on life support. It’s almost too late to retrace or recover it. In the not-to-distant future, not even The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory will be able to rescue or recover whatever archives there might have been.
An important quotation about preserving history is from the Spanish philosopher George Santayana (The Life of Reason, 1905): “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” His dictum would not apply to the industry of the U.S. and Britain, because both have been forever transformed as a result of litigation and other outside forces. Their respective histories will certainly not be repeated and, based on my research, they will not be remembered, unless and until…