Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

CARTON, MILK

Date Range From

1957

Date Range To

1970

Materials

PAPER, INK

No. Pieces

1

Height

24

Length

7.4

Width

7.2

Description

CARDBOARD MILK CARTON. SIDE ONE HAS “HOMOGENIZED MILK” ON TOP FOLD IN GREEN BLOCK LETTERING. FADED, BLACK INK STAMP ON THIS FOLD SAYS “?A 2 -45.” ON THE MAIN SECTION OF THIS SIDE THERE IS THE PURITY LOGO (“PURITY” IN PURPLE CURSIVE FONT), A PURPLE AND GREEN FLOWER, AND THE WORDS “CREAM IN EVERY DROP” IN PURPLE CURSIVE. ON THE BASE OF THIS PANEL IT SAYS “… HEAD OFFICE LETHBRIDGE.” THE OPPOSING SIDE (SIDE 3) IS SIMILAR, BUT WITH THE INDICATION OF “NET CONTENTS ONE QUART” AT THE BASE OF THE PANEL. SIDE 2’S TOP FOLD SAYS, “THE CONTAINER COVERED BY CANADIAN PATENTS 1941 – 395.645 1957 – 542-432… MANUFACTURED UNDER LICENSE FROM EX-CELL-O CORPORATION.” THE MAIN SECTION HAS THE PURITY LOGO AND THE SLOGANS “IT’S PURE. THAT’S SURE” AND “YOURS TO LOVE. OURS TO PROTECT.” ADDITIONALLY THIS SIDE INDICATED THAT THE MILK IS “PASTURIZED” AND IS “NOT LESS THAN 3.25% B.F.” PARALLEL TO THAT IS SIDE 4 WITH A TOP FOLD THAT HAS “SPOUT” MARKED ON IT. ON THE TOP FOLD, IT SAYS “PUREPAK” “YOUR PERSONAL MILK CONTAINER.” THE MAIN SECTION OF THIS HAS A GREEN ILLUSTRATION OF A CHURCH WITH “ATTEND THE CHURCH OF YOUR CHOICE…” ON THE BOTTOM OF THE CARTON, THERE ARE NUMBERS AND/OR LETTERS THAT WERE STAMPED INTO THE BOTTOM. A “W” IS VISIBLE. GOOD CONDITION. COLOUR OF CARDBOARD HAS YELLOWED OVERALL. THERE ARE VARIOUS STAINS ON THE SURFACE. BLACK STAINING AROUND THE CHURCH ILLUSTRATION. THE TOP FLAP OF THE CARTON IS DETERIORATING (BENT/TORN) WITH NOTICEABLE LOSS OF MATERIAL ON ONE SIDE’S CORNER.

Subjects

CONTAINER

Historical Association

BUSINESS

INDUSTRY

History

THE DONOR, HANK VROOM, FOUND THE MILK CARTON IN LETHBRIDGE APPROXIMATELY A DECADE BEFORE THE DATE OF DONATION (JULY 2016), AS A RESULT OF HIS CITY EMPLOYMENT AS A GARBAGE TRUCK DRIVER. THE LOCATION OF THE FIND IS UNKNOWN. IN THE TIME SINCE HIS POSSESSION, THE CARTON HAS BEEN IN A PLASTIC BAG IN A CUPBOARD. ACCORDING TO ADDITIONAL RESEARCH INTO THE EXISTENCE OF THIS TYPE OF MILK CARTON AND BRAND, IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THIS CARTON ORIGINATED PRIOR TO THE MID-1970S BECAUSE MILK MEASUREMENTS WERE CHANGED FROM QUARTS TO LITERS AROUND THAT TIME AND THIS CARTON’S MEASUREMENT IS INDICATED IN QUARTS. IN THE LATE 1950’S, PURITY DAIRY ADVERTISED BEING 100% PURE-PAK, MEANING THAT ALL MILK PRODUCTS CAME IN CARDBOARD CARTONS. BLOW MOLD PLASTIC CONTAINERS REPLACED CARDBOARD SHORTLY AFTER. WITH THE INDICATION OF THE 1957 PATENT NUMBER ON THE CARTON, THIS PLACES THE DATE OF THE MILK CARTON BETWEEN 1957 AND THE 1970S. THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ABOUT PURITY DAIRY IS FROM THE RECORD FOR ARTIFACT P20070013001: SIMONIE (SAM) FABBI STARTED FABBI DAIRY IN 1923 IN LETHBRIDGE. HE WAS AN ITALIAN IMMIGRANT WHO BEGAN THE BUSINESS WITH THREE COWS AND SOME LARD BUCKETS. THE DAIRY WAS LOCATED AT 12 STREET B NORTH. AT THAT TIME, MILK WAS TRANSPORTED USING LARD PAILS OR CANS, WHICH, WITH THE HELP OF SAM’S SONS, WOULD BE LADLED INTO CUSTOMER’S CONTAINERS. FABBI DAIRY EXPANDED TO THE SOUTHSIDE DAIRY HILL IN THE EARLY 1930S. SHORTLY AFTERWARDS, FABBI DAIRY BOUGHT CITY DAIRY. SONS STAN AND ROMEO BOUGHT THE BUSINESS FROM THEIR FATHER IN 1936. AT THIS POINT, MILK WAS PACKAGED AND SOLD IN GLASS BOTTLES IN PINT, QUART OR GALLON SIZES. THE DAIRY HAD ITS OWN COWS, WHICH WERE MILKED DAILY AND WOULD PASTURE IN THE COULEES. BY 1936, HOWEVER, MILK AND CREAM WERE BROUGHT IN FROM OFFSITE. BETWEEN 1939 AND 1944, THE FABBI DAIRY BOUGHT PAVAN DAIRY AND THE BELLEVUE DAIRY. AT THAT POINT IN TIME, MANY SMALL DAIRIES WERE SUBJECT TO PASTEURIZATION LAWS, AND CHOSE TO CLOSE DOWN RATHER THAN CONVERT. FABBI DAIRY PURCHASED MAJESTIC THEATRE IN THE LATE 1930S OR EARLY 1940S FOR $10,000 FROM MAYOR SHACKERFORD, CONVERTING IT INTO A MILK BOTTLING PLANT. FABBI DAIRY CHANGED ITS NAME TO PURITY DAIRY, AND EXPANDED THROUGHOUT THE LATE 1940S AND 1950S, OPENING UP BUSINESSES IN MEDICINE HAT (1948), CALGARY (1950), EDMONTON (1950), CRANBROOK (1958), RED DEER AND TABER. ALL THESE LOCATIONS HAD DAIRIES EXCEPT FOR TABER, WHICH HAD A DEPOT. ACCORDING TO KEN FABBI, STAN FABBI’S SON, STAN AND ROMEO ESTABLISHED A DAIRY IN CALGARY WITHOUT A LICENSE. THE ONLY WAY TO OBTAIN A LICENSE FOR A DAIRY AT THAT TIME WAS TO BUY OUT AN EXISTING DAIRY. EXPANSION WAS SEEN AS NECESSARY TO THE FABBI BROTHERS, IF THEY WERE TO REMAIN IN BUSINESS. THE PURITY DAIRY IN CALGARY WAS DEEMED ILLEGAL, AND IN THE EARLY 1960S, STAN AND ROMEO FABBI WERE HANDCUFFED AND ARRESTED. PUBLIC SYMPATHY FOR THE FABBI BROTHERS ENABLED THEM TO PURCHASE A LICENSE AFTER THE INCIDENT. PURITY DAIRY HAD MANY INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS THAT OTHER DAIRIES IN TOWN DID NOT HAVE, LIKELY CONTRIBUTING TO THE DAIRY’S POPULARITY WITH THE PUBLIC. PURITY DAIRY WAS THE FIRST DAIRY IN WESTERN CANADA TO RELY SOLELY ON THE USE OF MILK TANKERS, WHICH VISITED VARIOUS LOCALS TO PICK UP MILK AND BRING IT TO THE DAIRY. PRIOR TO 1957, FARMERS WERE REQUIRED TO DELIVER MILK IN CANS TO THE DAIRY THEMSELVES. PURITY DAIRY HAD A SUBSTANTIAL FLEET OF RETAIL DELIVERY VEHICLES. IN ITS EARLY DAYS, HORSES WERE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE DELIVERY SYSTEM. AT ONE POINT, 17 HORSES WERE BEING USED FOR DELIVERY PURPOSES. IN 1959, PURITY DAIRY REPLACED ITS LAST THREE HORSES WITH DELIVERY TRUCKS. IN THE 1950S, PURITY DIARY BEGAN TO STREAMLINE PRODUCTION. BUTTER WAS PRODUCED IN MEDICINE HAT, WHILE THE LETHBRIDGE BRANCH PRODUCED ICE CREAM, NOVELTIES, BUTTER MILK, AND SOUR CREAM, IN ADDITION TO MILK AND COTTAGE CHEESE. THE EDMONTON PLANT SHARED MILK PRODUCTION WITH LETHBRIDGE, AND BECAME THE SOLE PRODUCER OF BLOW MOLD PLASTIC FOR PURITY DAIRY. BUSINESS BEGAN TO FALL IN THE 1960S, AND IN 1971 STAN AND ROMEO FABBI SOLD PURITY DAIRY TO CO-OP DAIRY, WHICH WAS SUBSEQUENTLY KNOWN AS PURITY CO-OP LTD. BEFORE THE SALE, PURITY DAIRY EMPLOYED ABOUT 200 FULL-TIME STAFF AND SUPPLIED MILK PRODUCTS TO THOUSANDS OF ALBERTANS DAILY. THE LETHBRIDGE PLANT EMPLOYED ABOUT 70 PEOPLE, AND MANUFACTURED ICE CREAM CONFECTIONS, COTTAGE CHEESE, BUTTER, YOGURT, BUTTERMILK, SOUR CREAM, AND FRUIT DRINKS. STAN’S WIFE, NETTI, SAID OF THE SALE, “WE LOST EVERYTHING…WE EXPANDED TOO FAST. I TOLD STAN ‘WHO CARES? I’VE GOT YOU AND WE STILL HAVE THREE MEALS A DAY.’” IN 1972, PURITY CO-OP LTD WAS BOUGHT OUT BY PALM DAIRY, WHICH WAS CLOSED DOWN FOLLOWING A DRAMATIC EXPLOSION IN 1978. IT REOPENED AT A DIFFERENT LOCATION ONE YEAR LATER. IN THE INTERIM, PRODUCTS WERE SHIPPED IN FROM THE CALGARY PLANT. STAN AND ROMEO FABBI DIED IN 1992 AND 1991, RESPECTIVELY. THIS INFORMATION WAS GATHERED IN 2008-09 FROM ANTOINETTE AND KEN FABBI, STAN’S WIFE AND SON, RESPECTIVELY, AND FROM THE LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARCHIVES. FOR MORE INFORMATION, SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR P20070013001. SEE PERMANENT FILE FOR P20160019000 FOR ADDITIONAL LETHBRIDGE HERALD CLIPPINGS, PRINT RESEARCH, AND PATENT DOCUMENTS.

Catalogue Number

P20160019000

Acquisition Date

2016-07

Collection

Museum

Less detail