Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Continental Group project : oral history, 1974-1975.Scope and ContentsThis project spans seventy years (1904-1974) of Continental Can Company (now The Continental Group, Inc.) history as told by 226 retired and active employees from all job and management categories. Semi-skilled factory workers and chief executive officers alike discuss corporate and industrial development in a variety of packaging fields embraced by Continental: metal cans, crowns and closures, glass and plastic containers, folding and corrugated cartons, fiber drums, grocery and multi-wall bags, paper cups and tubs, and flexible packaging. Manufacturing operations are described in detail, particularly in can plants and paper mills. Prominent themes are technological change through research and engineering, labor relations, mergers and acquisitions, corporate strategies and organization, international business, and government relations. Individual careers are followed, illustrating employee morale, the work ethic, opportunity and mobility in an industrial corporation, the role of personalities in management, the decision-making process, company loyalty, and corporate social responsibility. The wider context of American life is brought out in many of the interviews, and readers will find material on World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II among other social, economic, and political subjects.
Participants and transcript pagination: Alfred J. Abplanalp, 75; Claude M. Adams, 109; William M. Allin, 94; Charles Altier, 53; George M. Ambrose, 112; Joseph P. Arrigo, 89; Ed Askew, 87; John L. Badinelli, 94; Robert W. Baer, 89; Matthew V. Barbieri, 69; George H. Barker, 111; Gregory J. Barry, 67; Jess L. Belser, 68; Harold A. Bergstrom, 90; Bernard D. Bloser, 88; Louis G. Bohs, 94; Walter Elder Bond, 125; Lewis Bozell, 131; Thomas F. Brady, 76; Edward H. Broadwell, 95; John R. Brown, 73; Stephen L. Brown, 95; Frank W. Burns, 274; Allan Cameron, 70; William M. Cameron, 77; Leonard G. Cannella, 97; Lee A. Carey, 121; Albert H. Carle, 78; James V. Carlson, 114; Richard L. Carlton, 107; Clarence E. Carrel, 112; Howard B. Chadwick and Anthony J. Civitello, 188; Wayne T. Chiappe, 159; Mary F. Clair, 51; Lucius D. Clay, 92; Walter J. Coker, Jr., 118; Oscar E. Collins, 90; Patrick J. Coyne, 102; Walter C. Curtiss, Jr., 105; Mary T. Daly, 77; Neil C. Darrach, 70; George Davis, 130; John H. Dennis, 115; Oscar De Sylva, 120; Merton L. Dodge, 85; James I. Donahue, 45; George E. Dyke, 116; George Edmonds, 67; Charles E. Eggerss, 56; Peter E. Fagan, 86; John Fedosky, Jr., 109; Harvey H. Fell, 72; Alfred H. Fisher, 72; Raymond G. Fisher, 163; Sylvester L. Flugge, 83; Thomas C. Fogarty, 153; Robert C. Foss, 77; Andrew E. Fox, 60; Joseph Frain, 52;
Participants continued: Floyd E. Franklin, 94; Rose Frost, 78; E. Ewart Fry, 57; John E. Gallagher, 149; James M. Gibb, 100; Arleigh D. Gifford, 78; Bruce B. Gordon, 95; Arthur Graf and L. Virgil Jones, 111; Edwin H. Graves, 95; Jacob Greco, 79; Henry J. Hagan, 85; Hans A. Hanel, 77; Lowell K. Hanson, 99; James J. Harris, 87; Robert S. Hatfield, 103; Martin L. Haupt, 58; Charles B. Hayes, 114; Warren J. Hayford, 59; Ellison L. Hazard, 228; Robert D. Heaviside, 88; John M. Heinen, Jr., 93; John L. Heinlein, 127; Robert L. Heitman, 141; John Henchert, 95; Louis F. Henneke, 123; Raymond L. Hicks, 85; M.A. Higdon, 99; Paul E. Hile, 72; Fred S. Hinkle, 109; Muriel B. Hodgson, 9; Frederick J. Hoffman, 77; Edward J. Holder, 71; Fred W. Hoover, 83; Charles S. Huestis, 102; Fred E. Hummel, 54; T. Merritt Hunter, 77; Otto F. Hunziker, 134; Richard H. Ireland, 178; Oliver G. Jakob, 60; Frank E. Johnson, 113; Helmer R. Johnson, 107; Scott R. Johnson, 161; William H. Kaiser, 49; Mary H. Kalamar, 71; Louis F. Kalmar, 91; Roy G. Kennedy, 110; Thomas P. Keogh, 129; James F. Kinlock, 79; Joseph A. Kissinger, 84; Alfred W. Kitselman, 76; Walter E. Klint, 51; Genevieve Kuzma, 71; Warren A. Lacke, 77; Robert E. Lambert, 91; George K. Landon, 57; Jerrold E. Landon, 48; Wilson B. Larkin, 74; Burford LaTouche, 77; Robert A. Lehman, 139; Leroy W. Leiter, 73; Howard G. Lewis, 110; William J. Lobrovich, 86; Edward J. Lynn, 69.
Participants continued: Edward H. Marshall, 113; Vido Matich, 84; Orren R. McJunkins, 69; Thomas McLaughlin, 107; Leighton McLendon, 90; Robert M. McPherson, 82; Ralph M. Mero, 83, (permission required); Robert B. Mesrobian, 72; Robert C. Meyers, 75; Kenneth G. Michel, 92; James P. Morgan, 172; John W. Morris, Sr., 112; Hans Herbert Munte, 102; Walter Murray, 72; George H. Muth, 144; William I. Myers, 70; Charles A. Nash, 119; Wilbur K. Neuman, 90; Charles J. O'Connor, 95; Eugene J. O'Connor, 103; Gene P. Oehlberg, 96; Vera R. Oehlberg, 89; Iver J. Olsen, 93; James H. O'Neil, 62; Seymour Oppenheimer, 107; Robert A. Penk, 133; Reuben Perin, 185; Louis G. Petree, 108; Lewis B. Pitts, 59; C. Roger Pollock, 72; Robert D. Post, 79; George E. Prokupek, 79; William H. Puschel, 110; Arl S. Rapp, 87; Jerome R. Roberts, 99; Morris O. Roberts, 84; Frank A. Rockwell, 66; John L. Rowe, 104; Herbert S. Ruekberg, 83; Howard P. Ryan, 141; Edgar L. Sauters, 112; Earl C. Savage, 31; Jerome J. Schneewind, 93; Edward A. Schrader, 24; Harry A. Scott, 97; Edward W. Seibert, 108; Evelyn Norton Seiler, 47; Jack Selbiger, 115; Joseph J. Sennello, 83; Richard G. Shaughnessy, 111; Fred B. Shaw, 89; Anne Siroky, 89; A. Gerald Skibbe, 97; S. Bruce Smart, 115; Isaac L. Smith, 123; Jimmie H. Smith, 107.
Participants continued: Wyatt Speight, 109; Leslie T. Stansbury, 87; Charles B. Stauffacher, 127; Sidney R. Steele, 57; Alois Steiner, 78; Arthur E. Stevenson, 82; James A. Stewart, 83; Woodrow Stillwagon, 100; Donald W. Stitt, 145; Clarence L. Stone, 107; Dean Stout, 35; Robert V. Swartz, 54; Harry Swideck, 80; John C. Swift, 85; Frederick A. Tennant, 134; Bernard ter Haar, 97; Mary Ellen Tewksbury, 82; Roque Torrea, 112; Lester Tripp, 111; Bon H. Trullinger, 60; Allan Trumbull, 71; Robert E. Tucker, 87; Frances A. Tyler, 79; Clark A. Valentiner, 203; Charles E. Valiant, 63; Camiel F. Vanderbush, 104; Aubrey W. Vaughn, Jr., 91; Allen P. Vining, 164; Charles E. Wallace, 66; Everett A. Weathers, 96; Richard D. Weinland, 159; Archie L. Wenrich, 73; Colin L. Westerbeck, 100; William Wheelis, 96; Philip O'Connell White, 66; Robert P. White, 69; Ralph L. Whittal, 80; Lawrence Wilkinson, 141; David and Patricia Wilson, 112; Roger V. Wilson, 112; James Wirsta, 62; Peter Wojtul, 149; Alphonse Wunsch, 100; Armand R. Zazueta, 85; Donald H. Zipper, 87.
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