{"product_id":"antique-maryland-chief-peas-label-baltimore-md","title":"Antique 1930s-40s 🥫 Maryland Chief Peas Label NOS J. Langrall \u0026 Bro Baltimore","description":"\u003ch2\u003eHow Does This Label Date Itself? 🥫 Antique 1930s-40s Maryland Chief Peas Label, J. Langrall \u0026amp; Bro., Baltimore, NOS\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSize:\u003c\/strong\u003e 11\" x 4 1\/2\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"max-width:315px;margin:0 auto 20px;\"\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:177.78%;height:0;overflow:hidden;\"\u003e\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7fCyHplbvHI\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer;autoplay;clipboard-write;encrypted-media;gyroscope;picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e🥫 \u003cstrong\u003eThis label dates itself, and almost nobody notices.\u003c\/strong\u003e Beside the chief's shoulder it prints \u003cstrong\u003eTRADE MARK REG. 1878\u003c\/strong\u003e. Down in the directions panel it prints \u003cstrong\u003eQUALITY CANNERS FOR OVER 60 YEARS\u003c\/strong\u003e. Put the two together and the sheet is telling you it came off the press \u003cstrong\u003eafter 1938\u003c\/strong\u003e — and the printer's name in the corner says \u003cstrong\u003ebefore 1954\u003c\/strong\u003e, so this is a late-1930s or 1940s sheet — an original, unused \u003cstrong\u003eMaryland Chief Brand Extra Sifted Early Peas\u003c\/strong\u003e can label from \u003cstrong\u003eJ. Langrall \u0026amp; Bro. Inc. of Baltimore, Maryland\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🧷 Details\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApprox. \u003cstrong\u003e11\" x 4 1\/2\"\u003c\/strong\u003e ~\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNOS (New Old Stock)\u003c\/strong\u003e — original cannery stock, never pasted to a can, not a modern reprint\u003cbr\u003e\nLithographed color: midnight blue ground, gold and cream lettering, a mound of bright green peas\u003cbr\u003e\nPrinter's imprint at the lower right corner: \u003cstrong\u003eSimpson \u0026amp; Doeller, Baltimore\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🌽 What is printed on it\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe wrap carries the chief in a red feathered headdress twice, once at each end, and a full serving panel between them: \u003cem\u003eREADY TO SERVE — HEAT ONLY\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSize of Can No. 2\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eSieve No. 2\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eNet Contents 1 lb. 4 oz.\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eCups Approx. 2½\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eServings 4 to 5\u003c\/em\u003e. Then the packer's own promise: \u003cem\u003e“The Peas in this can are carefully packed from fresh young tender peas only a few hours from the field.”\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnderneath is a recipe — \u003cem\u003eto these Peas and liquor add small onion cut in tiny cubes, ¾ teaspoon salt, \u0026amp;frac18; teaspoon pepper and 1 teaspoon butter. Simmer over low heat. \u003cstrong\u003eBe sure the Peas never boil.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e “Liquor” here is the canner's word for the packing liquid in the tin, nothing stronger; the warning not to boil is because boiled canned peas go gray and split.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd at the bottom, the rest of the line, in the voice of a company that expected you to buy the whole shelf: \u003cem\u003eASK YOUR GROCER FOR “MARYLAND CHIEF” SPINACH · TOMATOES · RED KIDNEY BEANS · STRINGLESS BEANS · HOMINY · CARROTS \u0026amp; PEAS · CARROTS · BEETS. YOU WILL LIKE THEM.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🫛 “Extra Sifted” and “Sieve No. 2” — what the grocer’s wife actually read\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCanned peas are graded by the size of the circular opening they will pass through without being forced: sieve 1 is the tiniest, sieve 6 the largest and mealiest. \u003cstrong\u003eSifted\u003c\/strong\u003e means the sizes have been separated out; \u003cstrong\u003eExtra Sifted\u003c\/strong\u003e means a tightly sorted, small, sweet pack. \u003cstrong\u003eEarly\u003c\/strong\u003e (or \u003cem\u003eEarly June\u003c\/em\u003e) is the smooth-skinned Alaska-type pea, the first of the season. So \u003cem\u003eExtra Sifted Early Peas, Sieve No. 2\u003c\/em\u003e is not marketing language — it is a precise spec, and in 1930s grocery shopping it was the difference between a good tin and a cheap one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🏭 J. Langrall \u0026amp; Bro., and Baltimore’s cannery row\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo brothers, \u003cstrong\u003eJames and Leander Langrall\u003c\/strong\u003e, started packing oysters in Baltimore in \u003cstrong\u003e1878\u003c\/strong\u003e — the same 1878 the chief carries on his shoulder. They spent their first season at 103 Boston Street, then settled on \u003cstrong\u003eAliceanna Street\u003c\/strong\u003e on the Fells Point waterfront, where Polk's 1887 directory lists “Langrall J \u0026amp; Bro (J and L Langrall), oyster packers” with their own wharf, and where the firm stayed into the 1970s. They ran canneries over on the Eastern Shore too, around Centreville; James died on the Chester River near them in August 1906, and the next year the old firm incorporated, with Leander as president. That is the “Inc.” on this label.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMaryland Chief went on Baltimore oysters as early as 1882, then on pears, tomatoes, peas and the whole list at the bottom of this wrap. Leander, who had been in canning since 1878, died in August 1937 — so he never saw a label that could truthfully say \u003cem\u003eover 60 years\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBaltimore did not merely participate in canning; it invented much of it. \u003cstrong\u003eThomas Kensett\u003c\/strong\u003e, who had patented tin cans in New York, moved his oyster canning to Baltimore in \u003cstrong\u003e1849\u003c\/strong\u003e. By \u003cstrong\u003e1870\u003c\/strong\u003e the city held more than a hundred packing houses, and by \u003cstrong\u003e1880\u003c\/strong\u003e it was the canning center of the United States. \u003cstrong\u003eA. K. Shriver\u003c\/strong\u003e, working in a Baltimore oyster and produce plant, invented the \u003cstrong\u003esteam retort\u003c\/strong\u003e in \u003cstrong\u003e1874\u003c\/strong\u003e — the giant pressure cooker that made mass canning safe and fast, and which every cannery on earth still uses in some form. A humble peas label from Aliceanna Street sits directly downstream of that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🖨️ The printer in the corner\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe tiny imprint at the bottom right reads \u003cstrong\u003eSimpson \u0026amp; Doeller, Balto., Md.\u003c\/strong\u003e John Simpson started printing labels in Baltimore in 1886 and was in partnership with Henry Doeller by the late 1890s; from 1908 they worked out of a big plant on East Preston Street and advertised “Artistic Labels. Plain. Varnished. Embossed.” to canners for decades. In September 1954 the United States Printing \u0026amp; Lithograph Co. bought the business and closed the Preston Street presses, which is why a sheet carrying their own name predates 1954. Their work turns up in museum collections — The Henry Ford holds a Simpson \u0026amp; Doeller tomato label from the 1910s. Their old plant site is now on Maryland's environmental cleanup rolls; the company is gone, and the surviving evidence of what it could do is sheets exactly like this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🎨 Why the art is this good\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore television, the label WAS the advertising. A shopper met the brand for three seconds in a dim grocery, so canners paid lithographers for saturated color and portrait-grade artwork on a scrap of paper destined to be glued to a tin and burned. Most Maryland Chief labels went exactly that way. Unused sheets survive only because bundles of them were left in a cannery storeroom when a pack size or a design changed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e❓ Questions People Ask\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDoes the 1878 date mean the label is from 1878?\u003c\/strong\u003e No. 1878 is the year the Langralls started and the year the brand dates itself to — when a later owner registered the name in the 1970s, it gave the first use as September 1, 1878 — and it stayed on the label for the rest of the brand's life. The “over 60 years” line is what dates the sheet: after 1938, and before Simpson \u0026amp; Doeller sold out in 1954.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIs this a reprint?\u003c\/strong\u003e No — it is unused original cannery stock, printed on the soft, slightly absorbent label paper of the period, with the lithographer's imprint still in the corner.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat is the headdress portrait about?\u003c\/strong\u003e Native American figures were used as brand marks across American food packaging of this era; the chief is the Maryland Chief mark itself, dated to 1878 and carried on every product in the line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch2\u003e🕰️ Where the chief went\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe brand outlived the firm. In 1955 the company was offering a “Remindex” shopping-list disc for fifty cents and two Maryland Chief labels. In 1977 the State Department cabled the brand's owner, Charles G. Summers Jr., Inc. of New Freedom, Pennsylvania, about Taiwanese knock-offs of the Maryland Chief red kidney bean label turning up in Kuwait. The name later passed to Hanover Foods, which still listed Maryland Chief among its brands in 2003. A Baltimore oyster packer's chief, copied on the far side of the world a century on, is a pretty good run.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e🏡 Good for framing in a kitchen, pantry or dining room, Baltimore and Maryland history collections, food-packaging and lithography collections, and anyone who would rather own the artwork than a picture of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"relatedBlock\"\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e🔎 More From The Vintage \u0026amp; Antique Gifts Archive\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1930s-40s-maryland-chief-stringless-beans-label-langrall-baltimore\"\u003eAntique 1930s-40s 🥫 Maryland Chief Stringless Beans Label Large 13\" NOS Baltimore MD\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-1920s-squaw-gold-embossed-can-label-2-centerville-md-native-american\"\u003eAntique 1920s Squaw Brand Petit Pois Extra Small Peas Can Label ✨ Centerville Canning Co, Maryland\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/rare-vintage-1950s-land-o-lakes-label-baltimore-md-rip-icon-mia\"\u003eVintage 1950s Land O' Lakes Can Label 🧈 Rare, Baltimore MD, RIP Icon Mia!\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44561586585832,"sku":"VAG-8246642540776","price":6.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/2718\/4037\/files\/il_fullxfull.5046218349_iwul.jpg?v=1785439682","url":"https:\/\/vintageantiquesgifts.com\/products\/antique-maryland-chief-peas-label-baltimore-md","provider":"Vintage and Antique Gifts","version":"1.0","type":"link"}