Subject Files
name: label: Collection Donor
content: Jeffers, Grace
label: Collection Creator
content: Formica Corporation.
setName: label: See more items in
content: Formica Collection
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2002
label: Date
content: 1955-1991
label: Date
content: 1945
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0565, Series 6
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The subject files are arranged alphabetically and consist of material documenting the production, installation, and use of Formica brand plastic laminate. This series is comprised of photographs but includes informational material such as brochures, catalogs, menus, and articles documenting the use of plastic laminate. Photographs with accompanying narrative captions explain the production process from the Kraft paper roll to the completed sheet of laminate. Other photographs document Formica's researchers and engineers conducting tests on the plastic laminate. The series also contains step-by-step photographs illustrating the home installation of Formica laminate on countertops in the 1960s.

The Subject Files document some of Formica's unique home interior products, including the COLORCORE "dinated" kitchen, Formica's model bath, and the vanitory. The vanitory, was a combination of a vanity and lavatory, heralded by Formica as the essential new bathroom fixture for women in the 1950s. This series contains photographs of a wide variety of vanitories, accompanied by Formica's Beauty Board walls. The subject files also include material about Stephen's House of Ideas. This thirteen room house, built in 1967, was conceived as the ultimate showroom for a wide variety of Formica's decorative building products.

The subject files document the many uses of Formica outside the home, including hospitals, airports, boats, restaurants, and snack bars. For example, material on boats consists of two product catalogs,  Formica: Material in Ships  and The Formica Scene on the Queen Elizabeth 2 . These catalogs depict the interiors of Rowan & Boden Limited cruise boats in 1965. In addition, material includes an article entitled "Formica is a Way of Life for Californians," describing Miss Formica , a custom design ski racing boat.

The series also contains information on artists and jewelry designers, who worked with Susan Lewin, Formica's creative director from 1986-1992. These files contain slides, photographs, and catalogs displaying the designer's jewelry.