This sub-series consists of foreign trademark registration certificates, renewals, correspondence, translations and clippings for trademarks granted to Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and its foreign affiliates, particularly Standard-Vacuum Oil Company. All registrations contain brief descriptions of the petroleum products or logos being registered. Trademark registrations for Esso products cover regions in Europe, Asia, and India. Some of the trademark certification for Exxon products issued in Vietnam (1956-1974) document the change of the company’s name from Standard-Vacuum Oil Company to Esso Standard Eastern Oil Company and finally to Exxon Corporation.

This sub-series includes brochures, pamphlets and other publications, news clippings, press releases, financial information, speeches and corporate policies documenting Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) and Exxon Corporation’s corporate-level activities and functions, the efforts of the public affairs department to respond to issues affecting the company and the industry, and the charitable work of the Exxon Education Foundation.

Publications and other materials originally intended for and distributed to shareholders and the general public comprise a large part of this material, including annual meeting proceedings and quarterly newsletters conveying the financial health of the corporation. [Annual Reports for Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) and Exxon can be found in the collection’s Exxon Publications series.]

The Public Affairs material highlights most aspects of the corporation’s business and documents a wealth of corporate changes spanning several decades. The department produced countless publications for public consumption on topics as varied as corporate-government relations, offshore drilling and environmental policy. Speeches by a succession of corporate executives present a reliable source of corporate thought and policy. Of particular note are the publications comprising the Exxon Background Series, which addressed issues impacting Exxon through out the 1970s and early 1980s, such as environmental concerns, Middle East Oil and the company’s social responsibility.

The Exxon Education Foundation material documents its mission to fund institutions of higher learning, particularly in science education and research. Dimensions, the Foundation’s annual report, provides an overview of the Foundation’s activities as well as Exxon’s contributions to a variety of projects, including sponsorship of museum exhibitions, performing arts programs and television.

This material documents Exxon’s efforts to implement environmentally sound practices in its operations and its position on such issues as global warming. The bulk of the material consists of records, news clippings and other documents dating to the 1930s compiled to illustrate the environmental record of Exxon and its predecessors.

This sub-series includes safety manuals and memoranda from the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and Humble Oil & Refining Company. Interesting items include three Standard Oil Company of New Jersey fire and marine manuals, two Humble Oil safety manuals and R. S. Bonsib’s Medico-Safety Memoranda, which contains glossaries of medical terms, reports on chemical compounds and their dangers, and prevention measures for various work related accidents.

This sub-series contains graphics standards and manuals relating to Esso and the Exxon Corporation. Of particular interest are the Esso and Humble identification guides as well as the Exxon Chemical Graphic Standards Manual, which includes written guides as well as diskettes for computer use.

This sub-series contains five yearbooks (1958-1970) from the Petroleum Club of Houston, established in 1946 as a club of and for men of the oil industry. Humble Oil executives and officers were among its members. The yearbooks provide information on club history, officers, Board of Directors, committees, by-laws, house rules and its members, including photographs.

This sub-series contains road maps and travel kits from the Exxon Corporation and its predecessors and subsidiaries. The sub-series includes maps from countries around the world such as Australia, Chile, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the United States. Of particular interest is a 1952 trip guide from the Esso Touring Service containing maps prepared especially for a customer’s trip.

This sub-series consists of print advertisements, press releases, clippings, correspondence, and contest material for Standard Oil Company of New Jersey and its affiliated and descendant companies.

Advertisements for insecticides and laxatives (1916-1950) illustrate petroleum products, besides oil and gasoline, which the company marketed. Esso Research ads also feature assorted petroleum and chemical products such as nylon, plastic and wax.

Of note are the 1960 campaigns announcing the change of the Carter and Pate brands to Enco (short for “Energy Company”). Because other “Standard Oils” operated around the country – California, Indiana, Ohio, for example – Standard Oil (New Jersey) marketed its oil and gas products using different brand names in different regions, which the bulk of the ads reflect. In 1960, the Standard Oil affiliate Humble Oil & Refining Company absorbed Esso Standard, which was Standard Oil (New Jersey)’s domestic operating company, and the affiliates Carter, Oklahoma and Pate. From that point on, Humble, the company, marketed its products using the brand names Humble in Texas and Ohio, Esso (the phonetic spelling of the abbreviation “S.O.”) on the east coast, and Enco in 19 other states. As such, the Humble company name appeared in gasoline ads for both Humble (1960-1962) and Esso (1945-1965) throughout the 1960s.

Materials related to a 1962 contest promotion are included; winners could claim prizes at their local Esso service stations.

This sub-series contains material documenting Exxon Research and Engineering (ER&E) and its predecessors, Standard Oil Development Company, formed in 1919, and Esso Research & Engineering, formed in 1955, as well as other select research activities throughout the Exxon organization.

ER&E’s Public Affairs department created the bulk of this material [ca. 15 linear feet], with most files [boxes 2.207/G206 – G241] comprising research for an unpublished book, The Leading Edge, and including news clippings, book and journal articles, corporate publications, interviews, drafts of manuscripts and correspondence. Proposed in the late 1970s, The Leading Edge was to be a book for the “educated layman” that detailed the history of science and technology at Exxon, and, more importantly, that aimed to “set the record straight” regarding the corporation’s involvement with German chemical conglomerate, IG Farben, prior to World War II. [IG Farben was implicated in the manufacture of chemicals and technologies used in Nazi death camps. As a result, Standard Oil (New Jersey) faced accusations of treason and Department of Justice investigations in the early 1940s.] Consequently, the materials present a wide-ranging view of the corporation’s research and development activities throughout the 20th century, most notably with respect to synthetic rubber and high-octane gasoline.

The Standard Oil Development Company material also includes documentation of the company’s relationship with IG Farben, their formation of the Joint American Study Company (JASCO), and the Department of Justice investigation [box 2.207/G244]. Other materials include correspondence, drafts and final versions of publications, and records relating to the company’s synthetic rubber patents.