The Shredded Wheat Story Caused me to meet an Interesting Pirson (1928)

Who was Elmer Pirson? I wish I knew. In an old box of papers I came across a neat piece of paper obscured by a sticker. I left it for a while but when making a keep/toss pile I saw it again. 

I had never thought of steaming old paper. It has to the quickest way to its destruction. Thinking that it was going to be tossed what difference would it make if I failed? I thought the illustration was incredibly vibrant for its age.

The interior was intact and seeing the recipes like this one…I couldn’t resist.

The steaming experiment was a success, although I regret not offering a "before" image. You can see from the fading and the white marks where it was doing the worst damage. 

Now has become one of my favorites, mainly for the illustrator. Elmer Pirson was born in 1888, just about 5 years after Shredded Wheat was invented.  Henry Perky was only trying to invent a machine to make a cereal biscuit and sell the invention. The baked wheat biscuit trued out to be popular and he began expanding it’s production. Moving first to Worcester MA and then to Niagara Falls, NY he also began making Tricots in 1902. The company When from being called the Cereal Machine company to the Shredded Wheat company.

What makes my find so interesting is that it is the last year that The Shredded Wheat Company existed before being sold to The National Biscuit Co. in 1928. 

For more on the Shredded Wheat story, visit Topher's site here.