Search Tips:

Do not enter the names or other information from the bottle, but search as you would use a phone book or directory to find information. You do not need to enter all of the parameters on this page to find a firm that has bottles. Entering in more information will narrow your search. Entering ‘Philadelphia’ in the city field will find over 1,400 names. Entering an ‘R’ in the firm name with ‘Philadelphia’ in the city field will find about 80 names.

Firm Names are recorded in the database as ‘Last Name’ then a ‘, ’ then ‘First Name.’ When looking for ‘Elias Durand,’ enter ‘Durand, Elias.’ Company names follow the same conventions. The ‘Charles E. Hires & Company’ can be found by entering ‘Hires, Charles E., & Company.’ Companies without a person’s name can be entered simply the name as it appears such as ‘Philadelphia Mineral Water Company.’

Partial names can also be entered. Entering ‘Rou’ in firm name will find all names that start with ‘Rou’ like ‘Roue,’ ‘Round Lake’ and ‘Roussel.’

Search Start of Name will only find firms whose names start with the entered name such as in the above example.

Search Any Part of Name will find firms that have the entered letters in any part of the name. Entering ‘Beer’ will find ‘Beerer, Hiram P.,’ ‘Bristol Ginger Beer Company’ and ‘Standard Birch Beer Company.’

City is the city the firm was located in. Partial names are not allowed. Spell names fully. ‘St. Louis’ should be entered ‘Saint Louis.’ Where cities names have changed, try the old and new names.

Area is a section of a town or city. Examples are ‘Brooklyn’ and ‘Queens’ in New York and ‘Manayunk’ and ‘Kensington’ in Philadelphia.

County is the county that the city or town resides in. Counties are only defined for locations in Canada and the United States.

Region is an area that encompasses various cities or counties. These can be loosely defined. Examples include the ‘Coal Region’ in Pennsylvania, 'South Jersey' in New Jersey, ‘Long Island’ and ‘Staten Island’ in New York and the ‘Upper Peninsula’ in Michigan.

State/Province is the state or province that the firm was located in.

Country is the country that the bottle is from.

In Business Date Range will find firms that were in business between the entered dates. Note that few of these dates are recorded in the database.