Future Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson began his professional training as a pharmaceutical apprentice.
Drum Corps, 30th Pennsylvania Inf’y. United States, photographed between 1861 and 1865.
Library of Congress
1861
Sixteen-year-old Robert Wood Johnson first developed an interest in healthcare during the American Civil War.
A ward in hospital at convalescent camp near Alexandria, Va., photographed July, 1864.
Library of Congress
In total, the war claimed upwards of 720,000 American lives, the vast majority due to infection and disease. To limit the spread of infection, doctors performed limb amputations at record speed. They could be completed in under three minutes.
U-M Library Digital Collections. Harper’s Weekly.
These near-constant operations were performed by surgeons who didn’t wash their hands or clean their tools between patients. Infection was common and often fatal.
While his two older brothers fought in the Civil War, Johnson was too young to serve. So, his mother secured him an apprenticeship at her family’s pharmacy, Wood & Tittamer, in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Wood & Tittamer
This is a photo of the Wood & Tittamer pharmacy where Johnson first apprenticed. Owned by his mother’s cousin, the business was both a wholesale and retail drugstore.
Wood & Tittamer pharmacy, 19th century.
Johnson & Johnson Archives
The American pharmacy
The pharmacy trade went beyond distributing medicine; it included mixing products and recommending treatments. Many Americans viewed their local pharmacist as a trusted advisor and a first point of contact, even before a physician.
Pharmacy, circa 1860s
Johnson & Johnson Archives
There, he learned the business of mixing medicated plasters, which launched his career in the growing industry of medical products.
Probably no other branch of the pharmaceutical art has been the occasion of so much toil, anxiety, and failure and discouragement before any measure of success was met...Expressive expletives could not be restrained.
Robert Wood Johnson
On mixing ingredients for medicinal plasters, 1894
Johnson & Johnson Archives
What is a medicated plaster?
Medicated plasters were popular 19th-century products: they were adhesive patches that delivered medicine directly through the skin. Medicated plasters were used to treat a variety of ailments, including pain and inflammation.
Photographer unknown/Museum of the City of New York. X2010.11.625
1864
Following his apprenticeship, Johnson’s first stop was New York City, where he worked as a pharmaceutical wholesaler. This photograph of Lower Manhattan in the 1860s was taken only blocks from Johnson’s office within a few years of his move to New York City.
1873
After working in the industry for several years, Johnson co-founded his own company with George Seabury in 1873. The New York-based Seabury & Johnson quickly became a respected business known for its medicated plasters.
1875
Seabury & Johnson rapidly expanded, and within a few short years, had become one of the most widely recognized medicated plaster brands in the world.
Employees at Seabury & Johnson, from our archives.
Explore the role of women workers
Women enter factories
Why were there so many women at Seabury & Johnson? A labor shortage during the Civil War opened the door for white, Northern women to enter the workforce. Thousands secured jobs in factories, producing weapons, uniforms, and supplies.
Filling cartridges at the US Arsenal at Watertown, MA, 1861.Library of Congress
Women become nurses
Some 3,200 women worked as nurses during the war, so it was a natural progression for them to enter the growing number of medical product factories after the conflict ended in 1865,
MOLLUS-Massachusetts collection of Civil War photographic prints, U.S Army Heritage and Education center, Carlisle, PA
Immigrants become workers
A major wave of immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe to New York City in the late 1800s also supplied the region’s factories with a ready, female workforce.
Women operating machinery at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, Washington, D.C.Library of Congress
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Chapter 2
1876
Turning point
Chapter 2
Turning point
Robert Wood Johnson’s first visit to the 1876 World’s Fair redefined the course of his career. Johnson was among the 10 millions people who visited the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and he was also drawn to the World’s Fair by its International Medical Congress, the largest gathering of doctors in American history to date.
1876
Johnson was among the 10 million people who visited the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. He was in part drawn to the World’s Fair by its International Medical Congress, the largest gathering of doctors in American history to date.
Johnson represented his company at the fair. It was there that he listened to Dr. Joseph Lister explain his radical, new procedure: antiseptic surgery.
What visitors saw
In a pre-internet age, world’s fairs were centers of learning and entertainment. Exhibition halls featuring live animals and people, as well as demonstrations of the latest technology and innovations that captured visitors’ imaginations.
What visitors saw
Exhibit at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, possibly an ironworks display.
Library of Congress
What visitors saw
Exhibition at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Library of Congress
What visitors saw
Pennsylvania — Philadelphia — Centennial Exposition 1876 — interior of machinery building from north gallery.
Library of Congress
What visitors saw
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, Main building - from southeast tower looking N.E.
Library of Congress
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1876
Johnson represented his company at the fair. It was there that he listened to Dr. Joseph Lister explain his radical, new procedure: antiseptic surgery.
Without strict antiseptic treatment, it is impossible to freely lay open a knee-joint, with the certainty that no danger will follow.
Sir Joseph Lister, from his remarks made on antiseptic surgery, International Medical Congress, Philadelphia, PA, 1876.
Surgery during the Civil War
Before surgery was more sterile, more than half of patients died from operations. So, Lister traveled the world to spread the idea that surgery could be made safer through antiseptic practices.
Doctor performing surgery to set a broken leg during the Civil War, 1863
Lister promoted new surgical tools and methods, including handwashing, sterilizing instruments, and covering wounds with antiseptic-soaked dressings.
1876
While many doctors in the audience were skeptical of Lister’s surgery, Johnson was convinced that it was the future of medicine.
Chapter 3
1886
Founding Johnson & Johnson
Chapter 3
Founding Johnson & Johnson
1886
So inspired by Lister’s antiseptic methods, Johnson parted ways with his business partner, Seabury, and started Johnson & Johnson with his two younger brothers, Edward Mead and James Wood in 1886. Their company manufactured the world’s first mass-produced, sterile surgical supplies.
The three brothers formed a formidable team.
We are all fortunate, in that we are engaged in manufacturing products to be used throughout the world for the relief of pain and suffering.
Robert Wood Johnson, 1908
Robert brought to the table his business acumen and product design expertise.
Edward’s strength lay in advertising.
Edward led early company ad campaigns (like this one for Wood’s Penetrating Plaster) offering creative direction.
James was a talented engineer who designed inventive machines.
Does This Signature Look Familiar?
It belongs to James Wood Johnson and his handwriting inspired the historical Johnson & Johnson script logo.
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1886
On a brisk January day in 1886, James found himself aboard a train passing through New Brunswick, New Jersey. He looked out his window and noticed a “for rent” sign on a nearby factory building.
That building became Johnson & Johnson’s first home. It opened its doors with just 14 employees: eight women and six men. Today, the company’s world headquarters remains in New Brunswick.
The Old Railroad Tracks: Johnson’s train stopped at the railroad depot several blocks from where this photograph was taken.
New Brunswick Free Public Library
A look inside early factories
Johnson & Johnson Archives
Women employees at Johnson & Johnson, 1890s
Johnson & Johnson early shipping department employees
Johnson & Johnson Archives
1886
Johnson & Johnson manufactured the world’s first sterile surgical products, including sutures, absorbent cotton, and gauze. Ready-made dressings decreased infection rates and saved lives.
Keeping products sterile
To manufacture sterile surgical products, Johnson & Johnson employees took many precautions to ensure both their environment and their hands were clean. Each product was then labeled with explicit directions on how to keep it germ-free.
Johnson & Johnson Archives
A new kind of cotton
Johnson & Johnson was a pioneer of sterile absorbent cotton, a groundbreaking product of its day. The cotton was packed in sheets that were easily wrapped around wounds to protect them from germs.
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Chapter 4
1888-1890
Towards modern medicine
Chapter 4
Towards modern medicine
1888
The Johnson brothers soon discovered that manufacturing sterile supplies was not enough—they needed to teach doctors how to use them. In 1888, the company published Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment, a how-to guide on antiseptic surgery.
Explore modern methods
Introducing Frederick Kilmer
This project was spearheaded by Frederick B. Kilmer, a respected New Brunswick pharmacist and public health pioneer, who, only a year later, joined Johnson & Johnson as its scientific director.
Fred Kilmer – a strong supporter of nursing and nurse training. Johnson & Johnson Archives
Spreading germ theory
Modern Methods taught doctors that invisible germs caused infection. The book persuaded with statistics and anecdotes, showing how post-op deaths plummeted when surgeries were performed using Lister’s methods.
Johnson & Johnson Archives
Sterile surgery in the kitchen
Though Lister’s theory had gained traction, many surgeries were still performed at home. Modern Methods included a section that instructed local physicians on how to transform a kitchen table into a sterile operating table. Common dishware, including a soup tureen, could be cleaned and sterilized and was suggested to hold equipment.
Johnson & Johnson Archives
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The Operating Table—The ordinary kitchen table will generally answer,” explained Modern Methods. “Bricks or wooden blocks should be placed under two legs of the table in order that the irrigating liquids may drain off toward the pail used for catching them.
Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment, Johnson & Johnson, 1888, pp. 4-5
1888
Itinerant salesmen traveled far and wide to distribute Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment across the U.S. Within a matter of months, they’d given out 85,000 copies to doctors and pharmacists.
Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment was hailed as a major contribution to the field. It also served as a sales guide for Johnson & Johnson’s early surgical products, which were listed among the back pages.
Johnson & Johnson made inexpensive, quality products. In 1888, most of their surgical supplies cost a fraction of a physician’s weekly earnings, allowing for further adoption of sterile surgical practices.
The guide helped spread germ theory and antiseptic surgical methods. Just 13 years earlier, in 1875, surgeons had operated in street clothes and worked with unclean hands.
Dispensing Modern Methods: Company salesmen traveled by rail and horseback up the coasts and along remote frontier outposts to distribute Modern Methods.
Johnson & Johnson Archives
Johnson & Johnson’s horse-drawn fleet: These early drivers delivered company products to customers and to port. From 1902 to 1936, the company also had its own fleet of steamboats to take its products to port.
Johnson & Johnson Archives
1989
By 1889, many surgeons had adopted Lister’s methods. Here, a team of surgeons in 1889 accompanied by a nurse wears white uniforms and uses sterilized tools.
Dr. Agnew, Sterile Surgeon
Dr. David Hayes Agnew was a pioneering American surgeon who championed Lister’s antiseptic methods. A veteran surgeon of the Civil War, Agnew was also a contributor to Johnson & Johnson’s Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment. He devoted the later years of his illustrious career to teaching sterile practices in the operating theater.
Modern Methods back pages with J&J products
Johnson & Johnson Archives
Portrait of Dr. Samuel D. Gross (The Gross Clinic), Thomas Eakins, 1875
Gift of the Alumni Association to Jefferson Medical College in 1878 and purchased by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2007.
Etching, Gebbie & Husson, after Thomas Eakins painting of Dr. Hayes Agnew, circa 1889.
1892
Johnson & Johnson helped make sterile surgery a reality. Since its founding in 1886, the company had by the 1890s revolutionized the field of medicine, manufacturing the world’s first mass-produced antiseptic medical supplies.
Kilmer founded the company’s Aseptic Department in the early 1890s. The department was a series of “clean rooms” where sterile surgical dressings and sutures were mass-produced in sterile conditions and sterilized using the first industrial-size machinery for the task, also of Kilmer’s design.
Johnson & Johnson Archives
Photograph of the Johnson & Johnson Gauze Mill finishing department, circa 1890s to 1900, showing electric lighting.
Johnson & Johnson Archives
1890
During the 1890s, the company continued to refine these supplies and reach new milestones in the field, continuing in the 20th century through product innovation and strategic acquisitions to become a world leader in healthcare.
