By John Antonowicz
Correspondent
Pepto-Bismol, Unguentine, NP-27, Amolin, Chloraseptic, and Norwich Aspirin are just some of the over 4000 products that were produced by The Norwich Pharmacal Company. With all these products produced by The Norwich Pharmacal Company, the company archives were vast, and showed the progressive history of the Pharmacal Company. Without the efforts of Shirley Edwards and Mildred Hazard, the Historical Society would not own all the original archives that once belonged to The Norwich Pharmacal Company.
Like most businesses, the company kept all of the original advertisements, artwork, products, and prescriptions in miscellaneous places within the factory. The company also kept many samples of the products they manufactured to use as a future resource.
In 1982, The Norwich Pharmacal Company became Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals. With Procter & Gamble taking over the company, representatives from the headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio went through the archives and sent a portion of the archives back to the headquarters. Even though Procter & Gamble took a large sample of the historical materials to Cincinnati, Norwich was still left with a great amount of materials that were unorganized and no one really knew what the archives contained.
In 1985, The Norwich Pharmacal Company celebrated their 100th anniversary with a museum opening in the Eaton Avenue portion on the company. The museum displayed a vast amount of photographs, paintings, products, and medical equipment that all were used or made by the Pharmacal Company in the past.
Shirley Edwards was born on Feb. 1, 1926 in Pharsalia and became a graduate of the Norwich High School class of 1942. Shirley joined the Pharmacal Company in the middle of the Second World War on Feb. 3, 1943. Although she planned on attending college, Shirley continued to work in the company until her retirement on June 30, 1993, a 50-year career with the company. Shirley worked in many positions throughout the company, including secretary, to the company president. She enjoyed her positions within the company and had a great impact on the company’s history.
Mildred “Millie” Hazard was born on June 2, 1930 in North Norwich and became a graduate of the Norwich High School Class of 1948. Millie joined The Norwich Pharmacal Company work force on Dec. 13, 1954 and continued working for the Pharmacal Company until May 13, 1994.
Since Shirley was so involved with The Norwich Pharmacal Company, she was influential with the company archives evolving into a museum in celebration of the company’s 100th anniversary. Shirley helped develop and create an exhibit that told the story of a once small manufacturer of pills to a company that saved countless lives around the globe. Shirley’s talents and efforts turned the Pharmacal museum into a first class exhibit on the first floor of the Eaton Center.
In 1996, Procter & Gamble offered The Norwich Pharmacal Company museum and the archives to the Chenango County Historical Society. The Historical Society accepted the donation and kept the museum open to the public with former Pharmacal employees serving as docents for visitors touring the museum.
With a vast amount of the archives unorganized and not catalogued, Shirley worked with Millie to organize the collection. Both Shirley and Millie worked tirelessly on behalf of The Norwich Pharmacal Company to sort the collection to clearly and properly preserve the company’s impact on the local community and the world.
Together, Shirley and Millie completed the task of cataloging the Pharmacal Company collection. Shirley and Millie also worked together to document the many employees’ recollections of working for the Pharmacal Company. With the information Shirley and Millie compiled, future generations will have a clear understanding on how the company affected the lives of millions.
In 2010, The Norwich Pharmacal Company museum moved to the Chenango County Historical Society’s headquarters on Rexford Street. Although Shirley and Millie were no longer living at the time of the new exhibit opening, the story of the Pharmacal Company lives on in the collection the two dedicated towards the archives. With an organized collection, the public can clearly see what the Pharmacal Company did for the world. Lacking Shirley and Millie, the Pharmacal archives may have gotten lost and possibly left the Norwich community. As we look back on the past 50 years, the society owes both Shirley and Millie a huge debt of gratitude.