Celebrity Apprentice: HISTORY OF CRAYOLA

DID YOU KNOW... That Crayola Crayons have been around for almost 100 years now? They were introduced in 1903 and by 1905 their product line had reached 30 colours. In 1958 the number of colours increased to 64, and that was the first year that a colour was actually renamed. Prussian Blue was renamed Midnight Blue.

Crayola Crayons were invented by the Binney & Smith in 1885. It was founded in New York City, but the headquarters are now in Easton, Pennsylvania. They manufacture their crayons in Pennsylvania as well as Mexico City. Hallmark Cards is now the parent Company to Crayola, which also holds the Silly Putty division.

Edwin Binney and C. Harold Smith were cousins in New York in the 1880's. They started their company as a producer of colorants for industrial use, including red iron oxide pigments used in barn paint and carbon black chemicals used for making tires black.

Their new process of creating inexpensive black colorants was entered into the chemistry competition of at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Also in 1900, the company added production of slate school pencils to their line. Binney liked to experiment with industrial materials including slate, cement, and talc which ultimately led to the invention of white chalk, and that invention won them a gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.

In 1902, Binney & SMith introduced the Staonal marking crayon. Then Binney developed his own product line of wax crayons in 1903, selling it under the name CRAYOLA. That name was chosen by Binney's wife Alice, who happened to be a former school teacher. The name comes from craie - French for 'chalk' - and ola, for 'oleaginous' or 'oily'.

Soon, by 1905 Crayola had five different-sized crayons, and offered crayon boxes containing 6 to 30 different colors. Some of these boxes were targeted to artists and had no wrappers on them, while others had wrappers with the color's names printed on them. They called their artist line the RUBENS Crayola, and it started production in 1903 to compete with the Raphael brand of crayons from Europe.

A 1906 ADVERTISEMENT SHOWING THE RUBENS CRAYOLA NO.500 BOX

RUBENS CRAYOLA NO. 500 CRAYON BOX, CIRCA 1904-1914

INSIDE THE RUBENS CRAYOLA NO.500 BOX

When Binney & Smith won the gold medal at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, this was an important thing for companies at that time. Two companies that won gold medals at that Worlds Fair in 1904 still use it on their packaging today: Crayola and Jack Daniel's Whiskey. Crayola's gold medal appeared on their crayon packaging for the next 50+ years.

PROGRESSION FROM THE ORIGINAL 6 COLOR RUBENS CRAYOLA BOX TO ITS REPLACEMENT, THE CRAYOLA NO. 6 BOX - WITH THE GOLD MEDAL

THE FIRST TWO GOLD MEDAL LINE OF 8 COUNT BOXES

THE CRAYOLA NO. 52 BOX (1939-1944)

THE FIRST VERSION OF THE CRAYOLA NO. 48 BOX - NOTICE RUBENS AND THE GOLD MEDAL ON THE FACE OF THE BOX

Every decade Crayola gained more colours and made more changes, but in 1958 they made a big expansion by introducing the 64-color pack with the built-in sharpener. This is the year that they started changing colors names, such as the Prussian Blue mentioned earlier, but later the color Flesh was renamed Peach in 1962 in response to our Civil Rights Movement; Indian Red was renamed Chestnut in 1999 so as to not offend our Native Americans (although the company has stated that the name Indian Red originally referred to a reddish-brown pigment from India that is used in artist's oil paints).

THE FIRST VERSION OF THE CRAYOLA NO. 64 BOX, WITH THE GOLD MEDAL ON THE TOP

THE CURRENT VERSION (2009) OF THE NO. 64 BOX WITH BUILT IN SHARPENER

In 1977, Binney & Smith acquired the rights to Silly Putty. And in 1978 Crayola introduced their first line of markers, to coincide purposefully with their 75th Anniversary.

In 1987 Colored pencils and a line of washable markers were added. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History maintains a collection of Crayola crayons, from the original box to more than 300 different boxes of crayons.

AND IF YOU'RE STILL WITH ME ON THIS HISTORY LESSON....

Here's a quick guide of the progression of colors in the Crayola Company:

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TWELVE OF CRAYOLA'S 133 STANDARD CRAYON COLORS

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IN 1990 CRAYOLA RELEASED THE SILVER SWIRLS SET, A PACK OF 24 SILVERY COLORS. SHOWN ARE 16 OF THE 24 COLORS.

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1N 1994 CRAYOLA PRODUCED A 16-PACK OF CRAYONS THAT RELEASED FRAGRANCES WHEN USED. IN 1995 THEY CHANGED 13 OF THE 16 SCENTS BECAUSE OF COMPLAINTS BY PARENTS THAT SOME SMELLED GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT. THE 13 FOOD SCENTS WERE RETIRED IN FAVOR OF NON-FOOD SCENTS. SOME OF THE NON-FOOD SCENTS INCLUDE: New Car, Smoke, Soap, Shampoo, Bubble Gum, Fresh Air and Leather Jacket.

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IN 1994 CRAYOLA RELEASED THE GEM TONES, A PACK OF 16 CRAYONS MODELED AFTER PRECIOUS STONES. NOW WE'RE TALKIN! COLORS INCLUDED: Citrine, Jade, Moonstone, Tiger's Eye, Malachite & Jasper.

IN 2001 CRAYOLA PRODUCED THE METALLIC FX CRAYONS, A BOX OF 16 CRAYONS WHOSE NAMES WERE CHOSEN THROUGH A CONTEST FOR UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS. THEY ARE STILL AVAILABLE TODAY. NAMES INCLUDE: B'dazzled Blue, Bittersweet Shimmer, Cyber Grape, Deep Space Sparkle, Metallic Seaweed, and Razzmic Berry.

Also, what is cool is that they now offer Hex Codes and RGB codes for all you graphic artists and computer programmers. If you see a crayon color you like, such as Deep Space Sparkle, you can look up the formulas and reproduce it in print or web: