About this collection

Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks best known for its ginger ale. Canada Dry had its beginning in Toronto, Canada when John McLaughlin (1865-1914) opened a small carbonated water plant in 1890. He created Canada Dry Pale Dry Ginger Ale in 1904.

P.D. Saylor and Associates purchased the company from the McLaughlin family and formed Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc. in 1923. Much of its consumption during this time was due to its popularity as a mixer to mask the taste of home brew during Prohibition. The 1930s saw the introduction of other Canada Dry mixers and a period of worldwide expansion.

The Canada Dry beverages sales album (Accession 1995.248) is a 1938 marketing flip chart for Canada Dry distributors' sales agents. It contains images of Canada Dry products, bottling plants, the manufacturing process, advertising campaigns, and point of purchase "sales boosters", as well as merchants' testimonials and statistical marketing information for retailers.

Image: Canada Dry display, ca. 1938. Click here to view.