Quaker Oats History

Some of my part-time reading has been The History of the Quaker Oats Company by Harrison John Thornton. It's an out-of-print book that I borrowed from the library.


This book is rich in detail. The author's research was done for his doctoral dissertation and he was given access to many of the company's original archives and records. Since this book was published in 1933, he also had the opportunity to speak firsthand with many of the early players such as H. P. Crowell and John Stuart.

I'll probably write more after I've finished the book, but to give you an idea of the information inside, I'll list the Table of Contents here:

Chapter I - Oats in History
Chapter II - The Early Oatmeal Millers of America
Chapter III - Rivalry and Consolidation
Chapter IV - Oats and the Human Appetite
Chapter V - Changing the American Breakfast
Chapter VI - Oats and the Scientist
Chapter VII - The Milling Process
Chapter VIII - The Commerical Preparation of Animal Feeds
Chapter IX - The "Quaker" in Court
Chapter X - Building a World-Market
Chapter XI - A Century of Progress

The content has many facets that I find iteresting: it's about food history, early American agriculture, brand history, product marketing and advertising, and a bit of regional history thrown in as well.