Museum Collections

This milk carton was used by Muller Dairies, Inc., a New York City dairy located in upper Manhattan and Long Island through the 1940s. Muller Dairies, Inc. was one of several New York City dairies active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This type of folded paper milk carton with a hanging tab closure was patented in July 1937 by J. M. Hothersall for the American Can Company of New York City and New Jersey. Paper milk cartons were designed to “insure [the] maintenance of sanitation in a container prior to and following the filling of liquid.” Self-sealing cartons were believed to permit the most hygienic way to fill milk at dairies and prevent the types of germ contamination that frequently occurred during the bottling and sealing processes involved with glass bottles.