Notepad
Object number2017.94.14
Manufacturer
Robert Hensel Company
Date1930-1957
OriginPittsburgh, PA
MediumPaper; Metal; Ink
Credit LineGift of Robert Thomas
DescriptionNotepad contained within a matchbook-style cover. Paperboard cover is off-white. Each side has black, red, and white beer advertisements; front includes Fort Pitt Beer bottle and back includes Old Shay Beer bottle flanked by beer glass and ashtray with lit cigarette and match holder. Interior contains pad of light brown (discolored) paper perforated along bottom edge; pad is mounted in cover with one staple at bottom center.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 3.125 × 2.375 × 0.375 in. (7.9 × 6 × 1 cm)InscriptionsFront cover has black and white text at right "FORT PITT / The Better Beer! / Something / Special" and black and red text on beer bottle "Fort Pitt / Special / BEER".
Back cover has black and red printed text "FOR / PARTICULAR / PEOPLE / Old Shay / DeLuxe BEER" and beer bottle has black and white text "Old Shay / BEER / De Luxe / Old Shay / BEER".
Top edge has black printed text "Products of: FORT PITT BREWING COMPANY / Pittsburgh, Pa."
MarksBlack printed text along bottom edge "Patent Pending Robert Hensel Co., Pittsburgh, Pa."
Historical NotesFort Pitt Brewing Company notepad. Part of a collection of Fort Pitt Brewing Company artifacts that was collected by donor Robert Thomas to document the time his family ran the company (1930s through the 1950s). The donor’s great uncle, Michael Berardino, became president of Fort Pitt Brewing Company two years after one of the original owners and founder, Samuel Grenet, died suddenly in 1935. Grenet had started the business in 1906 with Herman Hechelman. They built a brewery in the suburb of Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, survived Prohibition and were set to be the number one brewery in the state when Grenet passed. Berardino began an aggressive sales campaign to turn the company around after lagging sales the year before. The company also bought the Victor Brewing Company of Jeannette, Pennsylvania, but continued to produce their signature Old Shay beer. In the early 1950s due to local strikes and an increase in national brand popularity, Fort Pitt struggled. After Berardino died in 1957, the company stopped brewing at the Sharpsburg plant and expanded into other products and became the newly incorporated Fort Pitt Industries. The rights to the brand were sold to Gunther Brewing of Baltimore. In 2010, the Fort Pitt name was purchased by Mark Dudash who began producing Fort Pitt Ale.
Related institution
Fort Pitt Brewing Company
(1906 - 1957)
Related person
Michael Berardino
(died 1957)
Collector
Robert M. Thomas
On View
Not on view
1969
1930-1957
The Victor Brewing Company
Superior Match Company
