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An Award You Can Take a Shine To

[by Justin Perrault #2104]

There is an interesting medal I recently came across which combines my interests of numismatics, architecture, and the history of the SC Johnson Wax Company. This medal is the Carnauba Palm Citation Award, representing the highest honor the company gave out to distinguished employees and other individuals. But first, a little bit of background on the SC Johnson Company.

The company as we know it today was officially founded in 1886 by Samuel Curtis (S.C.) Johnson, Sr. in Racine, Wisconsin when he purchased the parquet flooring business of the Racine Hardware Company and renamed it Johnson’s Prepared Paste Wax Company. Mr. Johnson initially sold parquet flooring to homes and businesses in conjunction with the wax needed to keep the floors looking fresh and clean. With every parquet floor that was installed, he presented the new owner with a complimentary sample of his wax paste. Of course the buyers of these new floors always came back for more once the sample was depleted, and this product was such a big hit and huge success Mr. Johnson soon realized that a business could be developed solely around the wax itself. Mr. Johnson therefore decided to focus upon expanding his business along the lines of floor wax and other similar cleaning products.

Over the succeeding generations of the Johnson family, the company has expanded to operations in over seventy countries throughout the world, employs nearly 13,000 people, and manufactures dozens upon dozens of household cleaning supplies. To this day their corporate offices still call Racine, Wisconsin home, occupying the facilities designed and built by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1939.

The Carnauba Palm Citation Award medal was designed for the Johnson Wax Company in the 1930’s by famed artist Rockwell Kent, and the award was established by the Management Committee of SC Johnson in 1949. The award was the highest honor the company bestowed and was presented to employees or people with close ties to SC Johnson who made an exceptionally meritorious contribution to the advancement of the company. Recipients often included scientists from the company’s Research and Development Division for their work on product development.

Specifically,the first two awards were presented to employees, one for the development of a new product and the other for a product promotion idea. Although representatives at the SC Johnson Company do not have records on exactly how many of the medals were produced, they estimate that not many more than thirty were awarded throughout the years. It is also interesting to note that this award was not given out annually, but only when there was a truly extraordinary achievement to be recognized. One very notable recipient of the award was actually Frank Lloyd Wright, since he went to great lengths to design the company offices and research tower that are still occupied by the SC Johnson Company.

Rockwell Kent, the designer of this medal, was a prolific artist and author at the turn of the twentieth century who was born in New York State but continued to travel and live in many places of natural beauty throughout his life. This is fitting considering that the inspiration for much of his work came from the austerity and stark beauty of the wilderness. Today he is most remembered for the very limited edition of Moby Dick that he illustrated for the Lakeside Press of Chicago. As a Jazz Age humorist known as “Hogarth, Jr.” he also published whimsical and irreverent drawings in the likes of Vanity Fair, Harper’s Weekly, and Life magazines. Several of these drawings were brought to life in a series of richly colored reverse paintings on glass completed in 1918 and displayed at Wanamaker’s Department Store. Fortunately, two of these glass paintings have been preserved and are presently on display in the collection of the Columbus Museum of Art.

In designing the Carnauba Palm Citation Award, Kent depicted a winged figure on the front, dispensing the palm fronds derived from the carnauba trees that Mr. Johnson owned and managed as part of his wax business. The winged figure is flying above a range of mountains that are most likely located in Brazil, where Mr. Johnson owned a large carnauba palm tree plantation.

On the back of the medal is depicted the carnauba palm tree in all of its majestic glory, aligned directly above the SC Johnson Research Tower and corporate office building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Not only is the company and its success firmly rooted in the strength of the carnauba palm tree, but it is also rooted in the strength of their research tower. Completed in 1950, this tower is one of the tallest structures ever built on the cantilever principle. Standing 153 feet tall and 13 feet in diameter, the tower also extends fifty-four feet into the ground. Symbolically, all fifteen floors of the Research Tower are supported by the “taproot” core, similar to how a carnauba palm tree would support its branches. This is evident in the design of the medal in how the base of the carnauba palm tree appears to continue through the tower and into the lower levels. As stated on the back of the medal, it was “Awarded by S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc. for Exceptionally Meritorious Achievement”. A name would have been engraved on the back amidst the text but this one was apparently never formally issued. Edge lettering reveals the medals were manufactured by Whitehead & Hoag Company of Newark, NJ. The large 76 millimeter medals are made of bronze and weigh 96.2 grams.

If you ever find yourself in the vicinity of Racine you can schedule a free tour of the Research Tower and their corporate offices; they are well worth the visit. The Carnauba Palm Citation Award medal is just a small part of the very interesting history that surrounds the SC Johnson Wax company.

Sources (as of 1/6/2016)

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._C._Johnson_%26_Son
  • http://scjohnson.com/en/company/architecture/Wright-Buildings/Wright-Buildings_Tower.aspx
  • http://www.scjohnson.com/en/company/what-we-do.aspx
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_Kent


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