Information on Aunt Jemima Cookie Jars

The Origin of Aunt Jemima

• Aunt Jemima pancake mix has been around for over 100 years. Introduced to a market hungry for a commercially available mix in 1889 by the Pearl Milling Company, the company's owners culled the name Aunt Jemima from a vaudeville song, long before intellectual property laws would have prevented them from "borrowing" the name. After the brand was sold to the R.T. David Mill and Manufacturing Company in 1890, the new owners paid a former slave named Nancy Green to become the symbol of the Aunt Jemima pancake line. The company changed its name to the Aunt Jemima Mills Company in 1914 as the brand grew in popularity.

Quaker Oats Buys the Aunt Jemima Brand

• When Quaker Oats acquired the Aunt Jemima Mills Company in 1926, the Nancy Green/Aunt Jemima character was part of the deal. Quaker sold its Aunt Jemima syrup in plastic containers shaped like the iconic "Mammy," and brand recognition grew. Meanwhile, the McCoy Company of Roseville, Ohio began producing all types of "Mammy" cookie jars in the 1940s, and they soon became popular collectibles. When Quaker Oats commissioned Fiedler and Fiedler Mold and Dieworks to manufacture hard plastic "Mammy" cookie jars, syrup and creamer pitchers, salt and pepper shakers and sugar bowls in the 1950s, the end result was Nancy Green's head atop classic "Mammy" bodies.

Collectors Acquire Aunt Jemima Cookie Jars

• Homemakers in the 1950s loved accessorizing their kitchens; so when Quaker Oats introduced its first line of Aunt Jemima premiums, the cookie jars went fast. The lightweight plastic containers rewarded families for brand loyalty: Homemakers clipped and collected "proof of purchase" labels from Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup packaging, then sent them off with postage to the Quaker Oats Company. Before long, Aunt Jemima cookie jars began arriving on doorsteps. Collecting all sorts of Aunt Jemima kitchen accessories became very trendy, and the brand's sales skyrocketed.

Aunt Jemima Cookie Jars Remain Valuable

• Since Quaker Oats trademarked the Aunt Jemima image and body shape, nobody could replicate the dark brown or black skin tones, signature red dress and bandanna, but that doesn't mean counterfeiters haven't tried. Plastic and ceramic cookie jars imitating the pancake icon abounded, and only experts could differentiate them. Even genuine jars deteriorated over time so it became harder to tell them apart. Aunt Jemima cookie jars can be found within the permanent collections of prestigious museums, they regularly show up at auctions, commanding bids in the hundreds, and celebrities, including Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg, include these iconic products in their personal collections.