Why does Johnson & Johnson have an in-house historian for 35 years?

Johnson & Johnson employees, (Courtesy of The Wolfsonian–FIU, Miami Beach, FL)

It all started in 1984 when Margaret Gurowitz, a senior studying the history of medicine in the 19th century and planning to write a paper on medieval history, was chosen by Johnson & Johnson as the best student in her department. Johnson & Johnson is one of the world’s largest healthcare corporations, producing hundreds of hygiene products and medications, including the well-known Johnson’s Baby shampoo, as well as Carefree, Listerine, and Doctor Mom.

One unique feature of the company is that only nine CEOs have served in its 135 years of existence. The company needed a historian to research the biography of one of its former CEOs who served from 1932 to 1963, which is how Margaret’s career at Johnson & Johnson began.

Margaret Gurowitz in the Johnson & Johnson company archives

Margaret currently holds the position of Chief Historian, and her job responsibilities include the following:

1. Maintaining a database of all photographic and textual references to the company since its founding in 1886.
2. Communicating this history to the company’s 130,000 employees worldwide.
3. Managing the company’s online museum, which she founded along with the company blog in 2006.
4. Conducting tours of the company’s offline museum at its headquarters, she preserves artifacts such as the company’s first prototypes or letters from the founders to employees.
5. Gathering interesting facts from former employees and their relatives, such as the story of one employee who started working at J&J during the Great Depression. Despite the financial difficulties of the time, the company took care of its employees’ health, and on his first day of work, the employee had a tooth treated.

Perhaps due to Johnson & Johnson’s focus on history, the company’s logo has not changed since 1887. The logo was created in the company’s first year of existence and has remained unchanged for over 130 years.

Image Courtesy- Johnson & Johnson Archives

P.S. The advertisement above is from Johnson & Johnson in 1917 and was published in Cosmopolitan magazine, which not only existed at the time but was also founded in the same year as Johnson & Johnson!