Tupper, Earl Silas

(1907-1983)
Tupperware

Overview

The story of Earl Tupper is an American ingenuity story, in which a young man with a basic high school education, an inventive genius, and a commercial eye was able to transform an ugly hunk of oil refinery waste known as "slag" into a form of plastic that could be made cheaply into many useful things. Tupper's new plastic and his methods of forming the plastic changed the shape and design of household objects, as well as commercial objects in the last half of the twentieth century. His marketing technique of hosting product demonstration parties in the home became extremely successful and has been imitated by other companies selling such items as underwear, home decorations, gardening supplies, and cooking utensils. Earl Tupper's Tupperware is one of the most recognized names in home furnishings in the world.

Personal Life

Earl Tupper was born on July 28, 1907, in Berlin, New Hampshire, and was the only child of Ernest and Lulu Tupper. His father, Ernest Leslie Tupper, ran a family farm and greenhouses. His mother, Lulu Clark Tupper, took in laundry to wash for neighbors and ran a boarding home. Earl's father was a person who loved to build and tinker, and created several labor-saving gadgets. He was granted a patent for a device to facilitate the cleaning of chickens. Perhaps Earl Tupper developed his talent for inventing things by watching his father.

Earl was energetic as a youngster, interested in business, and in making money. He discovered hecould sell a lot of the family's farm produce if he went door-to-door rather than selling it at the farmer's market. By age 10, Earl learned that bringing the product to the customer was lucrative as well as enjoyable. He would use this method years later in the form of the Tupperware party.

Earl graduated from high school in New Hampshire in …

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