Witte Museum — A 2019 Visit to the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Collection
On 15 October 2019 the project was able to photograph a special presentation of Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company material from the Witte Museum’s own collections in San Antonio — not a public gallery case for this session, but objects brought out on white foam in what reads as a collections / study environment (industrial shelving and wrapped material in soft focus behind the table). Everything in this post is institutional reference: it does not live in Our Collection. The nine frames are indexed in the Reference gallery alongside the rest of the project’s “documented but not owned” material.
The set spans H and H Blend (one-pound Medium Ground, Light Housekeepers half-pound, Family Size cylinder, three-pound rectangle, vacuum rounds, and a foil-wrapped brick in archival plastic), Texas Girl (one-pound paper bag and a wider table shot with tins), Border Premium Coffee (3 lb and 4 lb cup-and-saucer pails with wire bail handles), Sam Houston (four-pound pail with full Hoffmann-Hayman footer), a Western “Anita Brand” Peaberry Blend three-pound pail (cowgirl portrait, “Star of the Ranch”), and the bottom of a leaf-form premium ashtray — a coupon redemption piece customers could earn by mailing in H and H coupons — embossed EAT / SMOKE / DRINK / H & H / COFFEE, with Witte accession KS 193 on sticker and tag.
Below, the photographs follow a loose product-line order. Each image has a detailed alt and title in the Reference gallery grid.
H and H Blend — shelf line-up
Rectangular one-pound Medium Ground tin beside the Light Housekeepers Size half-pound H and H Blend tin; a large Family Size cylindrical tin behind; Texas Girl tin at the right; in the lower-left foreground, the bottom of the same leaf premium ashtray (coupon redemption) shown later in this post — Witte accession tag on the object.
H and H Blend — three-pound, cylinders, vacuum brick
Three-pound rectangular tin, cylindrical tins with embossed gold lids (“AN H AND H PRODUCT” / “We Roast It — Others Praise It” on the larger lid), smaller round with VACUUM PACKED / STEEL CUT / Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. San Antonio, Texas; brick of coffee in clear archivally wrapped bundle; Texas Girl package at the left edge.
Texas Girl — one-pound paper bag
Front of the 1 lb. net pink, black, and yellow Texas Girl bag: H AND H COFFEE CO., SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, portrait roundel, ALL-PURPOSE ground line, HIGH GRADE — FRESH ROASTED, FREE COUPON on the flap.
Texas Girl — bag with H and H tins (wider table)
The same Texas Girl bag centered with H and H Blend Light Housekeepers half-pound tin, large VACUUM PACKED cylinder, and tall rectangular tin with Hoffmann-Hayman roasting line visible on the side — one group shot for scale relationships.
Border Premium Coffee — four-pound pail
Border script banner, cup and saucer illustration, CONTENTS 4 LBS. NET WGT., PURE COFFEE, PREMIUM COFFEE, wire bail, flat lid — the four-pound cup-and-saucer premium format discussed on the project’s Border Coffee brand page.
Border Premium Coffee — three-pound pail
Same Border graphic language with CONTENTS 3 LBS. NET WGT. — useful as a pair to the four-pound frame for size-run comparison.
Sam Houston — four-pound pail
Sam Houston script, octagonal portrait, FOUR POUNDS NET WEIGHT, 100% PURE, We Roast It / Others Praise It, COFFEE, footer Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co. San Antonio, Texas; handwritten 1.05 on the label; label wear and tears; wire handle.
Western line — Anita Brand Peaberry Blend (three pounds)
Cylindrical three-pound pail, wire bail: ANITA / BRAND, western portrait (woman in a pale hat with a small star), STAR OF THE RANCH, PEABERRY BLEND, COFFEE, THREE POUNDS NET — a Hoffmann-Hayman line extension in the same visit set as the core H and H brands.
Coupon premium — leaf ashtray, bottom (KS 193)
Leaf-shaped ashtray issued as a premium for mailing in H and H coupons (the same coupon economy the firm used for trading stamps, free offers on tins, and related promotions). This photograph shows the bottom of the dish: stacked embossed lines EAT, SMOKE, DRINK, H & H, COFFEE. Witte accession KS 193 on oval sticker and large rectangular tag.
