Legacy Tobacco Documents Library
Encyclopedia
The Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (LTDL) is a digital archive
of tobacco industry
documents, funded by the American Legacy Foundation
and created and maintained by the University of California, San Francisco
. The Library contains over 11 million documents produced by major tobacco companies and organizations, many of them internal strategic memoranda made public as a consequence of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. The documents deal with the tobacco industry’s advertising, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and scientific research activities for the last century. Researchers, journalists, students, and activists interested in tobacco control issues and public health
policies use the Library extensively to investigate tobacco industry strategies.
, Minnesota
, Florida
, and Texas
- separately filed lawsuits against the tobacco industry in an effort to secure reimbursement for health care expenditures arising from tobacco-related illnesses. During the course of this litigation, 42 other states joined in similar legal actions. In 1998, a Master Settlement Agreement
(MSA) was signed by the Attorneys General of 46 states and the nation's four major tobacco companies: Philip Morris
, R. J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson
, and the American Tobacco Company
. The MSA effectively settled the outstanding lawsuits by requiring yearly payments by the tobacco companies to the States and placing restrictions on the advertising and marketing of tobacco products. The MSA provisions also created and currently fund the American Legacy Foundation
, an anti-smoking advocacy group, which in turn funded the creation of the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library as well as its ongoing maintenance and collection activities.
As part of this Master Settlement Agreement, the US tobacco companies were ordered to release the internal documents produced for the case for public access in both a physical depository in Minnesota and on their own document websites. The National Association of Attorneys General
(NAAG) provides oversight and enforcement of this operation. In 2006, US District Judge Gladys Kessler
ruled in a separate case that the nation's top tobacco companies violated racketeering laws, misleading the public for years about the health hazards of smoking. These companies were convicted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(US RICO Act). Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds filed an appeal but Judge Kessler's ruling was upheld. As a result of this case, the companies are now obliged to make available any documents produced for litigation on smoking and health until 2016.
In 2002, NAAG gave the UCSF Library a large number of document index records and images with which to create the LTDL. Currently, the collections are added to through the use of spidering (also known as "web crawling
") applications that identify and download index records and document images directly from the tobacco companies’ websites.
MSA-mandated collections:
American Tobacco
Brown & Williamson
Council for Tobacco Research
Philip Morris
R. J. Reynolds
Tobacco Institute
Additional Collections:
British American Tobacco -
This collection was originally maintained in a separate digital archive known as the British American Tobacco Documents Archive (BATDA). In July 2008, the BAT documents were added to the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library in an effort to provide researchers, as well as the general public, with unhindered access to the entire body of internal tobacco industry documents. The British American Tobacco (BAT) collection contains close to 7 million pages of internal corporate documents related to British American Tobacco Company (BATCo) and its parent, BAT Industries PLC.
US Smokeless Tobacco –
The US Smokeless Tobacco collection contains internal corporate documents from the US Smokeless Tobacco Company, the largest manufacturer of moist snuff
smokeless tobacco products in the US and producer of the well-known brands, Skoal tobacco
and Copenhagen tobacco
.
UCSF Brown & Williamson –
Thousands of pages of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation documents were donated unsolicited to the UCSF Tobacco Control Archives in 1994. These documents consist primarily of scientific studies on the addictive nature of nicotine
and other health effects of tobacco smoke. Brown & Williamson sought to permanently remove the disputed material from the Library with a suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court
. The University of California
contended that all of the documents were in the public domain
and should be available to scholars and other interested parties. In May 1995, the Superior Court ruled that these documents should be made available for public review. Brown & Williamson appealed that decision, but the California Supreme Court rejected the company's appeal allowing UCSF to release the documents. The 1999 film, The Insider, is completely outside of the scope of history and content of the so-called "Brown and Williamson Documents", and this is a specious footnote. "The Brown and Williamson Documents" were delivered to UCSF from information acquired by the Mississippi Attorney General lawsuit, solely the product of that lawsuit, as acquired from discovery produced as directed by Attorney General Mike Moore (Mississippi), in the lawsuit, Mississippi, ex. rel. or his Assistant Attorney Generals, including Richard Scruggs; the movie, The Insider, was in no way based on documentation or resources from the 1994 "Brown and Williamson Documents," but was a product of producer Lowell Bergman's "investigative reporting" and CBS' 60 Minutes documentary.
Mangini ("Joe Camel") Documents –
This collection consists of internal documents from the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, produced as part of the discovery process in the 1994 civil case Mangini v. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. A majority of the documents span the period 1970s - 1990s, when R. J. Reynolds Tobacco developed the Joe Camel
advertising campaign.
The Multimedia Collection
-
This collection contains more than 5,000 tobacco industry video and audio tapes including recordings of focus groups, internal corporate meetings, depositions of tobacco industry employees, government hearings, corporate communications, and commercials. Many of the acquired tapes are available for viewing or listening on the Internet Archive
.
Pollay Advertising Collection -
A collection of over 8,500 examples of cigarette print advertising compiled and given to LTDL by Richard W. Pollay, Professor Emeritus at Sauder Business School, University of British Columbia
.
Research Collection -
Collections of documents gathered and utilized by various persons and institutions in the course of research on a specific topic or for a specific purpose. Topics include "marketing to youth", "marketing to women", "potential reduced exposure products (preps)" and "product design" among others.
Liggett & Myers -
This collection contains approximately 400,000 pages of Liggett & Myers (L&M) internal documents. In 1997, Liggett & Myers, the smallest of the five major tobacco companies, became the first to settle lawsuits in 22 states and to help state prosecutors litigate against the nation's biggest cigarette manufacturers by providing evidence of industry strategies and tactics. Because of their early compliance with prosecutors, L&M was not included in the Master Settlement Agreement stipulation for creation of company document websites, meaning these documents exist nowhere else in electronic format.
Tobacco Depositions and Trial Testimony Archive (DATTA) -
DATTA contains transcripts from tobacco-related litigation, collected from a variety of sources by the Center for Tobacco Use Prevention and Research in Okemos, Michigan.
Canadian Tobacco Trials -
The Canadian Tobacco Trials collection consists of court records (transcripts, depositions, exhibits) from two major national Canadian trials - the 1989 Tobacco Products Control Act (TPCA) Trial and the 1997 Tobacco Act Trial.
Archive
An archive is a collection of historical records, or the physical place they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime, and are kept to show the function of an organization...
of tobacco industry
Tobacco industry
The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all...
documents, funded by the American Legacy Foundation
American Legacy Foundation
The American Legacy Foundation is a 501 not-for-profit organization dedicated to preventing teen smoking and encouraging smokers to quit. It was established in March 1998 as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement between a coalition of attorneys general in 46 states and five United States...
and created and maintained by the University of California, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...
. The Library contains over 11 million documents produced by major tobacco companies and organizations, many of them internal strategic memoranda made public as a consequence of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. The documents deal with the tobacco industry’s advertising, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and scientific research activities for the last century. Researchers, journalists, students, and activists interested in tobacco control issues and public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...
policies use the Library extensively to investigate tobacco industry strategies.
History
In 1994, the Attorneys General of four states - MississippiMississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, and Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
- separately filed lawsuits against the tobacco industry in an effort to secure reimbursement for health care expenditures arising from tobacco-related illnesses. During the course of this litigation, 42 other states joined in similar legal actions. In 1998, a Master Settlement Agreement
Master Settlement Agreement
The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement was entered in November 1998, originally between the four largest US tobacco companies and the attorneys general of 46 states...
(MSA) was signed by the Attorneys General of 46 states and the nation's four major tobacco companies: Philip Morris
Philip Morris USA
Philip Morris USA is the United States tobacco division of Altria Group, Inc. Philip Morris USA brands include Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Benson and Hedges, Merit, Parliament, Alpine, Basic, Cambridge, Bucks, Dave's, Chesterfield, Collector's Choice, Commander, English Ovals, Lark, L&M, Players and...
, R. J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson was an American tobacco company and subsidiary of the giant British American Tobacco, that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes...
, and the American Tobacco Company
American Tobacco Company
The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company...
. The MSA effectively settled the outstanding lawsuits by requiring yearly payments by the tobacco companies to the States and placing restrictions on the advertising and marketing of tobacco products. The MSA provisions also created and currently fund the American Legacy Foundation
American Legacy Foundation
The American Legacy Foundation is a 501 not-for-profit organization dedicated to preventing teen smoking and encouraging smokers to quit. It was established in March 1998 as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement between a coalition of attorneys general in 46 states and five United States...
, an anti-smoking advocacy group, which in turn funded the creation of the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library as well as its ongoing maintenance and collection activities.
As part of this Master Settlement Agreement, the US tobacco companies were ordered to release the internal documents produced for the case for public access in both a physical depository in Minnesota and on their own document websites. The National Association of Attorneys General
National Association of Attorneys General
The National Association of Attorneys General is an organization of 56 state and territorial attorneys general in the United States...
(NAAG) provides oversight and enforcement of this operation. In 2006, US District Judge Gladys Kessler
Gladys Kessler
Gladys Kessler is an American jurist who sits on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. She was nominated to the court by President Bill Clinton, and confirmed in July 1994....
ruled in a separate case that the nation's top tobacco companies violated racketeering laws, misleading the public for years about the health hazards of smoking. These companies were convicted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(US RICO Act). Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds filed an appeal but Judge Kessler's ruling was upheld. As a result of this case, the companies are now obliged to make available any documents produced for litigation on smoking and health until 2016.
In 2002, NAAG gave the UCSF Library a large number of document index records and images with which to create the LTDL. Currently, the collections are added to through the use of spidering (also known as "web crawling
Web crawler
A Web crawler is a computer program that browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner or in an orderly fashion. Other terms for Web crawlers are ants, automatic indexers, bots, Web spiders, Web robots, or—especially in the FOAF community—Web scutters.This process is called Web...
") applications that identify and download index records and document images directly from the tobacco companies’ websites.
Collections
The LTDL collects and maintains the internal documents of the tobacco companies and their trade organizations that were a party to the Master Settlement Agreement as well as documents from other litigation or companies not party to the settlement.MSA-mandated collections:
American Tobacco
Brown & Williamson
Council for Tobacco Research
Philip Morris
R. J. Reynolds
Tobacco Institute
Tobacco Institute
The Tobacco Institute, Inc. was a United States tobacco industry trade group, founded in 1958 by the American tobacco industry.It was dissolved in 1998 as part of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.-Founding:...
Additional Collections:
British American Tobacco -
This collection was originally maintained in a separate digital archive known as the British American Tobacco Documents Archive (BATDA). In July 2008, the BAT documents were added to the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library in an effort to provide researchers, as well as the general public, with unhindered access to the entire body of internal tobacco industry documents. The British American Tobacco (BAT) collection contains close to 7 million pages of internal corporate documents related to British American Tobacco Company (BATCo) and its parent, BAT Industries PLC.
US Smokeless Tobacco –
The US Smokeless Tobacco collection contains internal corporate documents from the US Smokeless Tobacco Company, the largest manufacturer of moist snuff
Snuff
Snuff is a product made from ground or pulverised tobacco leaves. It is an example of smokeless tobacco. It originated in the Americas and was in common use in Europe by the 17th century...
smokeless tobacco products in the US and producer of the well-known brands, Skoal tobacco
Skoal tobacco
Skoal Tobacco is a division of U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company . USSTC distributes dipping tobacco and, more recently, snus, both of which are marketed as smokeless tobacco. Skoal was first produced by US Smokeless Tobacco in 1934.-Cuts and Flavors:Skoal is packaged in 1.2 oz plastic can and is...
and Copenhagen tobacco
Copenhagen tobacco
Copenhagen is an American brand of dipping tobacco first made in 1822 and currently made by the U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company. It is available in pouches, Fine Cut, Long Cut, and Extra Long Cut. All Copenhagen varieties are packaged in a 1.2 oz wax coated cardboard or black plastic can with a...
.
UCSF Brown & Williamson –
Thousands of pages of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation documents were donated unsolicited to the UCSF Tobacco Control Archives in 1994. These documents consist primarily of scientific studies on the addictive nature of nicotine
Nicotine
Nicotine is an alkaloid found in the nightshade family of plants that constitutes approximately 0.6–3.0% of the dry weight of tobacco, with biosynthesis taking place in the roots and accumulation occurring in the leaves...
and other health effects of tobacco smoke. Brown & Williamson sought to permanently remove the disputed material from the Library with a suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court
Superior court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general competence which typically has unlimited jurisdiction with regard to civil and criminal legal cases...
. The University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
contended that all of the documents were in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
and should be available to scholars and other interested parties. In May 1995, the Superior Court ruled that these documents should be made available for public review. Brown & Williamson appealed that decision, but the California Supreme Court rejected the company's appeal allowing UCSF to release the documents. The 1999 film, The Insider, is completely outside of the scope of history and content of the so-called "Brown and Williamson Documents", and this is a specious footnote. "The Brown and Williamson Documents" were delivered to UCSF from information acquired by the Mississippi Attorney General lawsuit, solely the product of that lawsuit, as acquired from discovery produced as directed by Attorney General Mike Moore (Mississippi), in the lawsuit, Mississippi, ex. rel. or his Assistant Attorney Generals, including Richard Scruggs; the movie, The Insider, was in no way based on documentation or resources from the 1994 "Brown and Williamson Documents," but was a product of producer Lowell Bergman's "investigative reporting" and CBS' 60 Minutes documentary.
Mangini ("Joe Camel") Documents –
This collection consists of internal documents from the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, produced as part of the discovery process in the 1994 civil case Mangini v. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. A majority of the documents span the period 1970s - 1990s, when R. J. Reynolds Tobacco developed the Joe Camel
Joe Camel
Joe Camel was the advertising mascot for Camel cigarettes from late 1987 to July 12, 1997, appearing in magazine advertisements, billboards, and other print media.-History:The U.S. marketing team of R. J...
advertising campaign.
The Multimedia Collection
Legacy Tobacco Documents Library Multimedia Collection
The Multimedia Collection in the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library at the University of California, San Francisco contains more than 7,500 tobacco industry video and audio tapes including recordings of focus groups, internal corporate meetings, depositions of tobacco industry employees,...
-
This collection contains more than 5,000 tobacco industry video and audio tapes including recordings of focus groups, internal corporate meetings, depositions of tobacco industry employees, government hearings, corporate communications, and commercials. Many of the acquired tapes are available for viewing or listening on the Internet Archive
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
.
Pollay Advertising Collection -
A collection of over 8,500 examples of cigarette print advertising compiled and given to LTDL by Richard W. Pollay, Professor Emeritus at Sauder Business School, University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
.
Research Collection -
Collections of documents gathered and utilized by various persons and institutions in the course of research on a specific topic or for a specific purpose. Topics include "marketing to youth", "marketing to women", "potential reduced exposure products (preps)" and "product design" among others.
Liggett & Myers -
This collection contains approximately 400,000 pages of Liggett & Myers (L&M) internal documents. In 1997, Liggett & Myers, the smallest of the five major tobacco companies, became the first to settle lawsuits in 22 states and to help state prosecutors litigate against the nation's biggest cigarette manufacturers by providing evidence of industry strategies and tactics. Because of their early compliance with prosecutors, L&M was not included in the Master Settlement Agreement stipulation for creation of company document websites, meaning these documents exist nowhere else in electronic format.
Tobacco Depositions and Trial Testimony Archive (DATTA) -
DATTA contains transcripts from tobacco-related litigation, collected from a variety of sources by the Center for Tobacco Use Prevention and Research in Okemos, Michigan.
Canadian Tobacco Trials -
The Canadian Tobacco Trials collection consists of court records (transcripts, depositions, exhibits) from two major national Canadian trials - the 1989 Tobacco Products Control Act (TPCA) Trial and the 1997 Tobacco Act Trial.