Container Corporation of America

{{Short description|US corrugated box manufacturer}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Container Corporation of America

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| industry = Corrugated boxes

| fate = Acquired by Jefferson Smurfit Corporation

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| founded = 1926

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Container Corporation of America (CCA) was founded in 1926 and manufactured corrugated boxes.Container Corporation of America, and Susan Black. The First Fifty Years, 1926-1976. Chicago: CCA, 1976. In 1968 CCA merged with Montgomery Ward & Company, Inc., becoming MARCOR. MARCOR maintained separate management for the operations of each company, but had a joint board of directors. In 1986, Mobil Corporation, which had bought MARCOR in the early 1970s, sold the CCA company to the Jefferson Smurfit Corporation, which merged with the Stone Container Corporation in 1998 to become part of the Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation.

Under the leadership of Walter Paepcke, CCA was a patron of graphic arts and design. The company amassed a collection of art works which eventually found their way to the National Museum of American Art.National Museum of American Art (U.S.), Neil Harris, and Martina Roudabush Norelli. Art, Design, and the Modern Corporation: The Collection of Container Corporation of America, a Gift to the National Museum of American Art. Washington, D.C.: Published for the National Museum of American Art by the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.

In the late 1940s, CCA commissioned Herbert Bayer to create a World Geo-Graphic Atlas which was distributed free to more than 150 colleges and universities.Bayer, Herbert. World Geo-Graphic Atlas, A Composite of Man's Environment. [Chicago]: Priv. print. for Container Corporation of America, 1953. A review described it as the "handsomest and best atlas ever published in America."[https://www.jstor.org/stable/211747 Review: [untitled] L. Ullman Reviewed work(s): World Geo-Graphic Atlas: A Composite of Man's Environment by Herbert Bayer IN: Geographical Review, Vol. 45, No. 1 (January 1955), pp. 147–149]

In the spring of 1970, CCA sponsored a contest to design a symbol to promote the recycling of paper products. The contest, which drew more than 500 submissions, was won by Gary Anderson, whose entry was the image now known as the universal recycling symbol.{{cite web |url=https://aspenjournalism.org/the-recycling-symbols-aspen-roots/ |title=The recycling symbol’s Aspen roots |date= March 12, 2024 |access-date=June 29, 2024 |last=Travers |first=Andrew |website=Aspen Journalism}}{{cite web |url=https://grist.org/culture/recycling-symbol-logo-plastic-design/ |title=How the recycling symbol lost its meaning |date= June 12, 2024 |access-date=June 29, 2024 |last=Yoder |first=Kate |website=Grist}}

The Container Corporation of America headquarters were located in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States.