Regulatory & Industry Resources

Below are a few resources from U.S. government agencies as well as relevant international NGOs and other nonprofits that may provide information and context for those researching the tobacco industry.

Center for Tobacco Products (Food & Drug Administration)
The CTP regulates the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of tobacco products as well as information on the various tobacco Group Grades and Standards.
Economic Census | U.S. Census Connections: A Resource Guide (Business Reference Services)
This guide is to assist researchers looking for more specific Census and Economic Census materials. Of specific note is the 1900 Census which produced Volume IX. Manufactures. Part 3. is Special Reports on Selected Industries and includes; Combined Textiles, Cotton Manufactures; Wool, Silk Manufactures; Oleomargarine, Salt, Beet Sugar, Rice; Starch, Cottonseed Products, Alcoholic Liquors, Tobacco, Manufactured Ice, etc.
FRASER (Federal Reserve) External
The Federal Reserve's RASER is a collection of digitized resources coving a wide range of subjects. They are particularly concerned with economic issues and anything that that looks as the economic picture of the U.S. and its states/regions. FRASER does include digitized publications from the individual Federal Reserve banks and many of the articles in those cover small topics including tobacco. This includes "A Look At Burley Tobacco" from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland (October 1963), "Tobacco and Tobacco Products" from the Survey of Current Business (Biennial Supplement, 1931), articles in the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, and some congressional documents.
General Accountability Office (GAO)
The General Accountability Office (or General Accounting Office) produce reports that look at government agencies and programs. Their website does include older reports of note. Examples include:
Losses in the Department of Agriculture's Tobacco Program (1985)
Market Shifts toward Lower-Taxed Products Continue to Reduce Federal Revenue (2019)
States' Allocations of Payments from Tobacco Companies for Fiscal Years 2000 through 2005 (2007)
Smoking & Tobacco Use (Centers for Disease Control)
The data from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Center for Health Statistics are more recent and focus on health issues and smoking. This site includes historical copies of the Surgeon General’s Reports, Global Tobacco Surveillance System Data, and the STATE System an interactive application that presents current and historical state-level data on tobacco use prevention and control.
Tobacco Programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture External
This is a CRS report published in 1988 that reviews the tobacco programs to that point. This was changed in 2004 see the CRS report Tobacco Price Support: An Overview of the Program External
World Health Organization - Tobacco External
The WHO has a interest in the health discussion related to smoking but part of that mission relates economics and the industry and includes Surveillance and monitoring, Tobacco control economics, and Watching and countering the industry.

Tobacco Settlement

The documents that are part of the Tobacco Settlement cover many years and a wide range of types. They would be good for providing insight into the companies and industry over many years.

"Inside the Tobacco Deal" External
This was an episode of PBS's Frontline that includes a helpful timeline.
National Archives & Records Administration
You can find documents related to the Tobacco Settlement that were part of Congressional hearings or from federal agencies like the Office of Science and Technology Policy by searching for "tobacco settlement". Other tobacco related material may also be found, but all material that is not online can only be accessed by visiting the National Archives in-person.
Tobacco21 External
This site is good for understanding the situation in states as it relates to progress for those that had passed laws making the minimum age 21 before the federal law was passed in December 21.
Tobacco Archives External
As a provision of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between 46 states and the tobacco industry, documents introduced through discovery into litigation are to be made publicly available by the tobacco industry through physical depositories. On-line Document Archives consist of links to databases that contain the images of documents from the files of Philip Morris USA, Inc., R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation (individually and as successor by merger to The American Tobacco Company), Lorillard Tobacco Company, The Council for Tobacco Research--U.S.A., Inc., and The Tobacco Institute, Inc. The article "How to access tobacco industry documents" External in Tobacco Control provides a bit of background on the documents that were required to be made public. They are also online in other places:
Council for Tobacco Research External
Tobacco Institute External
The Tobacco Settlement - 20 years later External
The Attorneys General for the states were important in the Tobacco Settlement and this page has videos of a few. It also has other resources that may be of interest including the Master Settlement Agreement.
Truth Tobacco Industry Documents External
Formerly known as Legacy Tobacco Documents Library is an archive of 14 million documents created by tobacco companies about their advertising, manufacturing, marketing, scientific research and political activities, hosted by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Library. It was formerly known as the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library created in 2002.
It includes TMA's Directory of Cigarette Brands (1867-1997), External Maxwell Consumer Report: Top World Cigarette Market Leaders. (1997), External and the Tobacco Retailers' Almanac: 47th Edition. External
It also contains some issues of what is called The Maxwell Report (quarterly) or the Maxwell Consumer Report.. The Maxwell Report search on that; you may find it helpful to put in a year. Also, they published Historical sales trends in the cigarette industry : a statistical summary that covered a wide swath of years. Examples incude:
- 1981: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A Statistical Summary Covering 56 Years. (1925-1980) External
- 1982: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A 10-Year Statistical Summary. (1972-1981) External
- 1983: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A Statistical Summary Covering 58 Years. (1925-1982) External
- 1985: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A Statistical Summary Covering 60 Years. (1925-1984) External
- 1986: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A Statistical Summary Covering 61 Years. (1925-1985) External
- 1989: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A Statistical Summary Covering 64 Years. (1925-1989) External
- 1990: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A 10-Year Statistical Summary. (1982-1989) External
- 1990: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A Statistical Summary Covering 65 Years. (1925-1989) External
- 1993: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A Statistical Summary Covering 68 Years. (1925-1992) External
- 1997: Historical Sales Trends in the Cigarette Industry: A Statistical Summary Covering 71 Years. (1925-1996) External

Anti Smoking Movement

Selling Smoke: Tobacco Advertising and Anti-Smoking Campaigns External
This is a Yale online exhibit focusing on advertising
Smoking and Health
Also available at GovInfo
The full title Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States was a landmark report published on January 11, 1964, by the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, chaired by the then Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Luther Leonidas Terry, M.D.. This include a link to the full-text of the report and a 1967 supplement.
Antismoking Movement From 1950 External
This site gives a brief history of the industry.
The Study That Helped Spur the U.S. Stop-Smoking Movement External
This is an article from the American Cancer Society and it provides a brief history of the 1964 study Smoking and Health.
2000 Surgeon General's Report: Complete Report
There are several interesting chapters including:
Chapter 2. A Historical Review of Efforts to Reduce Smoking in the United States
Chapter 6. Economic Approaches.pdf icon
Chapter 8. A Vision for the Future—Reducing Tobacco Use in the New Millenniumpdf icon

Tobacco Industry: Sources of Historical Research

Regulatory & Industry Resources

Tobacco Settlement

Anti Smoking Movement