Beach Products

Beach Products, Inc. (1940s - 1960s) was an American paper goods company based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Incorporated in 1941 and running a factory employing 50 workers, they appear to have focused primarily on printed napkins, paper plates, and cups, on a variety of themes (a 1957 advertisement touts such seasonal themes as 'Pumpkin Designs' and 'Singing Cats.' Between 1954 and 1956, their offerings included a series of state maps, printed to both full size dinner napkins and smaller format cocktail napkins: these 'Map-Naps' featured a map of a given state on the forward fold, whilst the reverse fold contained an array of 'Interesting Facts' about the state portrayed. Some of these, notably the Map Nap dedicated to Texas, included further material, with all four folds containing entertaining content. While it would be natural to assume at least a plan to present a Map Nap for every state of the Union, we have identified only a handful to have survived. Given the purpose of the average napkin, it is only to be expected that these survive poorly, and it may be that many are lost to posterity.