Levi Strauss & Co. is happy to provide basic historical information for students, whether you're a fourth grader studying California history, or a college junior writing a paper for your marketing class. Follow the links here to find printable documents on these topics:
The Archives staff is happy to answer basic questions about our history or about the company, but we cannot undertake large-scale research. Here are some tips on finding the information you need:
- One of the best places to find material on Levi Strauss & Co.'s modern history is in the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature. This reference book indexes magazine articles published in the United States and every library has a copy. Look under Levi Strauss & Co. or Levi's® jeans to find articles about our marketing strategies, production, advertising and other topics.
- You can also do an Internet search, as some articles are printed in full text online.
- Younger students will find many biographies of Levi Strauss in the juvenile section of school and public libraries. Keep in mind that books published before 1995 tend to be historically inaccurate, so for the most up-to-date information about Levi himself, use the articles in this link or find books published in 2000 or later.
- There's a lot of mythology about our company and our jeans in the cyberspace universe, so don't rely on the Internet to do your historical research. Use the documents provided here, and we also recommend the following books:
This is a Pair of Levi's® Jeans, published by Levi Strauss & Co.
Denim: From Cowboys to Catwalks, by Paul Trynka
Vintage Denim, by David Little
Compassionate Capitalism: How Corporations Can Make Doing Good an Integral Part of Doing Well, by Marc Benioff and Karen Southwick
You are also welcome to e-mail questions to the company Historian, Lynn Downey: LDowney@levi.com. Please allow 1-2 weeks for a response.