The Porter-Scarpelli Macaroni Company (usually written with "Company" abbreviated as "Co."), was founded in the 1910s by Sam C. Scarpelli (1882-1976), an immigrant to the United States from Italy, and the Porter family of Portland, Oregon. The Porters sold Scarpelli their share of the company a few years after the firm's establishment. The firm would grow to be one of the largest producers of pasta products on the U.S. West Coast. In July 1977, the firm shut down its plant. Although the firm's president at the time, Ken Pietila, claimed that the shutdown was only temporary, the firm was defunct by 1980.

Sources: Obituary for Sam C. Scarpelli in the Oregon Journal, July 26, 1976, page 2; obituary for Scarpelli in the Oregonian, July 27, 1976, page C8; article in the Oregonian, "Firm shuts pasta plant, not supplies," August 3, 1977, page E1; Portland city directories, 1979-1980.

Mary Cullen's Cottage was the household arts department of the Oregon Journal, an afternoon newspaper in Portland, Oregon. The department, which was dedicated to helping homemakers, was established in 1934, and from 1936 to 1966 it was directed by Cathrine "Katie" Laughton Hindley (1901-1993). The department tested recipes and printed them in the newspaper; staff also answered questions submitted over the phone about cooking, as well as other homemaking tasks, such as laundry problems, use of appliances, and gardening.

Sources: Obituary for Cathrine Laughton Hindley in the Oregonian, February 26, 1993, page E4; article in the Oregonian, "Three Delicious Decades," September 25, 2012, page L1.