As with most works of this kind, I could not have managed to produce anything like a comprehensive volume without the help of various other people.  The list includes museum personnel, librarians, historians, and bottle collectors--a vast array of talent.  Of the highest importance, a bouquet of gratitude goes to my wife, Wanda Wakkinen, for listening to endless hours of speculation during the more than six years of research and writing that went into this work and offering helpful suggestions.  I love you, Wanda. [I should add that the research continues with new historic and/or empirical information surfacing all the time.]

     Barbara J. Angus and René Harris of the El Paso Museum of History were most helpful in allowing me to examine and photograph the Becky Garrett collection of bottles housed there.  Equally receptive and tremendously helpful was Mildred G. Walker, curator of collections at the Dr Pepper Museum in Waco, Texas.  Thank you, Millie, for your long, information-filled letters and frequently-suggested resources. 

     Claudia Rivers, Gerri Schaad, and the staff at The University of Texas at El Paso Library's Special Collections were extremely helpful in bringing me volume after volume of city directories, telephone directories, and various other data-bearing literature.  Information from these sources formed the base on which the other historical information could rest.  My eternal gratitude also goes to the following individuals from libraries, firms, and local historical societies:  Alisa S. St. Amant (The Library, Hattiesburg, MS), Brannigan Memorial Library (Las Cruces, NM), Ellen E. Castillo (Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce), Vickie Clark, Lois Knowles, and the staff at New Mexico State University Library at Alamogordo, Judy Clinger (Santa Fe Public Library), Riva Dean (Arizona Historical Society), Jule C. Devoe (Douglas [AZ] Public Library), Lee Goodwin (Senior Archivist, New Mexico Commission of Public Records, State Records Center and Archives), Martha Gregg (Wichita [KS] Public Library), Cindy Hayostek (Cochise County [AZ] Historical & Archaeological Society), Jeni James (Southwest Reference, New Mexico State Library), Charles A. Lawner (Liberty Richter), the staff at Special Collections--New Mexico State Library (Las Cruces), Katherine M. Neimyer (Pike Amite Walthall Library System), David Richards (University of Southern Mississippi), Orlando Romero (Librarian, Palace of the Governors Museum, Santa Fe), Anita Sicmon (Cheney, Kansas), Jami Frazier Tracy (Wichita-Segwick County Historical Museum), Mary Nelson (University Libraries, Wichita State University), and Dr. Thomas Verich and Jennifer Ford (Special Collections Dept., John Davis Williams Library, University of Mississippi). 

     Thanks to John Seeback, student at UTEP, for giving me the suggestion that led to finding and interviewing Alkie Nicholson.  My thanks also go to Alkie Nicholson, his son, Andy, and the following other bottlers who granted me interviews:  Julia M. Condon, Patty English, Kathleen Condon, and Margaret Condon, owners and managers of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co. of El Paso Co. (in 1997) [special thanks to Kathleen Condon for donating photographs]; Pete A. Echaniz, former president and manager of Seven-Up Royal Crown Bottling; R. J. Galentin, former president of Canada Dry Bottling Co.; Thomas C. Lucky, former manager of Magnolia Coca-Cola Bottling Co.; Alkie Nicholson, former owner of Nicholson Bottling Works; Richard Price, former owner of Grapette Bottling Co. and Empire Bottling Co.; Al L. Randle, Jr., former stockholder and son of the former owner of Seven-Up Royal Crown Bottling Co.; Robert R. Ritter, former owner of Nehi-Royal Crown Bottling Co.; and Joe W. Yowell, former owner of Barq's Dr Pepper Bottling Co. 

     I could not have compiled the empirical information on bottles without the help of local (and more distant) bottle collectors who opened their collections to me and freely shared their knowledge.  My gratitude to the following collectors, establishments, and people who just happened to have bottles that I needed to study:  Lawrence Angus (El Paso), Rick Chavez (El Paso), David Cole (Bangs, TX), Jim Cullen (San Marcos, TX), Bill Ethridge (El Paso), John Gross (El Paso), Michael Hennech (Ruidoso, NM), Tom Leachman (El Paso), Main St. Antique Mall (Las Cruces, NM), Mike Morrison (Las Cruces, NM), Andrew Nicholson (El Paso),  Andrew Nicholson, Jr. (El Paso), Viola Salas (Alamogordo, NM), John Schoenknecht (Waukesha, WI), Art Senclair (El Paso), Robert Sproull (El Paso), and Bill Ward (Oro Grande, NM). 

     A final word of praise to Michael M. Elling (Sharon, TN), longtime Nehi/Royal Crown Cola collector, for sharing his knowledge about RC and pointing out some hitherto unknown (by me) sources.