Mattel is an American company founded in El Segundo, California in January 1945 by founders Harold Matson and Elliot Handler. They produce toys for infants and children including Barbie, Matchbox cars, American Girl dolls, and many others.  Since their founding, Mattel has purchased other toy companies including Fisher-Price and Tyco Toys, and collaborates with others such as Disney, making it one of the most successful and revenue producing toy companies in American history. 

 Oliver Fisher Winchester was an innovative and driven man who saw the future of firearms and built an industrial empire around the lever-action rifle. Born in Boston in 1810, Winchester’s initial foray into business was as a maker of men’s shirts. Seeing the economic potential of the fast-growing firearms industry, Winchester began to assemble investors and secure venture capital, and in 1857 bought a controlling interest in the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company from two inventive gentlemen named Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson. 

Winchester continued to refine firearm designs with inventors Benjamin Tyler Henry and Nelson King, and on May 22, 1866, the Winchester Repeating Arms Company was born.

For the next 14 years, Winchester aggressively sought new markets, created new products and explored new opportunities for his lever-action rifles. With the opening of the American West to settlement, Winchester prospered, eventually becoming the iconic company it is today. Over time the history of Winchester evolved into two parallel histories: the history of Winchester firearms and the equally complex history of Winchester Ammunition.