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Today, Samsonite tells its history openly via The Samsonite Story, which can be readily found on their website. It has been updated every so often, a tradition that can be traced all the way back to 1960 with Jesse Shwayder and The Golden Rule, the First Fifty Years of Shwayder Bros. Inc.

It’s unclear exactly how and where the book was originally distributed. Promotional use is very likely, based on both the deliberate voice the story carries as well as relative availability today. Many copies have been found signed by Jesse Shwayder on the page with his face and name.

The full book can be accessed here. In the assemblage of this project, as well as during my trip to Denver, it has been a useful reference for early history, events, and family anecdotes. It goes into detail about Jesse Shwayder's early life, philosophies, company milestones, plants, productions, etc.

Something I must caution, however, is that the information in the book, mainly the corporate history, should not be implicitly trusted. Hence the reason for this article, as it is one of if not the most referenced materials for Samsonite's early history.

It isn't as if the book should be rejected outright, according to the book’s attributions it had a generous amount of help from proper channels. Only that if one wishes to cite information from these published histories, it should very carefully checked against appropriate materials.

So this article will primarily cover information that is either inaccurate or cannot currently be reconciled on a case by case basis.

PAGE - “…the Detroit plant was purchased from Fisher Bros. in 1928.” However, another source reports that Shwayder Trunk Mfg. Co. leased the former Detroit plant of Hinkley Motors Company.