We looked for the inventor of the coffee canister and found none. There's no patent or museum record for a first one, so here are the closest milestones we could document.
In 1858 John L. Mason patented a new kind of jar neck with screw threads on the outside, so a metal cap could seal the jar. His patent says the jars were meant to be air- and water-tight, which is still what you want from coffee storage.
In 1900 Hills Bros. of San Francisco became the first company to pack coffee in a vacuum, using a canning process patented a few years earlier. Taking out the air helped roasted coffee stay fresh longer on store shelves.
A modern airtight canister applies both lessons at home: seal tightly and keep out as much air as you can.