Search
- Trade Card for Knapp's Throat Cure and Packer's All Healing Tar Soap, H. W. Knapp, Packer Manufacturing Co., 1882 - In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

- 1882
- Collections - Artifact
Trade Card for Knapp's Throat Cure and Packer's All Healing Tar Soap, H. W. Knapp, Packer Manufacturing Co., 1882
In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.
- Trade Card for Hibbard's Rheumatic Syrup and Plasters, Rheumatic Syrup Company, 1880-1900 - In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

- 1880-1900
- Collections - Artifact
Trade Card for Hibbard's Rheumatic Syrup and Plasters, Rheumatic Syrup Company, 1880-1900
In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.
- Trade Card for Pond's Extract, Pond's Extract Co., 1886-1910 - In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

- 1886-1910
- Collections - Artifact
Trade Card for Pond's Extract, Pond's Extract Co., 1886-1910
In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.
- Trade Card for Pond's Extract, Pond's Extract Co., 1886-1910 - In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.

- 1886-1910
- Collections - Artifact
Trade Card for Pond's Extract, Pond's Extract Co., 1886-1910
In the last third of the nineteenth century, an unprecedented variety of consumer goods and services flooded the American market. Advertisers, armed with new methods of color printing, bombarded potential customers with trade cards. Americans enjoyed and often saved the vibrant little advertisements found in product packages or distributed by local merchants. Many survive as historical records of commercialism in the United States.
- Parson's Purgative Pills, 1870-1890 - Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.

- 1870-1890
- Collections - Artifact
Parson's Purgative Pills, 1870-1890
Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- Reynold's & Parmely's Female Health Restorative, 1839-1870 - Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.

- 1839-1870
- Collections - Artifact
Reynold's & Parmely's Female Health Restorative, 1839-1870
Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- Dr. Sawens Magic Nervine Pills, 1868-1883 - Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.

- 1868-1883
- Collections - Artifact
Dr. Sawens Magic Nervine Pills, 1868-1883
Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- Triopeptine Tablets, 1906-1918 - Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.

- 1906-1918
- Collections - Artifact
Triopeptine Tablets, 1906-1918
Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- Holtzerman's Patent Stomach Bitters, 1862-1890 - Bitters is an herb-infused alcoholic mixture. Named for its bitter taste, the liquid was originally developed as a medicinal tonic to help soothe stomach complaints or other digestive disorders. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, patent-medicine dealers bottled and sold the elixir. Americans purchased bitters in simple mold-blown bottles or ones shaped like drums, barrels, or cabins.

- 1862-1890
- Collections - Artifact
Holtzerman's Patent Stomach Bitters, 1862-1890
Bitters is an herb-infused alcoholic mixture. Named for its bitter taste, the liquid was originally developed as a medicinal tonic to help soothe stomach complaints or other digestive disorders. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, patent-medicine dealers bottled and sold the elixir. Americans purchased bitters in simple mold-blown bottles or ones shaped like drums, barrels, or cabins.
- Yucca for the Hair and Scalp, 1890-1901 - People have sought a cure for hair loss for thousands of years. In the late nineteenth-century, the makers of "Yucca for the Hair" marketed their concoction as a cure for baldness, dandruff, and other diseases of the scalp. The proprietors of this patent medicine claimed the plant-based extract invigorated the scalp, promoted hair growth and rendered hair "soft, glossy and luxuriant."

- 1890-1901
- Collections - Artifact
Yucca for the Hair and Scalp, 1890-1901
People have sought a cure for hair loss for thousands of years. In the late nineteenth-century, the makers of "Yucca for the Hair" marketed their concoction as a cure for baldness, dandruff, and other diseases of the scalp. The proprietors of this patent medicine claimed the plant-based extract invigorated the scalp, promoted hair growth and rendered hair "soft, glossy and luxuriant."