Advertisements for medicine, likely from between 1870 and 1910. The advertisements include patent medicine trade cards, blotter paper advertisements, broadside advertising sheets, booklets, and calendars. "Patent medicines" were often promoted as "cure-alls" for many parts of the body and their ingredient list (if any) was often inaccurate.
Advertising has a long history. "Trade cards" (in the sense of commerce) were used to advertise many things in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. "Patent medicines" were often promoted as "cure-alls" for many parts of the body and their ingredient list (if any) was often inaccurate. Patent medicines were medical compounds sold under a variety of names and labels, though they were usually trademarked medicines, not patented. The trade cards are small, colorfully illustrated advertising cards touting a particular medicine and its many cures. The illustrations typically have little to do with any of the ailments purported to be cured. Few patent medicines were sold after the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and its 1912 amendment.
Thomas Hollis advertising broadsides were orginally printed on one sheet (measuring 12 1/8 x 24 1/4 inches) and then cut into three separate advertisements. The first two broadsides are textually identical but differ in typefaces and ornamental type frames. The date 1834 is assigned by one of the OCLC records which states that D. Hooten, printer, 13 Merchants Hall, was at this address during 1834 according to the Boston directory records. Gregg & Hollis, Apothecary, was founded in 1825. In 1833, Gregg sold his share to Hollis who continued the firm under his name until his death in 1975. The business survived until 1901 under the directon of Hollis' sons.
Advertisements for medicine likely to be from between 1870 and 1910. The advertisements include patent medicine trade cards, blotter paper advertisements, broadsheet advertisements, booklets, and calendars. Advertising has a long history. "Trade cards" (in the sense of commerce) were used to advertise many things in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. "Patent medicines" were often promoted as "cure-alls" for many parts of the body and their ingredient list (if any) was often inaccurate. Few patent medicines were sold after the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and its 1912 amendment.
Purchased in 2001: patent medicine trade cards; Purchased from W. Bruce Fye Antiquarian Medical Books.
2007 February 28: 1 blotting paper advertisement for Wampole's Preparation; Gift of Dorothy Spencer
2009: 1 patent medicine trade card; Gift of Emogene Ward
2012 September 6: 1 patent medicine broadsheet; Purchased from Palinurus Antiquarian Books
2015 March 9: 11 patent medicine trade cards; Gift of John Papalas
2015 April 8: 1 patent medicine advertisement; Transferred from the Country Doctor Museum
2017 May 19: 1 patent medicine broadsheet; Purchased from Webb Dordick.
2017 September 18: 8 patent medicine trade cards; Gift of John A. Papalas.
2018 March 16: 1 Drug Store Calendar; Purchased from Michael Laird Rare Books LLC.
Purchased from W. Bruce Fye Antiquarian Medical Books.
Gift of Dorothy Spencer.
Gift of Emogene Ward.
Purchased from Palinurus Antiquarian Books.
Gift of John Papalas.
Transferred from the Country Doctor Museum.
Purchased from Webb Dordick.
Gift of John A. Papalas.
Purchased from Michael Laird Rare Books LLC.
Initial inventory prepared by Charlotte Critcher, 2015. Processed by Melissa Nasea, 2015. Revised and updated by Layne Carpenter, 2018 and 2020.
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.
English
Artifacts related to this collection are at The Country Doctor Museum.