Paper Matters

Boston Ice on Galveston Island

2011-11-09T18:08:00.000-08:00

The Old Reliable company in Galveston used to deliver by horse-drawn wagon a product called Boston Ice to families in all parts of the city. The billhead above indicates that information and also supplies a date of June 30, 1887 for a delivery of 16 pounds of ice to the Court House. Anyone living in Galveston, Texas in June of 1887 was going to want some of that Boston Ice.

A ticket to remember... Eat 'Em Up Coogs!

2011-10-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, the University of Houston (my alma mater) Cougars routed their cross-town rivals, the Rice Owls, 73 to 34. Quarterback Case Keenum broke another NCAA passing record (he threw nine touchdown passes in this game... NINE!) and is in the running for the Heisman Trophy. Makes Cougar fans want to shout the team's traditional rallying cry, Eat 'em up Coogs!

There is a precedent for the Cougars winning a lopsided victory such as this. In 1968, they annihilated the University of Tulsa 100 to 6 and I was there. Even at age 12, I sensed the history of the ticket stub I held (the sentimental value kicked in later) and I wrote the score on it. I already collected baseball and football cards--why not game tickets?

My dad, also a UH-alum, took my brother and I to our first college football game that night and it was a doozy indoors at the still pretty-new Astrodome. The 1968 Cougars may not have had any Heisman hopefuls, but they had a solid team with several players going in the NFL draft the following year. Also on that 1968 roster was a future country singer--Larry Gatlin. Their longtime coach, Bill Yeoman, would make it to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001.

Just the week before the 100-6 embarrassment, the Cougars pounded Idaho 77 to 3. Their season opener set the tone it would appear with 54 to 7 victory over Tulane. They went on to win six games, losing two, and just to make it a really strange year, they tied two games. Their 1968 record: 6-2-2.

Eat 'em up Coogs!

Mystery piece of equipment needs horse power

2011-09-06T12:34:00.000-07:00

In a pile of postcards and other ephemera from an estate sale in Houston, I recently found this real photo postcard (RPPC) of a scene that has me baffled. And so I bought the postcard.

Three men are standing on a large pipe-like piece of equipment. Two teams of horses are in the background, one of which has a couple of men sitting on a makeshift platform harnessed to the horses. One of the men is holding on to a rope or cable that seems tethered to the equipment. The horses have been used to move this heavy object.

The western clothes, horses and wagon (far left side of the postcard) beckon the Old West, but the setting appears to be a neighborhood, not a ranch. Perhaps an old Houston neighborhood or a nearby town? Between the two houses on the left, you can barely make out what looks like an oil derrick in the background.

The back of the postcard offers a few names, which doesn't help identify the action in the scene. But the divided back offers a clue as to the age. Starting in 1907, postcards were allowed to have writing on the back other than the address and the divided back was born. Prior to that year, a message to the recipient could only appear on the front.

Could this mystery object be a piece of oilfield equipment? Maybe something to do with sewage? Whatever it is, the whole scene seems to offer snapshot in time when the ways of the Old West were giving in to a new century and technology. The juxtaposition of old and new are striking and that's what really attracted me to this image. Even if I don't know what I'm looking at!

Mission Complete, Houston

2011-07-22T05:26:00.000-07:00

Hot off the press and fresh off my driveway... Here is an item destined for collectible status among space collectors--the front page of today's Houston Chronicle:

I know it will go with my small collection of signed astronaut books and other memorabilia.

What will the future bring for manned space flight, not to mention ephemera and memorabilia for post-Shuttle collectibles? Let's hope Drew Sheneman's op-ed comic that ran yesterday is not prophetic.

"As we prepare for landing, please fasten your seat belt and make sure your spirit of exploration is safely stowed in the overhead compartment."

And that provides the perfect opportunity to segue into these words from Ray Bradbury, which I blogged about in Archaeolibris.

From Colonies in Space, by T.A. Heppenheimer; Introduction by Ray Bradbury (Stackpole Books, 1977)

"The Life Force speaks to all of us. We should, we can, we must listen. Because wouldn't it be terrible to wake up one morning and discover, without remedy, that we were a failed experiment in our meadow-section of the Universe? Wouldn't it be awful to know that we had been given a chance, a testing, by the Cosmos, and had not delivered--had, by a loss of will and a flimsy excuse at desire, not won the day, and would soon fade into the dust--wouldn't that be a killing truth to lie abed with nights?"

In the next paragraph, he writes perhaps my favorite passage, realizing one day the opportunity we once had and squandered:

"Our failed imagination tossed our seed onto the infertile sands of a barren river bottom on a lost world named Earth."

Cooperstown trade card 1880s

2011-06-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

Later this month, in Cooperstown, New York (one of my favorite places) is the 17th Annual Cooperstown Antiquarian Book Fair.

With that in mind, here’s a trade card for an old bookseller who had just purchased his partner's interest in a Cooperstown book shop, circa 1880s, and sent this card around to introduce the name change from Cockett & Wood to Delos M. Wood, Bookseller and Stationer.

The book trade is still going strong there as well as that other game in town—baseball. Whether baseball was invented there or not, as one version has it, the game has been integral to this community for some seventy years with the Baseball Hall of Fame there. And I would suspect book shops have always played a role in the area’s culture.

I was last there about four years ago and found two shops in town and more in the surrounding area. I only had time to visit Willis Monie’s shop and I could have camped out there all day. Much to see. As with the Baseball Hall of Fame. As with the whole area.

Easter Greetings

2011-04-24T06:49:00.000-07:00

Easter Greetings: Love, from Frank to Master Gordon Green of Brookfield, Ontario, postmarked 1909, Niagara Falls. The post card was made in Germany and published/distributed by E.B. in New York.

Dugan's Patent Snow-Guards

2011-02-21T21:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a timely piece of ephemera for all the snow the winter of 2011 has produced. It's an 1897 billhead from a New York company that made, among other things, snow-guards for tin and slate roofs--Dugan's Patent Snow-Guards.

M. Halliday was the proprietor of the roofing company at 281 East Ninth Street, between Second and Third Avenue. Snow guards on sloped roofs help prevent damage from sudden avalanches of accumulated rooftop snow.

This job was billed to the Department of Public Charities for work done at Bellevue Hospital.

From Sanitary and Heating Age (Sanitary and Heating Publishing, 1899), this entry indicates that Halliday's son, Charles, took over the business within a few years after this billhead was prepared.

Charles G. Halliday has bought out the business of his father, M. Halliday, 218 East Ninth street, New York City, and will continue the business of practical Slate and Metal roofer and manufacturer of Dugan's Patent Snow Guards for slate and other slanting roofs, cornices, &c.

I don't know how long Halliday stayed in business, but the historic Bellevue Hospital is still around. Well known as a psychiatric hospital, Bellevue is the oldest public hospital in the United States, having been established in 1736. But if Halliday were, or is, still around, their snow guards for a job at Bellevue might look like those shown in some of the images HERE.

Lea Remonde - Old Pal, Fat Friend

2011-02-13T15:21:00.000-08:00

Lea Remonde had a sense of humor, as her writing on this photo nearly a hundred years ago would indicate: "Lovingly your old pal Lea" and "Who is your fat friend? Why--Lea Remonde." But other than somebody's "old pal" or "fat friend," who was she?

I come across old photos from time to time and wonder how they found their way into stacks of paper in antique shops or scattered across cyberspace on dealer Web sites. Each one has a story to tell about life lived and all the drama that comprises the human condition, but so many photos stashed in one box or space just seem to add to the anonymity of the faces peering back at you.

Many tug at you and make you wonder how they got orphaned. Surely, the photo mattered to a friend or loved one, somewhere, sometime. But several generations later, who's left to remember or even care?

This photo was taken in Chicago in 1911, if the inscription date on the back is in the same year the photo was taken. Lea had a copy (or copies) with her in Indianapolis and presented one to a friend, inscribed on the front and back.

Almost a century later, the photo given a friend in Indianapolis sat in an antique store in Cat Spring, Texas, where I found it. The mounted photo caught my eye, as I rummaged through a stack of vintage paper ephemera.

I was attracted to some aspect of Lea's personality thanks to the inscriptions, without which Lea's photo would have languished there or elsewhere indefinitely, I suspect. Maybe someone like the blogger of Tattered and Lost: Vernacular Photography would have rescued her from certain exile to the dump. I bought it for next to nothing, hoping to discover something interesting about Old Pal Lea and the life represented in this neglected image that had done some traveling. And so her old photo traveled to yet another Texas county.

The only references I could find for Lea Remonde were about her acting appearances in various plays in theaters from Illinois to New York. The time frame is also consistent with the date of this photo.

Lea appears to have been an actor in an Evanston, Illinois theater's stock company, but traveled as far away as New York State for small theater productions of long forgotten plays. The only other reference I can find of her whereabouts is on the back of the photo. She was in Indianapolis at the time she inscribed this photo. As the photo I have is not personalized in the inscription, perhaps she had a stack of signed photos to give to adoring fans. I know of at least one fan--a writer for the Lakeshore News in a 1912 column about the Evanston Theater doings:

As one sees Lea Remonde from week to week, they grow to realize that in her the company has an actress of ability. Her "Lize Heath" is one of the strong pictures, this week.

The play the reporter writes of is Salomy Jane, by Bret Harte. The performance reviewed was before a packed house, a record attendance for a Monday evening for the Evanston theater.

Lea even had aspirations to write and did manage to write at least one play. In a catalog of copyright entries from the Library of Congress, Lea Remonde of Chicago has the following entry for March 30, 1910:

Mrs. Dolan's dream; or, The washerwoman's dream, comedy sketch or play in one act, by L. Remonde. Typewritten. 11 pages. Fol.

Whether it made it to the stage, I don't know.

Old forgotten photos make me wonder where my own photos will wind up generations from now. When there is no one around who remembers me, will my paper matter travel to the dump or wind up in some resale shop (I would hope for an antique shop!) and would anyone stop to ponder my life? I'd get a kick out of knowing someone did, just as I think Lea would now that someone has done it for her.

The Gendron Iron Wheel Company

2010-12-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

Here's an old advertising trade card for the Gendron Iron Wheel Company in Toledo, Ohio. The card was designed by lithographers Henderson-Achert of Cincinnati, circa 1880s.

The front of the card features the Gendron Iron Wagon and touts the product with the statement: "The Gendron Iron Wagon has no wooden bolsters and will stand the hardest usage." The back of the card makes the claim that the company is the largest manufacturer of children's vehicles in the world, including high grade safety bicycles.

The company still exists today as Gendron Inc., having evolved to specialize in products for bariatric patient care, including manual and power wheelchairs, as well as custom built power wheelchairs, and much more.

I came across an early predecessor of Gendron's wheelchairs on a blog about vintage bicycles. In particular, there is a post about Gendron Wheel Co.'s bicycles and the Invalid Wheelchair. Included is a picture of the wheelchair as well as images of trade cards for their bicycles. So the company's product line today does have deep roots in the company's history.

Lucy and Ricky went grocery shopping

2010-11-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

Actually, they probably phoned it in and had the groceries delivered. The receipts below bear the customer name "Arnaz." Lucy and Desi? "Mrs. Arnaz" appears on one of the receipts. Lucille Ball?

Before adding these items to my ephemera collection, I had to research the establishments where this Arnaz shopped and see if I could find some connection with Mr. and Mrs. Desi Arnaz. I found some pretty good evidence from an unlikely source that the shoppers were indeed either Lucille Ball or Desi Arnaz, or both.

The unlikely source is Mike Farrell. Farrell (B.J. Honeycutt in the television series M*A*S*H) wrote in his autobiography that he worked as a delivery driver for Sale's Fulton Market in Beverly Hills (see above receipt) and delivered groceries through the delivery entrances of homes of the stars, including Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. He specifically names them, among a handful of well-known celebrities, as store customers. Based on that, I'm convinced that these receipts are from a 1950s grocery order from the Lucy and Desi Arnaz home.

What was on their shopping list that day? Tobasco sauce, MJB long grain rice, raspberry jello, red cherry jello, Pet milk, Elberta peach halves, pears, prune juice, apple juice, and a can of Crisco. Wonder what Lucy was cooking up in the kitchen?

I assume that the other Arnaz receipts from New York, which were lumped in with the Beverly Hills receipt, were written for Lucille Ball (Mrs. Arnaz). All four receipts are dated in the September-December 1960 range. Two of them are made out to Mrs. Arnaz, the other two just Arnaz. Lucy and Desi divorced in May 1960, so Lucy was living in New York without Desi at that time. She was also starring on Broadway, which would account for the receipt address if she weren't already living there.

Here's one of the four New York receipts from New Star Market at 1214 Third Avenue.

I can't find anything more on the New Star Market, but you can read more about Lucy and Desi here (no reference to their grocery shopping habits, though...)

Indiana medical ephemera

2010-09-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a sampling of vintage Indiana medical ephemera--one doctor and several pharmacists to fill the scripts. I doubt this is representative of Indiana medicine in the late 1800s, but it was an interesting enough sample to make it part of my collection.

The lone doctor in the bunch, Dr. L.C. Cline, refers to his practice as "limited to the Throat, Nose & Ear (a TNE?). Today, that would be Ear, Nose & Throat, or ENT for short. For long, try Otolaryngology, the medical specialty that treats diseases of the ear, nose & throat. And by the way, Otolaryngology is the oldest medical specialty in the United States.

Here's Dr. Cline's script for a patient. Note that his office address and his home address are printed on the form. It was a simpler time...

And here come the pharmacists, lined up to fill those scripts.

Peters and Shoemaker from Whitestown, November 14, 1890:

Jones' Drug Store in Greencastle, December 3, 1891:

Ray & Sourwine Druggists, Bowling Green, September 28, 1881:

Another one from Greencastle... C.W. Landes & Co. Druggists, July 20, 1881:

Buntin and Armstrong Chemists and Pharmacists, Terre Haute, July 21, 1881:

Allen's Drug Store, another Greencastle druggist, November 14, 1881:

Bullfight at the Juarez Bull Ring

2010-09-01T06:22:00.000-07:00

The holder of this General Admission ticket to the Juarez Bull Ring was promised a "Great Bull Fight." Says so right on the ticket. For 50 cents American in 1935, one could take in a great bull fight across the border from El Paso. The Juarez Bull Ring is an historic arena, built sometime during the mid-19th century and later renamed the Alberto Balderas Bullring. I don't believe bullfighting goes on over there these days--there's another kind of fighting, and it's too dangerous for tourists. My wife grew up across the border and knew Juarez well enough. She showed me around when we were dating and after we were married. Used to be a fun place to go. Those days are gone like the bullfighting at the Juarez Bull Ring and even the other bull ring in town, Plaza de Toros Monumental, which was demolished to build a new Walmart, of all things. And that's no bull.

Guns and bikes

2010-08-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

How about a bicycle to go with that rifle?

Former Town Clerk, Hiram Barton, had no need for either the day this billhead was prepared. He merely stopped by to pay the balance on his account. Could that balance have been for a bicycle? A gun?

W.M. Hastings of South Shaftsbury, Vermont was the man to see for all your gun, ammo, and bicycle needs back in 1898. Seems like an odd association today, perhaps not so much back then. He also sold "other supplies," so maybe there was a little something for everyone.

But was this a firearms and ammunition store that also sold bicycles or was it a bicycle shop that happened to also sell guns and ammo?

I think the former. Until the 1890s, bicycles enjoyed no popularity among the masses--they were toys of the well-to-do. That changed in the 1890s with a revolutionary design that made the bicycle safe and accessible for all. And probably something for which a firearms and ammunition shop could make extra cash by having a few stocked on the side.

Read all about the 1890s "Bicycle Craze" HERE.

Telegram: Getting remarried in El Paso

2010-08-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

Back in the "old days"... Before there was an Internet and email and before telephone service became popular enough and long distance calls became cheap enough, the best technology for delivering messages was via the telegram, such as this one below.

Here is a 1923 Western Union telegram from El Paso, Texas to Alpine, Texas, with the happy news that Arthur and Lillie had "adjusted all differences" and would remarry in a few days. That phrasing makes me wonder if the couple actually resolved all their differences or merely made some adjustments to accommodate them. The tone and wording make me suspicious of the second time around being the charm for these two.

From Retro-Gram.com, here's how Lillie would have gone about wiring the good news to friends or relatives in Alpine:

"People sent telegrams by calling a telegraph office and dictating a message over the phone to an operator: the cost of the service was added to the customer’s phone bill. Customers could also appear in person at a telegraph office and write their message on a blank form, which would then be rendered into Morse code. Telegraph companies supplied pads of blank forms to business customers, and messenger boys would carry the forms to the telegraph office throughout the business day. Full-rate telegrams were hand-delivered by a company courier, but some cheaper services featured telegrams that were delivered by mail. In some European cities telegrams were also delivered via pneumatic tubes."

Telegrams likely outlasted Lillie and Arthur, finally succumbing 83 years later to the Internet Age and lack of demand. In 2006, the wires were metaphorically cut and telegram service died. The announcement came over the Internet. Ironic. Stop.

The obituary for the venerable old service, as well as a part of American culture, was reported in various newspapers and online venues. They're not hard to find. Click HERE for one example.

The Cosmic Aeroplane

2010-08-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

Crossposting from Bibliophemera, this ephemeral piece of paper seemed a natural fit for this blog, too.

Here's a relic from those heady (pun intended) counterculture days of the 1960s-70s when headshops appeared on the scene. I remember one close to where I grew up that was called a record shop, but it was a headshop, too. As a teenager circa 1969-1972, my memories of that place were incense, paraphernalia that had nothing to do with music (or perhaps it did in an enhancement kind of way), hippie-looking staff and patrons, and some really cool records. I got introduced to the music of Townes Van Zandt there with his 1972 album, The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. But I digress.

Getting back to that other headshop... In a Salt Lake magazine article by John Pecorelli, a brief history of the Cosmic Aeroplane credits Stephen Jones with opening the business in 1967 as a headshop (the first in Salt Lake City, I'm sure). According to the article, the Cosmic Aeroplane developed a loyal counterculture following:

While Jones’ Cosmic Aeroplane was a good place to find out about bands coming Utah and purchase “imported beads and bells from San Francisco,” the shop, originally located on 900 E. and 900 S., provided a rallying point for Utah’s expanding consciousness until its closure in 1991. Books, used records, underground comix and dope paraphernalia were available, and with a move to larger digs, the Aeroplane opened an experimental theater in back (the Human Ensemble, then featuring KSL news fixture Shelley Osterloh). The larger space also accommodated a draft counseling center run by Hal Sparck, who had frequent legal wrangles with the Selective Service as a result, but always prevailed.

I don't know if books were part of the mix when the place opened, or if they were gradually introduced into the shop's inventory, but in 1977 two new business partners ensured its legacy as a bookstore. Bruce Roberts and rare book dealer Ken Sanders provided an infusion of cash and expertise in books to help the shop blossom into a million-dollar business (at least one year reportedly).

This trade card or business card may be from the Roberts-Sanders era, as the address given is 366 South West Temple and the original location, stated in the quoted passage above, was elsewhere. Regardless, its ancestry boasts of vintage 1960s. But nothing lasts forever. By 1991 the Salt Lake City icon of counterculture and subversive literature and music met its demise, reported here in the Deseret News.

Oil mystery from the Hotel Brazos

2010-06-29T09:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a page from an undated letter, written on a Houston hotel's letterhead circa 1910 (judging by the letterhead image). Page 6 is all I have here, plus the unnumbered backside (so page 7, too). But it's enough to generate a mystery and shift one's imagination into high gear.

Something's going on here with an oil discovery near the Houston area I would assume. Here's what transpires after the missing first five pages:

But somehow they are afraid of something, and therefore will all be dead by the time oil is discovered--and, even further, if they sold an option outright at a good figure which would make them rich, they would at least have the benefit of money whether there is oil or not. It's very hard to make. Some people see this.

Now, if after a few more days, I know where I'll be, I will telegraph again, so you can send mail once more. Then, you all may have something to tell me that I do not think of now.

Love to dad and all the family,

Your loving son,
Parkey(?)

Do with this letter as you wish.

Who's writing this letter? A young man is writing to his mother, obviously frustrated over a failed business deal. Perhaps he's a landman for an oil company trying to secure drilling rights.

Who's the property owner who will die before oil is discovered on his property?

And why does the mystery writer instruct his mother to do with the letter as she sees fit? Some reason to destroy it? Show it to someone else? Hide it?

A bit of intrigue and mystery here, but the answers lie in the first five pages lost to eternity. The oil fields around Houston those first few decades of the twentieth century were ripe for discoveries. Some property owners evidently were not impressed with what they'd seen or heard and wanted nothing to do with oil companies and drillers on their land or anyone connected with them, such as the frustrated writer of this letter, or the company he represented.

Maybe that had something to do with the downside of such speculative ventures, as outlined in these paragraphs from the Texas State Historical Association's Texas Almanac:

Spindletop, which was also the first salt-dome oil discovery, triggered a flood of speculation in the area, resulting in several other significant discoveries. The boom included an influx of hundreds of eager wildcatters – including former Governor James Stephen Hogg – lusting after a piece of the action, as well as thousands of workers looking for jobs. Right behind them came a tidal wave of related service, supply and manufacturing firms, such as refineries, pipelines and oil-field equipment manufacturers and dealers. It was California's fabled Gold Rush of 50 years earlier repeated on the Texas Gulf Coast with rotary drill bits and derricks instead of pick axes and gold pans.

The boom turned into a feeding frenzy of human sharks: scores of speculators sniffing out a quick buck; scam artists peddling worthless leases; and prostitutes, gamblers and liquor dealers, all looking for a chunk of the workers' paychecks.

Documents from the National Archives

2010-06-09T04:48:00.000-07:00

For historical paper that really matters, check out this site from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/

sample screenshot below

Each day, a new document with interesting and educational content is featured. I've got an RSS feed for it in the side bar of this blog (to the right). Enjoy!

Eugene O'Neill playbill

2010-05-23T15:15:00.001-07:00

I've got about half-a-dozen drafts of blog posts cooking here and none of them ready to serve up. I wanted to post something and keep the blog alive, so I reviewed some of my old posts on another ephemera blog and found something appropriate.

This is a 1963 playbill for Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, which I found tucked away inside a worn copy of the book of the same title. The play was being performed at the McCarter Theatre of Princeton University during October and November of that year. As a playbill, there's nothing remarkable or interesting about it, except it features an up-and-coming young actress in the play and a concert ad for a young singer-songwriter beginning to make his mark in the music world.

First, the ad. Flipping through the program I came across a concert ad for Bob Dylan, "America's newest folksong sensation" appearing in person November 16th, his only college appearance that fall. And shouldn't that be "America's newest folksinging or folksinger sensation?"

Grammatical correctness aside, as I flipped through the pages, I also found the star of the play, whose photo on the front cover I hadn't recognized... Olympia Dukakis. Ahh, I thought she looked familiar.

So what else might be in this playbill? More plays that Ms. Dukakis was starring in, plus an ad for a famous Russian puppeteer, Sergei Obratsov.

A good bit of celebrity packed into this little college playbill. But I'm intrigued most by the Bob Dylan ad, being a big fan of his music. Trying to find some cosmic coincidence of fate for pairing Dylan with this early '60s playbill, one has to look no further than the play's 1912 character, Mary Tyrone (Olympia Dukakis) and her drug addiction (morphine). And it was drug addiction, or the drug culture and drug usage, that permeated and partially characterized the artistic, political, and philosophical counter-cultural movements of the 1960s.

Maybe that's a stretch, but, at any rate, the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, who became a somewhat reluctant icon for his generation, had recently recorded his second album. His appearance at Princeton, one of the earliest solo concerts of his brief career at that point, would occur a mere six days before President Kennedy's assassination. The seeds of his enormous success and cultural influence and the wave of counter-culture revolution were, at that time, blowin' in the wind.

1963 album cover for Dylan's second album

Nick Manoloff, Spanish Guitar & B.B. King

2010-05-15T11:42:00.001-07:00

From a 2004 interview with B.B. King:

There was a guy called Nick Manoloff. Nick Manoloff had books. Guitar instruction books in the Sears Roebuck catalogue, the big one. I'd order those books and I studied them religiously, and that's how I learned to put my fingers on -- learned how to tune the guitar and learned my first bit of learning how to read music.

I doubt B.B. King used one of these music wheels. Certainly not this one, as it was for Spanish guitar (Nick Manoloff's Modern Accompaniment Guide for Spanish Guitar). Plus it's copyrighted 1935. B.B. would have been too young. But Nick Manoloff stayed in business publishing guitar instruction and a young B.B. King caught up to him one day and bought one of his books to learn something about playing the guitar. The rest, as they say, is history.

I haven't a clue about how to use one of these things, but I liked the piece and wanted to post it here. It came in a binder full of assorted paper items I acquired earlier this year. There's an interesting blog called Airform Archives where you can go to find out how to use it.

Water receipt from the Nevada Territory

2010-02-04T14:34:00.000-08:00

Many of the states in America were first Territories of the United States, or parts of Territories, and later became states. I particularly like finding ephemera that indicate the Territory status for a state, such as the 1864 Nevada billhead above.

This is a receipt from the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Works (payable to the Water Company). Their office was in Virginia, N.T., as noted on the billhead. The N.T., of course, standing for Nevada Territory. Virginia is now Virginia City.

Nevada tried to become a state in 1863, but failed over disagreements about wording in the state constitution that was seen as unfavorable to the mining industry. The 1864 constitution was reworked and approved. On October 31, President Lincoln proclaimed Nevada a state in the United States. A concise history of Nevada's transition to statehood is found here.

Several months prior to statehood, and per this billhead, the Savage Mining Company was billed $150 for "renting" one month of water by the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Works. The Savage Mining Company, among many others, mined the Comstock Lode in Storey County, Nevada.

As mining operations and the general population increased in the Comstock communities, so too did the water consumption. To keep up with the demand, the Virginia City and Gold Hill Water Company was formed. More interesting history here about the development of the greatest pressurized water system in operation in the world.

Indy 500 brochure, 1968

2010-02-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

Here's a promotional brochure for the Indy 500 sent out in advance of the 1968 Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman, offers a welcome message on the front page, followed by the history and features of the complex.

I bought it because we're IndyCar racing fans, but in particular we support the A.J. Foyt Racing team, of which my step-son is a crewmember (mechanic). This brochure features Foyt in his number 14 car, honoring him as the winner, and defending champion, of the 1967 Indy 500. It was his third win at Indy and he would go on to win a record fourth Indy 500 in addition to a many other titles in his long career.

Below are a few momentos from our trip to the Indy 500 in 2008. The Foyt team didn't win, but we had the privilege of going down to the track for a few photo ops. I got to pose with the Borg Warner trophy before the race ceremonies began. And my wife got to kneel on the bricks at the finish line. Maybe this year we'll have a picture of the 14 car crossing the bricks for the win.

A few words about printed ephemera

2010-01-31T05:27:00.000-08:00

I'm cross-posting this from the Bibliophemera blog because it's just as appropriate here as it is there.

Here's a nice descriptive piece about printed ephemera, which I was pleased to receive from William R. Holman. It was a nice surprise and most appreciated. I tried fitting it into the side column for permanent display, as its wordsmithing is most appropriate for this blog. But it just wasn't readable scaled down to fit. So here it is in a regular post, which is better than not sharing it at all. Enjoy!

Mr. Holman's memoir, The Orphans' Nine Commandments tells the incredibly poignant story of what a young Oklahoma boy had to overcome during the Great Depression to find success in life as an innovative librarian, award-winning book designer, printer, publisher, and writer.

I feel honored that he shared with me his thoughts about printed ephemera. Thanks again, Bill.

Eastern Airlines Ticket 1950s

2010-01-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

Here is an Eastern Airlines ticket in its original jacket or envelope from the early 1950s (best guess). I've taken nine photos showing the different components in this piece.

The cover illustration depicts Eastern's fleet.

The back shows Eastern's routes and advertises the aircraft by name in the fleet.

Inside is the actual ticket with no less than four reminders about confirming (or losing!) your reservation, a baggage claim, and an ad for Sinclair Aircraft Oil.

There are three airplanes in the Eastern Airlines fleet featured on this ticket envelope: Super Constellation, New-Type Constellation, and Silver Falcon.

Here's a video of Arthur Godfrey doing a promo for Eastern Airlines, flying in a Super Constellation, circa 1953.

I can remember flying on some of these old birds when I was a small child. My dad liked Eastern so we usually flew Eastern on trips back east from Texas in the late 1950s through 1960s. I always feel a bit nostalgic when I see an old Eastern Airlines piece, which conjures up vacation memories of family members who have long since passed. Hope this will stir a few good memories for others.

Pittsburgh Pork Packers 1883

2010-01-20T05:18:00.000-08:00

The alliterative title sounded catchy in my head, but my first choice was to just use the company's name--E.H. Myers & Co. And they were actually pork and beef packers, as the subtitle in their name indicates on their billhead below.

The banner at the left of this billhead informs customers of the day that they also were curers of hams (sugar cured), shoulders, breakfast bacon, dried beef, and beef tongues. Additionally, they were also dealers in cheese lard and carbon and lard oils.

The fine print in red ink to the left of the banner, running vertically alongside the banner, makes a curious (to me) statement: We do not guarantee PLAIN MEATS against Skippers. Plain meats is in caps for emphasis. Skippers is capitalized as a proper noun would be. That's too interesting to not research, so I did.

Anyone who has cured hams or bacon would know about this, I guess. I've never done it and knew nothing about skippers. According to information I found at pestproducts.com, skippers are insects, or pests, that look like flies and feed off moldy cheese or slightly putrid meats like hams. They are commonly called cheese skippers or ham skippers. The image here is what E.H. Myers & Co. wouldn't guarantee their meats against.

The backside of this billhead has an interesting piece of writing. It's dated January 1st, 1882 and contains the rules adopted by the Pork Packers of Pittsburgh.

Apparently, the guarantees on smoked and cured meats had been abused by both sellers and buyers of meats in Pittsburgh so much that the handling of these meats had deteriorate into neglect and carelessness under the assumption of unlimited warranty. Therefore, certain rules of guarantee were put into place to protect both the seller and buyer.

The first two rules about inspecting and hanging in a cool, dry place and plain meats not being guaranteed against Skippers are also reiterated on the front side of the billhead. Rules 3 and 4 concern the conditions of returns.

Living in the litigious society of today, I wonder if in 1882 lawsuits may have played a role in the conditions and rules being stated on company correspondence such as this billhead. More likely, at that time, the clarifications and caveats had more to do with angry customers and bottom line.

One last item... Researching E.H. Myers led me to a great Web site: David Rumsey Map Collection ~ Cartography Associates. Here I found an image (engraved print) of E.H. Myers' residence in Pittsburgh. Looks like the meat packing business was very, very good to Mr. Myers and family!

Jingle bells in January with sleigh robes

2010-01-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

If I were to make New Year's resolutions, which I don't do, one of them would be to post more on this blog. It's the runt of the litter of three blogs I maintain. It got started later than the others and usually gets pushed aside when I'm rationing out writing time for the blogs.

So for the first post of the new year, here's a winter-related item--a billhead for a company that manufactured sleigh robes, among other driving goods for sleighs and, I would assume, carriages.

Nothing too fancy on this billhead, but I was interested in the product. I had never heard the term "sleigh robe" before, so I did a little digging.

This would have been a timely post before Christmas, but...

Jingle Bells, though associated with Christmas, was not intended as a Christmas song when James Lord Pierpont published it in 1857. It's primarily a winter song associated with riding in a sleigh that evolved into one of the most popular Christmas songs ever.

Dashing through the snow,
in a one-horse open sleigh...

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!

No references to Christmas, just a ride in the cold and snow. So how did those folks keep warm in that open sleigh dashing through the snow? With sleigh robes, of course. Heavy, warm blankets of animal hides from buffalo, bears, cows, horses, beaver, or whatever got the job done. In the early days, more plentiful animals were used like beaver, bear and buffalo. I've read accounts of raccoon furs being used also.

L. Zechiel, located at 554 Broadway in New York City, is the company on the billhead. The date of the transaction is Aug. 31, 1888. As the small print under the company name indicates, L. Zechiel imported animal skins for making sleigh robes. And as the animal graphic on the billhead indicates, some pretty exotic skins were imported for more discriminating tastes in keeping warm in open sleighs. The company used the image of what appears to be a tiger on their billhead. A tiger hide sleigh robe? I hope not, but back then who knows. Probably.

Growing up in Texas and in the latter half of the twentieth century, I had never heard of a sleigh robe, but I guess I should have. I have an old 1920s photograph of my grandfather driving a sleigh in New Hampshire, taking some of the family down off the hill where they lived to the state road where they could have gotten into a car and been on their way. For the sleigh ride, they must have kept warm with a heavy blanket or old sleigh robe.

Also, my wife and I opted for a buggy ride in New York one chilly night after a Broadway show instead of walking in the cold air back to our hotel. I remember now that the driver covered us in a thick, warm blanket for the ride, as the temperature had dropped into the 30s. A modern day sleigh robe, I suppose. I don't recall any orange stripes or exotic patterns.

Curious about what business might now occupy 554 Broadway, I typed the address into a Google search and came up with Banana Republic at 552-554 Broadway in NY. Talk about opposite ends of the retail spectrum. I'd be willing to bet all I have that you can't buy a sleigh robe today at Banana Republic.

Baskets from Williams Manufacturing, Northampton, Massachusetts

2009-12-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

Williams Manufacturing in Northampton, Massachusetts was known for its fine baskets in the 19th century. A basket was included in the logo for this billhead from 1897.

The Central and Western Massachusetts digital library project known as Digital Treasures, has a nice photo in their archives that puts a "business face," so to speak, on the paper ephemera.

Wheel Cafe Salutes the 1939 Cincinnati Reds

2009-11-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a 1939 Cincinnati cafe menu that congratulates the hometown nine on a championship season.

First, the menu, and then we'll get to what really matters--baseball!

The menu is from the Wheel Cafe in Cincinnati, at Walnut near Sixth. If you couldn't find something at this cafe to like, there was little hope for you. A variety of sandwiches to choose from, including grilled frankfurter and bratwurst sandwiches. No peanut butter and jelly here.

For a quarter you could have gotten the Self Serve Platter Dinner, which included on this day (it changed daily) your choice of meat or fish and two vegetables, salad, rolls, and butter. A quarter!

Pricier entrees included prime rib, chicken, Veal cutlet with spaghetti, pork chops, Swiss steak, and sirloin steak. For dessert, there were fresh baked fruit pies and that original Wheel creation, Old Fashioned Apple Cake. Hungry yet?

Another thing about those prices... Add up the prices for everything on the menu and it totals $4.25. Amazing. That amount of money wouldn't get you very far on a 2009 menu.

Beer and cocktails were on the menu also to help you wash down all that good food. And speaking of beer... The earliest mention of the Wheel Cafe I can find comes from an old Federal Writers' Project book, Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City and its Neighbors. In that book, we learn that on the eve of Prohibition, in 1919, a reporter was on hand at the Wheel Cafe in Cincinnati to record the events:

On May 26, 1919, local bars and beer parlors accommodated overflow crowds. All day and well into the evening men drank at their favorite saloons, a little stunned by the fact that the next day would bring prohibition. Everywhere the cash registers snapped with staccato rings; in some places trade ran to $20,000.
As the closing hour drew near, an Enquirer reporter was on hand to record the historic moment.

Midnight in front of the Wheel Cafe resembled the old Klondyke days... Two hundred men, each carrying a battle, a jug, or a case of liquor, thronged the barroom.

Fisher Bacharach, the manager, stood on the table. Coatless, and with sleeves rolled up, he waved his left hand filled with bills of all denominations.

"The town is dry," he announced. "Outside everybody," he commanded.

And so, at 12:01 o'clock, Cincinnati... passed into the shadow of the valley of ice cream and ginger ale.

Fast forward to 1933... The Wheel Cafe figured prominently and historically in Cincinnati when Prohibition was repealed, becoming the first establishment to receive a shipment of beer.

From Over the Barrel: The Brewing History and Beer Culture of Cincinnati, by Timothy Holian (Sudhaus Press, 2 vols., 2001):

As it turned out, the Bruckmann Company was the only Cincinnati-area brewery fully licensed and prepared for the repeal of Prohibition and immediately able to deliver beer shipments; other beer was brought in from Louisville, Chicago, Columbus, and Milwaukee as it became available, to help satisfy the initial heavy demand. At precisely 12:01 a.m. on April 7, 1933, the first Bruckmann truck left the loading docks at Central Parkway and Ludlow Avenue and headed toward downtown Cincinnati, to deliver the first legal supply of beer since January 18, 1920 to the Wheel Cafe, on Walnut Street. The joy of patrons there at the return of beer was diminished slightly by a lengthy wait to purchase the product; actual sale of beer at the Wheel Cafe did not commence until 9:00 a.m. due to delays in the retail sales permit process. Other establishments had better luck with the government; by 1:00 a.m. the Ohio State Liquor Control Commission—which had set up a temporary office in the Hotel Metropole—had granted 138 area permits for the first day of beer sales, to 115 bars, sixteen grocery stores, and seven wholesale distributors. In a later reminiscence a longtime Wheel Cafe employee recalled the typical response when the first glasses of draft Bruck’s Beer finally crossed the counter at area drinking establishments, where overflow crowds consumed a continuous flow that quickly tested the abilities of the bartenders—and the beer supply—to keep up with the rush:

People lined up 10 to 15 deep on Walnut Street between Fifth and Sixth, just waiting to get in to get a taste. We didn’t figure they’d do much eating, so we almost did away with the platter lunches. The only food we served was sandwiches which were wrapped ahead of time. ... We had only the lower floor open when they started packing in. There were at least nine bartenders on the job. Soon [I was sent] upstairs to open up another bar on the second floor. At both bars we would set up a barrel of beer ... open the spigot and let it run. We never had to shut off the spigot, so fast did that beer move. We just shoved the half-liter and liter glasses and mugs across the bars. [The customers] would toss their money on the bar, grab a beer and stand aside. We would throw the money into the open register. It went on like that all day.

Now to the ballpark for a dog and a beer and to watch those champion Reds.

Flip the menu over for a look into Cincinnati baseball history.

The Reds won the National League pennant in 1939 (the year of this menu) with players such as Al Simmons, Eddie Joost, Johnny Vander Meer, Ernie Lombardi, Paul Derringer, Bucky Walters, and Harry Craft. Vince DiMaggio was on the team, too (see below).

Following are some anecdotes about several of the players (I used to eat baseball trivia when I was a kid!) from memory and a bit of research for verification:

Johnny Vander Meer is the only pitcher ever to throw back-to-back no-hitters, which he did in 1938.

Ernie Lombardi caught both of Vander Meer's games, but is probably best remembered for what happened in the 1939 World Series against the Yankees. With the game tied 4-4 in the 10th inning, and Cincy needing a win to stay alive in the Series, Joe DiMaggio singled in a runner, Charlie Keller, for the go-ahead run. Keller scored on a close play at the plate in which Lombardi was knocked silly. DiMaggio circled the bases crossing home untouched as Lombardi lay on the ground still in a fog. Lombardi, known as the Schnozz, became a part of baseball folklore that day, with the episode dubbed "The Schnozz's Snooze" or "Lombardi's Big Snooze."

Vince DiMaggio was traded to the Reds by the Yankees (farm team) at the end of the 1939 season and played in only eight games for the Reds. He had no plate appearances against the Yankees and brother Joe DiMaggio in the World Series, which the Yankees swept in four games, by the way.

I remember Harry Craft, of course, because he was the first manager of my hometown team, the Houston Colt .45s, a National League expansion team in 1962. I can remember going out to old Colt Stadium with my brother and father for a few games in those early years, so I'm sure I saw Craft at some point, but had no idea who was who. I was only six. My dad did point out Stan Musial in one game and impress upon me the fact that he was one of the game's greatest hitters ever.

Craft also figured in the historic second no-hitter in Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back gems, having caught Leo Durocher's flyball for the last out in the ninth inning to clinch Vander Meer's spot in the record books for eternity.

Craft got his managing start in the Yankees farm system. Mickey Mantle, on his quick trip through the minors, first came under Harry Craft's tutelage and later complimented Craft, saying, "I was lucky to have Harry as skipper my first two years. He started me out right."

Later in the 1950s, Craft was managing in Kansas City and a young Roger Maris credited Craft for helping him with his hitting. A few years later, Maris was traded to the Yankees and had his historic season in 1961, breaking Babe Ruth's single season home run record. No asterisks here. If you're a fan of baseball history, and have not seen Billy Crystal's film, 61*, order it from Netflix or your neighborhood video store now. You won't be sorry. Especially nice for you Yankees fans in the Hot Stove League.

As far as I can tell, the Wheel Cafe is long gone, but the Reds are still playing baseball. And in 1976, the Big Red Machine finally avenged the 1939 World Series loss to the Yankees with a sweep of their own.

9/11 ephemera

2009-09-11T15:18:00.000-07:00

Browsing the Ephemera Society of America site today, I found an article about an interesting collection that focuses on 9/11. From an ephemera standpoint, you can't get any more topical than that on the this day, the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Michael Ragsdale is the collector. The article originally appeared in the Northeast Journal of Antiques & Art. and provides links to a 9/11 digital archive that includes the Michael Ragsdale Flyer Collection.

White Mountain Freezer Company

2009-09-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

I've been in a New Hampshire state of mind the last several days after talking with friends about vacationing there and after reading Donald Hall's memoir from last year, Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of a Life in Poetry.

Donald Hall served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2006 to 2007 and hails from New Hampshire (by way of Connecticut and Michigan), where he's lived and worked at his craft on his grandparents' farm for the last 35 years or so. I like Mr. Hall's poetry, but his essays rooted in New Hampshire and his personal landscape are my favorite (Seasons at Eagle Pond, Here at Eagle Pond). And I recently found a "lost" letter I received from him about 15 years ago (subject for another blog later).

Anyway, all this had me thinking NH and I remembered an old billhead I plucked off ebay a year or two back. It's from the White Mountain Freezer Co., manufacturers of White Mountain Ice Cream Freezers.

The billhead is dated April 11, 1898 and the officers of the company are listed as F.W. Estabrook, President; George A. Rollins, Vice President; and L.F. Thurber, Treasurer and General Manager. The company was located in Nashua, New Hampshire.

As for the company's history, hats off to Sam Streubel who blogged about the company and its history here. I was mildly disappointed to learn from his research that the company left New Hampshire, home to the White Mountains, in 1963, having been purchased by the Alaska Freezer Company. That they had begun in Laconia, New Hampshire in 1872 and stayed there nearly a hundred years counts for something where longevity is concerned. And they didn't move too far from Nashua. The buyout resulted in their relocation south to neighboring state Massachusetts.

The company was shuttled through several other owners in the next 40 years or so and, like everything else it seems, their ice cream freezer is now being made in China. That was very disappointing to read. Streubel also reports that complaints about the ice cream maker have surfaced since the manufacturing end of the product moved overseas.

I bought my dad one (he an ex-pat from New Hampshire) in the mid-1980s, so I know it was made in the good ol' USA. And I can personally attest to the quality of that ice cream maker, not to mention the ice cream it makes!

And if you happen to like these old ice cream freezers, or maybe even collect the White Mountain and others, you'll want to visit this site if you haven't already.

Illustrated cover - 1930 airplane

2009-07-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

Here's an illustrated cover with an intriguing picture--an airplane in a nose-dive. Could be crashing, as the accompanying text asks the question, "Why take a chance on a forced landing?"

This intrigues me because I can't figure out the reference. Does it have to do with an aircraft manufacturer? Insurance? Religion? (addressed to a Reverend) The only clues, if you can call them that, are the number 14 below the text and the return address--a P.O. box in Richmond, Virginia. Nothing on the back of the envelope. That would be poor advertising for a company or business.

This appears to be a message or warning more than a company slogan. That assumption, together with the fact that the envelope is addressed to a Reverend, leads me to believe the contents and/or sender are connected with something of a religious nature.

The vintage airplane bears resemblance to the Lindbergh plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, if that means anything. I don't think so. For now, it remains an intriguing, unsolved mystery.

Grangers' Bank of California

2009-05-30T07:20:00.009-07:00

Here's an example of a late nineteenth century California bank letterhead. This letter from the Grangers' Bank in San Francisco was sent to William Shipsey on January 6, 1892.

William Shipsey was an attorney and notary in San Luis Obispo. He served as mayor from 1898-1901. Later, in 1912, he became president of the public library.

Grangers' Bank of California was incorporated in April 1874, as indicated on the letterhead. From the Grange history reported on the Web site of the Museum of the San Ramon Valley:

In April, 1874, [Charles] Wood and John Chrisman met with delegates of the other 130 subordinate (local) Granges and California Grange officers to found the Grangers' Bank of California.

A Harvard University Press publication in 1913, The Granger Movement: A Study of Agricultural Organization and its Political, Economic, and Social Manifestations, 1870-1880, by Solon Justus Buck, offers this brief history:

The bank opened its doors on Aug 1, 1874 and within a year had two million dollars on deposit and a paid up capital of about half a million dollars It seems to have had a successful career and is reported to have saved the farmers of the state a large amount of money at a time of depression in the wheat market by loaning them three million dollars and thus enabling them to hold their wheat for a rise in the market.

I got the letter with its matching envelope--great logo with the anchor, scicle, and wheat.

Agnes Botanic Company

2009-03-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a letter from Agnes Botanic Company on company letterhead--New York, 1885. I thought this was an interesting logo for a company, especially a botanical/patent medicine company.

So who was Agnes and what was it about her that her image would be deemed appropriate for a botanical company?

I found one (and the only) answer on a Web site for a current-day company with similar products to that of their namesake company from the 1880s: Sister Agnes Soap. Their FAQ offers some clues about their Agnes, informing us that she was a virgin saint martyred at age 10 or 12 and is the patron saint of girls. Don't know if that is the same Agnes, but the company uses a similar logo.

Looks like an interesting little company with a very creative and interesting looking Web site. I hope they are thought of in a better light than their counterparts in 1885. The following jab at patent medicine in general, and Agnes Botanic in particular, was included in the Chicago Medical Review, Volumes V and VI, January 1882 to December 1882:

Religious Newspapers And "Botanic Medicines."—Some benighted patent medicine man took the Alienist and Neurologist for a religious journal. The recent article of the editor on moral insanity doubtless led to this mistake, which, however, does not reflect credit on the patent medicine man's intelligence. The editor makes the following apt editorial reply:

"To the Agnes Botanic Company: The Alienist and Neurologist is not a religious journal, its editor is not a divine (that point at least is settled), and is not interested in disseminating the wonderful virtues of the ' Sister Agnes Herb Cure,' and consequently cannot engage to hand your communication ' to the principal newsdealer of our congregation.' "

C.W.F. Dare - Carousels, Carriages & Toys

2009-03-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

Here's an artistic and aesthetically pleasing letterhead from one of the best craftsmen in his trade at the time this letter was written (1874)--C.W.F. Dare, of Brooklyn.

Dare seems to have been in business from the 1860s to 1890s, starting out making hobby horses. He later expanded his line to include children's carriages, toys, and carousel horses, for which he may best be remembered.

He pioneered a style of horse known as County Fair. While less sophisticated stylistically than what his competitors were crafting, Dare's creations were built for endurance and mobility, featuring the rare flying horse style where the horse swings outward as the carousel builds up speed. Their construction also allowed for greater portability in the world of one-night carnival stands. This simplistic carving style gained many followers in the trade.

The company added other animals to the carousel (camels, deer, donkeys and elephants) and also made the carousel platforms upon which the animals were placed.

One of Dare's carousels, made in the 1880s, is the oldest carousel still in operation today in the United States. The Flying Horses can be found on Martha's Vineyard.

Research on C.W.F. Dare led me to The Splendid Peasant, Ltd., whose owners, Martin and Kitty Jacobs, deal in beautiful antique American Folk Art. They have kindly given me permission to use their photo of a C.W.F. Dare Carousel horse, circa early 1900s (sold from their gallery). Anyone interested in American folk art antiques will enjoy browsing the pages, gallery, and archives of this Web site.

For more information about Charles W.F. Dare and his and other carousels, a must read is Painted Ponies, by William Manns, Peggy Shank, and Marianne Stevens.

Dr. McGill's Orange Blossom Cure

2009-01-28T19:01:00.006-08:00

Here is a brochure for a patent medicine cure typical of the 19th century snake oil industry: The Famous Specific Orange Blossom, a Positive Cure for All Female Diseases. Getting down to specific claims, there's this: A safe and sure remedy for ovarian tumors in their early stages. Wow! J.A. McGill, M.D. was the quack behind this junk.

The copy below is in my collection, but I found a digital copy in the Duke University Libraries collection: Emergence of Advertising in America, 1850-1920. Click the links and poke around a little. It's a pretty nice collection of ephemera.