Category Archives: Trade Cards and Advertising

German Yeast Company Trade Card

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German Yeast Company Trade Card tc1German Yeast Company Trade Card tc2

Here’s a lovely old trade card from about 1890 with an autumn-winter theme. For the design, the artist has “gathered” three outdoor scenes, some maple leaves, some acorns on their branches, and some long blades of golden grass. If you are doing a double-take, and thinking, “I thought acorns were on oak trees,” then, of course, you are right. As, at first glance, one might assume the leaves are attached to the oak branches; unless they are supposed to be leaves from the red oak, but the leaves don’t look long enough for that. But it’s more likely that the artist just meant to depict a nice autumn arrangement with the pictures. As you can see, this trade card has some writing on it (which is a bit unusual.) Someone with the initials R.L.B. signed the bottom and wrote  “Dalis, Texas.”  at the top left, which was just a misspelling of Dallas.

The German Yeast Company shows up online in an 1890 publication entitled Seeger and Guernsey’s Cyclopaedia of the Manufactures and Products of the United States. They were reported at that time to be manufacturing
“dry hop yeast” in contrast to the other companies that had been reported to be producing compressed yeast, yeast cakes, yeast powder, and even sugar-coated yeast cakes.

Trade card, circa 1890.  Size:  5 and 1/4 x 3 and 5/8″

Price:  $15.00

Source:  Seeger and Guernsey’s Cyclopaedia of the Manufactures and Products of the United States. New York:  The Seeger & Guernsey Company, 1890. p. 619. Web accessed November 19, 2014. (Google eBook)

As You Like It Horse Radish

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As You Like It Horse Radish tc

 Old advertisement, circa 1907.  Size including cardboard back:  2 and 3/4 x 4 and 1/2″

Price:  $6.00

This is an old advertisement that someone had pasted on to a piece of cardboard, not in pristine shape due to the crease running across the middle, and I suppose due to the fact that it was pasted at all. The brand was called “As You Like It” and was made by the U.S. Horse Radish Co. of Saginaw, Michigan. As you can see it was advertised as  “absolutely pure and clean, as in its manufacture and bottling it is never touched by human hands.”  Going on to say that the  ” ‘Peddled’ kind was generally dirty (often filthy) and adulterated with turnip and white pepper to sharpen it, with most of its pungency and flavor gone.”  This particular ad can be found in the July – December 1907 Life magazine. (I love the horse.) And ten cents for a large bottle. Imagine!

Records were found from 1903 through 1912 for this company. The earliest being a U.S. Patent Office record shows an entry of   “40, 207. HORSERADISH. Julius C. Vogt, Saginaw, Mich. Filed Mar. 16, 1903  AS YOU LIKE IT  The words ‘As You Like It.’ Used since October 1902.”  A 1904 factory inspection publication shows for April 14th, (only naming the city for the address) under the heading of “Sausage and mincemeat” for “Kinds of goods manufactured or handled” that they were employing 7 men, 4 women, and no one under age 16. The Polk’s Saginaw City Directory for 1909 has a listing as follows:   “UNITED STATES HORSE RADISH CO,  Wallis Craig Smith Pres, J C Vogt Vice-Pres and Genl Mngr, Emil F Vogt Sec, Otto W Vogt Treas, Mnfrs and Producers of  ‘As You Like it’  Food Products, 219-223 N Water, Tels Mich 334, Val 554.”  One of the 1912 references found shows a different address of 219 N. Tilden St. in Saginaw. This company sold many other products including sea foods, breakfast cereals, popcorn and peanut butter.

Reading the ad posted here brought up a funny childhood memory of Dad often making a joke that something was “untouched by human hands” if for example you were being passed something at the dinner table. But since Grandpa “Pappy” was born and raised in Saginaw, I wonder if this saying was something that had passed from father to son, having originated with the As You Like It horseradish ad. It’s possible. This brings up the idea in general of those kind of “running jokes.” What tickles us? What phrases do we hold on to for that reason, and even communicate with? And after storing up tons of phrases over the years, how many days in a row could you use only them (provided the person you’re talking to is with you on all the jokes) to communicate with? A very small portion of the sayings flying around in my household are:  The defense is wrong…I wore this ridiculous thing for you… the two ‘yutes’…Does that thing come turbo-charged? Only on the floor models. (My Cousin Vinny). President Not Sure…idiocracy (the term, in general, which is never more relevant than it is today)…Now back to you, Formica…We got this guy, Not Sure…I like money, though. (Idiocracy). Your vacuum cleaner ate my pants; there was nothin’ I could do about it. (Pepsi ad with Dave Chappelle). My room was filled with long-stem roses… My butler knew exactly how I took my tea…I was not to be awoken before 10 a.m….I think of this as a temporary exile. (Celebrity? Lines Cruises).  I’m outdoors you know…The clock on the wall says 3 o’clock…Everybody funny, now you funny, too…Lord, she was lovey-dovey…That don’t befront me, long as I get my money next Friday. (George Thorogood’s version of “One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer”). I see you T. Hunter (or whoever has just made a great play, or gotten a big hit. (Rod Allen, former Detroit Tiger baseball analyst). He’s got summer teeth – some are there, some are not. (Mickey Redmond, Detroit Red Wings analyst)….Along these lines, my friend and her sister have something they call “the funny list” – all the stuff over the years that they crack up over. Same friend and I crack up over two words – Donut Nation, the name of a donut shop in Los Banos, California.

But getting back around again to the subject of horseradish – check out Horseradish.org regarding the history of the root (aphrodisiac…back rub…cough syrup ingredient….growing wild in Boston by 1840…) and if you happen to be a fan of Regency Romance, you’ll be interested in the following quote, “The English, in fact, grew the pungent root at inns and coach stations, to make cordials to revive exhausted travelers.”  I’m picturing myself in the future, reading a Georgette Heyer or Clare Darcy novel, at the point where the characters have had to stop at an inn (during one of those zany travel adventures they keep finding themselves in) and a cordial is handed to them. (I’m thinking, “It’s got horseradish in it.”)

Sources:  Life, Vol. 50. Mitchell, John Ames (ed.) (1907) p. 702. (Google eBook)

United States. U.S. Patent Office. Official gazette of the United States Patent Office, April 28, 1903. p. 2165 (Google eBook)

State of Michigan Twenty-second Annual Report of the Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics. Lansing, Michigan:  Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1905. p.115 (Google eBook)

R.L. Polk & Co.’s Saginaw City Directory, 1909. p. 948. (Google eBook)

Ice and Refrigeration Blue Book. Chicago: Nickerson and Collins Co.,1911-1912. p. 221 (Google eBook)

Horseradish History. Web accessed October 17, 2014. [http://horseradish.org/horseradish-facts/horseradish-history/]

Haslett & Gladding Druggists

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Haslett & Gladding Druggists

Trade card, circa 1875 – 1880.  Size:  About 4 and 1/2 x 3″

Price:  $20.00

Here’s a beautiful and unusual old trade card. Too bad about the tears in the card on the left, but what an interesting one! The printing at the top shows  “Compliments of Haslett & Gladding, Druggists, Constantine, Mich.”  and the artwork shows a figure of a little man wearing what this web author first thought of as a Pagliacci style clown suit, sitting on a tree branch, singing a song from an opera. As always, the research for old trade cards illuminates a little bit of history, and informs the researcher. This little figure actually represents Pierrot, described in a Wikipedia entry as  “…a stock character of pantomime and Commedia dell’Arte whose origins are in the late seventeenth-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne; the name is a hypocorism of Pierre (Peter), via the suffix -ot. His character in postmodern popular culture – in poetry, fiction, the visual arts, as well as works for the stage, screen, and concert hall – is that of the sad clown, pining for love of Columbine, who usually breaks his heart and leaves him for Harlequin.”

To finish describing the above card, Pierrot is singing with great emotion, and holding sheet music on which we can read the words  au clair de la lune mon ami pierrot  (in the moonlight my friend Pierrot.) A benevolent full moon, smiling down upon Pierrot, appears in the top right corner. The background is gold tone with white stars, but what seems most unusual and somewhat perplexing are the two dog-like animals perched on the branch below our subject. Dogs in trees?

As for the “opera” – the sheet music turns out to be actually that of the classic french children’s song Au clair de la lune. Author unknown, and dating from at least back to the mid-18th century, this song made history in 2008, when the first known recording of the human voice was digitized, and it was detected that what was being heard was a couple of lines from this folk song. The ten-second snippet was recorded in 1860 by Parisian inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville using a device called a phonautograph, and pre-dates Thomas Edison’s recording of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” by seventeen years. From an article by Jason Dearen of the Associated Press,  “Using a needle that moved in response to sound, the phonautograph etched sound waves into paper coated with soot from an oil lamp.”   “Au Clair de la Lune” and other recordings were discovered by audio historian David Giovannoni and his research partner Patrick Feaster in France’s patent office. Earliest Known Voice Recording Discovered in France.

Getting back to the question of the two animals perched on the lower tree branch:  I thought at first that they might be lynxes, after coming across the image below just a few days after getting the trade card. This drawing was done by New York artist Edmund Henry Garrett (1853 – 1929.) And it depends upon how you look at the animal on the right in the top image – that appears to be his left ear rather than snout. If you view the ear as a snout then Pierrot’s animal friends might appear to be more coyote-like, but look again and you’ll probably decide that that is not the animal’s profile that we’re looking at, in which case the lynx idea doesn’t fit. Of course, they may have just been something created from the artist’s imagination….To be treed by lynxes though, what an unusual subject, so I just thought it would be fun to include this here.

Treed By Lynxes by Garrett

Last but not least, Haslett & Gladding Druggists show up in Polk’s city directories for Constantine, Michigan for 1875 and 1877. The 1877 directory shows that they were Charles M. Haslett and Benjamin O. Gladding. As of the the date of this post, no other trade cards were found online for them.

Charles McLean Haslett was born in New York, December 8, 1846, son of Peter and Helen Haslett. (The christening and birth record does not state his mother’s maiden name.) He married Charlotte E. Knowlen January 25, 1870.  The 1870 Federal Census for Constantine shows the newlyweds living with Charles’ parents. His occupation is retail druggist. Sadly, Charles died young at the age of 40, May 24, 1887, in Detroit.

Benjamin O. Gladding was born in Michigan, August 5, 1847, son of John Gladding and Martha E. Howard. The 1850 Federal Census for Constantine shows Benjamin, his parents and his two older sisters, Emily and Jerusha Gladding. Also in the household is 18-year old Elisabeth Churchill[?], possibly a boarder or domestic servant. Benjamin married Louisa Lantz,  born Pennsylvania, April 30, 1849. (Louisa is “H. Louisa” on a couple of her census records.) The 1880 census for Constantine shows Benjamin and Louisa, and their children, William O., age five, and Mary L., eight months. Benjamin’s occupation is druggist. Find A Grave shows the death year for Benjamin as 1919.

Sources:  Pagliacci. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagliacci. (accessed September 23, 2014.)

Pierrot. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierrot. (accessed September 23, 2014.)

Romer, Megan, “Au Clair de la Lune Lyrics and Translation,”  About.com. http://worldmusic.about.com/od/instrumentation/a/AuClairdelaLune.htm. (accessed September 24, 2014.)

Dearen, Jason, “Earliest Known Voice Recording Discovered in France.” Associated Press (March 28, 2008.) Web article from National Geographic News (October 28, 2010.) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080328-AP-earliest-re.html (accessed September 24, 2014.)

Garrett, Edmund H., Treed By Lynxes.  American Art and American Art Collections. Ed. Walter Montgomery. Boston:  E. W. Walker & Co., 1889. p. 266. (Google eBooks.)

Edmund H. Garrett. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_H._Garrett. (accessed September 23, 2014.)

R. L. Polk & Co.,’s Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory. 1875, p. 195 and 1877, Vol. III. p. 231. (Google eBooks.)

“New York, Births and Christenings, 1640-1962,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FDTF-RMQ : accessed 26 Sep 2014), Charles Mc Lean Haslett, 08 Dec 1846; citing , reference ; FHL microfilm 363878.

Year: 1860; Census Place: Constantine, St Joseph, Michigan; Roll: M653_561; Page: 355; Image: 365; Family History Library Film: 803561. (Ancestry.com)

“Michigan, Marriages, 1868-1925,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N3KK-TM5 : accessed 27 Sep 2014), Chas. W. L. Haslet and Charlotte E. Knowlen, 25 Jan 1870; citing Constantine, St Joseph, Michigan, v 3 p 210 rn 59, Department of Vital Records, Lansing; FHL microfilm 2342452.

Year: 1870; Census Place: Constantine, St Joseph, Michigan; Roll: M593_700; Page: 63B; Image: 130; Family History Library Film: 552199. (Ancestry.com)

Ancestry.com. Michigan, Deaths and Burials Index, 1867-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Year: 1850; Census Place: Constantine, St Joseph, Michigan; Roll: M432_362; Page: 295A; Image: 365. (Ancestry.com)

“Michigan, County Marriages, 1820-1935,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/VNLS-J18 : accessed 27 Sep 2014), John P Gladding and Martha E Howard, 10 Oct 1839; citing p. 132, St. Joseph, Michigan; FHL microfilm 1295528.

“Michigan, Marriages, 1868-1925,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N3X1-LHY : accessed 27 Sep 2014), Louisa Lantz in entry for Wm. O. Gladding and Clara H. Cummings, 20 Sep 1898; citing Centerville, St Joseph, Michigan, v 4 p 269 rn 2516, Department of Vital Records, Lansing; FHL microfilm 2342510.

Year: 1880; Census Place: Constantine, St Joseph, Michigan; Roll: 603; Family History Film: 1254603; Page: 292A; Enumeration District: 191; Image: 0239. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1900; Census Place: Chicago Ward 35, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 291; Page: 11B; Enumeration District: 1134; FHL microfilm: 1240291. (Ancestry.com)

Find A Grave Memorial# 75381891 (Findagrave.com)

Dilworth’s Coffee

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Dilworths Coffee tc1Dilworths Coffee tc2

Trade Card circa 1884 – 1888.  Size:  About 3 and 1/4 x 2 and 1/2″

Price:  $10.00

Old trade card for the Dilworth Brothers Company, which was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This one shows shows an angel in a fur-trimmed coat, carrying a large mail pouch, delivering the daily postals to a young woman who’s just answered the door. There is snow on the ground, and the calendar month of February is printed at the top. As one can well imagine, trade cards like these were a great marketing scheme, to keep people coming back to get the other eleven months of the year, or the rest of the countries of Europe or for whatever other theme was being used. Dilworth’s advertised here that  “No color-poisoned, stained or damaged Coffees are ever used in it’s production.”  I don’t know what was meant by “color-poisoned” (yikes) and did not find any other online references to this term; hopefully clarification will show up in later research. I did find a similar old trade card (for Arbuckle’s) that mentioned coffee beans being glazed with a mixture of egg and confectioner’s sugar. The egg maybe as a binder for the sugar or for shine, but the sugar was to close the pores of the beans in order to preserve the flavor. The gold coffee urn in the trade card was Dilworth’s symbol and is placed here (charmingly slightly off-kilter) with it’s feet in the snow.

As for the manufacturer of this trade card, the small print at the bottom on the front shows Sackett, Wilhelms & Betzig, 45-51 Rose St. (New York, NY.) This was a lithography company and shows up in the New York City directories from at least 1884 – 1888.

Sources:  Trow’s City Directory Co.’s Trow’s New York City Directories for 1884-’85, Vol. 98 p. 1520. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989)

Trow’s City Directory Co.’s Trow’s New York City Directories for year ending May 1, 1888, Vol. 101. p. 1714. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989)

John K. Stevens Photographer Trade Card

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Stevens The Photographer Trade Card t1

Trade card showing  “Stevens – The Photographer, McVicker’s Theatre Building, 14 Photographs, 3 Styles, $3.00.”  This advertising card, in colors of blue-green, pink, and brown with a gold-tone border is entitled,  “La Fuite des Oiseaux”  and shows a boy and girl, in flowing Grecian-style attire. We see the scene depicted here just after the young lady has released some birds (not shown) from their captivity while the young man looks on. Some short biographical info found about the photographer in question is as follows:

(See “Comments” for this post for more information and a question of possible middle name of Kelly for this photographer.)

John Kimbell Stevens, born July 4, 1838 in Buffalo, New York, son of Solomon Stevens and Clarissa Stone. On the 1870 Federal Census in Chicago with wife Loretta, and children, Lester W. and Mary G. 1870-1874 Chicago city directories address 163 S. Halstead, Chicago. 1878 city directory at 85 Madison. 1882 directory at 108 Dearborn and 1885 at 106 Dearborn. Son, Lester W. Stevens joined his father in the photography business in 1884, according to Lester’s biographical info as a member of the Elks. 1887-1889 at 55 McVicker Theater Bldg. John K. Stevens’ wife Loretta, sadly died in 1878 of consumption. He married a second time on October 25, 1881 to Addie B. Cater. John, Addie and their son Harry K. Stevens appear on the 1900 census in Chicago, with Addie’s mother Josephine Cater and sister, Clara J. Cater, and a domestic servant, Mary Blackman. An ad in the 1905 publication entitled To-morrow shows  “Gibson, Sykes & Fowler (successors to J. K. Stevens & Co.) Leading photographers, McVickers Theatre Bld. The Oldest and Best Known Studios in Chicago. Established Over Thirty-Five Years.” 

McVicker’s Theatre was located in Chicago, on Madison between State and Dearborn Streets. It was built in 1857 by James H. McVicker, Chicago actor and producer. There were five different buildings at this location, the last theater went by McVickers, without the apostrophe, and was demolished in 1985. The first building was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871. The Booth Family of Shakespearean actors were known to have performed there, including the infamous John Wilkes Booth (about three years prior to his assassination of Abraham Lincoln.) Actress Sarah Bernhardt made her American debut at the McVicker’s in 1881, and comedian Eddie Foy also performed at the McVicker’s.

Trade Card, circa 1887 – 1905.

Size:  About 6 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/2″

Price:  $10.00

Sources:  Stevens, John Grier. The descendants of Samuel Stevens; with histories of allied families: A biographical and genealogical record. (1968)

Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, Marriage and Death Indexes, 1833-1889

Year: 1870; Census Place: Chicago Ward 10, Cook, Illinois; Roll: M593_205; Page: 389B; Image: 82; Family History Library Film: 545704. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1900; Census Place: Chicago Ward 12, Cook, Illinois; Roll: 258; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 0332; FHL microfilm: 1240258. (Ancestry.com)

Ancestry.com. Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index, 1871-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ellis, Charles Edward; An Authentic History of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. Chicago:  Published by the author, 1910. Pg. 56. (Google eBook)

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

To-Morrow:  A Monthly Handbook of the Changing Order. Published Chicago, Illinois, January 1905. Pg. 61. (Google eBook)

http://interactive.wttw.com/timemachine/mcvicker%E2%80%99s-theater

Fields, Armond; Eddie Foy, a biography of the early popular stage comedian. Jefferson, North Carolina:  McFarland and Co., Inc., 1999. (Google eBook)

Locust Bloom Perfume

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Locust Bloom Perfume tc1Locust Bloom Perfume tc2

Size: About 5 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″  Year:  Circa 1893 – ? (possibly through 1910s to early ’20s)

Availability status:  SOLD

“Locust Bloom. The sweetest of perfumes. Sold only by Gradon & Koehler, Druggists, S. W. Cor. First and Main Streets, Portland, Oregon. A logo of the letter B inside a diamond shape appears at the bottom left of the card; next to this appears what looks like the number 994. This is likely the printer or publisher info.

Printed or stamped on the back of the card is, “Yerba Santa Balsam. Is the Best Cough & Cold Remedy. Try It. Gradon & Koehler, Prescription Druggists, Cor. First & Main Sts. Portland, Or.”

On the front:  Stunning trade card for Gradon & Koehler Druggists showing an image of a bell made out of single-petal pink roses. The bell has a green clapper and hangs from a wooden beam. I guess, depending upon where you live, but “locust bloom” is not a term you may hear much, so you might be thinking, (as I was) “What is a locust bloom?” A locust bloom is the flower from the locust tree, of which there are two species, Black Locust and Honey Locust. Both of these have different subspecies. Though some varieties do produce pink flowers, their flowers do not resemble the flowers in the bell on this card. But the single-petal rose was probably the best choice from which to “construct” the bell, as the locust flowers are smaller and bloom in clusters, and wouldn’t have worked quite so well here. The flowers of the Black Locust are edible, and many different uses can be found for them, as you might imagine, a few of which are:  raw in salads, as jelly, as wine, as fritters, steeped with water, honey and lemon to make a refreshing drink. (Though the flower is edible to humans the other parts of the tree are toxic.) Of course, as this card indicates, the blossoms are wonderfully sweet-smelling. Searching online confirms that the flowers are still widely used today in perfume:  Fifty different brands were found that list locust blossoms as an ingredient. As for the Honey Locust tree it is known for it’s large thorns that grow out of the trunk (though there are thornless varieties) and for it’s seed pods having edible pulp. The thorns were used by Native Americans and were also used by soldiers (as makeshift buttons) in the Civil War.  (Just a few quick facts here, in trying not to veer off too much from the original topic. Not easy!)

On the flip side:  The product advertised as Yerba Santa Balsam probably contained an extract of the plant Yerba Santa (Holy Herb in Spanish) and maybe Balsam needle extract, as we find both with lots of info online re their historic and present-day medicinal uses.

About the drugstore:  Gradon & Koehler was Walter A. Gradon and William F. Koehler. The store address was 241 1st St., Portland as early as 1893, as an 1893 city directory shows an ad for the store, indicating they were the successors to John A. Child & Co. Walter Gradon died in 1931, but a 1934 city directory shows Gradon & Koehler, still operating but at 1101 S.W. 1st Ave. Various city directory and census records are online for both gentlemen and their families. The 1920 Federal Census for Portland indicate Walter A. Gradon was born about 1858, wife Nettie, about 1861, and daughter Florence about 1903. All three were native Oregonians. The same 1920 census finds William F. Koehler, born Oregon about 1867, his wife Sarah A., born Washington about 1870, and their son Frank, born Oregon about 1901. Living with the family is William Allison, listed as brother-in-law to William Koehler.

Update:  Bill, Grandson of William F. Koehler contacted me with more info:  Walter Gradon was born in 1859 and died April 1931. W. F. Koehler was born July 17, 1865, and died March 2, 1956, both in Portland. Wife, Sarah Antoinette (Allison) Koehler, was born November 1869 in Steilacoom, Washington, and died January 29, 1937 in Portland. Son, Frank Koehler, was born June 22, 1900 and died January 16, 1991, both in Portland.  (AH – editor. June 2, 2014.)

Sources:  http://the3foragers.blogspot.com/2011/06/black-locust-flowers.html

http://www.fragrantica.com/notes/Black-Locust-296.html

http://mosurvival.blogspot.com/2012/06/honey-locust-thorn-tree.html

http://www.uky.edu/hort/Honeylocust

http://sbhealthandhealing.com/blog_files/feed.xml

Portland city directories, various years. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Portland, Multnomah, Oregon; Roll: T625_1501; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 118; Image: 866, and Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 126; Image: 1107. (Ancestry.com)

Oregon State Library; Oregon Death Index 1931-1941; Reel Title: Oregon Death Index M-Z; Year Range: 1931-1941. (Ancestry.com)

Wilmot’s Clothing House Trade Card

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Wilmots Clothing Trade Card tc1Wilmots Clothing Trade Crd tc2

Victorian Era trade card, Boston, circa 1885.

Size:  About 4 and 1/2 x 2 and 5/8″

Price:  $15.00

Cheap Suits On Newspaper Row

Wilmot’s, at the time this trade card was printed, was located at 259 and 261 Washington Street; this was next door to the location for the newspaper publication the Boston Herald; the Herald’s address being part of Washington Street’s “Newspaper Row.” It looks like this card was saved for the charming image on the front, since it had been, in all likelihood, glued in a scrapbook; it’s removal from which caused the print to be missing in the four corners. This makes the full company name, that would have appeared at the top, hard to figure out, as there are definitely more than a few possible letter combinations. But whoever they were, they had the misfortune to have needed to declare bankruptcy, and Wilmot’s must have bought part or all of their remaining stock. Imagine buying a man’s suit for as low as $2.98 and boy’s suit for as low as 90 cents! (I know, inflation, inflation, but a 90-cent suit is just so funny-sounding.) The Herald’s six-story structure was built in 1877-1878, and their address was 255 Washington Street in Boston. Though the prior location for the Herald had been in close proximity to their new address, it’s more likely that, at the time this card was printed, Wilmot’s was located next door to the Herald’s more recent one at 255 Washington St. The Herald’s address is a great help in dating the card, but we find that we can narrow it down a little further below.

H. B. Wilmot

It turns out that Wilmot’s got it’s name from owner H. B. Wilmot. Below shows the full page ad from an 1872 Cambridge city directory showing the business name as H. B. Wilmot & Co. An earlier 1870 Boston directory shows the same name and address. Other years (1880-1886) show addresses in Salem, Lynn, Lawrence and Taunton. In the 1885 Boston, under Wholesale Clothing, we see the 261 Washington St. address, so this trade card is likely from this year or close to it. Manager names Joseph W. Rice (Lawrence 1881), J. F. Boynton (Salem 1880) and H. C. Reed (Taunton 1881) also show in directories under Wilmot’s, so it looks like there were several locations running at one time. And from at least 1884-1913, H. B. Wilmot had a summer home in Gloucester, with the latter part of those years, showing a regular residence in Somerville, outside of Boston. It seems, from looking at all these city directories, that H. B. Wilmot had a very successful career in the clothing business.

H B Wilmot & Co Ad

On the Front

I suppose this is a lithograph though I am really not sure. But as far as the wonderful artwork we see here: Was the image supposed to be of two ladies, one of whom pushes a baby in a carriage, or is it an image of two little girls, dressed in adult-like fashion, one of whom pushes their dolly in a carriage? From the short hemlines we see here, I would guess that these two are little girls, otherwise it would seem that the hems would have been at, or much closer to, the ground. I love the way we see the profile of the girl on the left (love the parasol) who gazes dreamily off into the distance; contrasting to the girl on the right, contentedly pushing the carriage and concentrating on the path ahead.

Sources:  The Boston Herald and It’s History by Edwin A. Perry. Published Boston, Mass., 1878. (Google eBooks)

http://goodoldboston.blogspot.com/2011/01/bostons-newspaper-row.html

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Ancestry.com. Gloucester, Massachusetts Directories, 1888-91 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2003.

The Lawrence Directory 1881, No. XIV. By Sampson, Davenport & Co., Publishers of the Boston Directory, Boston Almanac and Business Directory, New-England Business Directory, Etc. Office, 155 Franklin Street, Boston. Lawrence:  W. E. Rice, 265 Essex Street. Page 252. (Google eBooks)

The Leaf – White Sewing Machine Trade Card

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Leaf tc

Trade card in leaf shape for White Sewing Machines. Circa 1886.

Price:  $20.00        Size:  About 3 x 4″

Beautiful leaf trade card in shades of green, red and gold, for White Sewing Machines. This is the second trade card for White appearing on this website. The wonder of it though, is how this paper leaf survived this amazingly well through the years, only showing a small fold on the right-hand side. (The card is the leaf itself; the yellow background was just for scanning purposes.) The White was immensely popular, with it’s factory in Cleveland at 10 and 40 Canal St. and sales office at 57 and 59 Euclid Ave. The company shipped not only all over the United States and Canada, but also had a large overseas market. The statement here of 100,000 machines being sold yearly would be the best clue as to this card’s date. A couple of old publications help to somewhat define the time-period. An 1879 issue on Cleveland Industry states “from July 1876 to the eve of 1878, the demand for the White Sewing Machine has increased from ten or twelve per day to one hundred and fifty or two hundred per day…”  An 1886 publication on Cleveland manufacturers and merchants states that the factory on Canal St. was a “substantial building, nearly 500 feet long, 50 feet wide, and four to six stories high, with a capacity of manufacture of three hundred sewing-machines per day.”  So, perhaps this card was printed somewhere around year 1886.

Sources:  Industries of Cleveland:  Trade, Commerce and Manufactures for the Year 1878. Published by Richard Edwards, Cleveland, 1879. Pages 107-108. (Google eBooks)

Leading Manufacturers and Merchants of the City of Cleveland and Environs. A Half Century’s Progress. 1836-1886. International Publishing Co., 102 Chambers St., New York, Boston, Cincinnati and Chicago. Page 76. (Google eBooks)

 

Bortree Duplex Corset Trade Card

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Bortree Manufacturing Company, Duplex Corset Trade Card. Circa 1884. Card printed by The Krebs Lithographing Company of Cincinnati.

A wonderful, colorful, slightly comical, (depending upon how this strikes you) trade card for Duplex corsets and the Bortree Manufacturing Company. This lithographed card shows six (maybe four, depending upon interpretation) different scenes:  three gentlemen in a sailboat with other sailboats in the background; a couple taking a drive in the country in a cart pulled by two horses; two couples tobogganing; a country scene showing four artists, two of whom are accompanied by their dog; a ballroom dancing scene. The details in this card are wonderfully done:  the different poses of the couples dancing cheek to cheek; the smitten-looking gentleman with his lady love on the toboggan; the lively “movement” of the horses; the dogs in the artists scenes that are naturally intent upon their own interests; the concentration of the woman artist in the rowboat; the understandably happy expression of the gentleman (or lady in trousers?) that is either on his or her way to the plein air site, or heading home, well satisfied with the day’s work.

There are also a few puzzling things about this lithograph:  the name on the sailboat, the two brownish objects on the left, and the type of plant in the border. The sailboat name looks like Merrur or Merkur; maybe these were the initials of the artists involved, or maybe mer for sea and then the artist’s initials, or maybe it’s a street name in Cincinnati, but I only see Mercer (this speculation could go on forever) or after looking at the back of the card again, maybe it’s a reference to the New York City address of No. 7 Mercer St. As to the two unknown, rather highlighted objects on the left – could these be buckeyes or flax seeds? Maybe, but the shapes for either don’t quite seem correct. And the plant making up the border seems familiar but if it is supposed to depict a real plant, I’m not able to verify it. Maybe some horticulture experts will come across this post and be able to solve the mystery.

As for the three little images of the Duplex corset, one appears on a shield, another inside some nice scroll work, but the placement of the one on the waterfall is priceless! (Is the artist furthest in the background seeing corsets in the waterfall? Is this depicting our litho artist himself, and showing that the inspiration for the card has come to him while gazing at a waterfall?)

As you can see, this card was glued in someone’s scrapbook or glued somewhere, so a little of the wording is missing, but the Bortree Manufacturing Co. had a factory in Jackson, Michigan, and as the card indicates, had an office and salesroom at 7 Mercer St., New York, NY. According to an online article by Leanne Smith at mlive.com on Jackson, Michigan’s corset industry, “Bortree Corset Co., 112 W. Cortland St., was the first corset company founded west of New York. Moses Bortree, who migrated to Michigan from Pennsylvania in 1866, opened the factory in 1868 to manufacture crinoline skirts and bustles. In 1875, Bortree switched to corsets. Within five years, he was producing 50,000 to 300,000 corsets per year. In its heyday, the company employed almost 400 people, 350 of whom were women.”  This trade card would have to be from at least 1884 though, per the date on the image of the medal shown on the back, that was awarded to Bortree at the Cincinnati Industrial Exposition.

The Krebs Lithography Company was established in about 1875, but had evolved from Ehrgott & Forbriger, a company founded in 1856 by Peter Ehrgott, a “practical lithographer” and Adolphus Forbriger, “an excellent artist.” The company had a reputation for it’s fine artistic work, and was located in the Carlisle Building at 4th and Walnut in Cincinnati. When Mr. Forbriger died in 1869, German-born lithographer, Adolph Krebs, became partner with Mr. Ehrgott in November of the same year, and the company became Ehrgott & Krebs.  In 1874 Peter Ehrgott left the partnership, and Adolph Krebs became president of the company. The American Stationer, in a March 1883 publication, made note of The Krebs Lithography Company’s plans to build a new factory on Sycamore St, as by this time, they had outgrown the 4th and Walnut location. The new factory was located at 138, 140 and 142 Sycamore St., between 4th and 5th, in Cincinnati, and comprised six floors with a basement. Adolph Krebs died September 1884 at age 53 (unfortunately before he could see the completion of the new factory.) His son, Hermann T. Krebs, was then elected as the new president, having been with the company for about 8 years. The 1888 City Directory for Cincinnati shows Hermann as president, along with the other company officers, and that the company was still at the same Sycamore St. address. The company’s name changed to Henderson Achert Krebes Lithographing Company on February 22, 1889, according to an annual report to the governor showing corporate name changes.

Trade card, circa 1884.

Price:  $20.00

Sources:  Michigan Historical Collections, Volume 2, Michigan Historical Commission. Pioneer Collections Report of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan, Together with the Reports of County, Town and District Pioneer Societies. Vol. 2, 2nd edition. Robert Smith Printing Co.State Printers and Binders, Lansing, MI, 1901. Page 342 (Google eBooks)

Peek Through Time: Corset business thrived in Jackson during the early part of the 20th century. Leanne Smith article dated July 9, 2010. (http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2010/07/peek_through_time_corset_busin.html)

Leading Manufacturers and Merchants in Cincinnati and Environs. The Great Railroad Centre of the South and Southwest. An Epitome of the City’s History and Descriptive Review of the Industrial Enterprises that are making Cincinnati the source of Supply for the New South. 1886, International Publishing Co., 102 Chambers St., New York, Boston, Cincinnati and Chicago. Page 67. (Google eBooks)

The Philadelphia Print Shop, Ltd. (http://www.philaprintshop.com/effirm.html)

Artists in Ohio 1787 – 1900. A Biographical Dictionary Compiled and Edited by Mary Sayre Haverstock, Jeannette Mahoney Vance and Brian L. Meggitt. Kent State University Press, 2000. Page 500. (Google eBooks)

The American Stationer. Vol. XIII – No. 11. New York, March 15, 1883, pg. 358. (Google eBooks)

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Annual Report of the Secretary of State to the Governor of the State of Ohio for the Fiscal Year Ending November 15, 1890. The Westbote Company, State Printers. 1891. Page 447. (Google eBooks)

White Sewing Machine Trade Card

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Trade Card for White Sewing Machine Co. of Cleveland, Ohio.

According to authors, Dan Ruminski and Alan Dutka (Cleveland in the Gilded Age), Thomas H. White began making sewing machines in Phillipston, Massachusetts. He moved his company to Cleveland, Ohio in 1866, in order to seek a broader territory. The then-named White Manufacturing Company became the White Sewing Machine Company in 1876.

Source:  Cleveland in the Gilded Age:  A Stroll Down Millionaires’ Row by Dan Ruminski and Alan Dutka. Published by The History Press, South Carolina. First published 2012. Online source:  books.google.com