From the readers: Scribble-In Book, decorating horrors, recipes and more

I'm so happy that people are still finding Papergreat after all these years and despite the low volume of my new output. Here are some comments that came in over the summer.

Late 1930s college expenses logged in The Scribble-in Book: Anonymous writes: "I have a Scribble-In Book of my grandmother's beginning December 29, 1932. She would jot down poems from various poets, particularly, Winifred Woods, Winifred Black, Charles Mackay, Ada Parker Smith, Ada Burke, Dorothy Henderson. The history is so rich!" 

What a wonderful family keepsake! I'm curious about some of the poets, because I have very little knowledge of that literary genre.

I can't find anything about Winifred Woods, but there was a Winifred Letts from that period who was a poet.

Is Winifred Black the American journalist Winifred Sweet Black Bonfils, who wrote under the names Anne Laurie and Winifred Black?

Ada Parker Smith is probably Ada Elizabeth Smith.

I can't find anything about Ada Burke or Dorothy Henderson, but would love to learn something!

Saturday's postcard: America House Motor Inn: Two more memories spurred by this postcard came in over the summer.

Anonymous #1 writes: "My family stayed at least twice at America House in the 1970s; the last time was during the summer of 1976. I remember that we loved it both times. Surprisingly, my biggest memory is of the restaurant, which was excellent from a kid's perspective."

Anonymous #2 writes: "Yearly stop with my family in the 70s on the way to Cape Hatteras. I looked forward to dominating the upstairs ping pong table! Demolished in 2018 to build homes."

The "magical" world of early 1970s interior decorating: Wendyvee writes: "Oh, that green still haunts ... no matter how fashionable it may become once again. I dig the swirly rug; but that chair does make me think that Karen Black, Mia Farrow, Sissy Spacek, or Margot Kidder will be chased around a Greenwich Village brownstone by something evil causing that chair to roll. I'm not typically neurospicy but what is WITH all of those off-center paintings in this collection?"

The 1970s offer more unanswered questions than any decade in history. Which is why I love that decade.

The One Where I Get Sucked into the Mecki Universe: Anonymous writes: "Mecki has always been part of my childhood. I have a 7-inch Steiff Mecki my mother had shipped from Germany for me around 1954 or 55. I was about 3 or 4. I was allowed to play with it until she discovered I was chewing on his nose. Then he went up on the shelf. I still have him, in excellent condition except his nose is a little chewed."

Wonderful memory! Thank you for sharing this.

Zita Spangler: From St. John's Reformed to Rolling Green Park: Anonymous writes: "I knew Rita Spangler/Cortright. She was my stepfather’s mother. Extraordinary woman. Smart, kind and so talented. She went on to become a textile artist. I don’t know what inspired me to google her, but I found your article and now know another part of her story. Thank you."

And now we know another part of the story, too, thanks to this comment.

A neat piece of Phillies history: Joan writes: "I am fairly certain the Roadside America hex sign is a [Jacob] Zook design as well." 

Oh, this is worth looking into!

Montoursville 2018: Hurr's: Anonymous writes: "My aunt was connected to the Millers and gave me this recipe: Hurr's Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce -- Boil together 3/4 cup sugar + 1/2 cup water. Then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add 16 oz of Hershey's syrup + 12 oz. Peter Pan peanut butter. Beat with electric mixer (slow) till smooth. Refrigerate. You can serve it warm or cold. Enjoy. Makes about 1 qt."

Oh my! What a delicious recipe that appears to be. I imagine some of us will try it!

Flashback to outer space: Joan writes: "I miss the word of the day!!! We still have binders of them, though."

Old postcard: "The World's Most Famous Chicken Dish": Anonymous writes: "I remember when the Richmond Chicken in the Rough burned down. Our family loved that place. My church youth group used to go to the Clover Room on Sunday nights sometimes."

"The Valley of Hell" in Germany's Black Forest: Reba Birmingham writes: "Thank you for posting. I am writing a series (fiction) which has headquarters of both the good and evil camps in the Black Forest. In the next book (#6 Hercynian Forest Series) my characters will go through the Valley of Hell. I am researching now."

Thanks for letting us know about this fantasy book series, which is praised by reviewers for its fun characters, LGBTQ representation and more  And good luck with finishing your next one!

McCall Chair Co. ink blotter: Anonymous writes: "I am currently trying to recreate the #90 chair. Have been told it was a pistol to upholster, so I'll see."

Some tasty cookie recipes from Joanne van Roden: Anonymous writes: "I just acquired her Favorite Seafood Recipes from a local Goodwill. Great pamphlet. Glad you posted some recipes from her cookie recipe book. If the recipes in the cookie book are anything like her seafood book you have quite a find."

There are so many great finds to be had at Goodwill stores. I love donating to them, too, to keep the recycling of treasures going.

Vintage ink blotter supporting Quigley for mayor of Chelsea

As we taken another big step today, with the New York primary, toward determining whether Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders will be the next U.S. president¹, here's a vintage political advertisement in the form of a blue ink blotter.

It measures 6 inches by 3¼ inches and states:

BLOT OUT
THE MISTAKES OF THE LAST TWO YEARS
CHELSEA CANNOT AFFORD ANOTHER SUCH
Costly Experiment
THESE TIMES CALL FOR AN EXPERIENCED EXECUTIVE
QUIGLEY
IS THE MAN

I believe this ink blotter refers to a mayoral race in Chelsea, Massachusetts, many decades ago.

A man by the name of Lawrence F. Quigley, pictured at right, was Chelsea's 31st mayor (from 1922 to 1926), 33rd mayor (from 1928 to 1929) and 35th mayor (from 1932 to 1935). This advertisement might be part of Quigley's third run for mayor, circa 1931, as that's the one instance in which he followed an opponent's two-year term, as mentioned on the blotter. In 1932, he succeeded John J. Whalen as mayor. Both were Democrats.²

There is one other possibility. Andrew P. Quigley (Lawrence's son) served as mayor from 1952 to 1955.³ When he was elected, he was following a two-year term by fellow Democrat Joseph A. Melley.

So those are the two possible Quigleys. And the ink blotter is from sometime between roughly 1920 and 1950, it seems. (It could also, of course, be from a particular election that one of the Quigleys lost. They certainly ran for office often enough.)

Footnotes
1. Or perhaps it will be someone else, such as Jill Stein, Paul Ryan, Louie Youngkeit or Morris the Cat.
2. Side note: There is a Lawrence F. Quigley Memorial Hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts. It began as the Soldiers' Home in 1882. It still operates as a facility for U.S. veterans and includes an Alzheimer's unit.
3. Andrew P. Quigley died at age 64 in 1990. The lede of his obituary in The Boston Globe stated:

"Andrew P. Quigley, who left his inimitable stamp on Chelsea politics, journalism and education in a career that spanned four decades, died Friday of cancer at age 64 in New England Deaconess Hospital.

"Mr. Quigley was a political prodigy, serving as a state representative when he was 22, as a state senator at 24, and as mayor of Chelsea at 25. Thirty years later he would purchase the faltering Chelsea Record and transform the newspaper into a forum for his colorful views. Finally, in 1986, he proposed a landmark partnership with Boston University designed to improve Chelsea schools."

Ink blotter: Get your Christmas cards from Star Printing in Coatesville

This merry old ink blotter is 8½ inches wide. It advertises the holiday-themed offerings of Star Printing Company of Coatesville, Pennsylvania.

Specifically:

• Unusual, Distinctive, Attractive
• A COMPLETE Printing Service of Christmas Greeting Cards, Holiday Folders and Letters, and Personal Yuletide Messages
• Check Our Huge Assortment Today!
• There's something about a personal Holiday Greeting that warms the heart and fosters a friendly relationship between the recipient and the sender

So, basically, they were making the types of personalized Christmas items a half-century ago that are being featured here on Papergreat today.

Star Printing is still around. It's now called Star Print Mail Inc. and is located in West Chester. Here's a bit about its history from the company website:

"The presses started rolling on April 2, 1906 in Coatesville, PA, then a bustling steel town, servicing many of the area's growing businesses, some of whom are loyal customers to this day.

The Swansons updated Star Printing from a classic letterpress shop to a modern offset pressroom allowing us to more readily meet the needs of our customers."

These days, Star Printing handles brochures, flyers, business cards, booklets, catalogs, newsletters and direct-mail materials. But it's not clear whether they're still the go-to printing company for personal yuletide messages.

Also, I like their old logo, left, better than their new logo...

A colorful trio of vintage ink blotters

I have featured a wide variety of vintage ink blotters here over the years, including a questionable sedative to battle insomnia, an allegedly healthful product to mix into your milk, and a pro-anthracite blotter for Crown Coal.¹

Here, for your Sunday morning enjoyment, are three more vintage pieces.

"Look in the yellow pages"
According to Wikipedia, "the name and concept of 'yellow pages' came about in 1883, when a printer in Cheyenne, Wyoming, working on a regular telephone directory ran out of white paper and used yellow paper instead." In some countries, they are officially known as the Golden Pages.

Robin Hood flour
This brand, which dates to the early 1900s in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, is still around. Now, of course, it's owned and operated by an international food conglomerate — Cargill. Read more about it on the product's history page and also check out Robin Hood's extensive recipe library.

Dorman Products
This detailed ink blotter touts the "complete line of clutch parts" available from Dorman Products for Buicks, Pontiacs and Chevrolets. Dorman's aftermarket auto-parts business dates to 1918.

Footnote
1. Check out all of the past ink-blotter posts here.

Ink blotter for Cook, Watkins & Patch memorials

"If a man make a better Mouse Trap than his neighbor, the World will build a beaten path to his Door though he build his House in the Woods!"

That's the phrase printed on this old ink-blotter advertisement for Cook, Watkins & Patch. It's actually a corruption of this passage, which was written by essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"I trust a good deal to common fame, as we all must. If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the woods."

As you can see, Emerson's passage never even mentioned mousetraps! That might be because he died before what we know as the modern mousetrap was invented.

But I digress. This ink blotter, which features an illustration of some sort of hobo or tinker, is promoting the cemetery memorials produced by Cook, Watkins & Patch. The business office was in Boston, Massachusetts, but the "Technacraft-carved" memorials had their origin in Barre, Vermont.¹

Cook, Watkins and Patch was in business from 1891 until about 1985. I came across numerous obituaries for men and women who had worked there as foremen, designers and laborers during the 20th century. The company's beginnings are described in 1913's History of the Granite Industry of New England, Volume 1 by Arthur Wellington Brayley:

"The Firm of Cook, Watkins & Co., 219-223 Columbus avenue, Boston, dates from 1891, at which time John F. Cook and George R. Watkins became associated in business under the firm name of Cook & Watkins, with offices at 120 Boylston street. At the time they operated cutting plants at Quincy and Barre, with offices at Aberdeen, Scotland, and later controlled the output of the Pleasant River Quarries at Addison, Me. They now have a large wholesale business in Barre, Quincy, Westerly, and other New England granites and marble, and are large importers of Scotch and Swedish monuments and Italian marble statuary. Their monuments and statuary are sold to the trade all over the United States, they employing a large force of traveling salesmen for this purpose. Their output is large, and includes everything in their line from the simplest markers to military and other public memorials. The soldiers' monuments at Morgantown, West Virginia, and Bar Harbor, Maine, are examples of their work in that line.

"Mr. Watkins died in 1896, and Mr. Cook carried on the business under the same name, until 1907, when he retired from active business, and Bradford C. Patch took its management. In 1910, Mr. Patch was admitted a partner, and the firm name changed to its present title."

Current granite broker Cochran's Inc. states on its website that, in 1984, it "purchased several sections of the former Cook, Watkins and Patch granite plant for their new location."

One of Cook, Watkins & Patch's longtime employees was designer G. William Patten (1907-1986), who began working with the company in 1924 and whose career is detailed in this post on the John J. Burns Library's Blog.

While the company's memorials will last for centuries and centuries, I can't find very much online in terms of its ephemera. One AbeBooks dealer is offering for sale these items, which were once used by salesmen: "20 LARGE COLOR ILLUSTRATIONS OF TOMBSTONES OFFERED BY THE COOK WATKINS & PATCH, INC. ... Illustrations are 9 x 12 inches and are mounted on heavy cardboard stock 14 x 11 inches. Each illustration shows a single tombstone in a finely landscaped cemetary [sic]. The Illustrations are individual and not bound together, as issued, and were used commercially to sell the tombstones."

Vintage Ads and Books, meanwhile, offers one of the company's catalogs from 1931. It includes a photograph of the E.F. Albee Mausoleum at Kensico Cemetery in New York.

Footnote
1. Some of the company's memorials were almost certainly made from Barre Granite, which I wrote about in this November 2012 post.

Battling cold, flu or grippe? Take some opium-laced Derfule!

While the polar vortex, bombogenesis, cryoseisms and other nasty weather phrases are attacking North America this winter, many of us are further plagued with coughs, sniffles, fevers, chills and general unwellness.

But if you still have some Derfule — as advertised on this vintage ink blotter¹ — in your closet or medicine cabinet from 80 years ago, you're all set!

Derfule, produced by the Cole Chemical Co. of St. Louis, was specially formulated to fight colds, grippe and flu:

"Discomfort is often quickly relieved, mucous secretion checked and cough reduced by use of Derfule. Each capsule contains Powder of Ipecac and Opium (containing 1/40 gr. Opium) ¼ gr., 'Warning - may be habit-forming' Atropine Sulfate 1/500 gr., Acetophenetidin 1½ gr., Aspirin 2 gr., Camphor ⅛ gr., and Caffeine Alkaloid ⅛ gr. Average adult dose 1 or 2 capsules. Exempt narcotic, registry number required."

It looks like Derfule contained an ingredient that was also known as Dover's Powder, an opium-based medicine developed in the 18th century by English physician Thomas "Doctor Quicksilver" Dover (1660–1742).²

According to Wikipedia, Dover's Powder "was an old preparation of powder of ipecacuanha (which was formerly used to produce syrup of ipecac), opium in powder, and potassium sulfate. The powder was largely used in domestic practice to induce sweating, to defeat the advance of a 'cold' and at the beginning of any attack of fever."

Of course, if there's no Derfule around or if it doesn't give you the needed relief from your cough due to cold, you can always try to find an old, old bottle of Bayer around the house...

Footnotes
1. The Herb Museum website features a different vintage ink blotter for Derfule.
2. Doctor Quicksilver sounds like a name of a character in a Marvel comic.

Stylish vintage ink blotter for G.W. Carnrick's Hormotone

Here's another vintage ink blotter, on the heels of the Dormison blotter featured earlier this week.

My guess is that this card dates to the late 1930s or 1940s. The type has a slight bit of Art Deco feel to it.

Hormotone, prescribed for amenorrhea and dysmenorrhea, was produced by G.W. Carnrick Co. of Newark, New Jersey.

Regarding G.W. Carnrick, I found this curious full-page advertisement within a 1906 issue of "The American Journal of Clinical Medicine." It seems to pertain to a spat between the current and former companies that Mr. Carnrick was involved with.



Here are other ink blotters that have been featured on Papergreat:

• McCall Chair Co. of Cornelius, North Carolina
• Wampole's Creo-Terpin (from Ensley, Alabama)
• Cal-C-Malt, for sound teeth, improved appetite and robust health
• Worcester, Mass., mayoral candidate Charles F. "Jeff" Sullivan
• Ticonderoga pencils (with Frances Tipton Hunter artwork)
• Shafer's Flowers of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania
• Dormison, which "helps break the anxiety-insomnia-anxiety cycle"

Dormison "helps break the anxiety-insomnia-anxiety cycle"

Trouble sleeping? This old ink blotter touts the Schering Corporation's prescription-only Dormison.

Dormison was a "mild sedative-hypnotic" that, according to the advertising:

• Gently induced a sound, restful sleep
• Helped patients wake up alert and refreshed
• Calmed tense and nervous patients
• Helped break the anxiety-insomnia-anxiety cycle
• Was notably free from hangover and side effects
• Showed no evidence of habit-forming properties
• Was safe for all age groups

Despite all that, it doesn't seem that the product had much staying power. It was called methylpentynol and, according to Wikipedia, "it was discovered by Bayer in 1913 and was used shortly thereafter for the treatment of insomnia, but its use was quickly phased out in response to newer drugs with far more favorable safety profiles."

Hmm. "Far more favorable safety profiles" makes it sound like Dormison wasn't nearly as safe as advertised here.

1945 ink blotter for mayoral candidate Charles F. "Jeff" Sullivan

Today is the day of the municipal primaries in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.¹ So I thought this would be an appropriate piece of ephemera to highlight. It's a 1945 ink blotter touting Charles F. "Jeff" Sullivan's second bid to be elected mayor of Worcester, Massachusetts.²



His campaign was successful, and Sullivan served as Worcester's mayor from 1946 to 1949. During his time in office, he helped to develop the city's airport, had the streets blacktopped, and reorganized the pension system.

He went on to become the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.

But around 1953, according to Wikipedia, "Sullivan retired from politics and opened up a liquor store."

So there.

I guess that truly made him "A Man of the People and for the People..."

Footnotes
1. It is also, more importantly, my eighth wedding anniversary! Joan and I will be taking a short, mid-week trip to celebrate. Because I'll be out of town, this is the first in a series of quickie posts I finished in advance. So that you can still get your daily ephemera fix.
2. How do you pronounce Worcester? This College of the Holy Cross page is here to help.

Vintage ink blotter for Shafer's Flowers of Coraopolis

Margaret C. Shafer had you covered 24/7 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, in the mid-20th century. This old ink blotter highlights the "Night Calls" number at Shafer's Flowers, among other things.

In case you had an emergency need for flowers at 2 a.m., of course.

The ink blotter features the Mercury-powered logo for FTD from back when the company was still Florists' Telegraph Delivery. (It changed to Florists' Transworld Delivery sometime in the mid 1960s, if you're scoring at home.)

And the blotter itself was printed by Brown & Bigelow, a company from St. Paul, Minnesota, was that was founded in 1896 and is still around, churning out quality promotional products for customers. Clearly, I should ask them to produce some Papergreat ink blotters. If they still even make ink blotters.

Cal-C-Malt, for sound teeth, improved appetite and robust health

This is an advertising ink blotter for Cal-C-Malt, a 1930s health product that contained calcium phosphate, vitamin B, vitamin C and diastatic malt. Apparently you could mix it with milk, which doesn't sound terribly tasty.

It was claimed that the product could build resistance against infection and give you "sound teeth, improved appetite [and] robust health." (As opposed to run-of-the-mill health, I reckon.) While that's not too boastful, I wonder if it's veering a bit close to Maść Żywokostowa Ucco Salve territory.

Here are a few tidbits about the product I found with a Google Books search:

• It was referred to as a "swell chocolate drink" in a circa 1937 issue of American Druggist. The full issues aren't available online, but I could see these snippets: "Why can't I take my vitamins like Jimmy Smith? He gets a swell chocolate drink -- Cal-C-Malt. He let me taste some the other day and, oh boy, was it good! ... Since Jimmy started taking Cal-C-Malt, he's not nearly so susceptible to colds."
• From a 1942 edition of Roche Review: "At that time, this preparation was called Cal-C-Malt 'Roche.' The vitamin C content of Cal-C-Malt was 50 mg per serving, equivalent to about three-fourths of a glass of orange juice. In 1938, the name of Cal-C-Malt was changed to Cal-C-Tose."
• According to a 1938 issue of Hospital Management, the name was changed "as a safe-guard against possible confusion of the product with other preparations featuring the term 'malt'."
• I cannot find the full text, but it appears there was a 1939 Federal Trade Commission ruling regarding Hoffman-La Roche Inc. and its advertising of Cal-C-Malt.

Here's a link to an image of a different Cal-C-Malt ink blotter.

Ink blotter for Ticonderoga pencils with Frances Tipton Hunter artwork

This old ink blotter for Ticonderoga pencils¹ features an absolutely wonderful illustration by Frances Tipton Hunter. (Confession: It took me some guessing and Googling before I was able to correctly read the blurry artist's signature in the lower-left corner.)

Hunter (1896-1957) had a style that was similar to Norman Rockwell and was one of the top female illustrators of her era, contributing 18 covers to The Saturday Evening Post in the 1930s and 1940s.²

A biography of Hunter on the Curtis Publishing website reveals that she was born in Centre County, Pennsylvania, but then moved in with her aunt and uncle in Williamsport, Lycoming County, at the age of 6, following the untimely death of her mother. After graduating from Williamsport Area High School³, she moved to Philadelphia and continued to develop her artistic talent.

In addition to The Saturday Evening Post, her work was published in Woman’s Home Companion, Collier’s, Liberty, Good Housekeeping and Ladies Home Journal. But it was Hunter's artistry with paper dolls, according to the Curtis Publishing biography, that provided her most lasting fame:

"In the early 1920s Hunter created a series of paper dolls that first appeared in Ladies Home Journal. Hunter’s dolls created such a following that six beguiling youngsters would find their way on a regular basis into the publication. So successful was this series, that the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin, published The Frances Tipton Picture Book, which featured 20 color and 12 black and white illustrations of children and their pets, accompanied by verses and stories by Marjorie Barrows. The popularity of this book inspired the publication of a compendium of her doll artwork, Frances Tipton Hunter’s Paper Dolls."⁴

For more on Hunter, here are two additional links:

• Retro Randy: Frances Tipton Hunter
• The Art of Frances Tipton Hunter by Diana Denny

One last thing. The Dixon Ticonderoga Company has a gallery of company-owned and company-related artwork. It includes the Hunter illustration that appears on the ink blotter ... sort of. Here are two illustrations, side by side. On the left is the ink blotter illustration. On the right is the illustration featured on Dixon Ticonderoga's gallery.

Whoa! Why are there differences? My guess: The illustration on the right is the original. For the ink blotter (and presumably other Ticonderoga promotional use), the blackboard background was created and the seated boy's book lost its cover illustration, so as not to be too distracting. Whatever the case was, it's pretty neat to note the differences.

Just for fun: More ink blotters

• Wampole's Creo-Terpin ink blotter from Ensley, Alabama
• Ink blotter for McCall Chair Co. of Cornelius, North Carolina

Footnotes
1. Did you know that there is a whole platoon of blogs devoted to pencils and writing implements? I had no idea! One of the more notable websites seems to be Pencil Revolution. And Pencil Revolution's home page features a dizzyingly comprehensive blogroll of other pencil blogs. Anyway, the reason I bring it up is that Pencil Revolution had this review of Dixon Ticonderoga Classic in 2005.
2. Norman Rockwell, by comparison, contributed a whopping 317 covers to The Saturday Evening Post over 47 years.
3. Fun piece of trivia: Williamsport Area High School's nickname is the Millionaires.
4. At least two modern reprints collect Hunter's paper dolls: "Little Busybodies Paper Dolls in Full Color: The Classic Series" and "Alden Family Paper Dolls in Full Color."

Wampole's Creo-Terpin ink blotter from Ensley, Alabama

It's the return of Wampole's! The early February post on Henry K. Wampole & Company has been one of the most popular and commented-upon posts in Papergreat's short history.

This is an ink blotter for Wampole's Creo-Terpin (for Coughs due to Colds) that was personalized for Gilmer Drug Co., Inc., in Ensley, Alabama.

Wampole's issued numerous ink blotters with different themes throughout the first half of the 20th century. There are blotters highlighting military ribbons, types of birds, birthstones, U.S. presidents, modes of transportation, famous inventors and more.¹ They make wonderful and collectible pieces of history.²

The ink blotter featured today highlights famous flights in history and shows their routes on a world map. Aviators who are noted include Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Clarence Chamberlin, Hermann Köhl³, and Italo Balbo, among others.

Now, in the spirit of the original post here are:

Five more things I learned about Henry K. Wampole & Company

1. I have no idea how I missed this in the initial blog entry, but the Wampole brand is STILL AROUND. (In February, I wrote: "The company was acquired by the Denver Chemical Mfg. Co. in September 1957" and then assumed that was the end of it.)

The modern company, based in Canada, has a 2007 news release on the home page of its website touting its liquid vitamins:

"Wampole, the Canadian leader in natural health since 1893, is launching all new, tasty liquid formulas of nutritional supplements. The liquid supplements, distinguished by greatly improved efficiency due to their ease of absorption, allow the body to rapidly ingest the liquid's vitamins and minerals.

"Back on shelves in June, the famous Tonic Wampole, an original liquid formula combining iron and essential vitamins, helps replenish energy and maintain overall good health. Wampole's four new liquid vitamin formulas in different flavours promise to please all those who take their health to heart: the Multivitamin in pomegranate flavour, the Calcium-Magnesium-Vitamin D formula in cranberry flavour, the Calcium formula in a refreshing citrus fruit flavour and the Glucosamine-Chondroitine & MSM in an exotic mango flavour. Supplements for every need and for every taste!"

And here's what it states on the "About Wampole" page of the website:

"It’s hard to believe that 100 years of success started with Cod Liver Oil. In 1893, Henry Koch Wampole and his partners moved to Toronto and began manufacturing the popular liver extract. Over a century later, Wampole Brands Inc. is an enduring Canadian success story. Recognized as a Canadian leader in high-quality nutritional and herbal products, the Wampole name is associated with quality and value from coast-to-coast."

Can any of Papergreat's Canadian readers chip in with more information about what's available in stores these days and how relatively popular those products are?

2. On Chris Overstreet's groovy blog, Wild Postcards, he has discussed another one of Wampole's ink blotters and provided some wonderful background information in a July 2009 post. I enjoy how he breaks down the meaning of the product name Creo-Terpin. Here's an excerpt:

"The 'Creo' in Creo-Terpin seems to come from wood creosote, a bush that we know today has even more medicinal value than Wampole thought; it’s good for upset stomach, arthritis, anemia, and is even an anti-microbial. ... The 'Terpin', on the other hand, probably refers to terpin hydrate, which was usually sold in a solution with codeine to relieve bronchitis."

Overstreet's blog entry continues with other great information, and then his readers chip in with memories of their own about Creo-Terpin. This one from "Mary" seems to sum up what some people thought of Wampole's product: "Creo Turpin [sic] was awful to the tastebuds, but excellent for colds and coughs. One dose had the ability to kill a cold bug dead in its tracks. Wish this product was still available."

3. In volume 35 of The Trained Nurse and Hospital Review⁴, published in 1905, the following was written in "New Remedies and Appliances":

"Wampole's Creo-Terpin Compound is healing and antiseptic. Now that the season of colds is approaching, with the accompanying discomforts of coughs, pains in the chest and coryza, the nurses who do not already know of this unusually excellent remedy would be benefited by sending for a sample and literature. See H.K. Wampole's advertisement in this number."

4. Meanwhile, Wampole's also made a product called Vaginal Cones with Picric Acid. All you need to know about this product can be found in a fascinating essay written by Harry Finley on the website for the Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health. Here's a small excerpt and then you should go there and read the rest:

"It's hard to imagine why Wampole put picric acid into these suppositories meant for the vagina - but as a reader pointed out, the main use for these suppositories might have been to kill sperm, which sufficiently strong acid can do."

5. Finally, here's a piece of Wampole's ephemera that I've had my eye on since I first stumbled upon it online. It's an advertising card featuring the Virgin Mary (La Virgen Y El Niño) from the pharmacy of a Dr. Cintas in Campana, Argentina. Across the bottom of the card is the text: "Obsequio de Henry K. Wampole y Cia. Inc. Filadelfia. E.U. de A."

The card is available for purchase from numerous online sites, and I have copied the image that appears below from one of them:

Footnotes
1. Plenty of these can be found on eBay, which is how I acquired today's piece of ephemera.
2. And if you look closely, you can see that the blotters also functioned as rulers!
3. Köhl's name is misspelled as "Koehl" on the blotter.
4. This was a monthly magazine of practical nursing, devoted to the improvement and development of the graduate nurse.

McCall Chair Co. ink blotter

This is an undated 9⅛-inch-by-4-inch advertising ink blotter for McCall Chair Co. in Cornelius, North Carolina (a northern suburb of Charlotte). The blotter is touting the company's "Fashion Line," specifically the No. 90 swivel chair and the No. 350 platform rocker.

McCall Chair Co. was founded by Grover McCall and was in business from about 1946 to 1981.¹ At its peak, the furniture manufacturer employed more than 50 people. In the 1960s, a new platform rocker might have cost about $38. We know that because one of McCall's original platform rockers is preserved at the Carl Sandburg Home, a historic site in Flat Rock, N.C.

James McCall, grandson of Grover McCall, described to Ashville.com how one of the company's chairs would have been manufactured:

“This entire chair was made in North Carolina,” said McCall. Every piece of the chair was crafted in the Cornelius factory, except for the springs and textiles which were manufactured by other local companies. McCall Chair Co. started with raw lumber, constructed the chair frames, added their signature corner glue blocks, painted and finished the frames, added the springs, and then added cushions and upholstery.

An upholsterer handled the assembly of the chair. At McCall's in the 1950s and 1960s, an upholsterer might have assembled about 40 chairs in a good week and earned $1.75 per chair.

McCall's chairs were considered to be high-quality, reasonably priced pieces.

James McCall told Asheville.com that he regrets he did not document more of the company’s history before it closed. At the very least, this ink-blotter advertisement is one more small piece of that history that will be preserved.

Footnote
1. Information on McCall Chair Co. came from these two articles: "Cornelius was a seat of chair making following World War II" on Cornelius Today and "Sandburg History Hits Home for McCall Family" on Ashville.com.

Card from Wayside Gospel Crusaders in Lancaster

Today's piece of ephemera is a little bit of a mystery. In fact, when I typed "Wayside Gospel Crusaders" into Google to begin my research, it returned just one result.¹

That result was the obituary for Landis E. Hershey, who was born November 2, 1916, and died on August 26, 2005. According to his obituary on LancasterOnline.com:

Landis E. Hershey, 88, formerly of 1647 Old Philadelphia Pike, Lancaster, died Friday, August 26. He was the husband of Ruth Martin Hershey. ... Born in Leacock Township, Landis was the son of the late Chester H. Hershey and Anna E. Hershey. Landis was a bookkeeper for the former Lancaster Brick Company and was president and a member of the board of directors of the former Ezra W. Martin Meat Company for 37 years. He and Ruth attended Mellingers Mennonite Church where he served in many active roles. He was a board member and treasurer of Mellinger Mennonite Cemetery. Landis was an early proponent of Christian education and served as chairman of the school board at Locust Grove Mennonite School for a number of years. Landis is remembered by many for his life of service to others, especially as volunteer and regional director of Mennonite Disaster Service from its beginning in 1955. He was a member of the Lancaster Chapter of the American Red Cross and was also treasurer of Wayside Gospel Crusaders. He was well respected as a godly man of integrity and sincerity.

I placed in bold the two references above that stood out.

First, Hershey formerly lived at 1647 Old Philadelphia Pike in Lancaster County. That same address is printed about the bottom of the blue "Accept Christ" card.

Second, Hershey was once the treasurer of the Wayside Gospel Crusaders. But that's it. Nothing further.

Eventually, I found some more information that tips us off about this organization by searching Google's online collection of books. The complete text of many books and periodicals is not yet available online, so I could only pull a few snippets and excerpts from my search results. Those snippets include:

• From "The Mennonite Community, Volumes 1-3", published by the Mennonite Community Association in 1947: "...Replace that beer, liquor or tobacco sign with the WORD OF GOD Posters 8y2 feet by 20 feet [sic], for standard-sized billboards are available now. For additional information CONTACT WAYSIDE GOSPEL CRUSADERS Route 5 Lancaster Pennsylvania...".
• From "The sociology of Mennonite evangelism", a 1954 book by John Andrew Hostetler: "...The 'Wayside Gospel Crusaders' make and promote billboard roadside evangelism ... to bring men and women face to face with the Gospel, who possibly would not come to our church houses and could not be contacted in any other way."

So the best information at this point is that the Wayside Gospel Crusaders practiced an earlier form of billboard evangelism². What else the group did, how many billboards were posted, how long the group was active and other questions remain unanswered for now. I am sure, though, there are people in Lancaster County who can tell us much more about this group's history.

Footnotes
1. That's kind of, but not quite, a Googlewhack.
2. Billboard evangelism remains extremely popular today in the United States. A couple of current examples can be found here and here.

Crown Coal, J.W. Wolgemuth and Wenger Feeds

This advertising card dates from sometime between 1920 (when Crown Coal & Coke Company was founded) and 1944 (when J.W. Wolgemuth Mill was sold to Mel Wenger, who founded Wenger Feeds on the property).

The text on the card states:

So Clean-
So Carefully-Prepared

PHONE US TODAY FOR A FULL SUPPLY OF THIS TRULY ECONOMICAL FUEL

CROWN COAL
KING OF ANTHRACITE

J.W. WOLGEMUTH ESTATE
COAL, GRAIN & FEED
Phone-Elizabethtown 175
Rheems, Pa.

For your protection, you will find CROWN COAL Tags in your coal

According to the history portion of the Crown Coal website, the company "has been a dynamic participant in the North American coal and coke markets, since its founding in 1920. Through the ensuing years Crown has maintained a distinct and independent sales role within the steel, utility, industrial and export markets for coal and coke." (The company hasn't been directly involved with the actual mining of coal since the 1970s.)

Interestingly, the reference to "clean" coal in this old advertising card doesn't mean quite the same thing it means today. Prior to World War II, clean coal (also called "smokeless coal") referred to anthracite and high-grade bituminous coal, which were used for cooking and home heating.¹ Now, "clean coal" is a controversial term that refers to carbon capture and sequestration technology that may reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases when coal is burned. This notion of "clean coal" is highly debated. The Sierra Club² has a website titled "Coal Is Not The Answer".

But I digress.

The other interesting aspect of this advertising card is how J.W. Wolgemuth Estate in Rheems, Lancaster County, became something much bigger -- Wenger Feeds. Here's an excerpt from the history portion of the company's website:

After experiencing great success selling Purina feeds in his Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania self-service grocery store, founder Mel Wenger was approached by a Purina salesman about purchasing the J.W. Wolgemuth Mill in neighboring Rheems. Mel Wenger purchased the mill in 1944³ and, throughout the 50's and 60's, developed a custom feed formula to meet the needs of the growing egg layer business in Lancaster County. The resultant M.M. Wenger feeds were extremely popular and filled a market segment that had previously been ignored. His success prompted Mel Wenger to drop the checkerboard and create an independent line of custom feed products. By the early 1960's, Wenger Feeds had expanded into poultry and swine production, eggs, and pullet growing.

Wenger Feeds now specializes in feed for poultry, swine and specialty birds; eggs; soy oil; and the trademarked product SoyChoice, which is described as "premium expelled soybean meal".

Footnotes
1. Sources are Wikipedia and WVa-USA.com
2. And, in light of current events, the first thing you see today when you go to the Sierra Club website is "Nukes Are Not The Answer." The club provides a form letter you can send to your senators informing them of your stance on nuclear energy.
3. It appears that Wenger Feeds, picking up from J.W. Wolgemuth, continued to sell coal (probably Crown Coal) in the first years after its founding. The company no longer sells coal, clean or otherwise.