1913 Nestle’s Food (Baby Formula) Advertisement

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, September 23, 1913: Don’t know how to express myself.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’m going to share an advertisement for a baby formula, Nestle’s Food, that appeared in the October, 1913 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

A few days ago I did a post that showed several pictures of the “right” and “wrong” way raise a baby. Readers’ comments about that post led me to do this post. It contained pictures from the October, 1913 issues of Ladies Home Journal where both the “right” and the “wrong” way showed the baby drinking from a bottle. Several people commented that it was interesting that breastfeeding wasn’t mentioned.

After reading the comments I looked at the magazine again–and I discovered that this ad was positioned right next to the picture article about the right and wrong ways to raise a baby.

Maybe I’m in a cynical mood today, but somehow it feels like the magazine was trying to please the advertiser, and that the advertisement drove the content.

Colgate’s Ribbon Dental Cream Advertisement

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, September 12, 1913: I’ve forgotten for today.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a hundred-year-old ad for Colgate’s Ribbon Dental Cream that was in the March, 1913 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

Care of the teeth twice-a-day and every day is a good habit easily formed with Colgate’s.

COLGATE’S RIBBON DENTAL CREAM

DELICIOUS

ANTISEPTIC

ECONOMICAL

COMES OUT A RIBBON

LIES FLAT ON THE BRUSH

CANNOT ROLL OFF THE BRUSH

Its flavor is delicious—making its use a treat and insuring regularity.

Its antiseptic action is thorough—checking the germs which cause decay.

Its cleansing is safe—removing deposits and leaving the mouth non-acid without over-medication.

Every member of your household—man, woman and child—should have an individual tube.

Single tubes and boxes of half dozen at our dealer’s—or send us 2 cents for a trial tube and our booklet “Oral Hygiene.”

COLGATE & CO.

Dept. H

199 Fulton St., New York

Maker of Cashmere Bouquet Soap—luxurious, lasting, refined.

According to the Colgate website:

Colgate introduced its toothpaste in a tube similar to modern-day toothpaste tubes in the 1890s.

Until after 1945, toothpastes contained soap. After that time, soap was replaced by other ingredients to make the paste into a smooth paste or emulsion—such as sodium lauryl sulphate, a common ingredient in present-day toothpaste.

1913 Kodak Film Tank Advertisement

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, August 26, 1913: Ruthie and I commenced on this pictures this afternoon. We made a negative. This evening we went to a party up at Bryson’s. There were so many there and lots that I didn’t know.

THE KODAK GIRL AT HOME

Every step in film development becomes simple, easy, understandable with a

KODAK FILM TANK

No dark-room, no tediously acquired skill—and better results than were possible by the old methods. It’s an important link the the Kodak system of “Photography with the bother left out.”

The Experience is in the Tank.

In our little booklet, “Tank Development,” free at your dealer or in the mail.

EASTMAN KODAK CO., 365 State Street, Rochester, N.Y.

Source: Farm Journal (August, 1913)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Wow, Grandma and her sister Ruth apparently developed their own pictures. Grandma brought a camera earlier in the summer and took her first pictures on August 13:

Today we had our S.S. picnic up at the creek. Not all that were invited came, but still I guess we had a good time. I initiated by camera by taking two pictures.

In this era of digital photography—when it’s easy to take and then view hundreds (or thousands) of photos it’s hard to image how much knowledge and skill was required to get a few pictures back then.

—

Blanche and Margaret Bryson were friends of Grandma and Ruth. The Bryson’s lived on a farm north of McEwensville. And, I think that Grandma visited Margaret the previous Sunday—on August 24. I wonder if Grandma helped plan the party.

What does “many” mean? How many people were at the party—15? . . .25? . . . 50?

Who was at the party? Any “interesting” guys?

Recent photo of the home where the Bryson family lived a hundred years ago. In my imagination, I picture young men and women playing croquet in the yard, and drinking lemonade on the porch (and maybe flirting just a little bit).

Old Hydrox Cookies and Other Sunshine Biscuits Advertisement

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, August 22, 1913: Nothing much doing.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1913)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a hundred-year-old advertisement for Hydrox cookies and other biscuits made by Sunshine.

Hydrox cookies bring back warm fuzzy memories, and I was disappointed to discover that they are no longer made.

According to Wikipedia they were first made in 1908 by the Sunshine Company. For some unknown reason the cookie’s name was derived from the atomic elements that make up water: hydrogen and oxygen.

Sunshine was sold to Keebler and later Kellogg. Hydrox cookies were discontinued in 2009.

1913 Kodak Vest Camera

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, August 13, 1913: Today we had our S.S. picnic up at the creek. Not all that were invited came, but still I guess we had a good time. I initiated by camera by taking two pictures.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (July, 1913)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

The picnic sounds like fun—even if the group was small. Did Grandma gather everyone together to take a group shot?

Grandma ordered her camera from a catalog and got it on July 7:

Went into Watsontown this afternoon to see if my camera was there, nor was I mistaken. It was in a big box. I carried it home any way. Wonder if anyone one laughed at me. Perhaps I did look funny.

I’m amazed that it took her more than a month to actually use it. Why?

1913 Philadelphia School for Nurses Advertisement

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Thursday, July 17, 1913: Nothing doing.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (July, 1913)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Grandma was feeling down about something during mid-July, 1913. She graduated from high school the previous spring. Yesterday, I wondered if she was sad because she’d been unsuccessful in getting a teaching job for the upcoming school year.

There weren’t many careers open to women back then. Nursing was another field that was open to women. Did Grandma ever consider becoming a nurse?

Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound Advertisement

18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, July 15, 1913: Nothing doing.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I bet that Grandma still felt mopey when she wrote this entry. The previous day she wrote that she “didn’t feel very good today, and did feel very miserable. I’m not really sick, but sick at heart over something. “

Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound was a popular tonic for female problems a hundred years ago.

Source: Milton Evening Standard (June 3, 1913)

GIRLS WHO ARE PALE, NERVOUS

May Find Help in Mrs. Elston’s Letter About Her Daughter.

Burlington, Iowa—“Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound has cured my daughter of weakness. She was troubled almost a year with it and complained of backache, so that I thought she would be an invalid. She was entirely run down, pale, nervous and without appetite. I was very much discouraged but heard of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound through friends and now I praise it because it has cured my daughter.” –Mr.s F.M. Elston, R.D. No. 3, Burlington, Iowa

Case of Another Girl

Scanlon, Minn. – “I used to be bothered with nervous spells, and would cry if anyone was cross with me. I got awful weak spells especially in the morning, and my appetite was poor. I also had a tender place in my right side which pained when I did any hard work. I took Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound and my symptoms all changed, and I am certainly feeling fine. I recommend it to every suffering woman or girl. You may use this letter for the good of others.” — Miss Ella Olson, 171 5^th St., Virginia, Minn.

Young Girls, Heed This Advice

Girls who are troubled with painful or irregular periods, backache, headache, dragging-down sensations, fainting spells or indigestion, should immediately seek restoration to health by taking Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound.