Search
- Parson's Purgative Pills, 1870-1890 - Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- 1870-1890
- Collections - Artifact
Parson's Purgative Pills, 1870-1890
Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- Reynold's & Parmely's Female Health Restorative, 1839-1870 - Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- 1839-1870
- Collections - Artifact
Reynold's & Parmely's Female Health Restorative, 1839-1870
Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- Dr. Sawens Magic Nervine Pills, 1868-1883 - Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- 1868-1883
- Collections - Artifact
Dr. Sawens Magic Nervine Pills, 1868-1883
Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- Triopeptine Tablets, 1906-1918 - Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- 1906-1918
- Collections - Artifact
Triopeptine Tablets, 1906-1918
Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- Holtzerman's Patent Stomach Bitters, 1862-1890 - Bitters is an herb-infused alcoholic mixture. Named for its bitter taste, the liquid was originally developed as a medicinal tonic to help soothe stomach complaints or other digestive disorders. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, patent-medicine dealers bottled and sold the elixir. Americans purchased bitters in simple mold-blown bottles or ones shaped like drums, barrels, or cabins.
- 1862-1890
- Collections - Artifact
Holtzerman's Patent Stomach Bitters, 1862-1890
Bitters is an herb-infused alcoholic mixture. Named for its bitter taste, the liquid was originally developed as a medicinal tonic to help soothe stomach complaints or other digestive disorders. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, patent-medicine dealers bottled and sold the elixir. Americans purchased bitters in simple mold-blown bottles or ones shaped like drums, barrels, or cabins.
- Yucca for the Hair and Scalp, 1890-1901 - People have sought a cure for hair loss for thousands of years. In the late nineteenth-century, the makers of "Yucca for the Hair" marketed their concoction as a cure for baldness, dandruff, and other diseases of the scalp. The proprietors of this patent medicine claimed the plant-based extract invigorated the scalp, promoted hair growth and rendered hair "soft, glossy and luxuriant."
- 1890-1901
- Collections - Artifact
Yucca for the Hair and Scalp, 1890-1901
People have sought a cure for hair loss for thousands of years. In the late nineteenth-century, the makers of "Yucca for the Hair" marketed their concoction as a cure for baldness, dandruff, and other diseases of the scalp. The proprietors of this patent medicine claimed the plant-based extract invigorated the scalp, promoted hair growth and rendered hair "soft, glossy and luxuriant."
- Lyman Brown's Seven Barks Almanac, 1900 - Almanacs contained practical information about the coming year. Readers normally found a calendar, weather predictions, tide schedules, and information related to astronomical events, agriculture, health, politics and other matters. Interspersed were jokes and witty sayings. In the late 1800s, drug and patent medicine companies published almanacs with colorfully illustrated covers to entice the public to buy their products.
- 1900
- Collections - Artifact
Lyman Brown's Seven Barks Almanac, 1900
Almanacs contained practical information about the coming year. Readers normally found a calendar, weather predictions, tide schedules, and information related to astronomical events, agriculture, health, politics and other matters. Interspersed were jokes and witty sayings. In the late 1800s, drug and patent medicine companies published almanacs with colorfully illustrated covers to entice the public to buy their products.
- Warner's Safe Kidney & Liver Cure, 1879-1900 - Hulbert Harrington Warner, a wealthy New York fire- and burglar-proof safe manufacturer, purchased a medicinal formula from a local doctor and created a multi-million-dollar patent medicine business in the late 1800s. Warner bottled his "cures" and sold them worldwide. The safe on the front of this bottle referenced Warner's previous business enterprise and alluded to the product's perceived safety.
- 1879-1900
- Collections - Artifact
Warner's Safe Kidney & Liver Cure, 1879-1900
Hulbert Harrington Warner, a wealthy New York fire- and burglar-proof safe manufacturer, purchased a medicinal formula from a local doctor and created a multi-million-dollar patent medicine business in the late 1800s. Warner bottled his "cures" and sold them worldwide. The safe on the front of this bottle referenced Warner's previous business enterprise and alluded to the product's perceived safety.
- D.B. Senger Patent Medicine Bottle, "Dr. Wrightsman's Sovereign Balm of Life," 1907-1920 -
- 1907-1920
- Collections - Artifact
D.B. Senger Patent Medicine Bottle, "Dr. Wrightsman's Sovereign Balm of Life," 1907-1920
- Doctor Ingoldsby's Piles Specific, 1846 - Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.
- 1846
- Collections - Artifact
Doctor Ingoldsby's Piles Specific, 1846
Nineteenth-century entrepreneurs promised cures with patent medicines. Some of these concoctions, however, contained harmful ingredients or ingredients used in unsafe quantities -- the industry was unregulated and manufacturers were secretive about their recipes. Beginning with the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, national legislation increasingly prohibited misleading health claims and required manufacturers to list their product's contents.