# Advertisements from 100 years ago
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 25, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659 "2007-04-25T22:22:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2007, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/1 "2007-04-25T22:22:34Z")
In the course of a work project, I discovered, to my surprise, that I had online access to scanned images of every single LA Times newspaper from the mid-80s all the way back to 1886. Of course, I’ve squandered away a bit of time since then, perusing the paper from my birthdate, the birthdate of friends and family, etc. And then I decided to see what things looked like in the paper 100 years ago today.
One of the best things about this access is that, in addition to the news stories, I’m also able to look at all the ads that were in the paper. Yes, I’m a giant dork for finding this all so amusing, but so be it.
Anyway, I just wanted to share the text of my favorite ad from April 25, 1907 regarding the best-named product ever:
> [@](#):
>
> The only form of food made from wheat that is all nutriment is the soda cracker, and yet–the only soda cracker of which this is really true is
>
> **Uneeda Biscuit**
>
> The only soda cracker scientifically baked.
>
> The only soda cracker effectually protected.
>
> The only soda cracker ever fresh, crisp and clean.
>
> The only soda cracker good at all times.
>
> **5¢** _In a dust tight, moisture proof package._
>
> NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY
😃
---
### Author:  [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/2 "2007-04-25T22:27:52Z")
Back when I was a student in Cambridge, MA in the early '80s they still sold those at one of the local groceries.
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### Author:  [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/3 "2007-04-25T22:38:29Z")
When I was a kid my local library had issues of the local newspaper going all the way back to the 1890s on microfilm. I used to spend hours just browsing through them. I remember being fascinated by the ads for corsets.
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### Author:  [@The\_Lovely\_Margo\_Lane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Lovely_Margo_Lane)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2007, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/4 "2007-04-25T22:51:35Z")
I’ve been reading through and cataloging images from a collection of Steiglitz’ _Camera Work_ magazine for a museum internship, and I’ve been loving the ads. Here’s one from the **first issue** , January 1903:
> [@](#):
>
> IT WOULD BE FOLLY
> to present the readers of Camera Work
> anything but A PERFECT PRODUCT
>
> we are pleased to present to your notice
>
> _ANSCO PLATINUM_
> A pure platinum-paper of high degree.
> Made under perfect conditions.
> Sold at a reasonable price.
> …
>
> THE ANTHONY & SCOVILL CO.
> 122-124 Fifth Avenue, New York
> Atlas Block, Chicago
> U.S.A.
[all caps and italics preserved]
First of all, dig that wonderful pompus wording- shades of _Plumtree’s Potted Meat_, and secondly, the ‘readers of Camera Work’ didn’t even exist when the ad copy was written- a clear attempt at self-fulfilling prophecy, huh?
---
### Author:  [@tashabot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tashabot)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2007, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/5 "2007-04-25T22:54:02Z")
The newspaper I work for recently, within the past few years, inherited bound copies of the paper from over a hundred years ago. Amazing to look at.
Also amazing…we have this section called Pages from the Past. The guy who did it did it from the 1940’s until a few months ago when he died. His children do it now. A snippet from this day out of the Appeal from 120 years ago, 100 years ago, 70 years ago, 50 years ago, 20 years ago and 10 years ago is put in. I have to format them and get them ready for the paper. Amazing to read; about 120 years ago there was a huge Anti-Chinese sentiment that’s fascinating to read about.
The ads, of course, were interesting. To say the least.
~Tasha
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/6 "2007-04-25T23:09:40Z")
Uneeda Biscuit, still available, now as [Gourmet Food](http://www.amazon.com/Nabisco-Uneeda-Biscuit/dp/B0007SNZCK)
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### Author:  [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/7 "2007-04-25T23:12:41Z")
When I was a kid, I wrote a school report on the erecting of the Statue of Liberty. I went to the local library where they had our small town’s newspaper on microfilm going back to the very first issue in the early 1800s to see if there were any articles in the paper when it was built. I found what I was looking for, but even better I found a full-page ad for a circus along [these](http://www.circushistory.org/words.htm) [lines](http://www.circushistory.org/Ads/Ads.htm). It was a gorgeous thing with all kinds of intricate animals and grand text. I wish I’d had a way to copy and print it, it was pretty awesome.
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2007, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/8 "2007-04-25T23:40:00Z")
A couple of coworkers have now asked me to find something interesting from 100 years ago on a daily basis. I think I’m going to enjoy this!
> [@tomndebb](#):
>
> Uneeda Biscuit, still available, now as Gourmet Food
Huh. That’s significantly more than five cents. I wonder how that compares with inflation.
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### Author:  [@IrreverentTone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IrreverentTone)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/9 "2007-04-25T23:58:40Z")
[Here they are at a more reasonable price.](http://www.hometownfavorites.com/shop/candy_cat.asp?c=27&p=1&id=334&newp=) I’ll bet **tomndebb** ’s link was for a case.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/10 "2007-04-26T00:15:07Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb]
Uneeda Biscuit, still available, now as [Gourmet Food](http://www.amazon.com/Nabisco-Uneeda-Biscuit/dp/B0007SNZCK)
[/QUOTE]
But of course! They’re good at all times!
---
### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2007, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/11 "2007-04-26T00:34:19Z")
VD and premarital/extramarital sex ran rampant during the Civil War. In some regiments more than half the men were infected with a STD, sometimes fatally, and unplanned pregnancies were also very common. The advertisements from this period are absolutely fascinating- read any issue of the NY Times from the war years and you’ll see constant advertisements for
> [@](#):
>
> _Dr. Quackenbush’s Tonic_: a tincture of mercury and wine that will cleanse you of embarassing ailments. $2.50. Will be delivered in an unadorned brown package.
> **Madame Viola** is a friend to women who need her services for uncomfortable and private matters related to their gender. She is able to restore the body to harmony from _obstructed cycles_ with safety and certainty. She is located on 34th street atop Henderson’s Hardware.
>
> _Mrs. Macadams_ assists married ladies of good character only in the restoration of natural cycles and with the treatment of disease obtained from their husbands in the war.
>
> _Dr. Potentate’s Asian Elixir_ is guaranteed to restores harmony using ingredients known to the Chinese and Mahommetans for thousands of years. This miraculous potion purges all from the system included barriers to menstrual regularity and rashes and other embarassments to the countenance borne of exposure to the ill. Send $4.00 to \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*.
Absolutely fascinating. Without saying “get rid of unwanted pregancies” or abortifacient or “cure gonorrhea without your husband finding out”, they manage to say exactly those things REPEATEDLY in the same issue- sometimes there are three or four whole columns of these ads. The scary thing is that there was no such thing as the FDA at this time to oversee these patent medicines or a Health Dept. that licensed people “removing obstructions to female regularity” there’s no way of knowing how many women died or were rendered barren or just got violently ill and were out $5 in addition to still be pregnant or syphiletic due to some truly immoral or incompetent.
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### Author:  [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2007, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/12 "2007-04-26T00:42:50Z")
I love how old ads have huge blocks of text. I wish ads today would have a bit more actual wordage, rather than just shiny pictures.
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### Author:  [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/13 "2007-04-26T20:11:08Z")
Although the Jordan Motor Car Company is long gone, [this ad for the Playboy roadster](http://www.charleswelty.com/authors/jordan.htm) lives on as a classic. Although it’s full of text, it also heralded the transition from the selling of the **product** to the marketing of a carefully-crafted **image**.
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### Author:  [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/14 "2007-04-26T20:39:59Z")
Anyone ever see any ads touting a product filled with asbestos or lead? Those would be cool to see 🙂
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### Author:  [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/15 "2007-04-26T20:53:26Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ]
Anyone ever see any ads touting a product filled with asbestos or lead? Those would be cool to see 🙂
[/QUOTE]
I have several thousand MP3’s of old radio shows. It’s downright eerie to hear radio advertisements talking about which brand of cigarettes is recommended by four out of five doctors.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/16 "2007-04-26T20:55:30Z")
[QUOTE=ZipperJJ]
Anyone ever see any ads touting a product filled with asbestos or lead? Those would be cool to see 🙂
[/QUOTE]
[Not cool.](http://consumerist.com/consumer/advertising/retro-asbestostwin-towers-ad-the-black-irony-coughs-itself-up-250121.php)
> [@](#):
>
> WHEN THE FIRE ALARM WENT OFF, IT TOOK TWO HOURS TO EVACUATE NEW YORK’S WORLD TRADE CENTRE.
>
> When life depends on it, you use asbestos.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 26, 2007, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/17 "2007-04-26T22:32:54Z")
[QUOTE=LonesomePolecat]
I have several thousand MP3’s of old radio shows. It’s downright eerie to hear radio advertisements talking about which brand of cigarettes is recommended by four out of five doctors.
[/QUOTE]
I can remember my doctor examining me while I was smoking in a hospital bed! Aaaah…those were the days.
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### Author:  [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/18 "2007-04-27T04:37:17Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro]
Without saying “get rid of unwanted pregancies” or abortifacient or “cure gonorrhea without your husband finding out”, they manage to say exactly those things REPEATEDLY in the same issue- sometimes there are three or four whole columns of these ads.
[/QUOTE]
You can see these same “cures” in the 1897 Sears Catalog (available as a reprint.) The wording is intentionally vague, especially in comparison to the lengthy ads in which the pills claim to cure a wide variety of ailments. One which springs instantly to mind is a small ad for “ladies’ pills”. If you take the instructed dosage, “all will be well.”
I’d imagine a lot of these later ads were so carefully worded to avoid running afoul of the Comstock Laws.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2007, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/19 "2007-04-27T12:55:27Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto]
[Not cool.](http://consumerist.com/consumer/advertising/retro-asbestostwin-towers-ad-the-black-irony-coughs-itself-up-250121.php)
[/QUOTE]
:eek:
---
### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements-from-100-years-ago/401659/20 "2007-04-27T18:08:40Z")
Not an ad, but an article. However, it’s my thread, so I shall hijack as I see fit. This is from April 26, 1907. I’d love for someone to try to parse what actually took place in this story, since there’s a key phrase within that clearly meant something different then than it does to us now.
> [@](#):
>
> DEDUCTS FOR KISSES
> Putting a price of $3 on a kiss, Miss Cora Wilson, 20 years old, asked today for the arrest of Dr. R. B. Cochrane, a dentist.
>
> Miss Wilson says she went to Dr. Cochrane’s office to have a set of false teeth made and while the dentist was at work he made love to her and helped himself to three kisses.
>
> Dr. Cochrane fitted her with false teeth and Miss Wilson gave him $11 in part payment of his bill of $20. He called her to his office by telephone a week later, she says, and demanded the remaining $9. She refused to pay him, saying that as he had stolen three kisses the obligation had been met. Then, she declares, he took the false teeth from her mouth by force.
>
> Mis Wilson described each kiss in detail to the police today. Dr. Cochrane denied having kissed her even once.
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