Hit submit too soon - any chance they’d let you do a web project? It would be good for your resume ~and~ would alow all the dopers to see the collection.
I think that probably answers it. FE students aren’t exactly the most accurate sampling of foreign cultures. Just the fact they’re students… eew, ick. Filthy grubby things.
[continuing hijack-- my apologies]
Oh, me too! One of my favorite items is an ad for abortificatient pills. I can’t remember the exact name, but it simply says, “Dr. Poole’s Ladies’ Pills. * You know.” * On one bottle that we have, a warning is written, “Pregnant ladies should not take three of these pills, or immediate abortion will result.”
One of my favorite letters passed between sisters. An older sister tells her younger, newly-married sister to talk to her husband about getting “something called a kundrim” which would prevent children. She also recommends some common herbs which will prevent conception. A couple of them surprised me until I got a book called * Eve’s Herbs * which confirmed their contraceptive properties.
Let the hijack continue! During prohibition, people printed books about bottling grape juice with instructions like “Do not mix the juice of grapes with this percentage of sugar and this percentage of yeast and store at tempuratures of X-Y or fermentation may occur.”
I love letters. Primary source material doesn’t get much better than that. Get premission for your boss to apply for a grant for a web project. We all want to see the Ladies’ Pills.
I’m surprised that none of the other dopers have mentioned circumcision. Either male as practiced in this country, or female as practiced elsewhere! Maybe a topic for another thread or another forum.
Did you see that asterisk which I pointedly put by my assertion? I clearly defined what I meant.