Possibly the first American disposable pad: Lister's Towels
Early Modess ads: newspaper, 1928, 1931,"Modess . . . . because" ads, the French Modess, and the German "Freedom" (Kimberly-Clark) for teens.
Early Midol ads for headache, hiccups, and PMS.
See a prototype of the first Kotex ad.
See more Kotex items: Ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many links here to Kotex items) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing disposal method - box from about 1969 - Preparing for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for girls) - "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - See more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
Ads for the Kotex stick tampon (U.S.A., 1970s) - a Japanese stick tampon from the 1970s.
Early commercial tampons - Rely tampon - Meds tampon (Modess)
HOMEPAGE
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation (and awesome ancient art of menstruation) |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
Founder/director biography |
Gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux |
Humor |
Huts |
Links |
Masturbation |
Media coverage of MUM |
Menarche booklets for girls and parents |
Miscellaneous |
Museum future |
Norwegian menstruation exhibit |
Odor |
Olor |
Pad, towel, napkin directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum (video) |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
Underpants & panties directory |
Videos, films directory |
Words and expressions about menstruation |
Would you stop menstruating if you could? |
What did women do about menstruation in the past? |
Washable pads |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.


The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

Early ads for American menstrual pads, belts, aprons, diapers
Gotham & Venus compressed sanitary napkins, Pen-Co-Nap, Kleinert, Merco, Sorbit diapers
Newspapers, U.S.A.

See main discussion.

I thank the industrious retired teacher and genealogist for sending these scans and many others!

Below: from the Trenton [New Jersey] Evening Times, Aug. 14, 1916. I suspect that the Gotham and Venus pads were of paper to be burned or tossed or flushed; washing cloth pads was a problem for women traveling. See an actual later Venus compressed pad, maybe the same one. See a sanitary apron. See some menstrual belts.
 
Below: ad from Appleton [Wisconsin] Post Crescent, Feb. 11, 1929.
J.C. Penney, which operates today, sold its own brand of menstrual pads just as Sears and probably many other stores did.
Below: from the Fort Wayne [Indiana] News, Aug. 30, 1912. If there can be paper diapers, paper menstrual pads can't be far behind, which of course was the case. See sanitary bloomers possibly based on children's diapers.
 
Below: from the Oakland [California] Tribune, May 22, 1919.
 
   

Next ad.

See possibly the first American disposable pad: Lister's Towels - Early Modess ads: newspaper, 1928, 1931,"Modess . . . . because" ads, the French Modess, and the German "Freedom" (Kimberly-Clark) for teens. Early Midol ads for headache, hiccups, and PMS. Other Modess ads: another from 1928, 1931,"Modess . . . . because" ads, the French Modess,
and the German "Freedom" (Kimberly-Clark) for teens.

© 2006 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute work on
this Web site in any manner or medium without written permission of the author.
Please report suspected violations to [email protected]