From the same company, tampons: Meds (U.S.A. and elsewhere, box and tampon, 1967, Personal Products Company) - Meds (box & tampons, 1940s-1950s?) - pamphlet introducing Meds to the world (1930s) - Meds box & tampons, 1970, New Zealand - 1941 ad - Personal Digest leaflets, which sometimes have information about Meds (1966-67) - 1967 ad - undated instructions here and here. - Australian ad, 1950s

From the same company, sanitary napkins (pads):

Modess (Johnson & Johnson, Personal Products Co., U.S.A.) 1927 Gilbreth report to Johnson & Johnson about Modess - newspaper ads 1927-28 - "Silent Purchase" ad, June 1928 - ad, 1928 - "Modernizing Mother" ads: #1, February 1929 ("Mother . . . don't be quaint"); #3 April 1929 ("Don't weaken, Mother"); #5, June 1929 ("Never mind, Mother, you'll learn") - ad about concealing pad, 1930 - ad compared with Kotex ad, 1931 - ad, 1931 - wrapped Modess pad for dispenser, 1930s? - Ad, U.K., 1936 - True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947 - actress Carol Lynley in "How shall I tell my daughter?" booklet ad (1955) - Australian ad, 1957 - ad (1956) with "Modess . . . . because" ad incorporated into it - ad for "Growing Up and Liking It" booklet (1963, Modess) - - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates) - ad with baby, 1969: "She knows as much about sanitary napkins as you do." - French ad, 1970s? - ad, French, 1972, photo by David Hamilton - Personal Digest leaflets (7), 1966-67: describe Modess products - How Modess Sanitary Napkins Began: excerpts from"A Company That Cares: One Hundred Year Illustrated History of Johnson and Johnson"

From the same company, booklets for boys & girls:

Boys: Have you wondered what happens when girls grow up? (complete pamphlet, Personal Products Co., 1973) Quick lessons for probably only mildly interested boys.

Essence of Womanhood (complete booklet, 1959, Personal Products Corp., Modess tampons, U.S.A.)

Growing Up and Liking It (complete booklets: 1944, 1949, 1957, 1963, 1964, 1970, 1972, 1976, 1978, 1991. The Personal Products Company, U.S.A.) (many covers, 1944-1991)

How shall I tell my daughter? [How Shall I Tell My Daughter? in the 1954 edition & Daughter in 1969] (complete booklets, 1954, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1981, Personal Products Co.) See covers of Modess booklets. Excerpt about how to fasten a pad to a belt and about sanitary panties & a funny story from the 1969 booklet.

Nancy's Biggest Day at Camp (complete booklet, 1941, Modess menstrual pads, U.S.A.) Nancy's biggest day was learning about menstruation at summer camp, not having her first period there unless the company just didn't want to discuss that. No discussion of tampons, which Modess also made, probably because many people thought they would turn a virgin into a fallen wom-, er, girl, a problem Tampax discussed in an ad. Black and white. Generous gift from an anonymous donor!

[The] Periodic Cycle (complete booklet, 1938, The Personal Products Corp., U.S.A., maker of Modess pads) The booklet states that this is for older teenage girls, and is probably a companion to What a trained nurse wrote to her young sister, below.

Sally and Mary and Kate Wondered . . . (complete booklet, cover, 1956, Personal Products Corp., U.S.A.)

Strictly Feminine (complete booklet with an actual letter from a mother to her daughter's doctor - 1969, Personal Products Co. [Modess], U.S.A.)

MORE booklets, pads, tampons
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? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | bemnet.pair.comasbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | 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 | 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 directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | 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
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

Modess flexible tampons
Newspaper ads, 1956 & 1958
The New York Times Magazine, March 2, 1958
Boston Globe, June 3, 1956

Menstruation, Modess, ad, menstrual hygiene, history, tampon, advertising

Modess ads - it makes you think of "modest," doesn't it? - often seemed classier and more restrained to me than those of its chief competitor, Kotex. The ballet dancer below continued that tradition. (See more Modess products in the left-hand column.)

But dancers and other stage performers were among the early users of tampons and at least one company aimed right at them.

And dancers are flexible.

Underneath the dancers sit boxes with designs from the famous Modess . . . . because campaign, reminding us again of restraint and elegance. And maybe speechlessness about the thing the company wanted to sell?
Even the . . . recall the . . . . of that long ad campaign.

"Old-style, rigid tampons" smacks Tampax across the face. The nerve!

"Dainty," in the last paragraph, sums up the impressions of the gowns and tutus. You meet the word again and again (and again) in ads for menstrual products, battling the reality of menstruation for most women.

I hate the quotation marks around the word first. Is that a nudge and a wink?

I thank Tambrands, the former maker of Tampax, for these ads, part of a large
gift of menstrual products from its archives.


Below: At bottom you read in a Tampax hand, "File[,] New York Times Magazine Section
3/2/58." The annoying light streaks result from my applying Wei T'o solution to slow
the deterioration of the paper (newsprint).

NEXT  |  1956 Modess flexible tampon ad

Sally and Mary and Kate Wondered . . . (complete booklet, cover, 1956, Personal Products Corp., Modess,  U.S.A.)

Strictly Feminine (complete booklet with an actual letter from a mother to her daughter's doctor - 1969, Personal Products Co. [Modess], U.S.A.)

Pamphlet introducing Meds tampons to the world (1930s), the Modess tampon predecessor. The pamphlet does NOT introduce the cat of the same name to the world!

MORE booklets, pads, tampons


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