YOUR remedies
for menstrual period pain and problems. See
more remedies here.
A discussion of
the letter testimonials, and their
authenticity, of the Pinkham company (in a
discussion of a Pursettes ad with a letter
testimonial)
See two letters to MUM about the ingredients of her
Compound, and one about the lyrics of
an English pop song, Lily the Pink,
about her.
Other amazing women:
Nelli Bly, Dr.
Marie Stopes, Dr.
Grace Feder Thompson
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The Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine Co., maker
of medicine for headaches,
stomach illness, insomnia, depression,
cancer, tumors, women's diseases,
flatulence, menstruation, fertility, etc.:
Back of a trade card
Continued from the first page
about Lydia Pinkham.
American law clamped down on the
outrageous claims Lydia Pinkham and
other makers of patent medicine made
(below, the back of the trade
card pictured on the previous page),
but not before cards like this duped
many a reader. Preparations of the
time could contain heroin, cocaine
or opium, substances guaranteed to
make you feel good and have you
running back for more. In the early
part of this century the government
began controlling the content of
medicines available without a
prescription.
In June 1997, a nurse from Taiwan
at the conference in Chicago of The
Society for Menstrual Cycle Research
mentioned that many women on that
island still use Mrs. Pinkham's
Compound for their ailments. I
suspect many do in the U.S.A., too.
By the way, Pinkham operated from
Lynn, Massachusetts, the town famous
for another (continued below
card)
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prominent American woman: Mary Baker Eddy,
who lived there shortly before she
founded Christian Science. Her
claims also involve the body; many
regard those too as false.
Mrs. Pinkham was involved in many
activities, but these lines from a
song mention her most famous one:
So we'll
sing of Lydia Pinkham,
Savior
of the human race.
She
sells her Vegetable Compound,
And the
papers publish her face.
(Read another
song about Mrs. Pinkham, this
one a number-one hit in England in
the 1960s!)
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NEXT: See
"her" handwritten letter
to a sick woman - See
more Mrs. Pinkham, below (and
see her first page)
The
Schlesinger Library, of the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced
Study, part of Harvard
University, has probably
the largest
collection of material
about the Pinkham enterprise, the
records of the Lydia E. Pinkham
Medicine Company., has probably
the largest
collection of material
about the Pinkham enterprise, the
records of the Lydia E. Pinkham
Medicine Company.
Part of the donation of
SarahAnne Hazelwood to this
museum, much of it patent medicine
and old medical equipment, was a
very interesting biography and
study of Mrs. Pinkham's business,
Female
Complaints: Lydia Pinkham and
the Business of Women's Medicine,
by Sarah Stage.
See two letters to MUM about the
ingredients
of her Compound, and one
about the lyrics of an English pop
song,
Lily the Pink, about her.
Other amazing
women: Nelli Bly, Dr.
Marie Stopes,
Dr. Grace Feder Thompson
See also the patent medicine
Cardui,
Dr. Grace Feder Thompson's
letter
appealing for patients, Dr. Pierce's
medicines, and Orange
Blossom medicine.
©
1998, 2005 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 hfinley@mum.org
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