See another Hickory belt ad and Japanese instructions for making menstrual belts and pads at home in the early 20th century.
More belt topics
Actual belts in the museum
See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish ad) - many actual 20th-century belts - a modern belt for a washable pad and a page from the 1946-47 Sears catalog showing a great variety - ad for Hickory belts, 1920s? - Modess belts in Personal Digest (1966) - drawing for a proposed German belt and pad, 1894
See Japanese instructions for making menstrual belts and pads at home in the early 20th century.
What did American and European women use in the past for menstruation?
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)
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepageMUM 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) | asbestos | 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.

Ad for Hickory belt for menstrual pads, 1925, U.S.A.

Many ads in the 1920s surprise with their beauty, like the one below, which is black and white, 4.5 x 12.5" (about 12 x 31.5 cm).

The woman's kimono reflects Japanese patterns - see real kimonos in Japanese ads for menstrual belts. And contemporary boudoir scenes from menstrual ads, especially from Kotex (for example from 1927) exude leisure and money as do those from outside the bedroom (here from 1923). But until at least the 1950s people, especially women, dressed up to go shopping in America, 180 degrees from the situation today.

Belts held sanitary napkins. At this date pads usually had nothing under them, just safety pins holding their ends, pressing the pad against the woman's vulva. Panties of the time were loose (here), not the tight ones that appeared in the 1930s (here), so the pad had nothing underneath - a dangerous situation.

A. Stein & Co. made the belts. Note that if your dealer didn't sell these belts you were to write Mrs. Ruth Stone. "Stone" is "Stein" in German. I suspect that ripping open the envelopes with dealers' information was not Mrs. Stein but someone puffing on a big cigar. Just a guess.

See many details from the ad.



NEXT: See some details of the ad.
See another Hickory belt ad and Japanese instructions for making menstrual belts and pads at home in the early 20th century.
Actual belts in the museum

© 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 hfinley@mum.org