Kotex sells its pads in early vending machines. See a Kotex pad sold in a 1930s vending machine.
See some pad dispensers and ads for pads that come with pouches: New Freedom and Whenever, from the U.S.A., and Camelia, from Germany.
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates), and Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1928).
And read Lynn Peril's series about these and similar booklets!
See more Kotex items: First ad (1921) - ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Lee Miller ads (first real person in amenstrual hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many links here to Kotex items) - Preparing for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for girls; Australian edition) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing disposal method - box from about 1969 - "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - See more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
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.


The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

Disposal bags for sanitary napkins, page 9 (see pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11)

Dr Melissa Terras donated the bags on this and pages 9 & 10 as well as on many earlier pages.  She started these pad-bag pages on MUM by sending me disposal bags while studying for her doctorate at Christ Church, University of Oxford, and has contributed many more since then. She's now (2014) Director, UCL Centre for Digital Humanities and Professor of Digital Humanities, Department of Information Studies, University College London.

Prof. Terras writes that she collected the bags throughout Europe.

The pink cast on some bags is incorrect; all bags are white with usually colored printing.

I made all bags the same width even though they differ slightly.

Thanks again, Mel!

Read a general discussion on page 1.

Below: Astrein means very good, clean in German. It's also the name of a Brazilian company that seems to make electronic things. But that's not this company: the tiny igefa.de logo at bottom left stands for the German maker igefa, which touts Hygiene for Professionals (Hygiene für Profis) on its web site. So, do you have to be a profi to use the bag? Maybe the little man checks that.

Interesting that these 2 bags bear the same article number even though the graphics differ, a problem for catalogers like myself. The burden of running a museum!!

See another thumbs up on a bag
Below: Another igefa bag.

The smiling, winking little man cheering you on at left and below: um, does he need to be leering at you while you change your pad? Couldn't he wait outside your stall or, ideally, outside the restroom (toilet or WC to you non-Americans). Like, he could congratulate you in the hallway just as well. No wonder Germany is close to full employment, in 2014 anyway.

The backs of both bags are blank.
Below:  The large words read "Sack for hygiene."
Below: The back of the bag at left.
The words translate maybe as "We help keep [the place] clean."

What looks like GVS - well, it can't mean Giggling Very Silently, can it? Well, who could condemn a good mood?


NEXT Pages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 of disposal bags. Kotex sells its pads in early vending machines. See a Kotex pad sold in a 1930s vending machine. See some pad dispensers.

© 2014 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any of the work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org