See booklet ads from the 1950s and 1970s featuring the future actresses Carol Lynley and Susan Dey, one from Germany, and one for the Kotex booklet "As One Girl To Another."
See also How shall I tell my daughter? and Personal Digest and read the whole booklet As One Girl to Another (Kotex, 1940).
See a Kotex ad advertising a Marjorie May booklet.
See many more similar booklets.
See ads for menarche-education booklets: Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1932), Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and German o.b. tampons (lower ad, 1981)
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), and Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates)
And read Lynn Peril's series about these and similar booklets!
Read the full text of the 1935 Canadian edition of Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, probably identical to the American edition.
Is this the first Tampax tampon? Go to Early Commercial Tampons
Other early commercial tampons - Main Tampax patent - Ad from 1936 - World War II Tampax sign
More ads for teens (see also introductory page for teenage advertising): Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948, U.S.A.), Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and belts, 1949, U.S.A.)Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins, 1953, U.S.A.), Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and belts, 1964, U.S.A.), Freedom (1990, Germany), Kotex (1992, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Saba (1975, Denmark)
See early tampons and a list of tampon on this site - at least the ones I've cataloged.
DIRECTORY of all topics (See also the SEARCH ENGINE, bottom of page.)
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links: homepage | LIST OF ALL TOPICS | 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) | 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.

Phantom Kotex ad, 1932, offering the puberty & menstruation booklet Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday

(See another from 1933.)

Kotex and other manufacturers continually emphasized the concealment of their products and of menstruation itself. If the pad is a phantom, it really doesn't exist - but any woman who had to wear it, with a belt, would have disputed that.

Enlarged, and below the top ad is the first ad this museum has offering a menarche and facts-of-life booklet for girls. (See two from the 1950s and 1970s featuring the future actresses Carol Lynley and Susan Dey, one from Germany, and one for the Kotex booklet "As One Girl To Another.") Many women stick with the pads and tampons they used as teenagers, so getting them to use their products early was, and is, important. Pursettes tampon ads show this best.

Modess used the words heading the booklet ad, at bottom - "How shall I tell my daughter? - for its own menarche booklets!

Read a 1935 Canadian edition of Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, probably identical to the American edition.

And read most of Marjorie May, a 1928 Australian edition that I think is identical to the earliest American one. The language and advertising pitch will amuse you. And see similar booklets.

Slow download, two large files!

 

Enlargement of the main words in the ad.

Read a longer ad for Marjorie May, in 1933. Read a 1935 Canadian edition of Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday

© 1999 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any of
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