HOMEPAGE
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? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
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, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
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 |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
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

Sponge - Australian? - date? - for contraception and absorbing menstrual discharge
and
The Hygienic Sponge (no date, unknown country)

The donor bought the top sponge from an Australian dealer, suggesting that it might be from that country.

Comparing the images below in my two computers, both Macintosh, I noticed that round doesn't always come out round, and they vary from computer to computer. But the sponge cans are round.

First sponge page.

I thank the kind donor of this and other sponges - and other items!

Below: This case was designed for an Australian giant - no, no, it's really 1 7/8" in diameter (4.6 cm) and 1" (2.54 cm) thick. I thought the design was worth seeing up close; they're the most beautiful sponge containers I've seen. The donor wrote that this design is not common. The little black bits and pits around the edges come from my attempt to clean up the edges on the scans.
Below: Bottom of the can.
   
 
Below: No net encases the sponge, contrary to the others in MUM. It's possible this is not the original sponge or that an owner cut it off, or, like many early tampons, and some today, the woman pulled them out with their fingers.
   

Below, right and left: A frequent contributor sent these scans of a sponge can, the second most beautiful I've seen. Date and country of origin unknown.
 
 

NEXT: Anna Health Sponge (U.S.A., 1940s?) - First sponge page
Cardboard American sponge can with sponge.
Orange-design can
with sponge. Black can and sponge.
The contemporary Sea Pearls (from the U.S.A.) menstrual sponge
The contemporary Gynotex (from the Netherlands) menstrual sponge
Main sponge page

Read the main Hartmann early disposable pad page and see similar early U.K. towels (menstrual pads) by Mosana.
Washable pads - Menstrual sponge - Swedish advertisement for a belt and pad and adhesive pad
Suspenders for holding pads (U.S.A., 19th century)

© 2007 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