See Kotex's first successful tampon, Fibs; early Kotex tampon attempts; and an early Tampax.
SEE the directory of all tampons on this site.
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 (and awesome ancient art of menstruation)|
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Birth control and religion |
Birth control drugs, old |
Birth control douche & sponges |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation & menopause (& reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Contraceptive drugs, old |
Contraceptive douche & sponges |
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 |
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

A.C.C. Tamponettes menstrual tampons
(1939 & earlier? The Absorbent Cotton Company, U.S.A.)

This brand seems to be one among many made in America in the 1930s, possibly before commercial tampons appeared elsewhere in the world (see a list of some others).

Adding "-ettes" to "tampon" probably was intended to make the potential buyer conscious of their size when compared with pads, which at this time could be two feet long, tab to tab, and held in place with a belt (adhesive pads didn't appear until the early 1970s). Note the flowers on the second box, a "feminization" (as is the "-ettes") common with menstrual products (see a cup compared with a tulip, which is apt, actually).

I find it interesting that the second (later?) box is blue and green, whereas the color on the text inside is red and black. And the typefaces of the brand name differ in those two places, a no-no in the world of graphic design (which forms part of my world).

See the tampon, instructions.
Procter & Gamble kindly donated the boxes and contents as part of a gift of scores of menstrual products.

Right below: My guess is that this box is older than the one underneath (dated 1939) because of its improvised character: the
label glued on a plain box (although the ends, right & left, are missing so I can't tell if something had been printed there. That
seems unlikely since nothing is printed elsewhere.).
It measures 7.5 x 3.25 x 0.83" (19 x 8.2 x 2.2 cm).
 

 

The front of the 1939 box, above, looks just like the back. At right is the flap.

I found this cash register slip (4.625" x 3", about 11.7 x 7.7 cm) in the box. I had no idea that registers cranked out slips as early as 1939! I dated the box of tampons using the slip (I hope it actually belongs to this box, but the price is about right for tampons at that time), since the box bears no date, patent information or trademark notice. But someone did stamp Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. on both sides of the box (it's very faint on the upper left side of the box, above).
The text is a faded purple, the shade I've seen from mimeograph machines.
Big department stores like Macy's often sold menstrual products, apparently in areas for women's clothing or notions.
Twenty-four cents for the box comes out to 2.4 cents a tampon, about half what the probably contemporary LOX tampons cost - but those had applicators.
I think I'll return the tampons. There's a Macy's a few miles from here.

NEXT (tampon), instructions.
See Kotex's first successful tampon, Fibs; early Kotex tampon attempts; and an early Tampax.
SEE the directory of all tampons on this site.

© 2008 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\