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Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health
American washable menstrual pad (date?)
Ben Truwe, in Oregon, e-mailed that
one of his family members found this
object among bow ties from a thrift
store in Pittsburgh - but it's no tie:
What brought me back to your site
was the item in the attached photo.
I found it in with a bunch of old
neckties, but it's obviously no tie.
It's of soft unbleached cotton
muslin, seems to be professionally
made, machine stitched, and the
right length to attach to a belt
front and back. It's untagged,
unmarked and unused. Can you
identify it?
It is the right size, almost 24"
long; the first Kotex pad - read the ad
describing it - in 1921,
measured 22 inches (ca. 56 cm.) long,
and the filler was 3.5 inches (ca. 9
cm.) wide. (A Johnson & Johnson
report describes even bigger pads.)
As you see in the photo, the cloth
overlaps in a way that would have made
it easy to put in a filler to absorb
the menstrual discharge. And menstrual
pad belts have used buttons to attach
the pad - see a German version
from right before World War II.
I thank Matie and Jacob Trewe for
the pad and Ben Truwe for his
research about the Sanitary Towel
Laundry of Lincoln, Nebraska,
and much other information.
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Above:
A closer view of one
end.
Right:
The overlapping folds
could hold a filler.
Below:
An even closer shot.
There's no stain from
menstrual blood and
protein; see an old Italian
washable pad with
stain.
Photos: Harry
Finley
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© 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
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