Guide to the Joe and Lil Shapiro collection of laundry ephemera, 1805-2010

(bulk 1880-1955)

John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Published in 2014

Collection Overview

Title:	Joe and Lil Shapiro collection of laundry ephemera
Date range:	1805-2010, (bulk 1880-1955)
Creator:	Shapiro, Joseph S. and Shapiro, Lilian (1936-2011)
Extent:	15.0 linear feet
Abstract:	The Joe and Lil Shapiro collection of laundry ephemera is a collection consisting largely of small format ephemera that depict the history, artifacts and materials used in doing laundry over several centuries. Most of the material was produced by companies involved in the manufacture of laundry products. The collection includes, but is not limited to, advertising premiums, billheads, broadsides, brochures, calendars, greeting cards, labels, matchbooks, pamphlets, photographs, postage stamps, poster stamps, promotional booklets, puzzles, scrapbooks, shirt boards and trade cards. Much of the material in the collection is undated. The dated material is from 1805 to 2010. Most was produced between 1880 and 1955.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	MS.2014.002

Scope & content

The Joe and Lil Shapiro collection of laundry ephemera consists largely of small format ephemera that depict the history, artifacts and materials used in doing laundry over several centuries. Most of the material was produced by companies involved in the manufacture of laundry products such as bluing, clotheslines and clothespins, dyes, soaps, starch, washboards and washing machines. It depicts not only the variety and evolution of laundry products but also attitudes towards women and what was regarded as women's work. Many of the images in the collection depict stereotypes related to people of African-American and Chinese descent. The Shapiro's original arrangement of the collection has been retained. Most of the material is housed in binders arranged both by the type of material, such as postcards, and by the type of laundry product, such as soaps. As a result, different types of material as well as material regarding various kinds of laundry products may be found throughout the collection. Material that had not been filed in binders was placed in an appropriate series and housed in a folder or box.

The material in this collection includes, but is not limited to, advertising premiums, billheads, broadsides, brochures, calendars, greeting cards, labels, matchbooks, pamphlets, photographs, postage stamps, poster stamps, promotional booklets, puzzles, scrapbooks, shirt boards and trade cards. The collection also includes a small number of articles from periodicals such as Scientific American, some correspondence, chiefly in Series 9. Covers, billheads and letterheads; Series 20. Shapiro acquisitions and research, and Series 21. Procter & Gamble history; patents for washing machines, and some sheet music. Lastly, the collection contains three books: The New Washday, by Eleanor Ahern (1944), Soapine Did It! An Illustrated History of Kendall's 19th Century Soap Advertising Campaign, by Dave Cheadle and W.H. Lee (2000), and Washday Collectibles, by Pamela E. Apkarian-Russell (2000).

Much of the material in this collection is undated. The material that is dated is from 1805 to 2010. Most is from 1880 to 1955.

The collection has been organized into the following series.

Series 1. Poster stamps contains promotional stickers related to laundry and various laundry products. These stamps were especially popular during the early 20th century. The stamps in this collection were produced primarily for the European market; most were produced between 1900 and the 1930s. This series contains both individual stamps and partial and complete sets, some of which are signed by the artist. They measure 3" x 2 1/4" or less.

Some examples include five sets of Mrs. Stewart's series of "Famous Blues." Mrs. Stewart's Bluing was manufactured in Minneapolis, Minnesota beginning in 1883. Three series of commemorative stamps were available for purchase from the company: "Wash-line stamps," "Famous Women," and "Famous Blues." The last set depicted the NRA (National Recovery Act) blue eagle, the Connecticut blue laws, "Rhapsody in Blue," and Mrs. Stewart's Bluing. Other stamps in this series depict Lux, Persil, and Sunlight soaps; Schmidt's washing machines and Adam Schmidt's toy washing machines for children, and images from photographs of the laundry of Alex Burger.

Series 2. Labels contains five labels for laundry related products. The labels are brightly colored and in various shapes and sizes. Some examples include labels for the Lessiveus-Laveuse washing machine, the laundry soap by Puritan Washing Cream called Cremantine, and the bluing product “A la Laveuse.” None of the labels is dated.

Series 3. Postcards contains a comprehensive sampling of postcards related to doing laundry or advertising laundry products. Many of the postcards were written on and mailed. They are predominately from the first half of the 20th century. This series has been organized into the following subseries.

Series 3. Subseries A. Ethnic contains postcards with images of people from a wide variety of ethnic groups, but especially people of Chinese or African-American heritage. Most of the images are stereotypes; many of the postcards are written in vernacular. This subseries also includes postcards with actual photographs, primarily of women, performing laundry chores in various countries around the world.

Some examples include three Japanese linen postcards with Geisha art related to laundry, illustrated Gold Dust Twins Thanksgiving and Christmas postcards, and a postcard depicting a stereotypical "Aunt Dinah" (the cook in Uncle Tom's Cabin) next to a laundry basket that has a pull-out folded advertisement. This last card was produced in 1900 by the Livermore & Knight Company: Illustrators, Printers and Advertisers, in Providence, Rhode Island.

Series 3. Subseries B. Factories contains postcards, mostly in color, of the interior and exterior of laundry and soap factories, including the Maytag Company in Newton, Iowa; the Larkin Company in Buffalo, New York; and Lever Brothers, makers of Rinso, near Hammond, Indiana.

Series 3. Subseries C. Humorous includes illustrated cards in color and in black and white. They are both domestic and international. Many of the captions and verses are written in vernacular; some are signed by the artist. All have images of laundry related items, primarily clotheslines, washtubs, and basins. Some are examples of fine art, while others are risqué and/or depict the shady sides of life. Many have images of what was considered the "henpecked husband" through the 1950s. There are multiple examples of single images with either slight variations or printings by different publishers. Virtually all are exaggerated expressions of the popular culture of the day. Some examples include several "vinegar valentines" illustrated and signed by Charles Howard (1922-2007). Howard was a cartoonist employed by John McLoughlin, a printer in New York City, with whom he created the "vinegar valentines." This subseries also includes a Kewpie card illustrated by Rose Cecil O'Neill (1874-1944), the creator of the Kewpie comic strip characters, and a rebus card.

Series 3. Subseries D. Laundries and laundering includes real photo postcards of the interiors and exteriors of actual laundry facilities and/or of their employees. Of note are a number of real photo cards of horse drawn laundry carts and early laundry trucks. Some cards are printed both in color and in black and white. The cards in this subseries depict a representative sample of women around the world doing laundry. Other cards depict children in pretend play situations or advertisements for actual laundry facilities. They capture the essence of the process of doing laundry from the turn of the 20th century through the 1950s.

Series 3. Subseries E. Products is a grouping of advertising postcards for laundry products. They are both domestic and international; some are signed by the artist. This subseries includes an illustration by Robert F. Outcault (1863-1928) for Diamond "C" Soap. Outcault is the creator of the comic character Buster Brown and is considered to be the inventor of the modern comic strip. Other examples include a Bee Soap rebus and a postcard from the "Celebrated Poster" series by Raphael Tuck & Sons.

Series 3. Subseries F. Equipment contains postcards depicting laundry related products such as washtubs, washing machines, wringers, and dryers. They illustrate the change in these products from around 1900 to the 1960s. The postcards include real photographs as well as postcards in color and in black and white. Many are accurate depictions of the products, while others are comic interpretations. A common theme is showing newer versions of products as a means to reduce the amount of work involved in doing laundry. Some examples include a dealer's order form for a Billy Twister washing machine, an advertisement for the new Bendix washer, and a postcard depicting a woman using the Easiest Way Washing and Wringing Machine.

Series 3. Subseries G. Sets contains thirteen different sets of postcards depicting laundry and other household chores. The sets include bears doing "days of the week chores", by artist D. Hillson; Swift's Pride Soap advertising cards with an anthropomorphic washboard, soap, and clothespins; the Swift's Pride shadow puppet series, copyright 1909; the "Monday's Child" series by Grace Wiederseim (1877-1936), a noted illustrator who created the Dolly Dingle paper dolls and the Campbell's Soup kids advertising campaign; many examples of the "Busy Bears" postcard series, and the "Mother's Little Helpers" series of six postcards illustrated by F.E. Nosworthy. Florence England Nosworthy (1872-1936) was a noted American illustrator of children's books such as the "Bunny Brown" and "Tommy Tinker" series, as well as an illustrator of calendars, postcards, and women's and children's magazines.

Series 3. Subseries H. Suffrage contains postcards depicting women who campaigned for women's right to vote. Several depict either a man or a woman doing laundry. This subseries includes five cards from "The 10 Commandments for Husbands" series; four postcards from the "Suffragette" series, copyright 1909; several "Don't Work Yourself to Death" postcards published by Raphael Tuck & Sons; "The Worker's Husband" by the Artist's Suffrage League; and "Zur frauengewegung Traume" (The Woman's Dream).

Series 3. Subseries I. Miscellaneous includes advertising, comic, and real photo cards, all with laundry themes. Some examples are a rebus valentine, a real photo card of an early laundromat, and a real photo card of a horse drawn coach decorated to advertise Gold Dust Soap. Several of the postcards in Box 10, Folder 1 are in French and are 6"x8".

Series 4. Starch is a grouping of various advertising items related to laundry starch. They were created from the 1870s to the 1910s. This series includes calendar art, print advertisements, lady's pocket calendars, trade cards, and children's paper wrap advertising nursery books. Some examples include a complete set of the "36 Faultless Starch Library" series and an 1884 "Housekeepers Guide" from Muzzy's Corn Starch.

Series 5. Washboards and wringers is a grouping of advertising items consisting primarily of trade cards, catalogs, illustrated broadsides, and billheads. It includes an 1873 price list from the Bailey Washing and Wringing Machine Company which later became the American Wringer Company in Woonsocket, Rhode Island; a catalog of laundry equipment for hotels, institutions, and homes; and a catalog from Horse Shoe Brand Wringers which were made by the American Wringer Company. The material that is dated is from 1867 to 1933.

Series 6. Washers and clotheslines is a collection of advertising items consisting primarily of pamphlets, brochures, novelties, and letterheads from manufactures who introduced new types of washing machines. This material is arranged alphabetically by the name of the manufacturer. While many products such as the A.B.C. Power Washer are no longer made, names of companies such as Maytag, Norge and Whirlpool are still familiar. The material in this series illustrates the evolution of both washing machines and what was considered to be women's work from the late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century.

Washing machines from the 1880s were mostly advertised on Victorian trade cards or flyers depicting women in formal attire standing next to a product that required little effort to operate. Images from this era often included young girls operating the machines. As time progressed through the 1890s and the early 20th century, the imagery often depicted before and after views, with bedraggled women in the before image and liberated women in the after image. During this period there were many references to women being slaves to laundry. During the 1920s the imagery changed again to show women effortlessly doing washing as a pleasant activity.

The washers depicted in this collection also evolved. Washing machines with wringers became predominant, followed by the square box washer in the 1930s and 1940s. During this time there were many local and regional models of washers, including the Automatic Clothes Washer and Boiler (1867), Dixie Twin Tubs, Gee-Whizz Washing Machines with mop wringers, and the Vacuum Clothes Washer.

Novelty items found in this series include a Dexter moveable picture card, Easy Washer mechanical card, and a mechanical Uncle Sam card with a mouth that opens to expose the words "A Maytag."

The series also includes information on clotheslines such as White Wire clothesline, and rack driers such as the Buck Trolley Clothes Dryer. Patents for new types of washing machines may be found in Series 22. Large format advertising, Subseries 5. Patents. The material in this series that is dated is from 1873 to 1940.

Series 7. Soaps is a large collection of advertising items, primarily trade cards with pictures of soap wrappers. It also includes almanacs, bookmarks, calendars, and novelty items. The material is arranged alphabetically by the name of the soap. Some of the material is in French, Spanish, or German. This series illustrates the advertising approaches of various companies and provides insight into popular culture and social history. It includes an agreement to sell soap to the public in Massachusetts in 1810; catalogs of premiums that could be purchased for a specified number of soap wrappers; household hints booklets; alphabet advertising trade cards with an illustration of an occupation relevant to the alphabet letter on the front of the card and product information on the reverse; puzzles; Oxidol flower seed packets; N.K. Fairbanks advertising cards for Santa Claus soap; an advertising newspaper for Star Soap featuring an 1898 rebus contest solution and winners; and the Swift Soap "Monday's Child" series by Grace Wiederseim. Stereotypes common at the time may be seen in the portrayal of African-Americans, the Chinese, and Native Americans. In addition, this series contains a framed greeting card illustrated by Maud Humphrey (1868-1940) entitled "Washing Day", depicting a girl hanging clothes on a line with a bar of Ivory soap in the foreground. Humphrey was a noted American illustrator who was active in the women's suffrage movement. She is also the mother of actor Humphrey Bogart.

The material regarding Soapine is in a separate binder. Soapine was manufactured by the Kendall Manufacturing Company in Providence, Rhode Island, from 1827 to 1929, when the company moved to Syracuse, New York. Its logo was a spouting black whale with the words "Soapine Did It!" written in a white circle on the whale's side. Many of the trade cards used by Soapine were designed by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935), better known as an author, feminist, and sociologist. Most of the Soapine cards were produced during the 1870s and early 1880s. The Soapine binder also includes a booklet by Dave Cheadle and W.H. Lee entitled Soapine Did It! An Illustrated History of Kendall's 19th Century Soap Advertising Campaign. Other Soapine trade cards and material related to the Kendall Manufacturing Company may be found in Series 9. Covers, billheads and letterheads, Binder 25; and in Series 18. Miscellaneous advertising trade cards, Binder 34. The material in this series is from 1810 to circa 1950.

Series 8. Ammonia, bleach, bluing and crystals is a sampling of advertising items related to these products. They often depict children using the product to emphasize how gentle it is. Some examples include a series of fold-out children's stories advertising Little Bo-Peep Ammonia, a trade card for Parsons Household Ammonia depicting a young girl washing her doll, a series of trade cards advertising American Ball Blue, die-cut cards of children pushing carts or carrying boxes of Fisher's Best Ball Blue, and a series of trade cards advertising Shirrell's Kulliyan Washing Crystal. The material that is dated is from 1915 to 1936.

Series 9. Covers, billheads and letterheads is a collection of advertising covers, letterhead stationery, billheads and advertising pamphlets or circular inserts related to the manufacture and sale of laundry products. Many of the advertising covers depict an image of a product or an individual using the product. This material includes a single fold flyer promoting the "Champion Bosom Stretcher and Ironing Board", envelopes illustrated in color showing products produced by the Bluffton Manufacturing Company in 1902, and six different variations of the Gold Dust Twins whose image was used on the packaging of Gold Dust Washing Powder from 1896 to 1925. An unusual item is an 1887 cover for Ivory Soap depicting a line drawn illustration of a monkey dragging a cat into a lit fireplace with the caption "This is the use imitators of Ivory Soap make of you when they sell you their counterfeits of the Ivory". The material in this series is from circa 1865 to circa 1960.

Series 10. Blotters, advertising calendars and laundries consists primarily of advertising blotters and calendars, laundry facility advertising and advertising materials die-cut in the shape of baskets. Some examples include a handwritten report on a class trip to visit a laundry; an advertising booklet die-cut in the shape of a bluebird promoting the Blue Bird laundry; advertising booklets for Lewandos Laundry featuring anthropomorphic cats doing laundry; an engraved letterhead from 1889 showing women at work in the Litchfield Steam Laundry in Litchfield, Illinois; and a children's booklet printed in color entitled Mother Goose Goes to the Laundry, produced by New England Laundries. The material in this series is from 1865 to circa 1945.

Series 11. Dyes, Irons and lye consists of advertising trade cards and booklets. The section on dyes is extremely colorful, with fine imagery enhanced with vibrant colors. Many items address the themes of an extravagant wife who could economize by using dye on existing materials instead of buying new clothes. Some examples include Diamond Dye how-to booklets adapted to incorporate Diamond Dyes in stories for children such as "A Bunny Tale of Diamond Dyes," sample cards and booklets of dyed fabrics, Diamond Dye almanacs, Maypole Soap paper dolls (two are uncut), and Maypole Soap trade cards.

The irons section consists primarily of advertising trade cards. Some examples include a trade card for a Geneva Hand Fluter, a series of trade cards for Mrs. Potts Cold Handle Sad Iron depicting anthropomorphic irons and globes, and a card depicting Santa Claus in his sleigh.

The lye section includes advertising trade cards, billheads and booklets on household hints and soap making. Some examples include The Mystic Oracle game promoting Red Seal Lye, a Kryolith Kids alphabet, and an unpaginated soft cover alphabet picture book with full page illustrations for each letter. The material that is dated is from 1873 to 1924.

Series 12. Ethnic consists primarily of advertising cards with ethnic themes, including some recognizable patriotic characters such as Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty. This series includes the most extensive collection of Fairbank's Gold Dust Twins material, including several scarce die-cut shape cards. Fairbank's Soap trade cards are a subcollection of this series and represent a number of unpleasant ethnic and cultural stereotypes of the 1880s, including "hen-pecked husbands", Native Americans, African Americans, mothers-in-law, and the Dutch. It also includes a number of cards depicting children. Some examples include two sets of four transformation cards which were to be moistened with a damp sponge to change the view; die-cut booklets by Fairbank’s soap with the Gold Dust Twins peeking out of the edge of a booklet entitled Who Are We?; a minstrel series for Masters Soap; a series of cards for Celluloid linen depicting a pigtailed Chinese launderer; and Celluloid Cuffs Collars and Bosoms trade cards depicting Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam banishing a Chinese launderer. Most of this material is from the 1880s.

Series 13. Laundry related booklets consists of 26 booklets. It includes premium catalogs for various soaps, laundry and home washing tip books, and booklets on soap making and the history of soap. Some examples include a paper wrap picture book entitled Buster Brown's Latest with comic strip illustrations depicting the adventures of Buster Brown and his friends on laundry day probably illustrated by Richard Outcault; a circa 1870 printed sheet with a recipe for soap that included Borax and saltpeter; and a booklet entitled The Three Little Kittens, depicting images of kittens on laundry day. The material in this series is from circa 1855 to 1955.

Series 14. Photographs contains photographs related to laundry or laundry products. The smaller photographs are housed in a binder. The images include interiors and exteriors of laundries, photographs of children at play with laundry related items, and store displays of laundry products. Some examples include a photograph of a salesman and his open sample case next to a Rawleigh's Laundry truck, children touring a laundry, an exterior view of the Cheyenne Steam Laundry and its employees and horse drawn carts, and a photograph of children dressed in blackface as the Gold Dust Twins. The photographs are from circa 1890 to circa 1950.

Series 15. Mechanicals, metamorphic, die-cut and valentines is a collection of advertising items, paper playthings and valentines related to laundering and laundry products. This material displays the wide array of paper mechanisms and devices employed in the late 19th century to catch the eye of the consumer. Mechanisms include changing view cards and open-out changing views, pull-tab movements and metamorphic folding cards. There are several variations of die-cut cards designed to expose a hidden limb, sometimes holding a product, which lifts when the card opens. Some examples include a Raphael Tuck & Sons five-fold, accordion opening, embossed Victorian scrapbook entitled "To the Dog Show" depicting dogs being washed for the show. Also by Raphael Tuck & Sons is a valentine with a fabric dressed paper doll of an African-American "mammy" applied to the image of an iron with vignettes of her happily scrubbing floors, ironing, and preparing to cook. In addition, this series includes a six-fold metamorphic card that transforms a tired washer woman into a lady of leisure after discovering Sunlight soap, a mechanical Babbitt's Soap Powder card that shows children scrubbing pots when the card is squeezed, and a Cook's Pure Toilet Soap card that shows a sooty child standing in a tub. When the card is opened the child dips down and comes out clean on the inside page. The material that is dated is from 1907 to 1924.

Series 16. Matchbook covers, wax (paraffin) and puzzles contains advertising related to laundry and laundry products. The matches that have a picture printed on them were left in their covers. Additional matchbooks can be found in Series 19. Miscellaneous non-trade card advertising. The puzzle entitled "Sawyer's Bo-Peep Puzzle" and the puzzle depicting Longfellow's Wayside Inn were assembled and photographed. Some examples of the material in this series are books of matches depicting clothes on a line or shaped as clothespins, trade cards and flyers for wax or paraffin used for laundry purposes, packages of Perfumed Ironing Wax Pad, and Laundry Ironing Polish manufactured by R.B. Leach & Sons in Providence, Rhode Island. Most of this material is from the 1940s.

Series 17. Miscellaneous booklets, broadsides and pamphlets contains material related to laundry products made from the 1860s to the 1950s. Some examples include a French children's book about a bear who was a laundress in comic strip format entitled Nounouche Blanchisseuse, an 1870 catalog of the Bailey Washing and Wringing Machine Company in New York, a booklet entitled Modern Home Laundering, and a booklet entitled Polly Parson's Party with a cover depicting a Sun Bonnet baby ironing. The material that is dated is from 1862 to 1941.

Series 18. Miscellaneous advertising trade cards, ephemera and photographs is a grouping of advertising trade cards, other ephemera and photographs not elsewhere cataloged. These materials are similar to those found in other categories but were acquired at a later date and not incorporated into the previously described categories. This series includes a child's story book entitled Cloe Spin and Her Happy Family, a trade card with an anthropomorphic Missouri Steam Washer chasing a Chinese launderer with the caption "The Chinese must go," an illustrated price list for J. Ward & Company Laundry Furniture Depot in New York City, an 1884 chromolithograph calendar from Lewando's French Dye House, a household hints booklet from Horse Shoe Brand Wringers, and a greeting card illustrated by Maud Humphrey showing a girl painting at an easel. The material in this series is from 1862 to the 1950s.

Series 19. Miscellaneous non-trade card advertising is a grouping of larger format, predominantly paper or cardstock, advertising items or other materials relating to laundry that were not cataloged elsewhere. This series includes sheet music, die-cut stand-up cardstock advertisements, advertising puzzles, and children's play items related to laundry and soap wrappers. Some examples include a blueprint for a Maytag laundry center, a patent for a clothes drying rack from 1872, a paper doll house book depicting children playing beneath a clothesline, "Katy Kare 'n Willie Ware" dry cleaning shirt boards for children to color, and a Dif Soap Zyp-Arrow Gun target. The rubber tipped wooden dart that presumably went with the gun is housed in Series 23. Miscellaneous and unusually sized items. The material that is dated is from 1872 to 1962.

Series 20. Shapiro acquisition and research contains material about the history of laundry and laundering; the Lundermac Company, Inc. in Dedham, Massachusetts; the exhibit of parts of the collection at the Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington, Massachusetts; and documentation related to the acquisitions of materials for the collection. This series is housed in three binders and five folders. Binder 37 contains material about all four of the topics above. It includes several issues of a newsletter entitled Lundermac Laundry Lines, photocopies of some of the material in the collection, a copy of a booklet entitled Brief history of the Whirlpool Corporation from 1842 to 1995, articles from magazines such as Laundry Today and Antiques Review, a copy of a booklet entitled Mechanical Brides: Women and Machines from Home to Office, by Ellen Lupton, and correspondence regarding the exhibit at the Museum of Our National Heritage.

Binder 39 contains photocopies of advertising trade cards and listings of laundry related material for auction on Ebay. Binder 40 also contains photocopies of advertising trade cards as well as articles from Antiques Review and spreadsheets with lists of items related to soaps, dyes, bluing, and other laundry related items. The material in the folders includes correspondence, receipts, photocopies of laundry ephemera, Ebay listings, a copy of New Hampshire Antiques Monthly from 2001, and the book Washday Collectibles. The material that is dated is from 2000 to 2010.

Series 21. Procter & Gamble history is a grouping of booklets and similar material associated with the history of the Procter & Gamble Company. This series includes a 1945 "Cleanliness Patrol" kit for teachers that includes several Ivory Soap school posters promoting clean hands and a wall chart to report each child's progress throughout the week; a typed chronology of Procter & Gamble products with their introduction and discontinuation dates; a series of booklets on the history of soap; and two Ivory Stamp Club albums. The albums appear to have been produced during the years between World War I and World War II. They contain stamps from countries around the world including Abyssinia (Ethiopia), China, Germany, Sweden, and the United States. The material in Box 10, Folder 22 consists of copies of newspaper clippings regarding the company's products and history as well as correspondence from Procter & Gamble to Mr. and Mrs. Richard F. Kelly regarding their request for a list of the company's products and their introduction and discontinuation dates. The material in this series is dated from 1905 to 1991.

Series 22. Large format advertising is a grouping of large format paper or heavy cardstock items advertising laundry related products. Most of the items are full page advertisements, predominately from women's magazines such as Good Housekeeping and the Ladies Home Journal dating from 1900 through the 1930s. This series also includes advertising premiums, broadsides, calendars, die-cut store displays, instructions to dealers, paper dolls, patents, posters, prints, and sheet music. The advertisements provide information about improvements in or the promotion of many kinds of laundry products. It has been organized into the following subseries.

Series 22. Subseries A. Articles from periodicals contains four articles related to laundries and one copy of the National Laundry Journal. The articles are from Scientific American, Boston Weekly Magazine, and Southwest Edition. They concern the manufacture of soap, starch, washing machines, and the care of blankets. They are dated from 1805 to 1884.

Series 22. Subseries B. Music, calendars, and miscellaneous material contains sheet music, calendars and a Fairies Starch bag. The calendars include a four page, heavy cardstock black and white calendar for Ivory Soap from 1920 illustrated by C.M. Burd. Clara Miller Burd (1873-1933) was best known as an illustrator of children's books such as Louisa May Alcott's Eight Cousins and as an illustrator for various women's magazines such as the Women's Home Companion. This subseries also contains two Fairbank's Fairy Calendars from 1900, illustrated by Frances Brundage (1854-1937). One of the Fairbank's calendars depicts a pretty young girl as a "Navy Admiral" and the other as an "Artillery Officer." Brundage was known for her endearing images of children on postcards, calendars and valentines published by Raphael Tuck & Sons. The sheet music includes "The Chinese Laundry Blues," "The Irish Washerwoman,” "Washtub Blues," and the "Wool Soap Two Step." This material in this subseries is dated from 1900 to 1935.

Series 22. Subseries C. Toys, cut-out dolls and shirt boards includes two uncut York City Laundry and Dry Cleaners paper dolls, one depicting a young girl with a kitten and the other an anthropomorphic Mama Bear, circa 1930s; another Dif Soap Zyp-Arrow Gun target; a Snow White themed advertising booklet for Bendix washers; and several Baby Sparkle Plenty paper dolls, dated 1948.

Series 22. Subseries D. Cardboard advertisements includes advertisements for Lux, Swan, and Valvo soaps. The fan from the White Star Laundry Company shows a woman and child praying. The only two dated items are a Lux Soap and a Swan Soap advertisement from 1945 and 1946, respectively.

Series 22. Subseries E. Patents contains four patents for Henry Hassenpflug's washing machines, dated from 1885 to 1888; one patent for James T. Sargent washboards from 1892; and one patent-right deed for Richardson's Little Washer from 1867. One other patent for a clothes drying rack, dated 1872, can be found in Series 19. Miscellaneous non-trade card advertising.

Series 22. Subseries F. Washing machine advertisements includes advertisements for washing machines made by the Acme Washing Machine Company, Bendix, General Electric, Maytag, Westinghouse, and Whirlpool. In addition, there is an advertisement for the Putnam Self-Adjusting Clothes-Wringer, which was patented in 1861. The material that is dated is from 1920 to 1959.

Series 22. Subseries G. Soap advertisements is arranged alphabetically by the name of the soap. It includes advertisements for, among others, Borax, Brook's Monkey Brand, Fairbank's Gold Dust, Fels-Naptha, Ivory, Lux, Rinso, and Sunlight soaps. The advertisements include a Clorox laundry room chart entitled Easy Housekeeping by Mrs. Meg MacGregor, Director of Household Science; advertisements for Fairbank's Fairy Soap entitled "Morning," Evening," and "Night," illustrated by Maud Humphrey; a Kendall Manufacturing Company's advertisement for French Laundry Soap; and numerous advertisements from the Procter & Gamble Company. The material that is dated is from 1888 to 1954.

Series 22. Subseries H. Non-laundry advertisements includes advertisements for Birds Custard Powder, Dewers Whisky, and a beverage called Whistle. The Whistle advertisement depicts a stereotypical Chinese man ironing clothes. In addition, this subseries contains an issue of The Youth's Companion, dated February 24, 1916.

Series 23. Miscellaneous and unusually sized items contains several objects: a rubber-tipped dart that goes with the Dif Soap Zyp-Arrow targets found in Series 19. Miscellaneous non-trade card advertising and in Series 22. Large format advertising, Subseries C. Toys, cut-out dolls and shirt boards; a pink dish towel with an advertising slogan for White King Soap; a book entitled The New Washday, by Eleanor Ahern; and two scrapbooks. The small scrapbook contains various trade cards, photographs and advertisements. The large scrapbook, which is in fragile condition, contains various collectible trade cards. The only dated item in this series is the book by Eleanor Ahern, which was published in 1944.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Brundage, Frances, 1854-1937
• Burd, C.M., (Clara Miller)
• Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860-1935
• Hillson, D.
• Howard, Charles
• Humphrey, Maud, 1868-
• Nosworthy, Florence England
• O'Neill, Rose Cecil, 1874-1944
• Outcault, Richard Felton, 1863-1928
• Shapiro, Lilian, 1936-2011
• Wiederseim, Grace G.

Subject Organizations

• American Wringer Company.
• Kendall Manufacturing Company.
• Livermore & Knight Company.
• Lundermac Company, Inc..
• Procter & Gamble Company.
• R.B. Leach & Sons.
• Raphael Tuck & Sons.
• Whirlpool Corporation.

Subject Topics

• Advertising
• African americans in advertising
• African Americans--Pictorial works
• Housekeeping
• Laundry--Equipment and supplies
• Laundry--United States--History
• Minorities in advertising
• Racism in mass media
• Soap
• Stereotypes (Social psychology) in advertising
• Washing machines
• Women in advertising

Document Types

• Advertisements
• Advertising blotters
• Billheads
• Broadsides (notices)
• Calendars
• Correspondence
• Greeting cards
• Labels (identifying artifacts)
• Letterheads
• Matchbooks
• Pamphlets
• Paper dolls
• Patents
• Photographs
• Postcards
• Poster stamps
• Puzzles
• Scrapbooks
• Sheet music
• Stamp albums
• Trade cards (advertising)

Subject Topics

• Business

Arrangement

This collection has been arranged into the following series:

Series 1. Poster stamps

Series 2. Labels

Series 3. Postcards

• Series 3. Subseries A. Ethnic
• Series 3. Subseries B. Factories
• Series 3. Subseries C. Humorous
• Series 3. Subseries D. Laundries and laundering
• Series 3. Subseries E. Products
• Series 3. Subseries F. Equipment
• Series 3. Subseries G. Sets
• Series 3. Subseries H. Suffrage
• Series 3. Subseries I. Miscellaneous

Series 4. Starch

Series 5. Washboards and wringers

Series 6. Washers and clotheslines

Series 7. Soaps

Series 8. Ammonia, bleach, bluing and crystals

Series 9. Covers, billheads and letterheads

Series 10. Blotters, advertising calendars and laundries

Series 11. Dyes, irons and lye

Series 12. Ethnic

Series 13. Laundry related booklets

Series 14. Photographs

Series 15. Mechanicals, metamorphic, die-cut and valentines

Series 16. Matchbook covers, wax (paraffin) and puzzles

Series 17. Miscellaneous booklets, broadsides and pamphlets

Series 18. Miscellaneous advertising trade cards, ephemera and photographs

Series 19. Miscellaneous non-trade card advertising

Series 20. Shapiro acquisitions and research

Series 21. Procter & Gamble history

Series 22. Large format advertising

• Series 22. Subseries A. Articles from periodicals
• Series 22. Subseries B. Music, calendars and miscellaneous material
• Series 22. Subseries C. Toys, cut-out dolls and shirt boards
• Series 22. Subseries D. Cardboard advertisements
• Series 22. Subseries E. Patents
• Series 22. Subseries F. Washing machine advertisements
• Series 22. Subseries G. Soap advertisements
• Series 22. Subseries H. Non-laundry advertisements

Series 23. Miscellaneous and unusually sized items

Biographical note

This collection was compiled by Joseph S. Shapiro, Brown class of 1957, and his wife, Lilian Shapiro. Joseph Shapiro was the owner of the Lundermac Company, Inc., which managed and supplied self-service laundries in apartments, condos and dormitories across New England. Lundermac was founded in 1940 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, by Lilian Shapiro's father, Gerard Wolfe. Joseph Shapiro learned the business from Wolfe, beginning as a salesperson in 1961 and rising to President of the company in 1988, when the company was moved to Dedham, Massachusetts. The company was sold to the Mac-Gray Corporation based in Waltham, Massachusetts, for $11.5 million in 2010.

The Shapiros began their collection, according to a July 13, 2003 article in the Boston Sunday Globe, in the summer of 1980. While picking up one of their children from camp they spotted an old washer in an antique shop in New Hampshire. They began collecting antique washing machines of all kinds and later any laundry related material such as washboards, clothespins, wash paddles, soapboxes, toys, puzzles, advertising, trade cards and store displays. The material classified as laundry ephemera was donated to the Brown University Library in 2010.

Parts of the Shapiro's collection were exhibited at the Museum of Our National Heritage in Lexington, Massachusetts, from July 2005 to March 2006. The exhibit was entitled "Blue Monday: Doing Laundry in America".

Lilian Shapiro passed away on April 10, 2011, in New York City, at the age of 74. Joseph Shapiro died on October 18, 2015 in New York City at the age of 84.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Joe and Lil Shapiro collection of laundry ephemera, Ms. 2014.002, Brown University Library
Contact information:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The Joe and Lil Shapiro collection of laundry ephemera was donated to the Brown University Library by Joseph S. Shapiro in 2010.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Mary A. Harrison.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2014-05-05
Descriptive rules:	Finding aid based on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Additional Information

Related material:

This collection contains a substantial group of Soapine trade cards illustrated by Charlotte Perkins Gilman for the Kendall Manufacturing Company of Providence, Rhode Island. For more information about Gilman see: Charlotte Perkins Gilman Papers, 1846-1961, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Inventory

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