Other amazing women:
Nellie Bly, Lydia
Pinkham, Dr. Marie
Stopes
Historical remedies
for menstrual period pain and problems. See more
remedies here.
A discussion of the
letter testimonials, and their
authenticity, of the Pinkham company (in a
discussion of a Pursettes ad with a letter
testimonial)
See two letters to MUM about the ingredients of her
Compound, and one about the lyrics of an English pop song, Lily the Pink, about
her.
Other amazing women:
Nelli Bly, Dr. Marie
Stopes, Dr. Grace
Feder Thompson

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Bird eye (bird's eye) cloth for
homemade washable menstrual pads and
diapers
Ad in the
Washington Post, September 11, 1904
In the 19th and 20th centuries, and
probably even today, women made
diapers for their children and
menstrual napkins for themselves from
an absorbent cloth called bird's eye,
which had a pattern that looked like
a, um, bird's eye.
When this online museum was a real museum in
my house for four years, I
strung a clothes line and hung a
bird's cloth from it, showing visitors
how some back yards looked in those
earlier times. A photographer from the
Chicago Tribune who visited the museum
with a reporter told me that he saw
many menstrual rags hanging in the
yards of many houses in a black
section of Chicago where he lived in
the 1950s. He said he and friends
would try to guess which women were
wearing them by observing the bulges
under their clothes.
See a
modern, beautiful bowl to soak used
menstrual pads in.
I again
thank the genealogist for the many
many ads she's sent, including
this one.
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Someone wrote
MUM the following in March 2006:
"About washable
pads: there are quite a few
moms who have work-at-home businesses
making these things. I find them to be
far superior to Glad Rags. This page
shows several styles:
http://www.diaperware.com/mooncare/mooncare.htm
See also the patent
medicine Cardui, Dr.
Grace Feder Thompson's
letter appealing for patients, Dr. Pierce's
medicines, and Orange
Blossom medicine.
© 2006
Harry Finley. It is illegal to
reproduce or distribute 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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