See a Pursettes booket for teenagers (late 1950s?).
The Pursettes black plastic tote (carrier) with tampons. (An ad sold the tote, and an enthusiastic customer mentions the tote in her testimonial.)
Tampax keeps an eye on its competitor Pursettes:
Tampax tampon inter-office memo with attached ads, U.S.A., 1964
See ads for Pursettes: September 1972 (letter testimonial) - August 1973 (letter testimonial) - February 1974 (cartoon story) - August 1974 (cartoon story) - October 1974 (cartoon story) - See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?
Want to be a SCHOOLEBRITY in the know? (Huh, you say?) Read
Are you in the know?
BOOKLET collection of the great pad & etiquette tips for teens Kotex ran for decades (but without the ads) (1956)
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine - a list of books and articles about menstruation
See early tampons and a list of tampons on this site - at least the ones I've cataloged.
HOMEPAGE
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
LIST OF ALL TOPICS |
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 |
Examination, gynecological (pelvic) (short history) |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Feminine napkin, towel, pad directory |
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, towel, napkin 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 |
Sanitary napkin, towel, pad directory |
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) |
Towel, pad, sanitary napkin directory |
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.

Pursettes menstrual tampons box of 40, 1960s?
Campana Corp., Batavia, Illinois, U.S.A.
teenage, women, health, menstruation, no applicator, lubricated tip

Campana seemed to aim Pursettes (small enough to fit in a purse) at young users; the ads emphasize that (more ads in the column at left).

That has to do with the tampon size and its lubricated tip, which would sneak into the vagina through the often narrow hole in the hymen of a virgin or at least that of a women who has not had children. Hey, the instructions discuss this, not just me.

Pursettes apparently didn't survive the 1970s, when Johnson & Johnson bought the German tampon o.b., which also lacked an applicator. Was it because Americans didn't like to put their fingers into their vaginas? Tampax eliminated that closeness as explained at length in a German pamphlet (translated). Menstrual cups and sponges would seem to also have that problem. European women possibly had less of a problem with that (o.b.).

Pursettes did, however, offer a tampon with an applicator - a lubricated applicator, probably in the 1960-70s.

The early (1930s?-40s) no-applicator Dale tampon (with an ad) also had a lubricated tip, rare among menstrual tampons.

I thank the contributor!

Below: P. 2. The stained box (from water?) measures - lessee, where's my ruler - 4 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2" (about 10 x 6.5 x 6.5 cm). It looks as if it has a thin, shiny, hard plastic coating overall.
 
Left: This is one of two identical ends of the box you see below.
At RIGHT:
Just to make this more exciting (!) I added the top of an identical 40-pack from the same donor (at right) that shows a different price and different numbers above but also from Jordan Marsh.
Jordan Marsh was once a an important chain of department stores in the U.S. It disappeared after Pursettes did.
Below: One large side of the box.
"NO APPLICATOR NEEDED": Many tampons before Pursettes had no applicator - European like o.b., American like Lotus, A.C.C. Tamponettes, Secret, Sa-tips, San-Nap-Pak and Daints, For the Woman of Charm, which I hope includes YOU. Tampax ruled the applicator market with few exceptions that included LOX theatrical tampon.
And the early (1930s?-40s) no-applicator Dale tampon (with an ad) also had a lubricated tip.
Below: Bottom of the box.
 
Below: Second large side of the box.
Below: The top flap.
   

NEXT | Instructions tampon
Pursettes booket for teenagers (late 1950s?). Pursettes black plastic tote (carrier) with tampons.
Tampax tampon inter-office memo about Pursettes with attached ads, 1964 - Are you in the know? BOOKLET
collection
of the riveting pad & etiquette tips for teens from Kotex (1956) - Many Pursettes ads in the left column.
Many BOOKLETS - Many more TAMPONS
 

© 2010 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