 
|
 
Anna Health Sponge for menstruation (and contraception?) (U.S.A., 1940s?)
This sponge, judging by typography possibly from the 1940s, is very
similar to the other sponges in the museum in size (see some dimensions),
suggesting that there was one source for the cans and contents.
The words "requires no belt" on the side of the can (see below)
put it in the pre self-adhesive era, thus before the early 1970s. (See some
American belts and an early self-adhesive
pad).
This is the only sponge the museum has that seems to explicitly promote
its use for menstruation - "requires no belt," on the side of
the can, below - although that would not prevent its use for contraception.
In January, 1999, I received this e-mail from
the grandson of the woman for whom the sponge is named:
Dear H. Finley:
You ask if anyone remembers the Anna Health
Sponge. Well, yes, I do.
My grandfather Harry Z. Cohen was a partner in
the American Sponge and Chamois Company, which manufactured the article.
He named it after my grandmother Anna B. Cohen.
It has long been a family joke that our grandmother's
name was on thousands of women's lips.
Sincerely,
Lewis H. Rubman
|
NEXT: The contemporary Sea Pearls (from the U.S.A.) menstrual sponge
The contemporary Gynotex (from the Netherlands)
menstrual sponge
Beautiful (Australian?) sponge can with sponge
lacking a net.
Anna Health Sponge (U.S.A., 1940s?)
Cardboard American sponge can with sponge.
Orange-design can with sponge. Black
can and sponge.
Main sponge page
Procter & Gamble kindly donated the sponge
to the museum in 2001.
Above: top of can
|
Above: Bottom of can
|
The words around the side, above, read, " REQUIRES NO
BELT - INVISIBLE - COMPLETE SANITARY PROTECTION." Belts,
of course, held a menstrual pad between a woman's
legs in the pre-adhesive-pad era, although a few women still use them.
|
In October 1997 Tambrands gave the museum this instruction
sheet for the sponge. Read above about who named this sponge for whom -
supposedly; ruminate on the name
of the street on the can, below.
|
 |
Above: A frequent contributor sent this
scan of the interior of the cap of a case, not the one shown here. Very strange that the company is on ANN Street.
I think by calling it a tampon the notice predates, say, 1940, since the first commercial tampons appeared
in the early 1930s; it actually IS a tampon, a small absorbent object inserted
into the vagina to deliver a drug or to absorb something, maybe menstrual
discharge. The company perhaps wanted to join the bandwagon of the
then new fabric commercial menstrual tampons.
|
|
 |
Look at the cross in the fabric! Manufacturers stopped at
nothing to make a medical connection.
|
NEXT: The contemporary Sea Pearls (from the U.S.A.) menstrual sponge
The contemporary Gynotex (from the Netherlands)
menstrual sponge
Beautiful (Australian?) sponge can with sponge
lacking a net.
Anna Health Sponge (U.S.A., 1940s?)
Cardboard American sponge can with sponge.
Orange-design can with sponge. Black
can and sponge.
Main sponge page
© 2007 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
|