HOMEPAGE
CONTRIBUTE to Humor,
Words
and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop
menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE
|
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.
The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health
Menstrual
pad (washable) and belt, 1850s (drawings)
Valentine Richmond
History Center
Richmond, Virginia,
U.S.A.
| When this museum was
a physical
place in my house, a visitor told me that a
museum in Richmond, Virginia, not far from the
Washington, D.C., area where I live, had a menstrual
pad from before the Civil War. It wasn't till a graduate student at King's College London recently asked if I had any early menstrual pads that I remembered the Richmond pad. I told the student and contacted the owner. Unable to travel to the Valentine Richmond History Center, I requested information and photos, from which I made the drawings below. The pad resembles in form and construction pads from Norway from the 19th century with one big difference: this one looks narrower. I wonder if the hot summer weather in Richmond kept the pad as small as possible to keep the woman cool - there was no air conditioning in the 1850s! But a Norwegian wearer would like to keep her nether regions warm. As I've carried on at length elsewhere, it seems possible - probable? - that some American women bled into their clothing, just as certain European writers maintain that about European women. More washable pads: Modern washable pads from Almora, Uttar Pradesh state, India and Rajasthan state, India - Nineteenth-century Norwegian washable pads - Italian washable pad, probably from the 1890s - instructions for making Japanese pads, early 20th century? - German, about 1900 - 1902 & 1908, U.S.A. - German washable pads and belt, with case (about 1935-40). Modern: Snap-on style washable pad - Washable pad with belt - menstrual sponges - a modern, beautiful bowl to soak used menstrual pads in - Modern German washable pad, Vivas. |
| Below: A research assistant at the
Valentine said the pads are cotton and the dimensions are 25" (63.5 cm) long x 2.5" (6.35 cm) wide, the length comparable to early Kotex. The pad and belt are a light brown and maybe darkened with age. The splotches below are dark brown. The absorbing surface (center) looks like those of Norwegian washable pads from the same century. |
 |
| Below: A
belt at the Valentine, 1850s. Light brown, no
dimensions obtained. |
 |
MORE pads, tampons