And, of course, the first Tampax AND - special
for you! - the American fax tampon,
from the early 1930s, which also came in bags.
See a Modess True or False? ad in The American
Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley
in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates).
 
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The Wix menstrual tampon and box, 1930s-1940s?, U.S.A.
Wix was one of the first American commercial tampons, appearing at least
a year before Tampax (early 1930s). Tampax
bought the company (and Holly-Pax) later in
the decade but it still produced tampons. Like many early tampons, Wix had
no insertion device, something that Tampax developed and patented.
Pulling out the drawer (below), the user found four packages of three
tampons each, each group wrapped in cellophane. The word Wix is raised
on one version of the box (see below; the museum also has a flat version,
also below); it's beautiful packaging, especially for objects so disdained
by so many people.
Women could buy Wix in the 1934 Sears, Roebuck catalog (here),
two years before Tampax came on the broad market.
A woman in the Chicago area kindly donated the embossed Wix box and
many other items, like fax;
her father sold Kotex products as a representative of the company and she
found these in her mother's effects after her death. She read about this
museum in an article in the Chicago Tribune after MUM opened in my house for a four-year run.
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Above and next six views, below: The box
with embossed "Wix." Below these are four views of the flat -
non-embossed - box. Neither bears a date.
the box measures 9.25" x 2.75" x 0.875" (23 x 7.5 x 2.2 cm).
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The ends of the box are blank.
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The bureau of WHAT? Wix must have invented this.
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The AMA objected to this claim because it implied endorsement. Wix and
Tampax stopped putting this phrase on its products.
The four pictures below show a flat version
of the box which was the same size as the embossed version. The tampons
did not sit in a drawer; the user removed them by opening flaps on either
end. The tampons within were the same as those from the embossed box.
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Above and below: The two sides and two
ends are identical.
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© 2007 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
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