See the Wix tampon, instructions, The Fascinating Story of Wix (and another version) and store instruction sheet. See a Wix tampon store display ad.
Early commercial tampons
Ads for the Kotex stick tampon (U.S.A., 1970s) - a Japanese stick tampon from the 1970s.
Early commercial tampons - Rely tampon - Meds tampon (Modess)
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).
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? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | 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 directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | 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
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

 

An immigrant shows tampons to Americans
The Reno Evening Gazette, October 10, 1935,
and
The Oakland [Cal.] Tribune, June 10, 1934
advertised Wix menstrual tampons

Wix and its contemporary Tampax tampons sent representatives to talk with women about trying their tampons. Tampons were new, menstrual cups hardly known and women had belted up with huge pads - or homemade pads, or nothing - for who knows how long.

Two newspaper ads, below, alert women to the arrival of Wix ladies. They might have shown this card to explain what in the world tampons were and that they were easy to insert and would not get lost.

The generous and energetic genealogy researcher who sent these scans traced Goldie Erickson, the Wix "graduate nurse" in the first ad, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, using the 1930 census. Mrs. Erickson was at the time of the ad 37 years old, had emigrated from Norway in 1916, was married (at least in 1930, with two sons aged nine and six), spoke English (good!), was in 1930 not naturalized and at that time had no occupation (housewife was not a choice, I guess; her immigrant husband worked in a foundry as a "moulder"). So she traveled to Reno, Nevada, quite a way, to tell women the good news about a tampon. Was she still married? And she hadn't traveled far to get her Wix education: the company had its headquarters in the very city she lived in, Minneapolis.

As for the bottom ad, the year before, I wonder if Mrs. Erickson was the "woman thoroughly versed in feminine hygiene" who visited Kahn's, Notion Department, First Floor.

This museum also possesses a 1934 ad for Tampax.
 
Above: Read about Goldie Erickson, an immigrant from Norway, at the top of this page.
Below: Was the "woman thoroughly versed in feminine hygiene" also Mrs. Erickson? She might have used this card to instruct potential customers. Tampax also had customer advisors, and a booth at the 1939 World's Fair. Other tampons also featured women in bathing suits, like fax, pads not being suited to them. (Newspaper ad from the Oakland [Cal.] Tribune, Sunday, June 10, 1934, bottom right of page 28[?])
 
See more Wix ads - See the Wix tampon, instructions, patent, The Fascinating Story of Wix (and another version) and store instruction sheet. See a Wix tampon store display ad.

© 2006 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