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History of Medicine

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Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Varieties of Medical Ephemera
Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Varieties of Medical Ephemera banner. Here Today, Here Tomorrow is written in brown lettering above Varities of Medical Ephemera written in blue letter. Addiction written in blue lettering below an image of a woman laying in a bed with two children at her side. AIDS written in blue lettering below a red AIDS ribbon Bookplates written in blue lettering below an illustration of a man leaning against a stack of books holding a rod of Asclepius in his left hand. Children written in blue lettering below a color image of a boy sitting in a chair playing doctor on a dog lying on a table while three girls look on. Medical Education written in blue lettering below an illustration of a doctor making patient rounds in a hospital with three students attending. Medicine Show written in blue lettering below a color illustration of the cover of Graphic Scenes Kickapoo Indian Life in the South and West. Public Health written in blue lettering below a diagonal half white half black illustration with a cigarette in the center surrounded by a red circle with a line through it. The bottom right black diagonal has Thank you for not smoking here written in white lettering. Tuberculosis written in blue lettering below a predominantly blue poster with white and yellow lettering. In the center is an illustration of Santa Claus holding a little girl in one arm and an oversized Christmas seal in the other hand. Buy Christmas Seals Fight Tuberculosis is in yellow lettering at the bottom. Women written in blue lettering below a black and white image of a woman standing and taking the pulse of a man sitting in a chair. In the upper left corner are the words The Lady Doctor in black lettering.

Medical Show

The American medicine show had its origins in the performances put on by traveling charlatans as early as the fourteenth century in Europe. American shows were structured around entertainers who could be expected to draw a crowd who would listen to, and then undoubtedly purchase, the medicines offered by the "doctor" who made two or three sales pitches a night. A great deal of ephemera is associated with the medicine show - tickets of admission, broadsides advertising the place and time of the show, forms for proprietors to book halls or hotels for their troupes, songsters for the audience to join in singing with the entertainers, advertising booklets, etc. The major firms which used the medicine show as a vehicle for their promotions, exemplified by the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company (headquartered in New Haven, Connecticut, far from any nineteenth century center of Indian population) published a variety of booklets and other advertisements to promote their products independently of the medicine show; not surprisingly, such publications usually had something to do with American Indian life or lore.

Cover of the Graphic Scenes Kickapoo Indian Life in the South and West, featuring a Native American standing on the left side and a village life scene in the center.

Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co.,
Indian Life in the South and West,
24 page pamphlet,
New Haven, Connecticut, 1887,
11.5 x 17.3 cm.

A cream colored trade from from the The Clifton Remedy Co.

The Clifton Remedy Co.,
trade card,
Girard, Illinois, c. 1885,
6.5 x 11.3 cm.


A blank hall or lot contract ready to be filled out.

Hall or Lot Contract,
contract,
n.p., c. 1900,
21.3 x 13.7 cm.

Black and white cook book for Hamlin's Wizard Oil Co.'s. It features a cook holding a steaming dish up in his left hand in the upper left corner. In the middle is an illustration of an elephent.

Hamlin's Wizard Oil Co.'s Cook Book,
32 page pamphlet, illus.,
Chicago, c. 1902,
18.9 x 12.8 cm.


Cover of Humorous and sentimental songs as sung throughout the United States by Hamlin's Wizard Oil in the concert troupes open air advertising concerts. In the center is a image of a concert singing to a crowd in a carriage with horses.

Hamlin's Wizard Oil Co.,
Wizard Oil, Humorous and Sentimental Songs,
32 page pamphlet,
Chicago, c. 1900,
19.1 x 13.3 cm.

Color cover of the Encyclopedia of Valuable Information, featuring a boy standing next to a board with the words Encyclopedia of Valuable Information Enquire Within.

Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co.,
Encyclopedia of Valuable Information,
32 page pamphlet,
New Haven, Connecticut, c.1894,
16.6 x 11 cm.


Cover of First Time of Everything featuring an illustration of the discovery of the Mississippi River by De Soto in the center.

Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co.,
First Time,
32 page pamphlet,
New Haven, Connecticut, c. 1900,
17.5 x 12.6 cm.

Color cover of The Kickapoo Doctor, featuring a man wearing a feather headdress in the center.

Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co.,
The Kickapoo Doctor,
32 page pamphlet, illus.,
New Haven, Connecticut, c. 1890,
19.8 x 13.7 cm.


Color label for Kickapoo Indian Sagwa, blood, liver, stock and kidney renovator. A Native American man is standing in the holding up a bottle in his left hand.

Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co.,
Kickapoo Indian Sagwa,
label,
Boston, c. 1910,
19.5 x 4.3 cm.

A letter addressed to Dear Friend from the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co. offering a free trial bottle of the Sagwa remedy with return of a mailing card.

Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co.,
letterhead,
New Haven, Connecticut, c. 1900,
27.7 x 21.2 cm.


A color cover of the Life and Scenes among the Kickapoo Indians. The top of the cover features a person in Native American attire holding up a bottom of medicine in their right hand, next to a scene from a Native American village. On the bottom are Kickapoo Indian War Implements: snow shoe, stone club, hunting arrows, bow and arrows, battle axe, pipe, bell, shield, knife, battle axe, spear, war arrows, and a tomahawk.

Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co.,
Life and Scenes among the Kickapoo Indians,
176 page book, illus.,
New Haven, Connecticut, c. 1900,
24 x 17.5 cm.

A black and white broadside of 'a mine of health' by using the Kickapoo remedies. Around the border of the broadside are head and shoulders illustration of Kickapoo Indians.

Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co.,
A Mine of Health,
broadside,
New Haven, Connecticut, c. 1920,
27.8 x 20.3 cm.


A reciept for two dollars for a license for selling liniment issued to A. W. Lithgow on August 9, 1922 from Burlington, Vermont.

License for selling liniment,
receipt,
Burlington, Vermont, 1922,
9.1 x 20.8 cm.

A empty broadside to be filled out for a Manager of a Public, or Opera Hall.

Manager of a Public, or Opera Hall,
broadside,
n.p., c. 1900,
21.4 x 13.9 cm.


From the office of the Oregon Indian Medicine Co., a notification to the First National Bank of Cooperstown, NY for collection and remittance to them Harry Rolls #218 - $15.00 and Ex hold this for his convenience reasonable time.

Oregon Indian Medicine Co.,
billhead,
Corry, Pennsylvania, 1889,
23.6 x 14.7 cm.

A color trade card from the Oregon Indian Medicine Co., featuring a woman sitting in a field with a brown horse grazing nearby.

Oregon Indian Medicine Co.,
trade card,
Corry, Pennsylvania, c. 1900,
14 x 9 cm.


A broadside on pink paper with dark pink lettering for a performance of The Little Merry Marker Louise Hamilton in Fogg's Ferry, sponsored by Red Seal Sarsaparilla.

Red Seal Sarsaparilla,
Fogg's Ferry,
broadside,
Rockport, c. 1893,
23.4 x 9.7 cm.

The color cover for Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment. It features a description of the uses around an image of the head and shoulders view of a man wearing a hat with two snakes framing him.

Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment,
True Life in the Far West,
200 page pamphlet, illus.,
Worcester, Massachusetts, c. 1905,
23 x 14.8 cm.

Last Reviewed: January 25, 2024