Manuscript Group 1226, Horace L. Fairchild Collection, 1880s – 1890s
Archives Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs
1226. FAIRCHILD, HORACE L.,
manufacturer of patent medicines.
Collection, 1880s-1890s. 1 1/2 ft.
A collection of over 700 late nineteenth-century circulars,
newspaper clippings and pamphlets for a wide variety of products
that were marketed across the United States. Included are
materials that promote such patent medicines as “Lydia
Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound,” “Dr. William’s Pink
Pills for Pale People,” and “Dr. Dutton’s Vegetable
Discovery.” The collection also contains numerous
advertisements for watches, ice cream machines, knitting
machines, knife sharpeners, strawberry hullers, nutmeg graters
and other household items. Fairchild lived in the Highland
Park, Middlesex County, area in the late nineteenth century and
was noted in the 1899 New Brunswick directory as the proprietor
of Dr. Dutton’s Vegetable Discovery. The collection
includes a few materials relative to late nineteenth-century New
Brunswick politics.
Gift of Jack Rimalover, 1984.
MG
1226
Horace
L. Fairchild, (fl. 1885-1900), patent medicine distributor
Papers,
1889-1899
1.5
linear ft.
Papers
of Horace L. Fairchild (fl. 1885-1900) of New Brunswick, N.J.
(Middlesex County), the distributor of Dr. Duttons
Vegetable Discovery, a patent medicine. A circular for the
Vegetable Discovery promotes it as a cure for scrofula,
constipation, sick-headaches, rheumatism, nervous dyspepsia,
dropsy, kidney and liver complaints, chills and fever, piles,
worms, malaria and female complaints. No ingredients are listed.
Bulk
of the collection are illustrated circulars and newspaper
advertisements seeking regional salesmen or agents
for a variety of products, many of which are medical-related.
Papers also include handwritten testimonials and copy letters
written by Fairchild. Remedies advertised in the circulars
include: Taylors Horehound Balsam, No-To-Bac, Dr.
Peters Blood Vitalizer, Kickapoo Indian Remedies, Dr.
Williams Pink Pills for Pale People, Hoods
Sarsaparilla, Ripans Tabules, and Liquid Electricity. Ingredients
include: asparagus, rattle snake oil, celery, rhubarb, ipecac,
peppermint, aloe, and nux vomica.
Other
products in the circulars are typewriters, bibles, burglar
alarms, dishwashers, bicycles, watches, and The Ezy Raisin
Seeder. Companies represented most frequently are the
Historical Publishing Co. of Philadelphia, Standard Silver Ware
Co. of Boston Mass., Standard Medicine Co. of Cleveland, Ohio,
The Giant Oxie Co. Augusta, Me. and the Excelsior Novelty Company
of Paterson, N.J. Also of interest are circulars of
matrimonial agencies, fliers for New Brunswick, N.J. area
organizations, and several booklets: The Homeopathic
Treatment of Diseases and Weaknesses of Men and Kidney and
Bladder Diseases, Life of Aunt Jemima: The Most
Famous Colored Woman in the World by R.T. Davis Mill Co.
(St. Joseph, Missouri), and America, Columbus and Roman
Catholicism; A Lecture Delivered by J. Clegg Wright in the Trance
State, Oct. 16, 1892.
Gift
of Jack Rimalover, 1984.
herb
root and vegetable medicines
remedies
homeopathy
Merchants
Gargling Oil
Catarrh
Remedy
Root-Tea-Na
Hair
Curler and Frizzette
Potts
Pile Cure
Dr.
Hays Kill-Corns
Dr.
Hays Hair-Health
Laxine
(laxative)
Mascura
– cure for gonorrohea
Mme.
Davids Hair Restorative
Dr.
Harters Wild Cherry Bitters
Egyptian
Regulator Tea
Elixir-Vitae
Electro
Magnetic-Fumes (application of battery),
booklet
Booths Hyomei, The Australian Dry Air Treatment
Taylors
Horehound Balsam (Taylor Drug & Chemical Co. -Trenton NJ)
Ayers
Sarsaparilla
(C.I.
Hood & Co., Apothecaries, Lowell, MA)
Dr.
Tafts White Pine Syrup Asthamalene
Dr.
Duttons Vegetable Discovery
handwritten
notes of testimonials Discovery cured: pain in
shoulders gone, tongue no longer coated, headache gone, appetite
improved, complexion clear, bowels regular, cured scrofula,
purified blood, cured erysipelas, rheumatism, cured cough.
Circular: Scrofula, Constipation, Sick-Headaches,
Rheumatism, Nervous Dyspepsia, Biliousness, Dropsy, Liver
Complaints, Chills and Fever, Bunch Piles, Kidney Affections,
Female Complaints, and such like, are radically cured by
it. Also handwritten copy letters by Fairchild, a printed
circular re agreements with sales agents. Also cures neuralgia,
dyspepsia, worms, consumption, eruptions, malaria Take all
you can bear without purging. Another circular called
Fairchilds Journal
letter
1893 asking to sell some of Fairchilds
Discovery
Submit a request to copy part of this collection
