Small Archive of Ephemera Relating to the Stevens Medical Institute and Chemical Company of Baltimore, ca. 1905
A group of 8 pieces of printed ephemera: one flier, one broadside, one pamphlet, an order form, a 3 x 5.5" insert, two mailing envelopes (one with a canceled stamp and postmark datelined Baltimore, 1905, the other unused) and a typed mimeographed letter printed on Stevens Medical Institute letterhead. Aside from the used envelope and the typed letter, which is creased at the folds, all items are clean and bright; near fine.
This material appears to have been part of a multifaceted direct-mail campaign by the Stevens Medical Institute, one of countless fly-by-night quack operations peddling cures for whatever might ail you in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The "medicines" offered here were hawked under the same names -- and often with the exact same verbiage -- by dozens of outlets across the United States. They included "Cutol" (anti-septic, antimicrobic, soothing, healing, purifying, strengthening, for all Cutaneous Diseases, and Mucous Membrane troubles, of the Rectum, Vagina and Os-Uteri, for Exzema, Herpes, Erythema, Nettle Rash, Ring Worms, Itch, Pimples, Tumors, Salt Rheum, Fever Blisters, Etc.! -- no woman's toilet is complete without it!") and "Vir-Leo Skin Food," which promised to not only remove wrinkles, lines, and blemishes" but also to "increase the measurement of the bust from four to six inches!" Another boasted the ability to correct bowel issues and backaches with the same pill. The Stevens Institute itself appears to have left no trace -- which was undoubtedly by design.
Item #19627
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