The Delineator 1906 - The Ads

I enjoyed looking at The Delineator so much when searching for Christmas items that I decided to go back and read through the earliest issues owned by Nashville Public Library.  For this post, I'll be using the January through June issues from 1906.  The Delineator has an interesting history, which I plan to cover in a later post.

The Delineator is a women's magazine, so it's hard to say what is more prominent - the fashion or the ads.  Being from 1906, the ads are so much fun, I think I'll start with those.

The first thing that surprised me was the number of ads for brands that we would still recognize today.  For example: Van Camp's Pork and Beans, Campbell's Soup, Domino Sugar, Nabisco, Lea & Perrins' Worcestershire Sauce, Palmolive, Gilette Safety Razors, Bissell Carpet Sweeper, Welch's Grape Juice, Jell-O, Cream of Wheat, Heinz, Quaker Oats, Colgate's Dental Powder, Stearn & Foster Mattresses, Vaseline, and of course . . .

Ivory Soap

and Coca-Cola

There were ads for this product in almost every issue, which really surprised me.  I guess I didn't realize that Chiclets had been around so long.

But the most interesting ads are for products from the time that we would never use today or for products that have changed drastically since 1906.  Take this asbestos table cover for instance:

It will protect your table's finish from hot dishes - but it will also cause cancer.  Here are some ads for products to deal with personal hygiene issues that you know existed, but the women just look so ladylike in their elaborate dresses that I tend not to think about things like body odor, underarm sweat, and toilets when I look at them.

 

The ads I find most entertaining, by far, are for beauty products.  These ads abound - especially ads for various types of corsets to fit every shape and size.

 

 

These color ads feature corsets for slender and full figures and also the Reduso, which "is a boon to large women--the ideal garment for over-developed figures requiring special restraint."

Finally, I'd like to share the most unique product advertised in The Delineator from the year of 1906.

 
Apparently "Vibratory Massage" had all sorts of health benefits.  In the second ad, they seem to be suggesting that it can improve the bust.  And if used in conjunction with this massage cream, one seems sure to eliminate the "bane of the plump woman" - the double chin, an unnatural condition caused by "loose skin, sagging flesh, and flabby muscles."

In my next post, I'll focus on the fashions of 1906 and some of the interesting features from The Delineator that year.