![]() This is what Twyman refers to as “surviving by chance.” Cover image from a particularly attractive pamphlet advertising Kellogg’s Toasted Wheat Flakes. The ephemera had been donated to Winterthur by a patron who purchases large blocks of varying items from sellers in order to provide the materials with homes at appropriate cultural heritage institutions. Even as recently as last month, we received a donation of trade ephemera from the Winterthur Museum. Furthermore, the often striking aesthetics of promotional materials have created a secondary market for them at flea markets, antique shops and via online auction sites, making them more diffuse then traditional materials such as books and journals. In our case, many items in the Historical Medical Library were initially collected by physicians and Fellows of the College and donated later when the historical value of the object was better understood. Since these materials were intended to serve their promotional purpose and then to be discarded, much ephemera was not initially considered substantive in the same way that documents of intentionally produced knowledge were, and as such were not stewarded by libraries and archives in the same way. Michael Twyman, in his 2008 article for RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage, titled The Long-Term Significance of Printed Ephemera, highlights both the reasons why ephemera is an important historic lens and why it has been historically under-represented in library collections. For example, much of the current emphasis on whole foods and whole grains as staples of healthy diets can be traced back to Battle Creek, its vigorous publication of literature pertaining to these benefits, and the health fad it created among America’s social elite of the time. Less explored is the relationship between trade publications targeted at physicians, and how those publications effected physician interactions with patients. The opinions and practices of prominent physicians are frequently documented in journals and other rigorous publications. Trade ephemera serves as an interesting partner to traditional materials used in the study of medical history, such as the rare books, manuscripts, and journals in our collection, by offering a snapshot of a contemporary product or treatment, and the promises and techniques employed by the manufacturer in order to drive sales of their products. In order to draw so many prominent figures and a wealthy base of clients to its somewhat remote location in Michigan – and to promote the ideas of its founders, the Kellogg brothers – the Sanitarium needed to produce a wide swath of promotional materials, many of which survive today in The Historical Medical Library’s Medical Trade Ephemera collection. Penney, Henry Ford, Amelia Earhart, Warren Harding, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Sojourner Truth. It became a destination for both prominent and middle-class American citizens, including celebrities such as J.C. Treatments included hydrotherapy, electrotherapy, phototherapy, physical training, exposure to fresh air, enemas, and dietetic plans crafted to lower patient’s libidos in order to live a chaste lifestyle free of sin. The Battle Creek Sanitarium of Battle Creek, Michigan was a health resort which employed holistic methods based on principles promoted by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |