Historic Treasure of the Week - July 21, 1991
By John Becker
Vigo County Historical Society
Historic Treasure of the Week - July 21, 1991
By John Becker
Vigo County Historical Society
Envelope advertising useful long ago
"Repair your bicycle tires with Pepsin Sticks Chewing Gum. Cover the puncture with the gum and bind with a piece of cloth."
So exclaims an 1898 envelope advertising Primley’s Pepsin Stick Gum. Joseph Strong and Co. used this envelope on business mail to illustrate some of the many products the company made or distributed.
Advertising envelopes were common from 1880 until 1920 and are the subject of a display at the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley.
Envelope illustrations evolved from simple return addresses prior to the Civil War into two- or three-color patriotic envelopes during the Civil War, and finally into a useful advertising medium by the 1870s.
The space below the return address gave merchants an area to illustrate the company’s products or services in dramatic fashion at little extra cost. Most were printed in one color, but multi-colored ads also were printed and are much-sought today. The enclosed letterhead often carried the same illustrations. Most of today’s advertising envelopes that come with fancy pictures are junk mail.
Many of the local wholesalers and retailers pictured one of their products below the return address or on the reverse side of the envelope. Hulman and Co. was one of the more prolific local businesses using ads. It featured Delicious Sip Coffee in the 1870s. In the following decades the firm ran ads for Dauntless Coffee, Crystal Coffee, Rub-No-More Washing Powder, and Clabber Baking Powder, touted as the "healthiest baking powder in the world." The "Girl" was added later.
In the 1910s, Joseph Strong advertised Pancake Flour, Real Brand Extracts, and B & C Baking Powder. The company’s Red Cot Coffee was complete with a picture of a cow printed in bright red and the slogan, "Red Cow Coffee makes an elegant Drink."
Some businesses had fine engravings of their establishments, such as the Ehrmann Manufacturing Co. illustrated here. In addition to the hotel picture, the Terre Haute House, the Hotel Deming, the Hotel Filbeck and the Plaza Hotel gave claims to their luxuries.
Some companies used the back of the envelope for public service announcements or to advertise special events. Hulman and Co. plugged the Ringgold Band Tournament at the Fair Grounds on August 16-18, 1884; and Joseph Briggs, a local produce and commission merchant, used an engraving of the famous four-cornered track to plug the spring races of June 7-10, 1887. The purses total $5,000.
Mewhinney and Harrison Co. used a full-color ad for Adams Tutti-Frutti Chewing Gum in 1890. At that time the firm was located at 25 and 27 S. Sixth St., and dealt in fancy groceries, nuts, cigars and fireworks in addition to confection manufacturing.
"Patsy," the popcorn king, sold popcorn, peanuts, and ice cream cones from the 811 Wabash Avenue store in 1909. Freitag, Weinhardt Co. was located at 614 Wabash Avenue in 1914.
In 1920, the Wadley Co. was busy buying poultry, eggs, and creamery butter, and Kivits Brothers provided wholesale fruits and vegetables from their North Third Street location.
Some other companies represented in the exhibit are the Terre Haute Brewing Co., which made Champagne Velvet Beer here until 1958, the Miller-Parrott Baking Co., the American Hominy Co., Tune Brothers, Levin Brothers, the Hudnut Co. and Charles H. Goldsmith.
Several other non-Terre Haute companies also are represented by familiar products, such as Polarine Gasoline, Gold Dust Washing Powder, Remington Shot Guns, Gold Medal Flour, Rocky Ford Cigars, Vegaco Oleo-margarine, Swift’s Hams, and Regina Music Boxes and Edison Phonographs and Records.
The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.