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page 42 -- Winch Brothers Company, Wistar's Balsam of Wild Cherry, G.H. Wood & Co., Fearey's Albany Shoes, S.M. Bixby & Co.


updated  11 July 2018
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From page 90 of the May 3, 1911 issue of Boot & Shoe Recorder (Google Books) comes this ad for Winch Brothers:

Winch Brothers was a wholesale shoe house.

Google Books also retrieves this ad from the Yale Banner:
Please comment if you have information on D.M. Corthell. Thanks!


Public Domain image from Library of Congress; edited in Picasa
label copyrighted by Isaac Butts in 1844
According to Footnotes Since the Wilderness,  "Circa 1840, Henry Wister developed a nostrum, Dr. Wistar’s Balsam of Wild Cherry, a heady mélange of cherry bark, alcohol and opiates."  Footnotes also presents a brief product history.

How dogs learn patience....

The success of Dr. Wistar's was due primarily to the advertising efforts of Seth W. Fowle & Son. --Rowell's American Newspaper Directory (Google Books):




That last point bears repeating, "it is a well-established fact that, however useful or valuable a medicine may be, the sale of it can only be kept up by constant advertising."

For the full story, including insights into the drug industry of the period, multiple images related to the product and a thorough discussion of an extended trademark dispute related to the product, I highly recommend Beware of Counterfeits, Part 4 by Digger Odell Publications ©2006. Here are some excerpts from this fine presentation:
"Some druggists operated both retail and wholesale businesses.  These proprietors had a successful product, which enabled them to enter the wholesale market or, they became agents for successful products which they in turn sold wholesale to other retailers.  The well-known patent medicine companies such as Dr. Jayne, who marketed his line of family medicines, Dr. Kilmer with his Swamproot or, James Ayers with his Cherry Pectoral, all began as retailers and built their business into a wholesale operation."
"It was [Isaac] Butts who designed and registered the label for the Balsam with the Copyright Office on July 25 of 1844.  It was Butts who designed and developed the unique eight-sided bottle stamped with his initials.  It was Butts who cleverly marketed the Balsam with his labels, wrappers and bottles. And then on March 1, 1845 only nine months after he purchased it, again for unknown reasons, he sold the rights to sell the Balsam in the Eastern states to Seth W. Fowle, of Boston."
For more on Henry Wistar and the Wistar family, see "The Wistars" by Cecil Munsey © 2005.

The Ladies Blacking was manufactured by G.H. Wood & Co., Boston MA
Digital Commonwealth shows the back of a Ladies Blacking card, which explains its use and virtues:


As best I can understand the listing, the Boston Directory of 1882 indicates G.H. Wood & Co. was colocated with Henry Wood's Son & Co. at 34 Oliver St. (Google Books):



Oliver St. in 2013 (Google Street View) shows no trace of G.H. Wood & Co.


Fearey's, 44 North Pearl St., Albany NY
The back of the card above as presented by Digital Commonwealth:


Another ad for Wolslayer's establishment:





According to an article about the Earl J. Arnold Advertising Card Collection appearing in the Summer 1965 issue of Food Marketing in New England (First National Stores, v. 26 no. 1 p. 22):




Following his successful teaching career, William Taylor Adams wrote books for young people and a few for adults, too, many while serving as an elected representative and as a member of various boards and committees. Wikipedia has more information on "Oliver Optic" (one of his pen names) and Project Gutenberg has free copies of several of Adams' titles online. Click the above image to read "Work and Win" online.



As revealed by the back of a trade card posted by Digital Commonwealth, S.M. Bixby & Co. made both of the products above:
(S.M. Bixby is Samuel Merrill Bixby)
The Glass Bottle Marks site presents a good summary of S.M. Bixby & Co. history. The company is notable for its many years of survival despite great financial distress.


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