This post concludes the Camp Kopje reminiscences by Douglas Broome. “Back to camp. The buildings went down the bay from the Panabode. The beach was clear the entire distance, edged by a 20 foot wide green area of bushes, pines, and deciduous trees through whose whole length ran clear paths...
This post continues the Camp Kopje reminiscences by Douglas Broome. “The main body of camp was laid out along 1,200 feet of pebble beach. At the northern end was a modern PanAbode cedar log home with large verandah and a lawn down to the lake at a spot where a sandbar ran a hundred metres...
“Summer camp. The horse shivers to shake off the horseflies, snorts as girls handle tackle and Western saddles, old leather, hay and muck. A salt lick. The barn looks cool in the shadow of the cottonwoods and pines. Hot high sun. One girl goes into the orchard to cool off in the ka-chk’s of...
Now who is this Dr. Chase? In the nineteenth-century manner, Chase earned his fame and fortune with equal parts of hard work and self-promotion. Born in New York State in 1817, Alvin Chase came to Ann Arbor in 1856 to pursue a medical degree after a career as a traveling peddler of groceries and...
Dan Bruce, our Curator, bought this little booklet to complement our patent medicine collection. It doesn’t have a publication date but there’s a rudimentary ‘Baby Book’ with a place for a picture and some birth statistics. Written in pencil is the notation that Our Baby was born March 19th,...
I have always liked arrowroot biscuits but I didn’t realize the history behind them until I started researching the museum’s can of Montserrat’s Arrowroot. Arrowroot has a long history of cultivation in the Caribbean as a food staple. Arrowroot thickens at a lower temperature than does flour or...
I thought that Zam-Buk might be boring. I vaguely remember a tin of it at home when I was a child although I don’t remember it being used. It was just there. According to the script on the tin it is used “for cuts, bruises, scratches, burns, scalds, athlete’s foot, piles, ulcers, eczema, sores,...
This medication was first manufactured by Hazeltine & Co in 1864 apparently started out labeled as a remedy for consumption although it was really only ever a cough remedy and the jury is still out on that. One source says “Piso’s was essentially a pretty good cough and cold syrup” and...
Leonard Ear Oil is the first patent medicine in the collection that I found that was condemned as useless by a medical authority. In 1925, DR. ARTHUR J.CRAMP (Director of the Bureau of Investigation, American Medical Association) condemned Leonard Ear Oil and eardrum as useless quackery and...
This small bottle contains 1.5 fluid ounces of syrup that contains senna, sodium citrate, fennel, sodium bicarbonate, rhubarb, oil of anise, glycerin, and sugar. We’ve seen these ingredients in other medications for gastrointestinal disorders. This one says that it’s a stomach and bowel regulator...
I just finished putting up a display in the lobby of the District of Lake Country offices. It was inspired by the Heritage Week theme for 2010. In 2010 Heritage Week is February 15-21, and this year it coincides with the Olympics, hence the theme of athletic endeavor, sports and community spirit....
Looking this medication up was yet another adventure. “McPhee’s 33″ led me to Katharine McPhee’s wallpaper site where you can download 33 different poses of the singer/songwriter. I also found Adam McPhee, an Australian footballer whose player number is 33. I tried “McPhee-Orr Limited”,...