See nineteenth-century Norwegian washable pads (which look much warmer than the Italian one above!) - See contemporary washable pads - Women sometimes wore washable pads with a sanitary apron
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepage | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | menarche booklets for girls and parents | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | olor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants & panties directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.


Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

American washable menstrual pad (date?)

Ben Truwe, in Oregon, e-mailed that one of his family members found this object among bow ties from a thrift store in Pittsburgh - but it's no tie:

What brought me back to your site was the item in the attached photo. I found it in with a bunch of old neckties, but it's obviously no tie. It's of soft unbleached cotton muslin, seems to be professionally made, machine stitched, and the right length to attach to a belt front and back. It's untagged, unmarked and unused. Can you identify it?

It is the right size, almost 24" long; the first Kotex pad - read the ad describing it - in 1921, measured 22 inches (ca. 56 cm.) long, and the filler was 3.5 inches (ca. 9 cm.) wide. (A Johnson & Johnson report describes even bigger pads.) As you see in the photo, the cloth overlaps in a way that would have made it easy to put in a filler to absorb the menstrual discharge. And menstrual pad belts have used buttons to attach the pad - see a German version from right before World War II.

I thank Matie and Jacob Trewe for the pad and Ben Truwe for his research about the Sanitary Towel Laundry of Lincoln, Nebraska, and much other information.

Above: A closer view of one end.
Right: The overlapping folds could hold a filler.
Below: An even closer shot. There's no stain from menstrual blood and protein; see an old Italian washable pad with stain.
Photos: Harry Finley

See nineteenth-century Norwegian washable pads
See contemporary washable pads - Women sometimes wore washable pads with a sanitary apron

© 2007 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any of
the work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written
permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org