Rush Archives Blog

Part 1: An Introduction to Local Medical Advertisements, 1890-1920

Make sure you visit the Library of Rush to catch Part 1 of the Rush Archives exhibit Accept No Substitutes: Local Medical Advertisements, 1890-1920. The current exhibit features advertisements for Health Foods and Drinks as well as local Pharmacies and Pharmaceutical Companies.

Part 1 will be replaced Summer 2025, so enjoy it while you still can! Part 2 will feature different ads, which will be just as fascinating. Stay tuned!

Accept No Substitutes tells the story of the rise of both patent medicines and modern advertising in the late 19th century. These changes in the health landscape and American consumerism led to competition among a wide range of new products and companies.

THE RISE OF PATENT MEDICINES:

In the late 1800s, rapid urbanization and industrialization led to unhealthy working and living conditions and poverty for many Chicagoans. These conditions led to poor diet and poor health. Most of the life-saving antibiotics, vaccines, and medicines that are commonly used in America today had yet to be discovered.

This era saw the rise of a wide variety of medicines, foods, and drinks that offered relief for everything from "dyspepsia" to cancer. Manufacturers called these drugs patent medicines, or nostrums. The term patent medicine was misleading because these drugs were not patented at all, but trademarked.

CAPTION: Advertisement for Boro-Lithia Water from the Waukesha Water Company [1] in the Illinois Medical Blue Book, 1901 [2]. Miracle waters were very popular during this time. Waukesha, Wisc., created an industry around its natural springs with spa resorts and clinics. The Waukesha Water Company had an exclusive contract to provide its water to visitors of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. As news came that a pipeline would be built to carry their water to Chicago for the fair, the citizens took offense and tried to prevent it. The popularity of the springs died down not too long after this 1901 ad as people became more skeptical of miracle waters.

THE RISE OF MODERN ADVERTISING:

Before the rise of modern advertising, newspapers limited advertisements to small, text-heavy messages that they formatted within newspaper columns. Because of this limitation, ads rarely included images. 

The Industrial Revolution introduced the American public to mass-produced goods, and companies found themselves competing for consumers as never before. Advertisements became larger and more prominent, and they began to incorporate images and slogans. 

In their efforts to stand out in crowded fields, companies innovated new methods to connect with consumers. They created brand identities, established trademarks, and used catchy, memorable phrases and packaging.

A NOTE about the Advertisements used in Accept No Substitutes:

Most of the ads in the exhibit in the Library of Rush come from one of two sources: local medical directories or The Corpuscle, the student and alumni newsletter of Rush Medical College.

Local Physicians Directories:

The Rush Archives holds an extensive collection of Illinois and Chicago physicians' directories. The oldest in our collection is the Illinois State Medical Register for 1878-1879. The Chicago Medical Directory (also known as the Chicago Medical Blue Book, due to its distinctive deep blue covers) is represented in the Rush Archives with editions from the 1880s to 1953.

Aside from providing information on Chicago physicians, medical and nursing schools, and hospitals, the directories were full of advertisements directed toward doctors. Ads frequently filled up fifty pages of a directory, and they covered its margins, covers, and spine.

CAPTION: Cover of McDonough's Illinois Medical Directory, 1895, featuring advertisements for sanitariums in the area. Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek, Mich., led by J. H. Kellogg, MD, was probably the most well-known at the time. This 1895 edition has not been digitized...yet!

The Corpuscle:

The Corpuscle was Rush Medical College's alumni and student journal from 1890 to 1900. [3] It featured articles about medicine and surgery by faculty and alumni, editorials by students, alumni updates, jokes, and trivia. It is a useful resource for the Rush Archives as it includes a view of Rush from the perspective of its students.

For most of its run, The Corpuscle contained advertisements directed toward physicians and medical students.

COMING SOON: Part 2: Accept No Substitutes: Local Medical Ads for Health Foods and Drinks, 1890-1920

Want to learn more about the history of Rush or the Rush Archives collections? Explore the Rush Archives website, or contact the archivist, Nathalie Wheaton, MSLS.

RESOURCES:

[1] Note on the Waukesha Water Company: An extensive history of the company can be found in "Spring City and the Water War of 1892," in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Autumn 2005, by David P. McDaniel, PhD:

https://web.archive.org/web/20110601064638/http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/wmh/pdf/autumn05_mcdaniel.pdf

[2] Illinois Medical Blue Book and Chicago Medical Directory, 1901, via HathiTrust:

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112043506713&seq=17

[3] Issues of The Corpuscle, as well as Rush Medical College school catalogs, yearbooks, and alumni directories, can be found online in our Rush Medical College, 1837-1942, DIgital Collection via the Internet Archive:

https://archive.org/details/rushmedicalcollege?&sort=date