Scope and Contents
This material consists primarily of advertising cards, bills/receipts, printed advertisements, book marks, cook books, labels, pamphlets, and recipe books, scattered correspondence on letterhead stationery from manufacturers and distributors of baking powders. These companies also tended to sell other products including bakers' supplies, spices, coffee, teas, cream of tartar, cigars, tobacco, gloss starch, laundry bluing, soap powder, baking soda, soap, corn starch, phosphate of calcium, powdered gelatin and other shelf groceries. The B. T. Babbitt Company located in New York distributed a number of pamphlets and printed advertisements containing reproductions of popular paintings by American artist including Paul de Longpre, Virginia Janus, Percy Moran and J. L. Ferris. Larger size reproductions could be obtained by sending the company trade marks from their products. Other manufacturers such as Edward Canby offered free libraries to their customers. Some of these companies are also in other subject categories such as chemicals, baking soda, patent medicine, images children, art, women, nature scenes, and courtship scenes.
Publications include two pamphlets. Both pamphlets were articles which appeared in the Pharmaceutical Record. "Baking Powders, An Essay on their Composition and Action" (April 1, 1887) was written by George Holland and "Baking Powders" (June 1, 1888) written by C. V. Petraeus discuss the physical qualities of baking powders. H. D. Thatcher & Company also published a pamphlet on the same subject titled "How to Test Baking Powder, Illustrated and Explained for the Practical Use not Only of the Scientist but for the Common People and the Ordinary Cook, with Descriptions of Thatcher's Sugar of Milk Baking Powder and Selected Cooking Recipes "(1890).
Materials are organized alphabetically by name of company. There are three folders of material grouped by type: labels, related pamphlets and miscellaneous items. Miscellaneous items consist of advertising cards with no company to identify manufacturer or dealer.