Advertisement: Trade card for Centaur Liniment and Castoria featuring Jumbo
Image
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Handle
http://hdl.handle.net/11134/60002:4129
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Title |
Title
Title
Advertisement: Trade card for Centaur Liniment and Castoria featuring Jumbo
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Origin Information |
Origin Information
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Parent Item |
Parent Item
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Resource Type |
Resource Type
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Digital Origin |
Digital Origin
reformatted digital
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Description |
Description
Trade card advertising Centaur Linament and Castoria, with an endorsement by P. T. Barnum. The front side of the card features a color illustration titled "Jumbo Feeds Baby Castoria" and shows the famous African Elephant feeding a young elephant with a baby bottle. Jumbo's trunk is curled around the bottle holding it to the baby elephant's open mouth. Two rhymes appear below the title: "From peasant nurse to high born lady, All mothers know what's good for baby, CASTORIA" and "While Jumbo, too, though not a lady, Follows suit and feeds the great baby, CASTORIA." The back of the card reads, "Centaur Liniment is unquestionably the most nearly instantaneous cure of pains, burns, swellings, galls and lameness upon man and beast the world has ever known. 'My equestrians and teamsters all say that Centaur Liniment is the best remedy for stiff joints, wounds, and lameness they have ever used'. P. T. Barnum, 438 Fifth Avenue, N.Y." The trade card dates to the 1880s. Jumbo the elephant came to America in 1882 and his popularity spawned "Jumbo-mania" with manufacturers of all types of products finding ways to incorporate the pachyderm in their advertisements or create Jumbo likenesses in three-dimensional products however remote or non-existent a connection the elephant might be. Jumbo was killed by a train in St. Thomas, Ontario, in 1885. It is not clear how long advertisers continued to use his image and name on trade cards after his untimely death. Castoria was a brand name for a laxative compound and substitute for castor oil that was very popular in the late 1800s, the formula having been patented in 1868. It was first sold as Dr. S. Pitcher's Castoria, and subsequently Fletcher's Castoria marketed by the J. B. Rose Company, and later marketed by the Centaur Company, which this trade card represents. Jumbo the elephant (circa 1861 - September 15, 1885) was extremely beloved in England, called the "Children's Pet" because at the London Zoo he was famous for giving rides to children, a few at a time, on his back. The Director of the London Zoo sold him in 1882 to P.T. Barnum and his partners, whose offer to buy the elephant coincided with increasing problems housing Jumbo. The teenaged male elephant was becoming difficult to manage and quite destructive due to his hormonal changes. However, the English public was furious at the sale, and campaigns were mounted to try and keep the elephant on English soil. The sale went on regardless of public sentiment, and Jumbo quickly became a main attraction in Barnum’s circus. Indeed, the public outcry in England gave Barnum more publicity than he could have hoped for, and he was quickly able to recover the expense of transporting Jumbo overseas. Jumbo did not live long in North America, however; he was killed by a train on September 15, 1885, while the circus was on tour in Canada. Barnum had his hide stuffed and bones mounted separately to exhibit together as a "Double Jumbo." The taxidermy elephant was then presented to Tufts College, now Tufts University, but was lost to fire in the 1970s. Barnum gave the bones to the American Museum of Natural History where they remain today in the collection.
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Held By |
Held By
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Use and Reproduction |
Use and Reproduction
This item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. Images and data from The Barnum Museum are intended for public access and educational use only. This material is owned, held, or licensed by The Barnum Museum and is being provided solely for the purpose of teaching or individual research. All other use, including commercial reuse, mounting on other systems, or other forms of redistribution requires permission of the appropriate department of The Barnum Museum; fees may be applicable.
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Note |
Note
condition: Excellent
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Local Identifier |
Local Identifier
2001.008.041
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