Toothbrush
date: label: date made
content: ca 1924
name: label: maker
content: Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Company
notes: label: Description
content: The inscriptions on the handle of this toothbrush read “Pro-phy-lac-tic / MADE IN U.S.A. STERILIZED / ‘A CLEAN TOOTH NEVER DECAYS’” and “SOFT” and “GUARANTEED” and “FLORENCE MFG. CO.” and “1.” The Florence Manufacturing Company, which began in business as such in 1866, produced hairbrushes and hand mirrors made of the Florence Compound. In 1885, the company introduced the Prophylactic toothbrush, based on a form designed by Meyer L. Rhein, a New York dentist. By 1915, this toothbrush was the company's best-selling product. In 1924, the company became the Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Company.
label: Description
content: Ref: “Dr. Meyer L. Rhein, Dentist, Dies at 68,” New York Times (July 18, 1928), p. 21.
label: Description
content: One of six toothbrushes donated to the museum in 1924 by the Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Co. for use in the "Hall of Health" exhibition about the importance of dental hygiene. Only two of the brushes remain from this collection.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Massachusetts, Northampton
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Beauty and Hygiene Products: Oral Care
label: See more items in
content: Beauty and Health
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Pro-phy-lac-tic Brush Co.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.M-02060.02
label: catalog number
content: M-02060.02
label: accession number
content: 85097
objectType: label: Object Name
content: oral hygiene product
label: Object Name
content: toothbrush
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 3/8 in x 5 1/4 in x 3/8 in; .9525 cm x 13.335 cm x .9525 cm