Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1890
name: label: maker
content: Clark Stanley
notes: label: Description
content: The inscription on three sides of this glass jar, in embossed letters, reads “CLARK STANLEY / SNAKE OIL LINIMENT.”
label: Description
content: According to his own account, Clark Stanley was born in Texas, ca. 1854, and worked as a cowboy for several years. Then, while studying with a Hopi medicine man in Arizona, he learned the "secrets of snake oil." In 1893, after marketing his liniment at several Western medicine shows, Stanley and his rattlesnakes gained attention at the World's Columbian Exposition. He then established production facilities in Beverly, Ma., and Providence, R.I.
label: Description
content: In 1916, after the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, Stanley's concoction was found to contain mineral oil, a fatty compound thought to be from beef, capsaicin from chili peppers, and turpentine. He was fined $20.00. The term "snake oil" would eventually become a popular euphemism for ineffective or fraudulent products, particularly those marketed as medicines or cures.
label: Description
content: Ref: Clark Stanley, <i>The Life and Adventures of the American Cow-Boy</i> ([Providence, 1897]).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Rhode Island, Providence
topic: label: Subject
content: Rubs, Liniments & Ointments
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
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content: Balm of America
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MG.293320.1380
label: catalog number
content: 293320.1380
label: accession number
content: 293320
objectType: label: Object Name
content: otc preparation
label: Object Name
content: Bottle, Medicine
label: Other Terms
content: Drugs
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 cm x 3 cm x 3 cm; 4 5/16 in x 1 3/16 in x 1 3/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 3/8 in x 1 1/4 in x 1 1/4 in; 11.1125 cm x 3.175 cm x 3.175 cm