Newbro's Herpicide
date: label: date made
content: 1933-1940
name: label: maker
content: Herpicide Company
notes: label: Description
content: Newbro’s Herpicide was developed at the end of the 19th century by Dupont M. Newbro, owner of Newbro Drug Company, a wholesale drug business in Butte, Mont. Mr. Newbro promoted the theory that a bacterium or parasite was the cause of dandruff, which then led to baldness. He claimed to have worked with a bacteriologist to create a formula that would kill the "dandruff germ." Hence the name Herpicide: Herpes (from the Latin "to creep") and cide ("to kill"). Newbro trademarked the word in 1899. By 1902 he sold his Montana drug business to focus on his new product and company, the Herpicide Company, established in Detroit, Mich. The formula proved very successful, and Newbro’s Herpicide was sold nationwide and in Europe through the 1930s.
label: Description
content: The Herpicide advertising slogan, accompanied by drawings of a man’s balding head, was "Going (Herpicide will save it)...going (Herpicide will save it)...gone! (Too late for Herpicide)." The phrase "Too late for Herpicide" became a popular catch phrase of the 1920s and remained popular into the 1950s, long after Newbro’s Herpicide was being sold.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: web subject
content: Hair Care Products
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
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content: Health & Medicine
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content: Beauty and Health
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content: Beauty and Hygiene Products: Hair Care and Enhancement
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content: Hair Care Products
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mario Cassinelli, Jr.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1984.0782.133
label: accession number
content: 1984.0782
label: catalog number
content: 1984.0782.133
objectType: label: Object Name
content: hair care product
label: Object Name
content: scalp treatment
label: Object Type
content: Drugs
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (container material)
label: Physical Description
content: cardboard (packaging material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (container material)
label: Measurements
content: overall, box: 6 3/4 in x 2 in x 2 in; 17.145 cm x 5.08 cm x 5.08 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall, bottle: 6 5/8 in x 2 in; 16.8275 cm x 5.08 cm