Professor Hamilton's Diary: April 24, 1935

He speaks to the Kiwanis Club of Reading; Lifebuoy offers hope to single women

Professor Hamilton was the featured speaker at the Kiwanis Club today and talked about his research on the early American newspapers. “I sketched early history & press, & then read some interesting ads, news stories, etc.,” he wrote. Ever self-critical, he confessed, “It seemed to go OK, but I was too late in returning for my afternoon class.”

On top of that, he said a few words at Dr. Roth’s confirmation class dinner that night at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel.

The speech to the Kiwanis Club was covered in the next day’s Reading Times. I have clipped the article and will share it tomorrow so you can read his remarks in full.

It may seem like we fret excessively over our bodies today — how they look and smell — but clever advertisements in the 1930s made people worry enough that they bought soap, toothpaste and other products that, it was implied, could turn your life around. Paid subscribers can read about the campaign for Lifebuoy soap.

The photo of a vintage Lifebuoy cake and the box it came in is from Wikimedia Commons.