Figure 1.--Here is one of the Hickory Garter stationary page. Notice the rhymes which actually focus on atributes of the garters. Click on the image to see another one of the sheets. |
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Companies at the time had many other ways of advetising. Colored lithographic cards wee used by many companies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We notice specially printed Stein's staionary advertising the Hickory garters. We do not know if it is companu staionary are distrubted to customers. A reader writes, "I think this stationary is really interesting and unusual. I wasn't aware that manufacturers like Stein & Co. actually used children's writing paper as a way of advertising their product. Also the
rhymes to appeal to kids seem to me worth noting since they refer to different features of Hickory garters.
The company was Stein of Chicago, and they advertised Hickory hose supporters for boys and girls very widely in popular magazines and in mail order catalogs such as Sears Roebuck. See, for instance, the ad for Hickory Garters in Good Housekeeping Magazine during 1916.
A HBC reader suggests that the stationary here probably dates to the 1910s or early 20s. He writes, "The images are undated but I would guess this stationery was manufactured about 1915-20 when Hickory Garters were worn by almost all children, both boys and girls, across the United States and Canada." HBC does not sure. We might guess the 1900s, primarily based on the illustration style. We would not disagree, however, with the 1900s. Our contributor writes, "The reason I tend to favor a later date--1915-20-- is that all our references to Stein & Co and their products seem to date from 1916 onwards. I am under the impression that Hickory Garters weren't made or at least didn't become popular until sometime after 1910, but
I may be wrong about that. We do have other brands of hose supporters earlier." This may well be. HBC's primary reason for an earlier date is that the drawing is a little primative. We note illustrations like this in the 1900s. We tend to note generally more sophisticated drawings by the 1910s. But the fact that we have not noted Hickory Garters before 1916 is an important point. Our reader notes, however, "I just discovered that the Lewis Stein & Co. were making men's garters in Chicago as early as 1887, so perhaps the Hickory brand of children's garters
is earlier than I had originally thought. See this HBC page Lewis Stein. The two companies were related, so HBC may be correct about the date of these drawings as in the 1900s or 1910s."
Our HBC contributor writes, "Here is a novelty that I didn't know existed--children's stationery sold (or possibly given away) to promote an item of children's clothing--in
this case, the famous Hickory Garters.
Hickory Garters were available in both black and white, but black seems to have been the standard color at least for boys who usually wore black stockings with them. Stein & Co. also made garter waists with the Hickory brand name on them, but the garters, sold separately, seem to have been their biggest national seller. Hickory Garters became so nationally known that they were as familiar in American families as Heinz ketchup or Campbell's soup.
The stationery with the Hickory Garter trademark on it consists of rather cheap tan sheets of paper with an illustration of a child with Hickory garters at the top of each sheet. There seem to be about five different Hickory Garters drawings to give the stationery a bit of variety. Each figure drawing is accompanied by a nursery-style rhyme promoting the supporters, usually with emphasis on the strength of the garter and its ability to stand hard strain. Another typical sheet of stationery features a boy holding up a Hickory garter for everyone to see. The accompanying rhyme emphasizes three points about the famous garters--(1) that the pin at the top for attaching the supporter to the garter tab of a waist won't rust (even when laundered), (2) that the buckle for adjusting the length of the supporters is arranged so that it won't touch the skin, and (3) that Hickory garters hold up stockings neatly so that they don't sag and look untidy.
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