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The Public Voted In This Beauty Contest

  • 1940

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Public Domain

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Advertisement for Celluose Acetate manufactured and sold by the Hercules Powder Company for use as a base in plastic molding compounds. The advertisement features a photo of a woman in a shower framed by artistic renderings of various bathroom products made from cellulose acetate plastic, including a tooth brush, combs, soap dish, and door handle. This advertisement was published in the October 1940 edition of Fortune magazine.

Formed in 1912 as part of an anti-trust settlement with DuPont, the Hercules Powder Company (later Hercules Inc.) initially specialized in the manufacture of explosives and smokeless powders and subsequently diversified its business to encompass a variety of industrial products, including pine and paper chemicals, synthetics, pigments, polymers, and cellulose.

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  • 12.5 in. H x 9.5 in. W
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Rights Public Domain Mark 1.0
Credit line
  • Courtesy of Science History Institute

Physical location

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Collection
Series arrangement
  • Series II: Advertising
Physical container
  • Volume 1940
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Cite as

Hercules Incorporated. “The Public Voted In This Beauty Contest.” 1940 Hercules Advertisements, 1940. Records of Hercules Incorporated, Volume 1940. Science History Institute. Philadelphia. https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/dj52w561j.

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