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What do we see when we look closely?
Explore this advertisement for Mentholalum, a popular household remedy, where a young girl dressed as a nurse confirms that, in line with social expectations of the time, nursing is a profession for women.
Roll over different areas of the postcard to discover answers to the questions below.
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- Q1Can you find evidence of the child's social class?
- A1Playing nurse was a popular game for respectable middle-class girls until 1960s feminism challenged the social expectations of women's roles.
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- Q2Can you spot what the child is doing?
- A2Florence Nightingale advocated teaching massage in nursing schools. In the 1930s, influential nurse educators advocated including physiotherapy on the curriculum.
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- Q3Can you see what the adult is holding?
- A3The woman holds what, presumably, is a jar of Mentholalum. At the time, various creams and ointments were used by nurses to alleviate arthritic pain and other common ailments as part of caring for their patients.
An illustration of a girl playing a nurse in an advertisement for medical skin cream, ca. 1912
-
- Q1Can you find evidence of the child's social class?
- A1Playing nurse was a popular game for respectable middle-class girls until 1960s feminism challenged the social expectations of women's roles.
-
- Q2Can you spot what the child is doing?
- A2Florence Nightingale advocated teaching massage in nursing schools. In the 1930s, influential nurse educators advocated including physiotherapy on the curriculum.
-
- Q3Can you see what the adult is holding?
- A3The woman holds what, presumably, is a jar of Mentholalum. At the time, various creams and ointments were used by nurses to alleviate arthritic pain and other common ailments as part of caring for their patients.
- 1Can you find evidence of the child's social class?
- 2Can you spot what the child is doing?
- 3Can you see what the adult is holding?
