Testimonial letters, 1902 December 12

This collection mostly consists of business records of the Resinol Chemical Company, founded in Baltimore in 1895 to manufacture skin-care products developed by Dr. Merville Hamilton Carter. The products included Resinol ointment (unguentum), a general-purpose preparation used in treating psoriasis, eczema, poison ivy, etc; soap and shaving sticks; and Elixir Cascanata, a laxative and tonic.

In the collection there are fifteen sales books (1896-1918), four general journals (1895-1943), two general or private ledgers (1895-1918), five subsidiary ledgers (1898-1918), thirteen cash journals (1897-1925), twenty cash books (1895-1946), and forty-one letter books (1896-1911). Not all the runs are complete.

The collection also contains three account books of the Royal Drug Company, which appears to have been taken over by Resinol interests in or soon after 1901. Two books are from 1899-1901; the third is the general or private ledger for 1929-1950, called Ledger B.

There is also one file box of miscellaneous Resinol and Royal Drug Company material (1898-1950), including sales summaries; balance sheets and profit and loss statements; lists of creditors; a few letters including some whose writers testify to the efficacy of Resinol soap--and enclose photographs of their children (1902, 1904); advertising pamphlets; two newspaper clippings; and a small composition book.