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Vit-O-Net notebook of testimonials
Biomed.0403
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Vit-O-Net notebook of testimonials
Creator:
Vit-O-Net Manufacturing Corporation
Source:
Johnson, Russell A.
Identifier/Call Number: Biomed.0403
Physical Description:
1 unknown
(23 leaves)
Date (inclusive): 1920-1925
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
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Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use
Property rights to the physical objects belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright,
are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright
and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Russell A. Johnson (ebay), January 2007.
Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user
interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides
a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive
processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
UCLA Catalog Record ID:
5624409
Administrative/Biographical History
William F. Craddock et al of Chicago received U.S. patent no. 1,456,223 for "Electrical blanket and the like" on 22 May 1923.
In advertisements of the time, Vit-O-Net was billed as a "health garment" that, through magnetic wires, would draw poisons
out of the body and "stimulate new life." In the annual report of the Federal Trade Commission for 1930-1931, docket 1679,
an order entered 7 July 1930, required the Vit-O-Net Corporation, engaged in the manufadcture of an electric blanket designated
the 'Vit-O-Net,' to cease and desist from representing that such blanket is endorsed or recommended by prominent physicians,
scientists, etc., and that it has any therapeutic value except as a heating pad."
A salesman's notebook consisting of a hardcover binder, embossed Vit-O-Net, which contains testimonials dated 1920-1925 for
the Vit-O-Net electric blanket manufactured in Chicago. The first document is a photograph of a woman looking at the blanket
unfurled on a bed. There are testimonials from hospitals, doctors and nuns describing various ailments the blankets was used
to treat. Also a receipt from one of the hospitals. The pages are laminated to cloth backs, except for three typescript paper
copies at the end. Hospitals include: Jamestown General Hospital, The Rockefeller Institute, Johnston Emergency Hospital,
Pittsburgh Homoeopathic Hospital, Mary's Help Hospital, Dr. Kinney's Infirmary, Mary Immaculate Hospital, Jewish Maternity
Hospital, The Maternity Hospital in Cleveland, Mercy Hospital, Detroit Osteopathic Hospital, South Highlands Infirmary, Union
Hospital, Columbus Radium Hospital and more.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Johnson, Russell A.