Fading Ad Blog Rotating Header Image

Laundry Products

Keeps Colors From Fading – Fourth Avenue – East Village, NYC

© Frank H. Jump

© Frank H. Jump

© Frank H. Jump

Mrs. Stewart’s Liquid Bluing – Thrift Shop in Grant’s Pass, OR

© Frank H. Jump

Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing (MSB) is a brand of fabric bluing agent which whitens fabrics with a dye called Prussian blue (ferric hexacyanoferrate). – Wikipedia

Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing was born in the early 1880s. “MSB” owes its existence to a peddler and his mother-in-law, a marginally successful Five and Ten Cent store, and a fireworks explosion. From the beginning, Mrs. Stewart’s journey has been an interesting one!

In the late 1870s, Al Stewart, a traveling salesman for a Chicago wholesale grocer, was a familiar figure in Iowa and southern Minnesota. In his market basket full of samples, he always carried a bottle of Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing, which he made in his home with his family assisting him according to a formula he had acquired. Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing Website

From Norfolk: A People's History - © Ruth A. Rose - Google Books

Wanderin' Weeta's Flickr Photostream

Prevents Colors From Fading – Fourth Avenue – East Village, NYC

© Frank H. Jump

This is the sign on which I based my original Fading Ad logo.

© Frank H. Jump

Keeps Colors From Fading – East 9th Street & Lafayette

Keeps Colors From Fading
© Vincenzo Aiosa

Vincenzo spied the sign from which I created my Fading Ad logo years back. I had climbed to the roof of the adjacent building and got really good close-ups. Guess I have to search my Ektachrome archives again to offer you a glimpse.

Reckitt's Blue – Brooklyn 1997

Reckitt's Blue
© Frank H. Jump

Here’s a sign that has now been covered up again- perhaps to be revealed in another 100 years.

Go to the assignments page and answer the five questions.