Trade cards with colorful images and catchy advertising slogans on the front and additional text and testimonials on the back were especially popular for advertising patent medicines in the late 19th century. Most trade cards were three by five inches and came in the packages of merchandise or were distributed for free by merchants and salespeople. Between the 1870s and the early 1900s, trade cards promoting all types of products were collected, traded, and pasted in scrapbooks.
According to a late 19th century medical publication, one could re-create Ham’s Oil of Gladness at home with oil of cedar, hemlock, sassafras, thyme, camphor powder and linseed oil. According to the recipe, the oils and camphor were to be dissolved in alcohol and added to the linseed oil. Eight to 10 drops of this solution was a dose for a child. (The Medical World, 1887, Volume 5, page 429.
Oils of gladness were marketed under several different names. The name referenced a verse from the Bible: “Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” (Psalm 45:7) Patent medicine makers often made religious references, suggesting their cures were miraculous or ordained.
The front of this trade card can be viewed at this link.
Trade Card, Ham’s Oil of Gladness. c. 1870-1906. Courtesy of History & Special Collections for Medicine and the Sciences, UCLA Library Special Collections.