Edward Parker Read advertising and promotional materials, 1900s-1940s

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Summary

Creator:
Read, Edward Parker, 1868?-1944, John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History, History of Medicine Collection (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library), and John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture
Abstract:
Edward Parker Read (1868?-1944) was a Black pharmacist, jurist, entrepreneur and activist based in the Philadelphia area. Collection includes flyers, mailers, postcards, pamphlets and broadsides that advertise a range of products and services provided by Edward Reads's several business entities: patent medicines; herbal remedies; mineral-spring tonics; sanitarium facilities; palm readings; perpetual calendars; and ready-reference encyclopedias. Company and product names reflect contemporary interests in health spas, folk medicine; spiritualism; and Native American imagery. Materials also reflect an interest in economic development and social networking within the Black community. Acquired as part of the History of Medicine Collection, the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture, and the John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History
Extent:
0.1 Linear Feet
Language:
Materials in English.
Collection ID:
RL.13069

Background

Scope and content:

Collection includes flyers, mailers, postcards, pamphlets and broadsides that advertise a range of products and services provided by Edward Reads's several business entities: patent medicines; herbal remedies; mineral-spring tonics; sanitarium facilities; palm readings; perpetual calendars; and ready-reference encyclopedias. Company and product names reflect contemporary interests in health spas, folk medicine; spiritualism; and Native American imagery. Materials also reflect an interest in economic development and social networking within the Black community.

One item, a card for palmist services of Professor J. Read, is possibly a different person from Eward P. Read.

Biographical / historical:

Edward Parker Read (1868?-1944) was a Black pharmacist, jurist, entrepreneur and activist based in the Philadelphia area. He owned a operated a number of businesses under several versions of his name, including Edward P. Read, Dr. E. Parker Read, and Dr. Read.

Edward Parker Read was born around 1868 near Farmville, Va. His family moved north and Read graduated from Baltimore University (1889) and Philadelphia Optical College (1899). In 1890 Read became the first Black to open a drugstore, Eureka Drugstore, in Philadelphia. In 1894 Read began selling lines of herbal remedies produced by various companies he acquired over the years, advertising in Black-owned newspapers and on broadsides. Around 1900 Read was named a judge in small claims court in Camden, New Jersey. In the Early 1900s Read operated a print shop that published civil rights pamphlets, African American encyclopedias, and reference directories. Read was also active in the movements for civil rights and economic self-sufficiency; he joined the NAACP and served as President of the United Advance Beneficial Fraternal Order of Ethiopians (a combination lodge and group insurance plan). Read established a corporation, the Eureka Beneficial Trust, a share-holder based network of distributors for Read's lines of herbal remedies. In 1920 Read was convicted of practicing medicine without a license, a common prosecution for makers and sellers of herbal, traditional or homeopathic remedies. Read's later years were involved in purchasing real estate, land, and operating health sanitoriums and mineral spring water companies. Read died in 1944.

Source: Southernspirits.org viewed March 8, 2024; "Dr. E.P. Read"

Acquisition information:
The Edward Parker Read advertising and promotional materials were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a purchase from Lorne Bair Rare Books in 2024.
Processing information:

Processed by Richard Collier, Mar. 2024;

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2024-0035.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Physical facet:
20 items
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

Using These Materials

Using These Materials Links:

Using These Materials

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the Rubenstein Library's Citations, Permissions, and Copyright guide.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Edward Parker Read advertising and promotional materials, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m1sx7c