Warner’s Safe Cure: Artist’s Album (1888) – Part II

The Artist’s Album features some terrific graphics of both the Warner product line and its spurious claims. It is perhaps appropriate to start at the beginning with Safe Cure. It harkens back to the business that made Warner his first millions, the fireproof safe business. He modestly proclaims that he was “formerly the largest Safe dealer in the world” and provides the reader with a list of his available products.

Warner then moves on to another one of his original line of cures, his Diabetes Cure.  He distinguishes the two types of diabetes, insipid and sweet and notes the symtoms. However, he noted that the Diabetes Cure should not be used for kidney ailments, use only Safe Cure.

Next was the Rheumatic Cure, which also was supposed to be taken in concert with Safe Cure and Safe Pills. The claim promises that the “most obstinate rheumatic disorders disappear” if the treatment is maintained long enough to produce effects. I am not sure how long, “long enough” is, but I would venture a guess that it is more than one bottle. It is also worth noting that one of the testimonials accompanying this portion of the Album is from Mrs. Carrie D. T. Swift of East Avenue in Rochester.  One might surmise that she was the wife of Warner’s chief astronomer, Lewis Swift. Nothing like a little family support.

The next featured standard cure was the Nervine, which Warner sold to those whose nerves were too frayed to produce a good night’s sleep.

This represents the first portion of the Artist’s Album and the bulk of Warner’s original line of cures. The remainder of the Album deals with other Warner remedies including his Log Cabin Remedies and his Tippecanoe Bitters. I will feature the remaining portions in a future post. Thanks again to Jon Moran for the images.

Warner’s Safe Cure: H. H. Warner in Chicago (1873)

Although we always associate H. H. Warner with Rochester, as an agent for Mosler & Bahmann & Co., he appears to have had a presence in other major cities. To be sure, he was selling safes in Rochester as is amply demonstrated by my last post; however, he also seems to have been in a number of other cities including Cincinnati and Chicago among others. This is demostrated by this ad that appeared in the 1873 Chicago City Directory.

The ad is for Warner, Howard & Co. at 51 State Street. No telling who Mr. Howard was, but there can be little doubt that the Warner was our resident entrepeneur and patent medicine mogul, Hulbert Harrington Warner.

Warner’s Safe Cure: Early H. H. Warner and Reynolds Arcade (1874)

For most Warner’s collectors, the history of H. H. Warner begins about 1879 when Warner introduced his intial line of Safe Cures to the public. I covered some of Warner’s history in my series “The Rise and Fall of the Warner Empire.”  We know that prior to his life and death struggle with Brights Disease and his miraculous discovery of Dr. Craig’s Kidney Cure, Warner made a fortune selling fireproof safes in the post-Civil War era. Indeed, some of those safes have survived down the years as testimony to Warner’s first career. However, it seems that very little paper has survived from that enterprise. One exception is the above letter from Warner to a customer in 1874. The stationery is engraved “Office of H. H. Warner & Co., Fire & Burglar Proof Safes, Combination Locks, Vault Work [Etc], No 18 Arcade, Rochester,  N.Y.”

This terrific piece of paper is merely the confirmation of the order of a safe and nothing more, but it gives us a glimpse into the world of H. H. Warner before patent medicine. The other interesting tidbit we get from this otherwise seemingly innocuous piece of stationery is the address “No. 18 Arcade.” Thanks to the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County, I was able to learn a bit more about Reynolds Arcade. Architectually speaking, I love arcades because they combine the feeling of an open space with the beauty of natural light.  The structure was the brainchild of Abelard Reynolds (1785-1878) and was completed in 1829 with additions in 1838, 1842 and 1862. Fortunately, both illustrations and photographs of the Arcade have survived.

Based on the above floor plan, the Arcade apparently stretched between East Main Street and Exchange Place. The location of No. 18 would have placed Warner’s safe business on the outer edge fronting on Exchange Place opposite the Post Office. This is interesting because, although we usually associate Warner’s Safe Cure business with his Safe Remedies Building on St. Paul Street, his initial location was on Exchange Place as depicted in one of his early almanacs.

My initial thought was that perhaps this early Safe Remedies office was simply converted from selling burglar and fireproof safes; however, the building depicted in the almanac seems too tall to have been part of the Arcade. At any rate, we now have a better sense of where Warner was doing his safe business in the early 1870′s. Sadly, the Arcade in its original form has not survived.

The original Arcade and any vestiges of Offices of H. H. Warner & Co. Fire & Burglar Proof Safes at No. 18 were razed in May, 1932 and replaced by an Art Deco style building bearing the same name. Time marches on. Special thanks to Jack Stecher, who owns this nice piece of early-Warner stationery and to the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County for the wonderful information on Reynolds Arcade.

The Evolving Safe

Warner’s decision to use the “Safe” from his earlier business as the trademark for his patent medicine business was nothing short of genius. Think about it, what is more important to a person using any type of medicine (even today)……the medicine should alleviate the undesirable condition but, just as importantly, it should not harm the patient. In other words, it should be “safe.” This idea was undoubtedly as important to consumers in the 19th Century as it is today.

The word “Safe” and the image of the Safe convey that promise in a very concise way. Over the years, the Warner’s Safe as depicted on the labels of the Safe Cures and Remedies evolved and it is interesting to watch that evolution. The earliest versions were much more detailed and included, not only the image of the Safe, but also other available Warner products like the Safe Rheumatic Cure, Safe Pills and  Safe Nervine.   The Safes were later modified to reflect the opening of new foreign offices such as  Toronto, Frankfurt or Melbourne and added other products like the Diabetes Cure. The arrival of early Food & Drug regulations caused the Safe to reflect Remedies rather than Cures. In the waining years of the Warner empire, the image of the safe lost its detail and became merely a trademarked image. And yet, throughout all the evolutions, the Safe conveyed the same message – that the user could rest assured that Warner’s product would do no harm. Pretty smart.