Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
in correspondence or is mentioned in the associated promotional materi-
al). The text as well as the photograph captions include many references
to such products as flour, face powder, bread baking, aprons, upholstery,
curtains, laundry, and frying pans. Four of the photos sent with the series
explicitly depicted women's clothing - a blouse made of synthetic wool,
nylon stockings modeled by female college students, and a three-piece
suit made of synthetic wool (Figure 5) - and the store window display
centered on the female mannequins.
Figure 5. Synthetic wool suit, a photograph supplied by the Hamilton M. Wright advertis-
ing firm, which represented the Italian textile industry, for use with Science Service 'Fab-
rics for the Future' newspaper series, 1939. The suggested caption read “Synthetic wool,
made out of the casein in cow's milk, was the basic raw material for this beautiful
woman's three-piece suit. The casein cost 50 cents and was obtained from 63 quarts of
milk.” (SIA RU7091, Box 408, Folder 23). Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives.
These domestic and gender-linked references appeared in articles that
were sprinkled liberally with technical details and terms, including
detailed descriptions of the spinneret process and other aspects of
synthetics production. Article two compared the chemical analyses of
