Victorian Turkish Baths Picture of the Month for October 2006
Trade card for the Turkish Baths in Springfield, Mass.
This card was published in the United States of America, probably some time in the 1890s. In the States it was quite common for traders to overprint details of their businesses onto a pre-printed card. The trader would choose one with an illustration which related in some way to the business concerned though, as in this case—bathing—the connection was somewhat tenuous.
The description of the baths (reproduced above) gives no indication as to which of the 20 Springfields in the index to the Times atlas of the world was lucky enough to have such a delightful establishment. However, after an email correspondence with the museums and libraries of Springfield,
Massachusetts, we are all fairly sure that this is Mr Pratt's Springfield.
This item is from the collection of the Victorian Turkish Baths Project
Enlarged image detail added, 13 March 2010
Maggie Humberston, Springfield Museums
Donna Goldthwaite, Springfield Library
Victorian Turkish Baths: their origin, development, and gradual decline
Comments and queries are most welcome and can be sent to:
malcolm@victorianturkishbath.org
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© Malcolm Shifrin, 1991-2023