Packaging

Object Name:

Packaging

Object ID:

2024.032.02

Creator:

Hemlock Oil Company -- Manufacturer

Place of Origin:

Derry, NH

Date:

1907-1932

Description:

Packaging for glass bottle of Dar Ling Oi, Hemlock Oil Company, Derry, NH. ca. 1907-1932. The paper box labeled, in part, "DAR = LING + OIL / THE GREAT TREATMENT FOR / The Throat, Chest, Lungs and Nasal Organs". Another side of the box states the Hemlock Oil Company's money-back guarantee and includes portraits of two men. A folded flier with instructions is included in the box.

Material:

Paper

Dimensions:

W-1.375 L-6.5 D-1.375 inches

Provenance:

Born in Croydon and raised in Concord, Willis Forrest Darling (1869-1946) moved with his family to Derry in 1882. When Darling married Alice F. Clark (1874-1946) in 1891 both were working in Derry's shoe industry, he as a laster. The couple in 1896 would have one son, Lew Forrest Darling. Willis's most significant job around this time was for the Oregon Indian Medicine Company, one of the many medicine shows traveling the country in the nineteenth century. Having learned how to make, package, and market a variety of tonics and salves boasting all sorts of health claims, he started the Hemlock Oil Company in Derry in 1897. In the early 1900s he began packaging his patent medicines in cork-sealed square-sided glass bottles about 6 inches tall and one inch in diameter. Initially they were embossed "HEMLOCK OIL CO. / WEST DERRY, N.H." but after 1907 the embossed location changed to Derry. "Hemlock oil" was a generic term, so Darling came up with "Dar Ling Oil" to trade mark it. Darling hired agents to promote his products to pharmacies and general stores in the U.S. and Canada. Dar Ling Oil was a hit, selling 175,000 bottles in 1905 alone.

Credit Line:

Gift of the Ochal-Tanski Family

People:

Darling, Willis Forrest (1869-1946)

Subjects:

Medical illustrations, Medical equipment and supplies, Medicine, Pharmacies, Pharmacists