See how a woman wore a belt in a Dutch ad.
See a classy 1920s ad for a belt and the first
ad (1891) MUM has for a belt.
See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish
ad). See a modern belt
for a washable pad and a page from the 1946-47 Sears catalog showing a great variety.
More ads for napkin belts: Sears,
1928 - modern belts - modern washable
- Modess, 1960s
Actual belts in the
museum
And, of course, the first Tampax AND - special
for you! - the American fax tampon,
from the early 1930s, which also came in bags.
See a Modess True or False? ad in The American
Girl magazine, January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley
in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess . . . . because ads (many dates).
 
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Menstrual pad belt in the 1891 Jordan, Marsh & Co. catalog (Boston,
U.S.A.)
Women must have had a brutish time wearing menstrual gear in the era
before tampons, cups
and adhesive pads. Read some of my theories about
this in the discussion of the belts in the early Sears,
Roebuck & Co. catalogs.
Women seemed to prefer sticking a safety pin
through the pad (even in the 1920s - read the Gilbreth
Report - and probably later) and belt to fancy holders offered through
the years (example from the 1940s); safety pins
held the pad reliably, avoiding the disaster of a fallen pad. (New York
inventor Walter Hunt patented the safety pin in 1849.)
This is the earliest ad the museum has of a commercial belt, but I think
it's probable women could buy earlier versions.
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