It is likely that you have the shoe polish bottle although the drug 
bottles listed by others are interesting. One example is WHITTEMORE 
BOSTON (embossed on one side) FRENCH GLOSS (on the other) - clear 
glass bottle 4 1/2" high. However, I also have a milk glass (white) 
jar (flat, only one inch high) with the top missing embossed BON-TON 
SHOE CREAM WHITTMORE'S but the location is not given. The first is 
probably a very late 19th century context while the jar is early 20th century.

I think the shoe polish was very common in the first part of the 20th 
century (earlier ??). There might be an applicator in some of the bottles.

Bob Schuyler


At 11:15 PM 3/11/2007, you wrote:
>Dear Colleagues,
>
>Can any of you help us with info about a glass bottle from the
>19th-century Market Street Chinatown (San Jose, CA)
>
>The bottle is a clear glass rectangular panel bottle with a rounded
>flanged finish, and measures 125.6mm x 51.9mm x 34.6mm.
>It has one embossed panel that reads  "WHITTEMORE / BOSTON"
>
>We're seeking information about the Whittemore company - i.e., dates
>of operations, and the types of medicines or ointments that might
>have been manufactured and distributed under that name.
>
>Thanks in advance for any help you can provide,
>Barb Voss
>
>
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Barbara L. Voss, Assistant Professor
>Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology
>Main Quad Bldg 110
>Stanford University
>Stanford, California 94305-2145
>phone:  650-725-6884
>fax:  650-725-0605
>email:  [log in to unmask]

Robert L. Schuyler
University of Pennsylvania Museum
3260 South Street
Philadelphia, PA l9l04-6324

Tel: (215) 898-6965
Fax: (215) 898-0657
[log in to unmask]