In 1916 Proctor and Gamble released a 26 page booklet containing over 100 uses for Ivory Soap submitted by customers in a contest. Some of them are shown here.
Unusual uses of Ivory soap
SOME time ago we conducted a prize contest to which users of Ivory Soap contributed about 50,000 recipes. These recipes tell how to use Ivory Soap, either by itself or with other materials, for things rarely attempted with soap.
From these recipes we have selected more than one hundred which are exceptionally helpful and, in many cases, most unusual. We have tested each one and proven that all accomplish the desired results with complete satisfaction.
The reason is. Ivory Soap contains nothing harmful — no free alkali, no harsh materials of any kind. It is just mild, pure, high-grade soap — nothing else. Therefore, it can be used safely and successfully where ordinary alkaline soaps would be disastrous.
Of course, in unusual cases it is well to know the best way to proceed to secure the best results. In this connection, the following recipes should give you some valuable information. But please remember that if, at any time, you have a cleaning problem not covered by printed instruction, all that is necessary is to use Ivory Soap and common sense.
Briefly, the knack of knowing how is merely a knowledge of the possibilities of Ivory Soap and confidence in its purity and quality.
–The Procter & Gamble Co.
The wonderful work of archivists have preserved far more material than we usually see. Our goal here is to unearth and present some of the stuff we never saw in school.