March 13, 2024 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, everything you've ever wanted to know, and more, about toilet paper. Here's The History Guy with the story.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American Stories, and we tell stories about
everything here on this show. And our next story comes
to us from a man who's simply known as the
History Guy. His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands
of people of all ages on YouTube. The History Guy
has also heard here and our American Stories. Here's the
History Guy with the story of toilet paper.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
For much of history, in many societies, wiping was done
with things that were commonly available and disposable, grass, leaves, moss, straw,
even snow and well. In some ways it seems a
puerile discussion, Actually it tells us something about culture. For example,
ancient Greeks used bits of pottery to scrape themselves clean,
and there's evidence that they sometimes used ostrasa. Ostrasa were
(00:54):
pieces of pottery that had a name inscribed on them,
and it was part of a voting process on whether
a person was so bad that they should be kicked
out of a community or ostrasized. And so if a
Greek was using an ostrasa for toilet purposes, in essence,
they were wiping their bottom with their enemy's name and
reusing ostrasa in that purpose, tells us something about the
(01:16):
ancient Greek sense of humor, as well as the extent
to which they carried a grudge. The Romans used a
tool called a xylospongium, which was essentially a bit of
a sponge on a stick. Wealthy Romans might have their
own personal xylospongium, but for the most part they were
communally used, based on latrines which might accommodate ten to
twenty patrons at a time. The sponge would be rinsed
(01:38):
in a mixture of water, salt, and vinegar. Sponges would
have been breeding grounds from bacteria. In some histories, suggests
they served to spread infectious disease, and the items used
for this purpose certainly depended upon wealth and social class,
with one startling example being the position of groom of
the stool, which served the English monarchs from at least
the fifteenth century all the way up to the twentieth century.
(01:59):
The purpose of the position was to have a servant
who was responsible for helping the king while he was
doing his business, and the first known person to have
the position, then called Yeomen of the Stool, was one
William Grimsby in fourteen fifty five. It's not really clear
if the person was directly responsible for wiping the king's backside,
but one of their responsibilities was to make sure that
(02:21):
there was blanket, cotton, or linen to wipe the nether end.
While the position would seem to be one of the
less savory, in fact it became a highly prized position.
The Groom of the Stool referring to the King's close stool,
which was black velvet and fringed with silk, with two
pewter basins and four broad yards of tony cloth, was
(02:42):
one of a few attendants who shared true private time
and able to speak intimately with the king. Although not
a member of the Privy Council, the groom was often
more privy to the king's private thoughts than the king's
closest advisors. In fact, the Groom of the Stool would
often have so much access to the king's private thoughts
that other courtiers were afraid of them for the secrets
they held. Over time, the position expanded to include control
(03:05):
of the affairs of the king's inner rooms, including making
sure the king was well dressed. The position included perks
like being given the king's old clothes and furnishings. People
would petition the groom to advocate on their behalf so
that he could use his private time with the king
to help someone gain a prized position. The position gained
such broad responsibilities and prestige that it was often held
(03:25):
by persons of high nobility. The position continued through the
Hanavarian kings, but was in abeyance center Victoria and when
they eliminated by her son Edward the seventh in nineteen
oh one. Not surprisingly, the first culture to use paper
for their bathroom needs was the Chinese, where paper was
invented perhaps as early as the eighth century BC. In general,
(03:45):
most people would have used leftover scraps of paper, but
paper specifically for use in the toilet was being mass
produced in China as early as the fourteenth century, although
that might have been largely reserved to the wealthy and
much of it used by the emperor's court. Paper didn't
make it to Europe until the eleventh century. The process
was done by hand pressing fibers on a screen mold,
but Johann Gutenberg's invention of the movable type printing press
(04:07):
around fourteen forty caused a printing revolution in Europe and
greatly increased demand for paper and paper making became an industry.
While people were likely using paper scraps in the bathroom
in Europe as soon as paper reached the continent. In practice,
paper was expensive and would hardly been used for such purpose.
There were, however, exceptions. Sixteenth century English churchman John Baale
(04:29):
mourned that books dispersed from the dissolution of the monasteries
by Henry the Eighth were being purchased by nobles to
rub their booties. Still, paper was rare enough in the
eighteenth century that it was not the most common tool
for the job. In colonial America, it, despite the availability
of printed materials, corn cobs were most commonly used for
bathroom duty. It wasn't until the end of the eighteenth century.
(04:50):
The first patent was in France in seventeen ninety nine
that paper making machines using continuous rollers were invented. A
new process was far cheaper and faster, and printing in
paper products proliferated. By the early part of the nineteenth century,
people in Europe and America were most commonly using scrap
paper in their bathrooms, using a bit of newspaper or
catalog makes sense. The paper was essentially free and offered
(05:12):
reading material for that private time as well. The whole
that is traditionally drilled in the corner of the Old
Farmer's Almanac was reportedly to allow the book to be
hung by a hook in the outhouse. Joseph Gayetti is
generally credited with producing the first commercially marketed toilet paper
in eighteen fifty seven. Gayetti's paper was called Therapeutic paper
(05:32):
and was sold in single sheets at the cost of
one thousand sheets for a dollar. His paper was claimed
to have medical benefits, especially his treatment for hemorrhoids. Ads
at the time suggested that ink papers were toxic when
used on sensitive parts. Oddly, Gayetti's papers were each water
marked JC. Gayetti, New York. Getty's product was one of
the fu sold at the time and continued to be
(05:53):
sold into the twentieth century, but the product had limited success.
It was a prudish age and Americans were embarrassed by
a product meant for their behinds, and many could not
afford to or see the value in paying for paper
when so much of it, for example, the Sears and
Robut catalog was free. Developments such as patenting processes to
sell paper on a roll with perforated sheets still struggled
(06:16):
commercially because in Victorian times the use of the paper
was well unmentionable, but another new technology was about to
change that. In eighteen twenty nine, the Tremont House hotel
in Boston became the first hotel in America to use
indoor plumbing. As cities developed municipal water systems solely technology
for the water closet improved. Early in the nineteenth century,
(06:39):
American manufacturers behind those of Britain, and most equipment for
water closets was imported. But by the end of the century,
American manufacturers were producing better products, and more and more
upscale homes featured indoor water closets. New Yorker's Clearance and
Edward Scott founded Scott Paper in eighteen seventy nine in Philadelphia.
They didn't make paper, nor did they sell directly to consumers. Instead,
(07:00):
they bought paper in bulk and marketed rolls of perforated
toilet paper through third parties such as hotels and drug
stores that avoided the sensitivity of the subject, and the
paper became seen as a special amenity of fancy hotels
that featured indoor water closets. There's a healthy and hygienic product,
sold it drug stores. Their marketing system worked, and they
eventually packaged their paper for more than two thousand brands.
(07:22):
But as more and more homes were being equipped with
indoor bathrooms, newspapers and catalog seemed less appropriate and would
clog the pipes. At the same time, people wanted to
buy brands that they'd seen at upscale hotels. In nineteen
oh two, the Scott Company purchased the trademark to their
most popular third party seller, Oldorf Bathroom Tissue, and began
marketing it to consumers directly under the Scott brand. For
(07:44):
the first time, the company started manufacturing its own paper again.
The product was successful, although still marketed as a health
product whose packaging did not mention the product's unmentionable function.
The company quickly became the world's largest manufacturer of the product.
As indoor plumbing became more common in the United States
and Europe, the products only became indispensable, but there were
developments in both marketing and manufacturing. In nineteen twenty eight,
(08:08):
the brand Sharman and a play on the word charming,
began packaging the product using feminine looking designs appealing to
homemakers and creating an image of softness and femininity. The
shift once again helped to remove stigma from marketing it.
As late as nineteen thirty five, the Quilted Northern brand
advertised that their paper was splinter free, which may have
been more of a marketing strategy than a different paper process,
(08:29):
but emphasized that the product was about comfort as well
as hygiene. Later, things like multiply tissue and scented brands
broadened and differentiated the market further. Still, it took a
long time for the unmentionable to become mentionable. It wasn't
until the nineteen seventies that television networks in the US
allowed advertising under the name toilet paper rather than the
less descriptive name bathroom tissue. Today, toilet paper is big business.
(08:53):
More than seven billion rolls are sold in the United
States annually, although for some seventy percent of the world,
toilet paper stone the primary way that they deal with
their bathroom business. It's become such a part of culture
in America that a character in a Sherman ad campaign
called Mister Whipple, a store manager extorted customers to please
don't squeeze the Sharman ran for nearly sixty years. A
(09:16):
nineteen seventy eight TV Guide survey found that mister Whipple
was the third most recognized man in America, behind former
President Richard Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham. And if that's true,
it means that in nineteen seventy eight, mister Whipple was
more widely recognized in America than then President Jimmy Carter.
I can't explain why people are panic buying toilet paper today.
(09:37):
I'll leave current events up to other people, but it
does seem ironic that we're rushing out to buy toilet
paper when just one hundred years ago Americas couldn't even
figure out why they needed the product when there was
so much free paper available. But one of the most
common solutions is no longer available to us, according to
the Sears Archive due to changes in retailing trends. Sears
stopped producing its general catalog in nineteen ninety SI that's free.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
And you've been listening to the History Guy and you
can find all of his work on YouTube. Just put
it in the History Guy and you'll find his YouTube channel.
And a special thanks to him for allowing us to
share his storytelling with us, and we love telling stories
about history. But again, these innovations, while they make life
better for us, and free enterprise does it, and inventors
(10:23):
do it, and who would have known that such a
story well would be so interesting? And again go to
the History Guy at his YouTube channel, and thanks to
Greg Hangler for, as always bringing some of the best
history guys storytelling the story of toilet paper here on
our American Stories
This is our American Stories, and we tell stories about
everything here on this show. And our next story comes
to us from a man who's simply known as the
History Guy. His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands
of people of all ages on YouTube. The History Guy
has also heard here and our American Stories. Here's the
History Guy with the story of toilet paper.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
For much of history, in many societies, wiping was done
with things that were commonly available and disposable, grass, leaves, moss, straw,
even snow and well. In some ways it seems a
puerile discussion, Actually it tells us something about culture. For example,
ancient Greeks used bits of pottery to scrape themselves clean,
and there's evidence that they sometimes used ostrasa. Ostrasa were
(00:54):
pieces of pottery that had a name inscribed on them,
and it was part of a voting process on whether
a person was so bad that they should be kicked
out of a community or ostrasized. And so if a
Greek was using an ostrasa for toilet purposes, in essence,
they were wiping their bottom with their enemy's name and
reusing ostrasa in that purpose, tells us something about the
(01:16):
ancient Greek sense of humor, as well as the extent
to which they carried a grudge. The Romans used a
tool called a xylospongium, which was essentially a bit of
a sponge on a stick. Wealthy Romans might have their
own personal xylospongium, but for the most part they were
communally used, based on latrines which might accommodate ten to
twenty patrons at a time. The sponge would be rinsed
(01:38):
in a mixture of water, salt, and vinegar. Sponges would
have been breeding grounds from bacteria. In some histories, suggests
they served to spread infectious disease, and the items used
for this purpose certainly depended upon wealth and social class,
with one startling example being the position of groom of
the stool, which served the English monarchs from at least
the fifteenth century all the way up to the twentieth century.
(01:59):
The purpose of the position was to have a servant
who was responsible for helping the king while he was
doing his business, and the first known person to have
the position, then called Yeomen of the Stool, was one
William Grimsby in fourteen fifty five. It's not really clear
if the person was directly responsible for wiping the king's backside,
but one of their responsibilities was to make sure that
(02:21):
there was blanket, cotton, or linen to wipe the nether end.
While the position would seem to be one of the
less savory, in fact it became a highly prized position.
The Groom of the Stool referring to the King's close stool,
which was black velvet and fringed with silk, with two
pewter basins and four broad yards of tony cloth, was
(02:42):
one of a few attendants who shared true private time
and able to speak intimately with the king. Although not
a member of the Privy Council, the groom was often
more privy to the king's private thoughts than the king's
closest advisors. In fact, the Groom of the Stool would
often have so much access to the king's private thoughts
that other courtiers were afraid of them for the secrets
they held. Over time, the position expanded to include control
(03:05):
of the affairs of the king's inner rooms, including making
sure the king was well dressed. The position included perks
like being given the king's old clothes and furnishings. People
would petition the groom to advocate on their behalf so
that he could use his private time with the king
to help someone gain a prized position. The position gained
such broad responsibilities and prestige that it was often held
(03:25):
by persons of high nobility. The position continued through the
Hanavarian kings, but was in abeyance center Victoria and when
they eliminated by her son Edward the seventh in nineteen
oh one. Not surprisingly, the first culture to use paper
for their bathroom needs was the Chinese, where paper was
invented perhaps as early as the eighth century BC. In general,
(03:45):
most people would have used leftover scraps of paper, but
paper specifically for use in the toilet was being mass
produced in China as early as the fourteenth century, although
that might have been largely reserved to the wealthy and
much of it used by the emperor's court. Paper didn't
make it to Europe until the eleventh century. The process
was done by hand pressing fibers on a screen mold,
but Johann Gutenberg's invention of the movable type printing press
(04:07):
around fourteen forty caused a printing revolution in Europe and
greatly increased demand for paper and paper making became an industry.
While people were likely using paper scraps in the bathroom
in Europe as soon as paper reached the continent. In practice,
paper was expensive and would hardly been used for such purpose.
There were, however, exceptions. Sixteenth century English churchman John Baale
(04:29):
mourned that books dispersed from the dissolution of the monasteries
by Henry the Eighth were being purchased by nobles to
rub their booties. Still, paper was rare enough in the
eighteenth century that it was not the most common tool
for the job. In colonial America, it, despite the availability
of printed materials, corn cobs were most commonly used for
bathroom duty. It wasn't until the end of the eighteenth century.
(04:50):
The first patent was in France in seventeen ninety nine
that paper making machines using continuous rollers were invented. A
new process was far cheaper and faster, and printing in
paper products proliferated. By the early part of the nineteenth century,
people in Europe and America were most commonly using scrap
paper in their bathrooms, using a bit of newspaper or
catalog makes sense. The paper was essentially free and offered
(05:12):
reading material for that private time as well. The whole
that is traditionally drilled in the corner of the Old
Farmer's Almanac was reportedly to allow the book to be
hung by a hook in the outhouse. Joseph Gayetti is
generally credited with producing the first commercially marketed toilet paper
in eighteen fifty seven. Gayetti's paper was called Therapeutic paper
(05:32):
and was sold in single sheets at the cost of
one thousand sheets for a dollar. His paper was claimed
to have medical benefits, especially his treatment for hemorrhoids. Ads
at the time suggested that ink papers were toxic when
used on sensitive parts. Oddly, Gayetti's papers were each water
marked JC. Gayetti, New York. Getty's product was one of
the fu sold at the time and continued to be
(05:53):
sold into the twentieth century, but the product had limited success.
It was a prudish age and Americans were embarrassed by
a product meant for their behinds, and many could not
afford to or see the value in paying for paper
when so much of it, for example, the Sears and
Robut catalog was free. Developments such as patenting processes to
sell paper on a roll with perforated sheets still struggled
(06:16):
commercially because in Victorian times the use of the paper
was well unmentionable, but another new technology was about to
change that. In eighteen twenty nine, the Tremont House hotel
in Boston became the first hotel in America to use
indoor plumbing. As cities developed municipal water systems solely technology
for the water closet improved. Early in the nineteenth century,
(06:39):
American manufacturers behind those of Britain, and most equipment for
water closets was imported. But by the end of the century,
American manufacturers were producing better products, and more and more
upscale homes featured indoor water closets. New Yorker's Clearance and
Edward Scott founded Scott Paper in eighteen seventy nine in Philadelphia.
They didn't make paper, nor did they sell directly to consumers. Instead,
(07:00):
they bought paper in bulk and marketed rolls of perforated
toilet paper through third parties such as hotels and drug
stores that avoided the sensitivity of the subject, and the
paper became seen as a special amenity of fancy hotels
that featured indoor water closets. There's a healthy and hygienic product,
sold it drug stores. Their marketing system worked, and they
eventually packaged their paper for more than two thousand brands.
(07:22):
But as more and more homes were being equipped with
indoor bathrooms, newspapers and catalog seemed less appropriate and would
clog the pipes. At the same time, people wanted to
buy brands that they'd seen at upscale hotels. In nineteen
oh two, the Scott Company purchased the trademark to their
most popular third party seller, Oldorf Bathroom Tissue, and began
marketing it to consumers directly under the Scott brand. For
(07:44):
the first time, the company started manufacturing its own paper again.
The product was successful, although still marketed as a health
product whose packaging did not mention the product's unmentionable function.
The company quickly became the world's largest manufacturer of the product.
As indoor plumbing became more common in the United States
and Europe, the products only became indispensable, but there were
developments in both marketing and manufacturing. In nineteen twenty eight,
(08:08):
the brand Sharman and a play on the word charming,
began packaging the product using feminine looking designs appealing to
homemakers and creating an image of softness and femininity. The
shift once again helped to remove stigma from marketing it.
As late as nineteen thirty five, the Quilted Northern brand
advertised that their paper was splinter free, which may have
been more of a marketing strategy than a different paper process,
(08:29):
but emphasized that the product was about comfort as well
as hygiene. Later, things like multiply tissue and scented brands
broadened and differentiated the market further. Still, it took a
long time for the unmentionable to become mentionable. It wasn't
until the nineteen seventies that television networks in the US
allowed advertising under the name toilet paper rather than the
less descriptive name bathroom tissue. Today, toilet paper is big business.
(08:53):
More than seven billion rolls are sold in the United
States annually, although for some seventy percent of the world,
toilet paper stone the primary way that they deal with
their bathroom business. It's become such a part of culture
in America that a character in a Sherman ad campaign
called Mister Whipple, a store manager extorted customers to please
don't squeeze the Sharman ran for nearly sixty years. A
(09:16):
nineteen seventy eight TV Guide survey found that mister Whipple
was the third most recognized man in America, behind former
President Richard Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham. And if that's true,
it means that in nineteen seventy eight, mister Whipple was
more widely recognized in America than then President Jimmy Carter.
I can't explain why people are panic buying toilet paper today.
(09:37):
I'll leave current events up to other people, but it
does seem ironic that we're rushing out to buy toilet
paper when just one hundred years ago Americas couldn't even
figure out why they needed the product when there was
so much free paper available. But one of the most
common solutions is no longer available to us, according to
the Sears Archive due to changes in retailing trends. Sears
stopped producing its general catalog in nineteen ninety SI that's free.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
And you've been listening to the History Guy and you
can find all of his work on YouTube. Just put
it in the History Guy and you'll find his YouTube channel.
And a special thanks to him for allowing us to
share his storytelling with us, and we love telling stories
about history. But again, these innovations, while they make life
better for us, and free enterprise does it, and inventors
(10:23):
do it, and who would have known that such a
story well would be so interesting? And again go to
the History Guy at his YouTube channel, and thanks to
Greg Hangler for, as always bringing some of the best
history guys storytelling the story of toilet paper here on
our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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