Dr. Brown's Remedies in 19th Century Victorian Era Trade Cards

The name Brown's Remedies appears frequently in the history of Victorian-era patent medicine. This study examines four of the most prominent late-19th-century companies bearing the Brown name: the Curtis and Brown Manufacturing Co. of Boston, MA; the Norway Medicine Co. of Norway, ME; the Brown Chemical Co. of Baltimore, MD; and N. K. Browns of Burlington, VT. Each of these firms is well represented in the Ted Croll Collection at the NYU College of Dentistry through its extensive trade-card advertisements. Their rise and fall-marked by mislabeling, overstatement, and the misuse of public trust-offers a powerful cautionary tale for today's unregulated digital landscape, where extravagant claims flourish, and public confidence continues to erode.