Friday, March 18, 2011
B. T. Babbitt's Soap
Benjamin Talbot Babbitt was born in Westmoreland, New York in 1809 and became a very successful businessman. He is best known for his soap, but for a long time he also controlled the baking soda market, and sold baking yeast. Although Babbitt was somewhat of an entrepreneurial genius, he fell victim to an embezzlement scam by some of his employees. It is also rumored that he was the inspiration for Sinclair Lewis' novel Babbitt, about vulgar and ignorant businessman. When B.T. Babbitt died in 1889, he left an estate valued at $5 million.
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I love old postcards. So happy to have ran across this blog.
ReplyDeleteI love the way that entrepreneurs of that era quickly realised the advertising value of postcards - in the same way as certain modern-day enterprises realised the marketing opportunities available on the internet at a very early stage.
ReplyDeleteHe was known for SOAP, and his embezzling employees were known for SCUM.
ReplyDeleteWhat they were BAKING behind his back should NOT have been the YEAST of his concerns. :)
Great artwork on those cards! I wonder if there are any other Babbitt's Soap cards out there?
ReplyDeletelovely postcards
ReplyDeleteCharming postcards
ReplyDeleteJudy
Great cards and interesting story about Babbitt! I'm going to try to work that into class.
ReplyDeleteVery nice postcards. I can't get enough of the advertising postcards, but rarely run across them myself. Thanks for the background story!
ReplyDelete