FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 12, 1997
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Glenn A. Walsh (412) 561-7876 or walshg@clpgh.org.
[Special Note: The previous electronic mail address is obsolete. To reach Mr. Walsh, as of 2007 Oct. 19, use the following address:
Displayed is equipment, used in the early 1900s, to prepare
prescriptions including a pill-roller, supository molds, hand-held
European balances, and mortars and pestles made of porcelain, brass, and
iron. Old prescriptions are also displayed, including a prescription
written for alcohol during the Prohibition Era. A 1948 "soda-jerking"
Certificate, for training in ice cream dispensing, which was included in
many old durgstores, is also shown.
There are various old bottles and containers of tonics and
proprietary medicines such as Humphrey's products, Dr. Pierce's Golden
Medical Discovery, Lydia Pinkham's Vegetable Compound(which supposedly
had "a baby in every bottle"), Miles Nervine, and five assorted blue
Bromo-Seltzer bottles.
The nearly 100 pharmacy artifacts, on display at the Library, are
part of a private collection which numbers more than 1,000. The
collector,
Stanton Jonas, retired in 1990 after working for
twenty-six years with the Allegheny County Health Department. He set-up
the Health Department's first pharmacy in 1965. He later served as
District Health Officer for the Department's Southwest office, based
first in Carnegie and later in Green Tree.
The collection has been displayed in libraries throughout
Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Stanton Jonas, who started the collection more than
thirty years ago, has received many of the artifacts as donations from
other pharmacists, and from the public, who wish these items preserved
for public viewing.
Stanton Jonas continues seeking such artifacts and would
welcome donations from the public. This exhibit is available for
display, at public venues, at no charge.
Stanton Jonas can be contacted at (412)
271-6670.
"The Old Corner Drugstore" can be seen any day the Library is
open, through the end of December. The regular Library hours are Tuesday
through Thursday 12 Noon to 8 p.m., Friday 12 Noon to 5 p.m., and
Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Library is closed Sundays and Mondays, as
well as Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Day, and New
Year's Eve and Day. Call the Library at (412) 276-3456 for the schedule
during the Christmas holidays.
The Andrew Carnegie Free Library opened, as the fourth free
public library constructed and endowed by the philanthropist Andrew
Carnegie, on May 1, 1901. In addition to a Library, the cultural complex
includes a 780-seat Music Hall(patterned after Carnegie Hall in New York
City), 140-seat Lecture Hall, Civil War Museum, and discount bookstore.
Note to Editors: Stanton Jonas is available for interviews, to show other artifacts in his collection. He can be contacted at (412) 271-6670.
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