The strangest 107-year-old calendar you're ever likely to see

May 6, 2007 4:10 PM

The Antikamnia Calendar for 1900 shows a policeman, a clown, and a newspaper editor (among others), with one slight but notable difference. The 1899 one is pretty neat, too, but not as useful (because 1900 matches 2007 day-for-day). More info and related pics here. via.
posted by cerebus19 (10 comments total)

"The Antikamnia Chemical Company made its appearance around 1890 in Saint Louis, Missouri. The trademark was registered that year, but the medicine was never patented. It was described as a coal-tar derivitave, but it was half or more acetanilid, a somewhat dangerous and habit-forming compound. The company also offered it mixed with codeine, which is addictive, quinine, and several other items either singly or in combination. A typical recommended dosage for Antikamnia with Codeine for treating 'Worry (nervousness: "the Blues")' was one or two every three hours.

...Due to the short time between passage of the War Revenue Law of 1898 and its effective date some companies, mainly in Saint Louis, were given permission to use privately printed labels on their products until revenue stamps could be obtained. Antikamnia was one of these, and had three different types of labels printed.

...Antikamnia was a junk mail pioneer. The company sent advertisements and samples to its distributors, doctors, and possible customers like lawyers and businessmen. They distributed their advertisements internationally as well - this one went to a police hospital in India in 1898.

...Antikamnia was still riding high in 1904, but was to virtually collapse with passage of the Pure Food and Drugs Bill in 1906."
posted by ericb at 4:28 PM on May 6, 2007

"Although he gave most of his drawings away, [Louis] Crucius sold a number of them to the Antikamnia ('opposed to pain') Chemical Company which had been established in St Louis in 1890. They produced antikamnia medicines containing the coal tar derivative, acetanilid, an anti-fever drug with pain relieving properties somewhat related to paracetamol, but which would be later shown to be a toxic compound not to mention addictive. Antikamnia was mixed with substances like codeine and quinine to enhance the pain relieving effects.

30 of the Crucius 'dance of death'-inspired drawings were used to make 5 years worth of Antikamnia Chemical Company calendars - between 1897 and 1901. They had a fairly aggressive marketing campaign in which the calendars (aimed at the medical fraternity) as well as postcards and sample packs were distributed to doctors in the United States and overseas."^*
posted by ericb at 4:31 PM on May 6, 2007

This is great. Thanks for posting this. Too bad they don't have the 1901 calendar up, or I'd be set for next year too.
posted by Sangermaine at 4:35 PM on May 6, 2007

I don't understand how a 1900 calendar could be the same as a 2007 one.

Wasn't 1900 a leap year? Fake?
posted by Bonzai at 4:54 PM on May 6, 2007

I thought so too Bonzai but About sez:


However, there is one exception to the leap year rule involving century years, like the year 1900. Since the year is slightly less than 365.25 days long, adding an extra day every 4 years results in about 3 extra days being added over a period of 400 years. For this reason, only 1 out of every 4 century years is considered as a leap year. Century years are only considered as leap years if they are evenly divisible by 400. Therefore, 1700, 1800, 1900 were not leap years, and 2100 will not be a leap year.

But 1600 and 2000 were leap years, because those year numbers are evenly divisible by 400.


Go figure.
posted by malphigian at 5:08 PM on May 6, 2007

Apparently Bonzai and malphigian weren't involved in Y2k fixes. Or maybe I should have said "hopefully".
posted by DU at 5:33 PM on May 6, 2007

That's it. I'm switching to Metric Time.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 6:36 PM on May 6, 2007

List of Years With the Same Calendar as 2007, including 2001. So if you haven't bought a calendar yet this year, dig out your 2001 calendar. Conversely, save this year's calendar for 2018. Holidays won't be the same dates, though.
posted by lukemeister at 6:49 PM on May 6, 2007

This post is great.
posted by jessamyn at 10:09 PM on May 6, 2007

It's a good thing the Pure Food and Drug act came along. Habit-forming compounds? Direct marketing to potential consumers? Freebies, like these calendars, given to docs for no consideration? Good thing we did away with all that.

Great post, by the way.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:13 AM on May 7, 2007