Munyon's Homeopathic Home Remedies Counter Display

The American Art Works of Coshocton, Ohio produced this Munyon Home Remedy Company counter display case during the early 20th century. The metal box features a photograph of James Munyon holding his right index finger aloft and proclaiming in a banner below: “I would rather preserve the health of the nation than be its ruler.” Decorative panels on the sides of the box read: “The World’s best known remedies for over a quarter of a century” and “A separate Munyon Remedy for each disease.”

James M. Munyon (1848 - 1918) established his homeopathic medicine company in the early 1890s. Remedies included in this display box: Constipation Pellets, Morrowbone Nux Iron, Hay Fever Remedy, Bladder Remedy, Blood Remedy, Catarrh Remedy, Cold and Cough Remedy, Female Remedy, General Debility Remedy, Grippe Remedy, Heart Remedy, Kidney Remedy, Liver Remedy, Nerve Remedy, Neuralgia Remedy, Asthma Pellets, Colic and Crying Baby Remedy, Constipation Ointment, Cough Remedy, Croup Remedy, Fever Remedy, Headache Remedy, Laxative Paw-Paw Pills, Leucorrhea Tablets, Malaria and Chills and Fever Remedy, Measles Remedy, Pleurisy Remedy, Remedy for Rheumatic Fever, Sore Throat Remedy, Special Liquid Blood Cure, Stomachic Triturates, Vitalizer, Worm Remedy.

After the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, the Federal Government investigated many of Munyon's products. In 1911 they were judged "misbranded," and subsequently Munyon removed the name "Cure" from his homeopathic remedies.

This object is one of 39 objects from the Estate of Robert W. Vinson donated to the Smithsonian in 1958. Robert William Vinson (1872-1958), known as “Doc” or “Doc Willie” Vinson, ran Vinson’s Pharmacy in Rockville, Maryland, from the early 1900s until 1957. The store was built in the 1880’s and located on the corner of Montgomery Avenue and Perry Street, across from the Montgomery County Court House, and was reported to be a popular gathering place for local politicians. It closed after Mr. Vinson’s death and many objects and furnishings, some dating to the years prior to Mr. Vinson’s ownership, were donated to the Montgomery County Historical Society Stonestreet Museum, as well as to the Smithsonian. An ornate 1914 soda fountain from the drugstore was installed in the Rockville public library. Highlights in the Smithsonian collection include glass apothecary bottles, a "Konseal" Filling and Closing Apparatus, and two pharmacy counter displays: “Munyon’s Homeopathic Home Remedies” and “German Household Dyes.”

Reference: Buglass, Ralph. Rockville, 2020. Print. (Images of America Series)