Name/Title
Pabst Extract Orange Dress Yard LongDescription
Pabst Extract. Pabst Brewing Company. Milwaukee, WI.Context
This sign features the art of Charles Allan Gilbert, an American artist most known for his drawing All is Vanity. It is an example of a yard-long sign, which was a popular advertising choice from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. They often featured women dressed in the fine fashion of the period in which they were produced. On the reverse side of this yard-long, there is a calendar, as well as an advertisement for Pabst Extract, a medicinal tonic that Pabst created with the intent of selling their products to women, who were barred from saloons and other establishments that sold alcohol at this time. By labelling Pabst Extract as a tonic, Pabst Brewing Company was able to sell it in drugstores where women could easily purchase it. Pabst Brewing Company was established in 1889, after Captain Frederick Pabst took over his father-in-law’s brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was previously the Phillip Best Brewing Company, which was founded in 1844 by Jacob Best.