59.83.76

Bottle

1949

Mrs. Stewart's Liquid Bluing. Bluing Bottle. Material: glass, cork, wood, paper. (a) Bottle. Size: 2 1/2" diameter x 6" H. Description: clear glass; cylindrical bottle with 1 1/2" diameter neck with raised letters around neck: "Mrs. Stewart's Bluing. Mrs. Stewart's Bluing"; paper labeled: "Mrs. Stewart's Liquid Bluing, Ten fluid ounces, Mfg. By Luther Ford & Co., Minneapolis, Minn. 1949." (b) Stopper. Size: 1" H. Description: cork with wooden cap.

Minneapolis Tribune, 22 November 1983. "Mrs. Stewart's Bluing just keeps on a'doing" by Susan Feyder. It's been 100 years since a Minneapolis storekeeper named Luther Ford bought a peddler's formula for a product that could keep clothes white. A lot of brighteners, whiteners and heavy-duty enzymes have come and gone since then, yet Luther Ford & Co. and its product - Mrs. Stewart's Bluing - are still around. Bluing gets its name from the minute particles of ferror ferric cyanide that are the basis for the product. In their natural state, they form a blue powder so fine it literally floats in midair. Mixed with water, it makes a nontoxic, inky blue liquid that's bottled and sold as a laundry aid.