Long before soft, perforated rolls became a bathroom standard, people used whatever their environment made available—including water, cloth, plants, corn cobs, shells, and other decidedly uncomfortable materials.
The History Guy traces the long and surprisingly complicated history of toilet hygiene. He explains how Joseph Gayetty marketed “medicated paper,” why consumers were reluctant to discuss the product, and how manufacturers gradually transformed toilet paper into an everyday necessity.
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📖 Read the Episode Transcript
00:00:10
Speaker 1: This is our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show. And our next story comes to us from a man who’s simply known as the History Guy. His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people of all ages on YouTube. The History Guy has also heard here and our American Stories. Here’s the History Guy with the story of toilet paper.00:00:33
Speaker 2: For much of history, in many societies, wiping was done with things that were commonly available and disposable grass, leaves, moss, straw, even snow and well. In some ways it seems a puerile discussion, Actually it tells us something about culture. The Romans used a tool called a xylospongium, which was essentially a bit of a sponge on a stick. Wealthy Romans might have their own personal xylospongium, but for the most part they were communally used based on latrines which might accommodate ten to twenty patrins at a time. The sponge would be rinsed in a mixture of water, salt, and vinegar. Sponges would have been breeding grounds for bacteria. In some history suggests they served to spread infectious disease, and the items used for this purpose certainly depended upon wealth and social class, with one startling example being the position of Groom of the Stool, which served the English monarchs from at least the fifteenth century all the way up to the twentieth century. The purpose of the position was to have a servant who was responsible for helping the king while he was doing his business, and the first known person to have the position, then called Yeomen of the Stool, was one William Grimsby in fourteen fifty five. It’s not really clear if the person was directly responsible for wiping the king’s backside, but one of their responsibilities was to make sure that there was blanket, cotton, or linen to wipe the nether end. While the position would seem to be one of the less savory, in fact, it became a highly prized position. The groom of the Stool referring to the King’s close stool, which was black velvet and fringed with silk, with two pewter basins and four broad yards of towny cloth, was one of a few attendants who shared true private time and able to speak intimately with the king. Although not a member of the Privy Council, the groom was often more privy to the king’s private thoughts than the king’s closest advisers. In fact, the groom of the stool would often have so much access to the king’s private thoughts that other courtiers were afraid of them for the secrets they held. Over time, the position expanded to include control of the affairs of the king’s inner rooms, including making sure the king was well dressed. The position included perks like being given the king’s old clothes and furnishings. People would petition the groom to advocate on their behalf so that he could use his private time with the king to help someone gain a prized position. The position gained such broad responsibilities and prestige that it was often held by persons of high nobility. The position continued through the Hanavarian kings, but was in abeyance center Victoria and when the eliminated by her son Edward the seventh in nineteen oh one. Not surprisingly, the first culture to use paper for their bathroom needs was the Chinese, where paper was invented perhaps as early as the eighth century BC. In general, most people would have used leftover scraps of paper, but paper specifically for use in the toilet was being mass produced in China as early as the fourteenth century, although that might have been largely reserved to the wealthy and much of it used by the emperor’s court. Paper didn’t make it to Europe until the eleventh century. The process was done by hand pressing fibers on a screen mold, but Johann Guttenberg’s invention of the movable type printing press around fourteen forty caused a printing revolution in Europe and greatly increased demand for paper, and paper making became an industry. While people were likely using paper scraps in the bathroom in Europe as soon as paper reached the continent, in practice, paper was expensive and would hardly been used for such purpose. There were, however, exceptions. Sixteenth century English churchman John Bale mourned that books dispersed from the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry the Eighth were being purchased by nobles to rub their booties. Still, paper was rare enough in the eighteenth century that it was not the most common tool for the job. In colonial America, it, despite the availability of printed materials, corn cocks were most commonly used for bathroom duty. It wasn’t until the end of the eighteenth century. The first patent was in France in seventeen ninety nine that paper making machines using continuous rollers were invented. A new process was far cheaper and faster, and printing in paper products proliferated. By the early part of the nineteenth century, people in Europe and America were most commonly using scrap paper in their bathrooms. Using a bit of newspaper or catalog made sense. The paper was essentially free and offered reading material for that private time as well. The hole that is traditionally drilled in the corner of the old Farmer’s Almanac was reportedly to allow the book to be hung by a hook in the outhouse. Joseph Gayetti is generally credited with producing the first commercially marketed toilet paper in eighteen fifty seven. Gagilletti’s paper was called therapeutic paper and was sold in single sheets at the cost of one thousand sheets for a dollar. His paper was claimed to have medical benefits, especially his treatment for hemorrhoids, as at the time suggested that ink papers were toxic when used on sensitive parts. Oddly, Gayetty’s papers were each water marked JC Gaietti, New York. Getty’s product was one of the fu sold at the time and continued to be sold into the twentieth century, but the product had limited success. It was a prutish age and Americans were embarrassed by a product meant for their behinds, and many could not afford to or see the value in paying for paper when so much of it, for example, the Sears and Robot catalog was free. Developments such as patenting processes to sell paper on a roll with perforated sheets still struggled commercially because in Victorian times the use of the paper was well unmentionable. But another new technology was about to change that. In eighteen twenty nine, the Tremont House hotel in Boston became the first hotel in America to use indoor plumbing. As cities developed municipal water systems solely technology for the water closet improved. Early in the nineteenth century, American manufacturers behind those of Britain, and most equipment for water closets was imported, But by the end of the century American manufacturers were producing better products and more and more upscale homes featured indoor water closets. New Yorker’s Clearence and Edward Scott founded Scott Paper in eighteen seventy nine in Philadelphia. They didn’t make paper or that they sell directly to consumers. Instead, they bought paper in bulk and marketed rolls of perforated toilet paper through third parties such as hotels and drug stores that avoided the sensitivity of the subject, and the paper became seen as a special amenity of fancy hotels that featured indoor water closets, as a healthy and hygienic product sold at drug stores. Their marketing system worked, and they eventually packaged their paper for more than two thousand brands, But as more and more homes were being equipped with indoor bathrooms, newspapers and catalog seemed less appropriate and would clog the pipes. At the same time, people wanted to buy brands that they’d seen at upscale hotels. In nineteen o two, the company purchased the trademark to their most popular third party seller, Oldorf Bathroom Tissue, and began marketing it to consumers directly under the Scott brand. For the first time. The company started manufacturing its own paper. Again, the product was successful, although still marketed as a health product whose packaging did not mention the product’s unmentionable function. The company quickly became the world’s largest manufacturer of the product. As indoor plumbing became more common in the United States and Europe, the products only became indispensable, but there were developments in both marketing and manufacturing. In nineteen twenty eight, the brand Sharman and a play on the word charming, began packaging the product using feminine looking designs, appealing to homemakers and creating an image of softness and femininity. The shift once again helped to remove stigma from marketing it. As late as nineteen thirty five, the Quilted Northern brand advertised that their paper was splinter free, which may have been more of a marketing strategy than a different paper process, but emphasized that the product was about comfort as well as hygiene. Later, things like multiply tissue and scented brand broadened and differentiated the market further. Still, it took a long time for the unmentionable to become mentionable. It wasn’t until the nineteen seventies that television networks in the US allowed advertising under the name toilet paper rather than the less descriptive name bathroom tissue. Today, toilet paper is big business. More than seven billion rolls are sold in the United States annually, although for some seventy percent of the world, toilet paper is still not the primary way that they deal with their bathroom business. It’s become such a part of culture in America that a character in a Sherman ad campaign called mister Whipple, a store manager extorted customers to please don’t squeeze the Sharman ran for nearly sixty years. A nineteen seventy eight TV Guide survey found that mister Whipple was the third most recognized man in America, behind former President Richard Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham. And if that’s true, it means that in nineteen seventy eight, mister Whipple was more widely recognized in America than then President Jimmy Carter. I can’t explain why people are panic buying toilet paper today. I’ll leave current events up to other people, but it does seem ironic that we’re rushing out to buy toilet paper when just one hundred years ago Americans couldn’t even figure out why they needed the product when there was so much free paper available. But one of the most common solutions is no longer available to us, according to the Sears Archive, due to changes in retailing trends. Sears stopped producing its general catalog in nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1: This is our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show. And our next story comes to us from a man who’s simply known as the History Guy. His videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people of all ages on YouTube. The History Guy has also heard here and our American Stories. Here’s the History Guy with the story of toilet paper.00:00:33
Speaker 2: For much of history, in many societies, wiping was done with things that were commonly available and disposable grass, leaves, moss, straw, even snow and well. In some ways it seems a puerile discussion, Actually it tells us something about culture. The Romans used a tool called a xylospongium, which was essentially a bit of a sponge on a stick. Wealthy Romans might have their own personal xylospongium, but for the most part they were communally used based on latrines which might accommodate ten to twenty patrins at a time. The sponge would be rinsed in a mixture of water, salt, and vinegar. Sponges would have been breeding grounds for bacteria. In some history suggests they served to spread infectious disease, and the items used for this purpose certainly depended upon wealth and social class, with one startling example being the position of Groom of the Stool, which served the English monarchs from at least the fifteenth century all the way up to the twentieth century. The purpose of the position was to have a servant who was responsible for helping the king while he was doing his business, and the first known person to have the position, then called Yeomen of the Stool, was one William Grimsby in fourteen fifty five. It’s not really clear if the person was directly responsible for wiping the king’s backside, but one of their responsibilities was to make sure that there was blanket, cotton, or linen to wipe the nether end. While the position would seem to be one of the less savory, in fact, it became a highly prized position. The groom of the Stool referring to the King’s close stool, which was black velvet and fringed with silk, with two pewter basins and four broad yards of towny cloth, was one of a few attendants who shared true private time and able to speak intimately with the king. Although not a member of the Privy Council, the groom was often more privy to the king’s private thoughts than the king’s closest advisers. In fact, the groom of the stool would often have so much access to the king’s private thoughts that other courtiers were afraid of them for the secrets they held. Over time, the position expanded to include control of the affairs of the king’s inner rooms, including making sure the king was well dressed. The position included perks like being given the king’s old clothes and furnishings. People would petition the groom to advocate on their behalf so that he could use his private time with the king to help someone gain a prized position. The position gained such broad responsibilities and prestige that it was often held by persons of high nobility. The position continued through the Hanavarian kings, but was in abeyance center Victoria and when the eliminated by her son Edward the seventh in nineteen oh one. Not surprisingly, the first culture to use paper for their bathroom needs was the Chinese, where paper was invented perhaps as early as the eighth century BC. In general, most people would have used leftover scraps of paper, but paper specifically for use in the toilet was being mass produced in China as early as the fourteenth century, although that might have been largely reserved to the wealthy and much of it used by the emperor’s court. Paper didn’t make it to Europe until the eleventh century. The process was done by hand pressing fibers on a screen mold, but Johann Guttenberg’s invention of the movable type printing press around fourteen forty caused a printing revolution in Europe and greatly increased demand for paper, and paper making became an industry. While people were likely using paper scraps in the bathroom in Europe as soon as paper reached the continent, in practice, paper was expensive and would hardly been used for such purpose. There were, however, exceptions. Sixteenth century English churchman John Bale mourned that books dispersed from the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry the Eighth were being purchased by nobles to rub their booties. Still, paper was rare enough in the eighteenth century that it was not the most common tool for the job. In colonial America, it, despite the availability of printed materials, corn cocks were most commonly used for bathroom duty. It wasn’t until the end of the eighteenth century. The first patent was in France in seventeen ninety nine that paper making machines using continuous rollers were invented. A new process was far cheaper and faster, and printing in paper products proliferated. By the early part of the nineteenth century, people in Europe and America were most commonly using scrap paper in their bathrooms. Using a bit of newspaper or catalog made sense. The paper was essentially free and offered reading material for that private time as well. The hole that is traditionally drilled in the corner of the old Farmer’s Almanac was reportedly to allow the book to be hung by a hook in the outhouse. Joseph Gayetti is generally credited with producing the first commercially marketed toilet paper in eighteen fifty seven. Gagilletti’s paper was called therapeutic paper and was sold in single sheets at the cost of one thousand sheets for a dollar. His paper was claimed to have medical benefits, especially his treatment for hemorrhoids, as at the time suggested that ink papers were toxic when used on sensitive parts. Oddly, Gayetty’s papers were each water marked JC Gaietti, New York. Getty’s product was one of the fu sold at the time and continued to be sold into the twentieth century, but the product had limited success. It was a prutish age and Americans were embarrassed by a product meant for their behinds, and many could not afford to or see the value in paying for paper when so much of it, for example, the Sears and Robot catalog was free. Developments such as patenting processes to sell paper on a roll with perforated sheets still struggled commercially because in Victorian times the use of the paper was well unmentionable. But another new technology was about to change that. In eighteen twenty nine, the Tremont House hotel in Boston became the first hotel in America to use indoor plumbing. As cities developed municipal water systems solely technology for the water closet improved. Early in the nineteenth century, American manufacturers behind those of Britain, and most equipment for water closets was imported, But by the end of the century American manufacturers were producing better products and more and more upscale homes featured indoor water closets. New Yorker’s Clearence and Edward Scott founded Scott Paper in eighteen seventy nine in Philadelphia. They didn’t make paper or that they sell directly to consumers. Instead, they bought paper in bulk and marketed rolls of perforated toilet paper through third parties such as hotels and drug stores that avoided the sensitivity of the subject, and the paper became seen as a special amenity of fancy hotels that featured indoor water closets, as a healthy and hygienic product sold at drug stores. Their marketing system worked, and they eventually packaged their paper for more than two thousand brands, But as more and more homes were being equipped with indoor bathrooms, newspapers and catalog seemed less appropriate and would clog the pipes. At the same time, people wanted to buy brands that they’d seen at upscale hotels. In nineteen o two, the company purchased the trademark to their most popular third party seller, Oldorf Bathroom Tissue, and began marketing it to consumers directly under the Scott brand. For the first time. The company started manufacturing its own paper. Again, the product was successful, although still marketed as a health product whose packaging did not mention the product’s unmentionable function. The company quickly became the world’s largest manufacturer of the product. As indoor plumbing became more common in the United States and Europe, the products only became indispensable, but there were developments in both marketing and manufacturing. In nineteen twenty eight, the brand Sharman and a play on the word charming, began packaging the product using feminine looking designs, appealing to homemakers and creating an image of softness and femininity. The shift once again helped to remove stigma from marketing it. As late as nineteen thirty five, the Quilted Northern brand advertised that their paper was splinter free, which may have been more of a marketing strategy than a different paper process, but emphasized that the product was about comfort as well as hygiene. Later, things like multiply tissue and scented brand broadened and differentiated the market further. Still, it took a long time for the unmentionable to become mentionable. It wasn’t until the nineteen seventies that television networks in the US allowed advertising under the name toilet paper rather than the less descriptive name bathroom tissue. Today, toilet paper is big business. More than seven billion rolls are sold in the United States annually, although for some seventy percent of the world, toilet paper is still not the primary way that they deal with their bathroom business. It’s become such a part of culture in America that a character in a Sherman ad campaign called mister Whipple, a store manager extorted customers to please don’t squeeze the Sharman ran for nearly sixty years. A nineteen seventy eight TV Guide survey found that mister Whipple was the third most recognized man in America, behind former President Richard Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham. And if that’s true, it means that in nineteen seventy eight, mister Whipple was more widely recognized in America than then President Jimmy Carter. I can’t explain why people are panic buying toilet paper today. I’ll leave current events up to other people, but it does seem ironic that we’re rushing out to buy toilet paper when just one hundred years ago Americans couldn’t even figure out why they needed the product when there was so much free paper available. But one of the most common solutions is no longer available to us, according to the Sears Archive, due to changes in retailing trends. Sears stopped producing its general catalog in nineteen ninety three.
00:09:25
Speaker 1: And you’ve been listening to the History Guy and you can find all of his work on YouTube. Just put in the History Guy and you’ll find his YouTube channel. And a special thanks to him for allowing us to share his storytelling with us. And we love telling stories about history. But again, these innovations, while they make life better for us, and free enterprise does it, and inventors do it. The story of toilet paper here on our American Story
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