Laundry box with address card and postage card

c. 1924-1956

This container is made for the specific purpose of reuse for multiple mailings of laundry by parcel post. It has a cardboard interior and a canvas cover with straps for closures. Pouches attached to the top of the canvas exterior are for holding a card with the mailing address card a card for postage, and these can be changed easily each time this box was shipped back and forth between the clothes’ wearer and the launderer. The “Kwik-Pak” case was manufactured by Charles T. Goewy, South Bend, Indiana, and an instruction label with the blanks for the owner’s name and address is applied to the interior of the cardboard box. The KickPak post case used Goewy’s patents, dated July 4, 1916 (# 1,190,148) and October, 21, 1924 (# 1,512,332). Names on the used address card show the box was once addressed to a woman residing in State College, PA, Mrs. Ethel Jackson Draucker (1884-1964), wife of Walter A. Draucker (1880-1956) and mother C.H. Draucker [Clarence H. Draucker (1900-1973)], sent in care of Axel Kalstrom (1872-1956), who was a tailor. See also in the collection object number 1993.2011.1, which is a metal case with a strap closure.