Cambrex, Zoetis help purchase pieces of Floyd County history for museum

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A treasure trove of Salsbury Laboratories promotional material is now in the possession of the Floyd County Historical Museum, thanks to donations from two local companies.

The Hart General Store, a hardware store in Hart, Minnesota, was started in 1877 and went out of business in 1988. In its heyday it sold the usual hardware merchandise as well as groceries, shoes and clothing, beer and tobacco — and veterinary supplies.

The family that owned the company decided to finally hold an estate sale, and the sales manager was sorting through the items when he came upon a cache of materials for Dr. Salsbury’s poultry medications.

That person called Cambrex in Charles City and left a message.

“I don’t know how he knew to call Cambrex,” said Bob Durrwachter, group leader in new product development at Cambrex, who is also a member of the county museum board.

“It’s pretty well known that I’m associated with the museum,” he said, and the message was forwarded to him.

“I contacted the guy and he said he’s got all these posters. I said, ‘Yeah, we’re interested,’” Durrwachter said.

Dr. Joseph Salsbury started Salsbury Laboratories in the 1920s in Charles City. The business’s main building eventually became the Floyd County Historical Museum, and the museum has an extensive collection of materials from the company.

Durrwachter said Cambrex pledged up to $1,000 and Zoetis of Charles City pledged up to $200 to be used to purchase the materials for the museum.

Mary Beth Townsend, the museum director, traveled to Hart, Minnesota, southwest of Winona, with a friend on Saturday for the sale.

Townsend said they got there about 7 a.m. Saturday, but there was already a line to get into the sale, which started at 8. They were letting people into the buildings 50 at a time, and Townsend and her friend got numbers 156 and 157.

“Some people got there the night before,” she said.

Townsend said a few of the Salsbury materials were purchased by other people who got into the sale before them, and there were some materials that the museum already had copies of or that weren’t in good condition, but they still managed to purchase about 10 different printed materials in various sizes.

She said she tried to buy as much as she could that she thought would make good additions to the museum’s collection, spending about $500 of the amount pledged.

“We didn’t spend it all, doggone it,” she said, laughing. “I tried.”

Durrwachter said when he talked to the sales agent he was told that many of the materials had been stored in boxes and drawers for years.

Townsend said much of the public relations work that created the advertising and promotional materials would have been done right in the building that is now the museum.

Durrwachter said some of the materials were for products that were developed in the 1930s, and Townsend pointed out a “Poultry for Victory” poster that would have been from the 1940s.

She noted that the promotions for all the products were still labeled “Dr. Salsbury’s,” from a time before the products began being labeled as being produced by Salsbury Laboratories.

Townsend said she really enjoyed the trip to the sale.

“It was the neatest experience. I’ve never done anything like that before,” she said.

“We just wanted to give credit to these wonderful companies that pledged money so we could get these and bring them home.”