Dorchester Illustration 2600 Daloz Cleaners
Carole Mooney has provided the content for today’s message.
The advertising card in the illustration has a tiny chain attached on the back above the figure’s nose and below the chin which can be shaped into a smile, grimace or other configuration.
The card was printed in the mid 20th century by the L.H. Daloz Co, Inc., Cleanser & Textile Consultants, which was located at 10 Humphreys Street in Dorchester, a building now occupied by an artists’ cooperative.
Several creative advertising promotions are included in a recent large donation of the firm’s records and related items by Daloz family members. A booklet printed in September 1947 titled, “Another Brief Historical Sketch of Medieval Cleaning,” describes how early traders travelled through Spain and later France with their dyeing and cleaning equipment. According to another flier, the “knowledge, experience and care necessary to the operation of a successful dyeing department have been accumulated through four generations of the Daloz family.”
Daloz could dye everything from the most delicate laces to rugs weighing a ton or more, according to their advertising. Services included the cleaning, repairing or mothproofing of items such as curtains, tapestries, blankets, draperies, clothing and laces. The firm distributed fliers on the storage of fabrics, rug cleaning, moth proofing and the history of hats.
These records provide a window into the growth and operation of a successful Dorchester business in the 20th century. Volunteers at the Dorchester Historical Society not only enter new acquisitions into an electronic data base but are also working through the archives to make the entire DHS collection available electronically.
More information about Daloz and photographs are available at dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org under “blog” Dorchester Illustration 2526 posted on Aug. 15, 2021 and also at www.dorchesteratheneum.org by using the search function (magnifying glass) to search for the word daloz.