Bag

Description

This “African Water Wag,” for carrying water, was manufactured by American company Sears, Roebuck and Co. around 1925 to 1930. It is made of linen canvas, printed with an image of a lion, and has a steel mouthpiece and a cork stopper. This bag is designed to be soaked in liquid, as the text “Saturate Well Before Using” printed in the center instructs, and then filled with water. The bag then keeps its contents cool through a continual evaporation process. This bag was sold as a travel accessory in response to the growing popularity of recreational camping in early-20th century America. Although Sears called this an “African Water Bag,” its marketing does not reflect any actual connection to Africa. Other water bag manufacturers retailed their products in similar ways: Oregon manufacturer Adam Appell Company held trademarks for “South African” and “South American” water bags, and New York retailer Von Lengerke & Detmold sold an “Egyptian Sanitary Self-Cooling Water Bag” with an image of a camel printed on it. To market their products to Americans looking to connect with nature, companies evoked animals and places that Westerners would imagine as exotic and perhaps intriguingly unrefined. This object is one of a large group transferred to Winterthur from the American Textile History Museum when it closed in 2017.