Procter & Gamble, makers of Ivory Soap, are donating over 5,000 historical items and advertisements to the Smithonian's Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Behring Center, Washington DC. The donation ceremony on Oct 24 is called "Soap Day."

The museum will host Soap Day from 10 am to 1 pm featuring artist and sculptor Gary Sussman, who will sculpt a 6-foot-tall, 4-foot-long and 4-foot- wide Ivory Soap sculpture of Uncle Sam, as a tribute to the art of soap carving and its origins with Ivory Soap. Soap Day also includes a display of soap related museum objects and the opportunity for children to receive a soap-sculpting lesson and to create their own mini Ivory Soap sculptures.

Representatives from Procter & Gamble and the museum will discuss the historical significance of Ivory to American advertising and the museum's Archives Center.

The preserved corpse known as the "Soap Man," a long time resident of the Smithsonian, will be conspicuously absent from the festivities. The Soap Man, as we all know, is the lost love of the Mutter Museum's Soap Lady. Both are 19th century cadavers posthumously transformed into a soapy substance due to some as yet understood conditions of their burial.

The National Museum of American History is located at 14th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W., and is open daily from 10 am to 5:30 pm, except Dec. 25. [10/24/2001]

November 26, 2009