In an era where childhood obesity is a major health concern and people argue about the relative merits of baby formula versus breast feeding, it can be hard to recall that at one time, simply getting enough calories into undernourished babies was a real problem (and still is for many people today). And children routinely died from the “summer complaint,” which was basically “diarrhea, usually in infants caused by spoiled milk” (which has become less of an issue since pasteurization of milk became legally required). So in the true spirit of Victorian industrialism, many dedicated chemists, entrepreneurs and regular hucksters went to work, inventing baby foods and making outlandish claims, to fill this global need. Along with Justus von Liebig, Henri Nestle and Gustav Mellin, a man named Frank Baum invented an infant food which, for reasons I’ve been unable to find, became known as Eskay’s Albumenized Food.
Bottle embossed “Eskay’s Albumenized Food”
From Mothers and Medicine: A Social History of Infant Feeding, 1890–1950 by Rima D. Apple, 1987
From Don’t Kill Your Baby: Public Health and the Decline of Breastfeeding in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries by Jacqueline H. Wolf, 2001
From Canadian Journal of Medicine and Surgery, Volume 9, 1901
From Diseases Of Infancy And Childhood: Their Dietetic, Hygienic, And Medical Treatment : A Text Book Designed For Practitioners And Students In Medicine By Louis Fischer, 1918
The Monthly Cyclopædia Of Practical Medicine. v.1-21, v.22, no. 1-5, Aug. 1887-Apr. 1908
Pages from booklet advertising Eskay’s albumenized food, undated
1899 Ad Eskays Albumenized Food
1902 Ad for Eskays Food
1902 Ad For Eskay Baby Food
1904 Ad for Eskays Food
1904 Ad for Eskays Food
1906 Ad for Eskay’s Food
1906 Ad for Eskay’s Food
1907 Ad for Eskays Food
1908 Ad Emery Ray Evans Plain City Eskays Food
Ad Eskays Albumenized Food, undated
Ad for Eskay’s Albumenized Food, undated
Old Main Artifacts 
Hi,
I have a tin can with locking lid that was probably used before the glass bottles where introduced. Embossed on the bottom of the tin can is: “ESKAY’S ALBUMENIZED FOOD”. How rare a survivor would this be? Is it a one-of-a-kind?
Regards,
Jeff, wow, what a neat old antique to have in your possession. Out of my own curiosity, I did a quick search and saw that an old Eskay’s Albumenized Food tin is asking $45.00 on eBay. I don’t know if this helps you or not but thought I’d throw it out there.
I recently found the bottom portion of a brown glass bottle on the banks of the Hudson River near Troy, NY with the inscription ESKAY’S ALBUMENIZED FOOD 152
….PAT. JULY 11, 1893. I had no clue as to what I’d found and was very surprised to read your information. Thank you so much for your help in solving this little mystery. Dave K, Troy, NY