Colorado-based step-granddaughter Kathleen Kavet recalls the unique collection of samples from leading hotels left to her in her step-grandfather’s estate.
During the 1920’s through to the 1960’s, my step-grandfather Walter Haynes travelled to various countries and regions around the world. He had a great love of adventure and meeting new people, and during his time as an intrepid mid-century traveller he came across one “every-day” item that could record time and memories like no other: toilet paper!
Thus, the Haynes Collection, by curator W. Sylvester Haynes, was created.
Walter started a scrapbook, of sorts, of samples of toilet paper taken from different countries, mostly during the 1920s and early 1930s. I received this book as part of his estate – he died in mid-1970. Each tissue sample has the place of origin as well as a pithy comment by Walter. (The book might be useful to someone researching the history of toilet paper – it is still available, and the samples are well preserved).
He documented the locations where he collected the samples and added comments. His travels took him from Mexico’s Hotel Victoria in Oaxaca, to the Hotel del Paseo in Mexico City, and the Schloss Fuschl in Austria.
In Germany, after visits to Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich and the Park Hotel in Stuttgart, he noted the “really inspired variety and originality” of their toilet paper.
Further travels and loo roll snippets were from Harbour Heights in Bournemouth, England, the Ritz Hotel in London, England’s Ripon Spa Hotel and the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick, the Royal & Savoy in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Baur au Lac in Zurich. Here, he noted: “At first glance there seems little to choose between the great hotels of the world. Is originality about to disappear?”
Elsewhere, a green leaf embossed print on one sample caught his eye: “Jim Doubleday Special: or, “how decadent can you get?””
In the end, it was Ireland that claimed the top spot for innovation and originality. Having toured the Dunraven Arms, Adare, Bishop’s Palace, Cashel, the Airport Motel in Shannon, Ashford Castle in Cong, County Mayo, and the Royal Hibernian Hotel, Dublin, he claimed: “Witness the great imagination and sensitivity which has gone into the variety here. The Irish are supreme!”
