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How rural was America in the 1930s? This rural: so many farmhouses didn’t yet have real plumbing… Continue reading “City Comfort for the Country”
Woven rugs weren’t cheap in the Depression. If you couldn’t afford one, you could get a a “Congoleum” rug for one-fifth of the price… Continue reading When is a Rug not a Rug?
Schools can fall prone to gadget envy just like the rest of us. In 1918 this must have involved buying Victrola record players and finding ways to use 78rpm records in educational situations. Continue reading High Technology in Education – 1918 style
It’s back to school time for kids everywhere. Teaching aids have shifted a lot in 95 years… Continue reading Back to School Around the Globe
Western Auto stores were celebrating three quarters of a century in 1984 and feeling expansive. Barely half the pages in this catalog featured car parts…. Continue reading More Western, Less Auto
One era’s common knowledge is another era’s “Hunh?” If you’re under 30, what could you tell me about the gadget pictured on the back cover of this catalog? Continue reading “Breaker-Breaker One-Nine”
A fashion model using a pay phone: as good a theme as any to build a dress catalog around. Especially for Neiman-Marcus… Continue reading The “Long Distance Look”
There’s a really interesting juxtaposition on these two adjacent pages. On the left, men and women can learn to dance. On the right, you could try hypnotizing people and convincing them to foxtrot… Continue reading Learn to Dance! Learn to Hypnotize!
Before Netflix, there was blockbuster. Before video, there was film. And always, there was porn… Continue reading In the days before Netflix
It’s a common situation I’m sure we’ve all found ourselves in at one time or another. You’re ridin’ the range on your trusty horse, when suddenly a grizzly bear rises up behind a rock, all lethal claws and fangs… Continue reading The World-famous Winchester
