This week I met a lovely couple who inherited a large number of antique items from the woman’s parents. The original items came from a cousin of her father’s who did not throw a thing away. Many of the items had already been sifted through as they had been moved across two provinces but even with that it took almost six hours to separate the items of value from the more ordinary items. I found some treasures as well. I don’t usually purchase items from appraisal clients however I paid full retail for the 20 magazines I picked out. I love old magazines. These were copies of Ladies’ Home Journal, (1911 and 1912) The Delineator, Vogue, American Home and much more. So I decided to share these with you. The first magazine is from April 1, 1911. Here are some “pearls” from that issue:

– Mrs. Goddard of Colorado declares that Woman Suffrage in Colorado is a Failure!”

– “The Price a Woman Pays for Alcohol – How it ruins her beauty, her health and her children”

– “A Girl in Old Virginia – The Romantic Larks of a girl in the Old Romantic Days”

– “What Makes a Book Good or Bad” and “How can I keep Young?” ( the eternal question).

– “The Right Way and the Wrong Way to Plant Spring Bulbs” – this article came complete with colour photographs.

But what I really like are the advertisements. I think they say more than anything else about society; about what was considered important or not. Advertisers knew which buttons to push and some of them were not very subtle about it.

The advertisement on the left is for Liquid Veneer.

“In humble cottages, cozy flats, modern homes, and palatial residents, everything is being made and kept cheerful and new by untold millions of women who DUST EVERY DAY with LIQUID VENEER!”

This product “is equally effective on all metal work, silver and plated ware, while for restoring the beauty of hardwood floors it is unsurpassed”. Wow – One product did all that? !

There were ads for “1847 Rogers Bros” triple plated cutlery, “Royal Baking Powder” and “Warner’s RUST PROOF Corsets”. “Campbell Soup”, ” Parson’s Ammonia”, and “Hunt’s California Fruits” which was better than anything on the market because the can did not contain LYE!

Being a woman’s magazine there were many ads that spoke to our securities as attractive women, mothers, and as hostesses and cooks. Pages were devoted to New Neckwear from Italy, New Crochet from India, and the latest Easter hat styles for “Every Age”. There were children’s clothes, and the “prettiest American Spring Dresses” next to an advert for “National Dresses”.

For the fashionable woman there was a plethora of ads for corsets, Talcum powder, hair goods and Ostrich Plumes. There were articles on how to keep your husband interested next to ads for cribs and nurseries. 

For the wife there were ads on what constituted “The Business Man’s Ideal Lunch”. Care to guess what it was? Puffed Wheat and Puffed Rice!! Can you imagine trying that today? In my next entry I will share some ideas from “The Little House” How to Furnish it in Good Taste at Small Cost” from the same issue.