COLLECTION #50: Postcards of Temple Square

Woo hoo! Collection #50! That's a milestone for me, and there's no end in sight! (My poor husband is very patient with me, with all of my collections, and photography, and blogging going on!)

Today's collection is my collection of Temple Square postcards from Salt Lake City, Utah. I have quite a few of these, dating from the 1930s. A few of these are the little cards printed with missionaries names... missionaries used to have cards made, like business cards, to give to friends and family, with their name and home address, and the name and address of their mission. I never had these cards myself, but I collected quite a few on my mission, and later in life.

I hope you enjoy my little collection today!

COLLECTION #49: Kitchen Doodads

What else would you call a collection like this? Just some fun kitchen things that don't seem to fit under any other category: a flour sifter (with cute red apples), a grater, an egg scale, 2 clothes-watering doodads (one with a bulb, and one with a cork), a couple of refrigerator containers (pre-dating Tupperware), a few utensils, and a pitcher or two... colorful and fun. What else can I say? They are cute and I like them! 

 Oh, and don't forget to take your vegetable tablets! (Whatever they are!)

COLLECTION #48: Games of Skill!

I love these fun 'skill' games from the 30s-50s.  The bright colors and great cartoony characters bring a smile to my face.  The Poosh-M-Up  Jr. game belonged to my older brother (I certainly HOPE he knows I have it! LOL!) but the rest were acquired from a variety of sources through the years. The big wheel with the animals on it is actually an Animal Bingo game, and I have all the cards to go with it.   I hope you enjoy looking at my fun collection!

COLLECTION #47: Vintage Picnic Baskets

In honor of America's Labor Day today, and the last official day to picnic & BBQ, I wanted to share my small collection of vintage picnic baskets & thermoses.  I do occasionally use these baskets for our own picnics,  and love how they looked stacked one on top of the other in a corner of my family room. I love to pair them with some of my old table linens- there's nothing cuter than a red gingham tablecloth and napkins to add to the festive look of these old baskets.

I've had these baskets for at least 25-30 years each, and my guess is they are from the 50s.  They are probably Hawkeye and Red Man (Redmon) baskets, but I'm no expert in the vintage basket department. But I love them, and they are in really good condition. The large red plaid has a pie shelf inside, which makes it easy to stack lots of goodies for a fabulous picnic.

The thermoses are both Thermos brand, and the older, blue one, has the original cork with the Thermos logo. I haven't been able to find out when Thermos stopped using corks and moved to plastic stoppers, but my guess is around the mid-50s.  This one is probably older than that because of the metal cup. When I first saw this blue thermos, I thought that the cup was missing, because I'm so used to seeing that ubiquitous plastic cup with handle. But the metal cup, although handle-free, must have been lovely to drink out of, keeping liquids icy cold or toasty warm.

 

If you are picnicking today, I hope you have a fabulous day. If you have a picnic basket, whether old or new, use it! Everything tastes better when packed with love inside a lovely basket.

THE WEEKEND COLLECTOR: The Classic Typewriter Page

 

Typewriter collector, historian & expert Richard Polt has a wonderfully interesting website called The Classic Typewriter Page. Surprisingly, he started his website in 1995, and has kept it going all these years, adding to it as his information and collection increased.  He also has a blog, called The Writing Ball, where he celebrates all things typewriter and typewritten.

I can't begin to summarize Richard's amazing knowledge of typewriters. He not only knows their history and design, but understands how each type of typewriter works. And there are dozens and dozens of different types of mechanisms that were developed through the years- from the late 19th century, to the late 1980s when typewriters began to be replaced with computers. Not only is Richard a talented collector, writer, restorer and historian, but he also types! On real typewriters! He also has available for download a number of historically accurate typewriter fonts. Check 'em out! I downloaded a bunch!

I hope you take the time to browse through Richard's archives and blog. It's really fun to see the origins and ingenuity of the designers and engineers of these fabulous typing machines!

COLLECTION #46: Vintage School Health Books

 
With a collection of nearly 500 school books, I'm bound to have some interesting subjects! School health books of the 1940s and '50s were certainly different from today's health studies.. I love the illustration of the little boy on the scale below, holding an ice cream cone! I'm sure that ice cream would definitely be considered a forbidden food for today's school food police. (Don't get me started!)

Healthy living back then consisted of lessons on getting plenty of sleep, eating lots of fruits and veggies (all good advice), and how to blow your nose correctly. Also lessons on obeying the crossing guards and traffic policemen, and brushing your teeth. The illustrations are so charming and wholesome! It just makes you want to grab and apple and a glass of milk and put on your clean socks and maryjanes!

Corporations and utility companies often got into the health act... insurance companies and others often printed little booklets that were distributed through the schools, that covered subjects such as first aid, safety, and other health related subjects.

COLLECTION #45: Children's Handkerchiefs

 
 I remember a time when we girls would tuck a little hankie into our pockets, or purses... and I've never stopped being slightly in love with sweet little girly hankies that I find from time to time at flea markets and secondhand stores.  I am always on the lookout for children's handkerchiefs, and they are hard to find!

 It seems that kitties are a popular theme. I didn't think much about that until I lined them all up to photograph. The Siamese cat on the top row reminds me of all the Siamese cats we owned, and I loved, as a child.

The Dionne 'Quins' hankie must be from Canada, because of the spelling of the word 'Quints'. For those of you who don't know, these were a set of quintuplet girls born in Ontario, Canada in the early 1930s. They were the first quints to survive babyhood, and they were an international sensation. They grew up in a fishbowl,  being taken away from their parents by the government, to live in a special nursery under the supervision of their doctor. They became an enormous tourist industry, and were the subject of toys, dolls, books, magazines, and even hankies. Two of the quints are still alive today.

 So, there you have it, a little cuteness, a little history.