COLLECTION #213: Vintage Mormon Magazines

I've been picking up old LDS magazines for many years, they are all from the 20th century, dating from 1905 to the early 1960s. These particular magazines shown, date from 1905 to 1940, and consist of publications for children, young ladies, and teachers.

My first little grouping are the magazines geared toward the teachers, or Instructors. The original magazine was called The Juvenile Instructor, but it was changed to just The Instructor in the 1920s. These issues are full of wonderful lessons, articles, teaching helps, photos and activities, primarily designed for the young ones.

The next three are called Young Women's Journal, and this magazine was designed for young ladies of the Church, from ages 12 to 18. These issues are heavy on prose, light on photos or illustrations. It's interesting that two of the issues had the exact same cover design, spanning 15 years. So, it must have been that they used that same cover design, month after month, year after year, except for a change of color.  I'll bet those girls got bored! (But I love the cover art, very Art Nouveau!)

The last two are early editions of the Children's Friend. These issues are from 1915 and 1917, the same years my Dad and his only brother Kent were born. So it's fun to see what life was like back in that era. I have many more later issues of the Children's Friend, ranging from these, to the early 1960s. I'll features these at a later time.

As I was browsing through the 1923 issue of the Juvenile Instructor, I happened to notice, in the children's pages (where children submit their poetry, stories, and art) a landscape drawing by a 15 year old boy named Joseph C. Gibby. I recognized the name as a famous (well, in Southern California LDS circles in the 1950s) artist, who painted many murals for the church, and taught art in Southern California for many years. Looks like he had been developing his great talent since he was a young boy.

THE WEEKEND COLLECTOR: Roycroft Copper

I became interested in the Roycroft- (a community of artisans following the Arts & Crafts style of design in East Aurora, NY in the early years of the 20th century), when our family lived in East Aurora in the 1990s. The Roycroft influence was everywhere, and it wasn't hard to fall in love with the contemporary pieces, created by craftsmen working in the arts and crafts style, as well as the authentic Roycroft pieces we would see locally. Growing up in the Pasadena area, where the Craftsman style in architecture and design is prevalent, I've had a deep love of the simple, organic, and functionally decorative style of the Arts & Crafts movement my whole life.

Although Bruce and I love all things Roycroft, the only things we have actually been able to afford are many of the books- both fine leather tooled books, and the more mass-produced publications. I've featured several collections of Roycroft and Elbert Hubbard books here on my blog. (Elbert Hubbard was the founder, and philosophical leader of the Roycroft movement).

This interesting website called Roycroft Copper, belongs to Roycroft collector David Kornacki. He fills his pages with a variety of hand-tooled copper pieces, everything from lamps, to bookends, to vases, to cigarette cases. I'll post a few photos here, and hope you check out his fascinating website, and also his Facebook page. These beautiful pieces, created by a variety of Roycroft artisans, were created from approximately 1902-1928, with the "Golden Years" being 1921-1928. You can find an informative timeline on David's website. Hope you enjoy!

COLLECTION #212: Vintage Atlas Collection

Usually Fridays are reserved for vintage school books, or occasionally, just children's books, but since atlases are often found in schools, I thought this would be the perfect occasion.

I've always loved maps and atlases. I was fascinated with the giant US and world maps we had in our elementary school classrooms... they pulled down from the top of the blackboard like a movie screen. The colors, borders, lines, rivers, oceans, cities, points of interest, capitals... not to mention, the compass, highways, lakes, mountains, deserts, all were indicated on our maps.

Rand McNally atlases

My own atlas. Note how I erased my printed name, and wrote it in cursive. I'm sure I wanted to impress someone!

When I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade, my Mom bought me my own Rand McNally Current Events atlas. It cost her a whopping 50 cents. But I remember how I pored over it, and even wrote a little note on the USSR, voicing my displeasure at the current resident of the Kremlin.

A personal note to Kruschev from little me, age 10 or so.

I've mentioned in a past post that I don't think young people feel the same way about maps as I did, or perhaps you did. I wonder if they really learn how to read a map in school anymore. The internet and GPS systems have made navigation a thing of the past. But to me, they are fascinating.

I have quite a collection of vintage atlases. They range from the 1920s to the 1950s, and there are at least two of them from the WWII years, showing the post-1938 Hitler invasions and European divisions. So fascinating!

Literary Guild atlases from the 20s and 30s.

Hammond Atlases

1925 map of China

1925

From a 1950s Hammond travel atlas, showing bus routes

WWII-era map showing  Europe and it's war borders.

COLLECTION #211: Vintage Savings Stamp Booklets

Back in the 'good old days', before Amazon.com, one way people saved money was by collecting and redeeming 'savings stamps'. These savings stamps, the largest of which was S&H Green Stamps, were given to customers by merchants, depending on the amount of money spent. Generally, they were acquired at markets, gas stations, and other retail stores. The heyday of these stamps was the '50s and '60s. In our family, we saved and redeemed Green Stamps and Blue Chip Stamps. I remember licking (not using a sponge, like smarter people did) countless stamps, and placing them into the little books to save for a variety of amazing things. The two things I proudly bought with my Blue Chip stamps were my Harmony ukulele, and a bonnet style hair dryer. This was probably about 1963. I sill have that ukulele, although the hair dryer went the way of all vintage Sunbeam bonnet hair dryers. (just in case you don't know what I'm talking about, here is a photo of one.)

I have a few stamp booklets, which brought back so many fond memories of this nostalgic time. I love the great illustrations on the cover, very modern, don't you think? Don't you love the ideal families portrayed on the covers?

S&H Green Stamps were a national brand, Blue Chip Stamps were regional.... they were available in California, Arizona and Nevada. In our family we preferred Blue Chip Stamps, because more merchants gave them out, and they awarded more stamps per dollar spent than Green Stamps.

Here's an example of a Blue Chip Stamp catalog page (which I found on the internet), to give you an example of how beautifully presented the merchandise was, and how many stamp books it might take to buy that camera kit of your dreams:

Here are a few pages showing the stamps themselves, you might come across them at flea markets or vintage stores, and not know what they are. Now you know!

How it worked, was you would fill a page with either 50 regular stamps, or 5 "Super Ten" stamps. So pages that look partially filled with stamps might actually be fully filled. (I love the cool black and white illustrations on the pages above).

There were redemption centers in major US cities (for Green Stamps), and even small local cities (Blue Chip Stamps), so it was really easy to find a place to check out the latest merchandise and pick up your Sunbeam Hair Dryer close to home.  This page shows the list of California and Nevada redemption centers for Blue Chip Stamps:

COLLECTION #210: Vintage 1941 Los Angeles City Directory

It's "Orphan Wednesday" again! That memorable day every week, when I feature one singular item from my vast collection archives! Today's fabulously fascinating item is a copy of the 1941 Los Angeles City Directory. Not a phone book, the city directory was a like a phone book, except for one thing. I did not contain phone numbers. Well, except for business phone numbers, which were included in the yellow pages and advertising sections. I acquired this a few years ago at a book sale at the South Pasadena Public Library. I've loved it ever since!

Very recently, the 1940 US census was released, which is a very exciting event for family historians and genealogists. Unfortunately, it is not yet indexed, which means you can search for relatives or others based on street addresses and enumeration districts, but not yet by name. (This will be rolled out in the coming months as indexers complete the lengthy process). So, for those looking for their Los Angeles relatives in 1940, this would be an awesome tool, giving names, addresses and occupation, and even home ownership.  This book came out in late 1940, so would have been the first city directory after the 1940 census.

But of course, living in Los Angeles means searching for more than relatives. (My own grandparents moved to Los Angeles in 1941, but obviously after this directory was compiled, as they aren't found here).  It's fun to search for celebrities, movie stars and moguls, and other interesting people. I've found a few today that I will share with you! How fun!

By the way, if any of my readers have family that lived in Los Angeles (not the suburbs), and would like me to check the book for a listing, please leave me a message, and I'll be happy to look them up.

 I hope you enjoy!

In the center of the page you can see the residence and business for Cecil B. DeMille

Listing for Charlie Chaplin & his studio

The famous movie star Rita Hayworth was born Margarita Carmen Cansino. She learned to dance from her father, who taught latin dance. Here's a listing for her dad, Eduardo Cansino, and other
family members who taught dance in Los Angeles.

In the center left, you can find famous actor Jimmy Durante and his wife.

Famous actor William Holden was born William (Bill) Beedle, Jr. Here's a listing for his father, William F. Beedle

Two important businesses in Los Angeles, dear to my family's heart. The Globe A-1 Globe Mills is one of my Dad's major customers in his career as a grain broker. The Automobile Club of Southern California is the father of the modern AAA.

Don't you love the name of this business?