COLLECTION #253: Vintage Religious Readers

I have a few vintage readers in my collection that were created for the religious market. Two little primers that were published by Westminister Press for an organization called Christian Faith and Life. These little books were designed to be used at home, or in Sunday School, so weren't technically school books. However, it's possible they were used in Christian schools during that time. They were published in the late 1950s.

I also have two editions of Scott, Foresman's Cathedral Readers. (Scott Foresman published the Dick and Jane books, and were the largest elementary school text publisher of the day). The Cathedral Readers were designed for the Catholic school market. They were nearly identical with their non-parochial school counterparts, except for the stories about religious themes. It's kind of fun to see the cute little reader illustrations with a priest or nun in them. I'm sure for Catholic school kids they seem perfectly ordinary, but to me, they are quite novel!  My Cathedral Readers were published in 1947 and 1964.

COLLECTION #252: Mixing Bowls

Oh, how I love mixing bowls! Old ones, new ones, white ones, pink ones. I love them solid colors, and I love them with a little decoration. I don't care if they're from Target, or if they're Pyrex or Franciscan. (Ok, I love the vintage ones a little more!) Mixing bowls make me happy. I love that they are used for mostly fun things: making cakes and brownies, mixing egg salad or meatloaf.

For Christmas 1977, my sister Lynne gave me a beautiful, heavy white mixing bowl. It seemed an odd gift for a single girl who didn't like to cook or bake, but I immediately feel in love with the feel of the bowl. Simple in design, heavy in construction, I still have it, and use it often, although there's a hairline crack that runs through it, and technically I should probably retire it. But, I love it so!

I inherited several lovely bowls from my Grandma. When Bruce and I were married in 1978, we ended up buying my grandparent's house from the family. With most of the goodies still there. I got Grandma's 1950s Pyrex mixing bowls (in pink and green), and my favorite of all, a small yellow pottery bowl. This is probably my most cherished mixing bowl. It's the one I always use when I make corn bread. (Ok, I'll admit, I use Jiffy Corn Bread mix, and it's just the perfect size for one box of Jiffy.) I don't know what brand that bowl is, but it's awesome. I suppose I should do a little research to find out who made it. My guess is that it's from the 1940s.

My favorite little yellow mixing bowl.

We received a set of Pyrex mixing bowls for a wedding gift, and they still look great. It's not my favorite pattern, but it's held up well, and you can't beat Pyrex for making a long-lasting, quality product.

Some of my modern bowls are fun too. I absolutely adore the retro-looking set of blue bowls with their creamy yellow insides. I also love the newer white bowls with the blue rims or stripes.

When Bruce and I inherited his Mom's set of Desert Rose Franciscan Ware a few years ago, the piece that made my heart beat faster, was the small mixing bowl. There's just something sweet about the shape, the color, the patina of the pottery. And, the pattern is just my favorite.

Small Desert Rose mixing bowl by Franciscan

Do you love mixing bowls too? I'd love it if you'd share your favorite with me!

COLLECTION #251: Over the Door Shelf

Today's unique 'orphan' item, is something that truly is one-of-a-kind. I am sharing a beautiful craftsman style over-the-door shelf.  It's unique because I designed it myself, and had it built by master carpenter Steve Patterson a number of years ago.

The quote is a famous one in Mormon folklore.  Back in the late 1800s, beloved prophet David O. McKay was a young missionary, serving in Scotland. He spotted the words "What e'er thou art, act well thy part' engraved on a building. This became his personal 'mission statement', and he used it as a guide for his life, and as an aid to help others who were called to represent the church, or even just themselves, to always remember who they were, and what they represented. I thought this would be a nice motto for our own family, to help remind us to always be honorable and responsible.

It hangs over the door, as the thing we see when we leave our home. I have a few interesting things displayed on it... some antique books, a vintage pot, and a (fake) plant. Isn't it lovely?

COLLECTION #250: Playing Doctor

Woo hoo! Another milestone! 250 collections! (I'm not sure how many more I have, but that's pretty good, huh?)

This little collection is in honor of that age-old play pattern: playing doctor and nurse! (I mean that in a very wholesome and noble way!)  It was many child's dream to emulate the healing practitioner's art: to become a doctor or nurse. It might have started with a visit to the school nurse for a skinned knee, or maybe a trip to the hospital (like little Stevie in the book shown here) to have tonsils removed. Personally, I never had such aspirations. I was focused my whole life on being an artist, and no trip to Dr. G's office impressed me as a career path.

There's no manufacturer's information on the Nurse Kit box. It's designed like a little suitcase, with handle and clasp. It looks to be late '50s.

The inside of the Nurse Kit lid. Funky artwork, not nearly as cute as the cover!

I love the little nurse's kit. I hope you don't mind that the kit is completely empty. I bought it years ago for the graphics on the box, so it's just here to give a little atmosphere to my small collection of serious medical books.

Perhaps Nurse Nancy or Doctor Dan will bring back lots of happy memories for you. These books really bring back so many memories to me, especially of the little band-aids that were attached to the inside of the book. Colleen Malvern's illustrations are particularly adorable. They are Little Golden Books.

All the illustrations in Nurse Nancy and Doctor Dan were done by the talented Corinne Malvern

Little Stevie goes to the hospital in A Visit to the Hospital, to have his tonsils removed. This book was designed to help children prepare for their own medical traumas. I hope yours were minor! I never went to the hospital myself, until I was in my mid-twenties, and had my tonsils removed by my Uncle Harold. Fortunately, the real Nurse Nancy and Doctor Dan took good care of me!

A Visit to the Hospital, published in 1958 by Wonder Books

COLLECTION #249: Green Pots, Part Two

I posted some of my green pots months ago, and it kept bugging me that I still had a bunch that I didn't share with you then. So, here are some more! They range from vintage Haeger and Floraline (McCoy's line just for the florist trade) to Ikea and Target, and my favorite artist's thrown pots.

The greens range from palest green, to dark green raku. I particularly love the fun, footed pot (marked 'Made in Japan') that resembles fine Arts & Crafts pots.

These two pots were hand-thrown by student potters

The large pot in the center with the offset hole, was thrown by an artist friend.

Inexpensive, modern pots in center and right, next to vintage Floraline.

Vintage Arts & Crafts style pot, made in Japan. The hourglass shaped pot is from Ikea.

THE WEEKEND COLLECTOR: The Collect Collective

All photos on this post are from the various collections Lea has featured on her blog. 

I was surprised to receive an email this past week, from Lea, who is the blogmaster of a collector blog, titled appropriately The Collect Collective! The Collect Collective is a wonderful compilation of different types of things people collect, fun finds, interviews with collectors, and other features and links to and about collecting. Posting my collections has led to all kinds of interesting encounters with people, wonderful comments and followers, and unexpected finds and opportunities. And this was one of those fun encounters!  So, the other day, I was the subject of Lea's I Collect feature.

I thought turnabout would be fair play, so I hope you stop by her wonderful blog and see some of the fun items she shares with us, mostly things she finds on etsy or just around the web, or around the neighborhood.  (And you can read her interview with me here)

COLLECTION #248: Vintage Open Highways Readers

These cute readers are from Scott, Foresman Company, and are part of their diagnostic and developmental reading series. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I can guess it might have been used for remedial or supplemental purposes. I have many many readers from a variety of book series, but since I'm not an educator, it's hard to figure out exactly which books were used for what purpose. They were published in 1967, and I have one first grade, two second grade, and one third grade reader.

Scott, Foresman was the publisher of the iconic Dick and Jane series of books. However, once Dick and Jane had outgrown their relevance in the American elementary schools, they were replaced by other types of readers, which focused on a variety of learning segments: poems, fantasy, social studies, problem solving, etc. Rather than following one set of characters in the early readers, these books relied on short, interesting and varied chapters, which reflected more about the world the child really lived in.

The new world of readers included stories and chapters about different ethnic and cultural groups, and a much wider range of developmental experiences. I hope you enjoy looking at the cute illustrations from these readers. They are wonderful examples of art from the 60s.... stylized and fun.