There was a time, as everyone knows, when you could buy just about anything from a Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog. I was surprised to see, though, that Sears also sold “made -to-order” suits for men.…
Category: Ephemera/Paper/Documents
Book of “household hints” is as seamless as time
Posted in Books, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Home
I seem to be drawn to cookbooks from way back. I’m curious about the recipes and their ingredients, and how different foods and dishes were prepared then compared to now. I am just as intrigued when…
When I saw the two orange absentee-bid stickers attached to the box of faded letters, I instantly asked the auction staffer to see them. I figured if two people wanted the letters, there must be…
US passport bears black woman’s 1892 call for freedom
Posted in African American women, Black history, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
Some friends and I will be taking a Mediterranean cruise later this year, so I had to make sure my passport was up to date. While flipping through it, I was reminded of a comment from a stamp…
When food was delivered in wooden crates
Posted in Advertising, collectibles, and Ephemera/Paper/Documents
The cover of the wooden crate was nailed shut and there wasn’t a hammer in sight to pry it open. I wanted to desperately see what was inside when I zeroed in on the words…
Nostalgic remnants of Route 66 don’t tell the whole story
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and travel
The words “Route 66” spark in my mind a childhood memory of a scene from the old TV show of the same name with Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock. They’re in a room with an elderly…
Three images of William Francis Sutton stared out from the FBI wanted poster, and some auction-goer had already left a bid on it. This criminal was better known as Willie Sutton – a notorious bank…
WWII women pilots on a deck of playing cards
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, history, Military, and Women
The women looked cool striding purposely to some unknown place in their leather bomber jackets, full-legged pants and thick boots. Their backdrop was a World War II plane with an imprinted name of which I…
Niagara Falls novelty moccasins you could send through mail
Posted in Ephemera/Paper/Documents, history, and Personal items
The tiny moccasins were both cute and crude, but I was drawn to them by the bright yellow tag hanging off them. The moccasins had been mailed unwrapped to a woman in Delaware, and I found…
Survival kits no remedy for headaches caused by ’64 Mississippi activists
Posted in Black history, civil rights movement, Ephemera/Paper/Documents, and Politics
At first, all I could see inside the box were packets with a black outline of a city’s skyline. So I was obviously curious about what was in them. I pulled one of the packets…