Vintage Ads

With a mother who frequents estate sales, we end up with a lot of vintage ephemera - postcards, pamphlets, maps - things meant for an immediate audience and not expected to last the test of time. Little is more entertaining, however, than old magazines.

I'm not talking "old" like the '80s and '90s (though those are likely great fun to look at, as well), but those classic, over-sized, grandiose magazines of the mid-century. These publications from the '40s, '50s, and '60s give us a taste of a time long-gone through its ads and articles: ads and articles that are sometimes wholeheartedly poignant, quaintly naive, or laugh-out-loud outdated. They show us the things society cared about (or, at least, what the magazines wanted society to care about) with vibrant colors and over-the-top language.

With my growing collection of these magazines, I wanted to showcase some highlights every now and then, beginning with vintage advertisements of products still popular today. Coming across ads for products I may use some 70 years later is such an interesting phenomenon to me: it links us to the past in an oddly tangible way, and I wanted our readers to experience that same feeling. Enjoy!

-Betsy