Vintage Ephemera

Antique business trade card for the American Woolen Mills Company of Chicago, Illinois - the Progressive Tailors.

Gallery of Players No. 8, a theatre guide dated 1896.

Linen book of views from Curt Teich publishing, showing the island gem in all its glory prior to statehood.

Vintage Straight Arrow cards cut from packages of Nabisco Shredded Wheat cereal packages - late 1940's to early 50's.

Antique advertising trade card from the Etsey Piano Company of New York - circa 1890's.

Girl Watcher's Guide by Don Sauers and illustrated by Dedini - 1950's.

Vintage cabinet photo back from a Chicago photographer, Pruecel and Mally, as listed on the front. Whatever the actual spelling, a charming studio and storefront nevertheless! 1890's to early 1900's.

Rhinestones and sequins add sparkle to this nice mid-century Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus program from 1964.

Outstanding early La Masca sample cigar box label from Schumacher and Ettlinger - dated 1887.

Antique First Blush cigar box label - circa 1890's.

I felt like I had found a piece of loot indeed when I chanced upon this unopened package of 1950's "Loot Bags" by Gay-Gem Products of Philadelphia - dated 1958.

Antique Yawcob Strauss sample cigar box label from George Schlegel lithographers of New York - circa 1890's.

Vintage catalog of automotive seals and bearings, all advertised to help your car run better and improve fuel economy (which in turn, is of course good for the war effort). I rather like the artwork, not to mention his sparkling clean appearance, from his coveralls to his tie!

Vintage ticket to Chicago's famed north-side amusement park, Riverview, for the year 1939, the same year as the New York World's Fair, thus prompting the boast, "Chicago's own world's fair."

Vintage Goudey Big League Chewing Gum baseball card from 1934, featuring Baxter Jordan of the Boston Braves.

I'm probably too lazy to follow through on it, so I hesitate to introduce it as a new feature of my stream, but scores of other flickr users admirably post - like clockwork - photos with themes tied to arbitrary days of the week, and while I won't go so far as to say "Happy Catalog Saturday," I'm inclined to post them more frequently and lump them in a set perhaps as "Random Catalog Shots" - or RCS's for short! This particular pair of dandy outfits comes to us courtesy of the Denver Dry Goods company catalog from Fall and Winder 1948-49.

Flageolet, enfilade, equerry, cochineal, debauchee, cynosure... they're all in here. Who among us today couldn't stand a refresher from Henderson's Test Words in English Orthography? By N.P. Henderson, A.M., published by Clark and Maynard, New York, 1872.

This antique cook book from the Washburn Crosby Company, manufacturers of the famed Gold Medal Flour brand, dates from 1894 and appears to have been well-read! The book is magazine-sized and features many wonderful illustrations in addition to the full-color lithographs on the front, back and inside front and back covers. A depiction of their impressive milling operations from the back cover appears in the preceding post. Washburn Crosby formed the cornerstone of what was to become General Mills.