Telephones and Stoves

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of telephones.

This is a real photo postcard used as an advertisement by the Keely Stove Company of Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The card dates to 1920, and it shows a woman with a candlestick telephone. She's getting married and wants a Keely Columbian Stove just like her mother has, so she's telephoning Herr & Co. in Lancaster, Pa., to order one. In other versions of the ad that I spotted online, the same woman is phoning J. A. Best & Co. in Allentown, Pa., and Bennett & Billington in Canajoharie, N.Y.

I have another copy of this postcard that was addressed to Miss Fannie Groff, Kirkwood, Lanc. Co., Pa., R.R.#1, and mailed in New Providence, Pa., on Nov. 3, 1920. The handwritten message on that copy doesn't refer to the advertisement itself but the writer does mention "phoning" and "call[ing] . . . on the phone":

"Tue. eve. [Nov. 2]. Dear Fannie, I received your letter this morning. I guess you think I am a great one for not phoning to you, but I was so busy today. And Jacob came up to vote [Warren G. Harding won the U.S. presidential election held that day], and because it rained he is staying up so I was not at Margie's to stay all night. Fannie, I won't be down this week, but I will come next Fri. eve. as far as I know now, if it suits you. We are invited to a kitchen shower on Sat. eve. Write to let me know if it will suit. And I will write later or call you up on the phone. R.E.M."

History of this Genuine Photo

The mother of this young lady has a Columbian Stove manufactured by The Keely Stove Co., Columbia, Pa. She is about to get married and telephones to Herr & Co., 7 E. King St., Lancaster, Pa., for she wants one just like Mother's.

515. Schaefer Ross Co., Inc., Rochester, N.Y.