More Paper Treasures: Old Magazines and Catalogs--by Bryan F.

Next to books, magazines and catalogs are my favorite things to collect. I guess I love the ads first and then the covers that both convey the culture of the time when they went to print. The stories are sometimes very good and important but the ads and pictures tell the true story of that period in time.

I have not had the opportunity to collect as many vintage magazines as I would have liked. As I mentioned last week I foolishly sold a dozen Sears catalogs some years ago and have not been able to replace them at a price I could afford. The Mid- Century Modern craze has also caused a shortage. Sears catalogs are few and far between on eBay.

This week I'm going to share a few of my limited collections and briefly talk about each magazine I include. I may come back to some of them separately to expand. The Post with the Kennedy article could stand on its own. 

Some of my fellow bloggers have chosen to talk about what's going on out there in the world right now; eloquently I might add and each in their special way. It's all pretty scary and I hope some healing of our nation and the world can happen as a result. Some of these magazines from the 60s share time and space with turbulent times as well. 

I do have newer magazines aging, such as a good decade of Vegetarian Times. I didn't save every magazine I have ever subscribed to; I currently have no subscriptions at all. I did for a time, buy some that I thought would age well. My Mom's food magazines had to go, though; many hundreds donated to the hospital after she passed. I saved Yes, The Sun, This Old House, Wood Work, Dogster and Catster, The Economist, The New Yorker and The Nation to name a few, but space is a factor and while some are still piled on the floor it is my goal to get them properly stored into magazines racks. Some already are and as I am able I hope to store them all in a way that will best preserve them. In another twenty years, I should have some gems to share and hopefully will have someone to pass them on to; another lover of the printed record. 

I promised a story this week on the Sears Home Kits one could order from their catalog back in the late 1800s and early twenty century but decided I wanted to do more research on the topic before I dived in. Look for it in the future, it's one of my favorite things and I want to do it justice. The truth is that focusing has been difficult with everything that's been happening over the last four months. Sharing my treasures with all of you has taken my mind away from it all for a few minutes and is a little easier than a well-researched essay.  


I own all of the magazines pictured here, none are downloads from the internet. 

December 14, 1963 edition of the Saturday Evening Post:

This edition of The Post reminds us that things have not always been a rose garden in the United States. The early sixties were at least and perhaps more frightening than the times we live in now. I mean a pandemic is something to be respected but a nuclear annihilation leaves nothing to ponder. The Cuban Missle Crisis was the most dangerous event the world ever encountered and John F. Kennedy got us through with some help from some others that just chose to do what was right and sane.

This magazine came to me from my Grandmother. She kept it safe for about 44 years. I took over and have cared for it in the last 13 years. 

 The Transition.

Etched in your memory if you are of a certain age.

Everyone wanted a 26 inch. 

Some 1960's Christmas favorites.

The cartoon reminds me that even with the death of Kennedy that life had to go on and while this issue covered the assassination it also continued to cover things that were just about life; the mundane that sustains us. 

August 1974 edition of Mccall magazine:

McCall was a respected women's magazines and had all the bells and whistles that kept it going for a good long time. This interview with Lady Bird Johnson was a big deal only seven years after she stepped down as the first lady. The address label leads me to believe this was given to my Grandmother by a friend, or that she bought it in a yard sale. The address is only a couple miles from their then home. She admired Lady Bird and I could see her picking this up for a nickel back then in a yard sale.

Subscription revenue streams have never been able to sustain a magazine or newspaper. Advertising was always necessary and sometimes influenced content as well. Madison Avenue learned early on that sex appeal sells and there was a disproportionate number of ads with images of beautiful young women.  

Book Clubs and record clubs made a killing with these ads.  My Mom was a Book of the Club member and I think the majority of our record collection was from record clubs like Columbia House. If you didn't pay attention you wound up with items you didn't want. You needed to send a form every month to decline that month's choice or chose an alternative. Underage kids often caused a surprise for their parents with a big bill. 

It was all good American capitalist fun, right?

This was my friend Cindy's favorite shampoo back in the 70s. It made her waist-length hair very smell-able.

Celebrity models and spokespersons could sell a lot of products back then and now.

1970's Christmas wish list for the little ones.

This topic dovetails well with Garbo's last post here on C7 where she talks about Joyce Carol Oates's book Black Water, which takes an interesting look at this subject from the victim's perspective. I highly recommend Garbo's article.

Joyce Carol Oates, Chappaquiddick, & the Cthulhu Mythos -- Garbo

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Aspiring writers would have starved without the magazine fiction found in so many popular magazines. I really did only read the articles in Playboy.

The cover stories were what usually created the interest to buy.

Requisite recipes were the backbone of any 1960s woman's magazine.

Those ads in the back could be quite entertaining and sometimes outright con jobs. The ones here seem legit enough, McCall had a reputation to maintain after all. This is were you advertised when you couldn't afford the big full-page ads. 

April 16, 1964 edition of Newsweek. Only 30 cents:

Some commentary on Johnson's first year and the promised civil rights that he carried with him from the Kennedy years.  

Newsweek was geared toward male readership during the 1960s and the overall look is mostly black and white. There are a few colored ads. The colored print was still very expensive in 1964. That's why all of my 1960's school annuals are black and white. The tech was there, but too dear for anyone except the advertizers with deep pockets that wanted their products to stand out over the others.

Madison Avenue taking a lap with this one. I actually really like the creativity.

Another cleaver eye-catcher.

Ads for the executive class. 

Like recipes in women magazines, the sports page was a must in magazines geared toward men. We really were assigned our binary gender roles back then. The media, of course, reinforced them. That was a lot of pressure for some of us. I didn't know anything about most sports and was good at changing the subject when it came up. 

As a rule, I always include all the vintage car ads. 

That Sunbeam is a keeper and so affordable.

All the newest mid-century tech.

Men needed fashion direction, too.

A little tease. I'll do a bigger spread on Sears catalogs at a later date. I just had to use the image for my lead photo, though. I loved the way we looked and dressed in the mid-sixties.

Cocktail dresses for those that couldn't afford Sax Fifth Avenue.

Some very groovy women's sportswear.

I remember these shoe styles when I was in junior high school.

Groovy sporty dudes.

Men's headwear was on the way out but still worn in 1967.

Found among my Grandmothers things. She loved Christmas. The mid-century design speaks to me. 
She likely saved it from a larger Harris' Christmas flyer.  Harris' was a higher-end department store founded in San Bernardino in the late 1800s. When most of the family had died off by the early 1980s a Spanish firm bought it and upgraded it a bit. It was later acquired by Gottchaulk's and absorbed, the name removed. The 2008 recession wiped out Gottchaulk's. I can't say I was sorry. Most folks from San Bernardino were very unhappy about the demise of Harris', which was a cornerstone of the community.  

Some Holiday gift ideas for Mom and Grandma.

An old picture of Harris' for my San Bernardino friends. The regal building still stands but was empty, a ghost of its former self, and still anchor to a ghost mall last I heard. We live in the age of Amazon.