These photos show the Arch under various stages of construction, from just two legs, to the final keystone about to be placed into the nearly complete monument… fascinating historic slide scans of the Gateway Arch under construction in 1965.
Here are 2 pictures of Seymour’s Regiment Band, from the early 1900s. Charles Seymour was a famed conductor and soloist in St. Louis at the time, and I wonder if this was the band he led.
These pictures were labeled “Civil War or Spanish War Veterans”. They’re actually slides from the 1960s, when someone had tried to copy or preserve the originals. Pretty interesting to see the elderly soldiers standing in formation. I wonder what event this was for?
Here are pictures of firemen, a hose cart, and the Carondelet Heights Fire Association at the turn of the century.It looks like they’re showing off the new fire hose cart and maybe the fire hose, since the men are posed holding the hose unwound, on ladders against the next door building. The fire fighters are also shown acting like they’re pulling the fire cart, and there are no horses.
I think that these photos of a Sinclair Gas Station are from the late 1930s. Gas was only 18 cents! There are signs on the shop for “tire vulcanizing”, Sinclair Gasoline, auto storage (cost $1 for a week), and inside I can make out an ad for Ponds skin cream. It appears that there was a car wash behind the building, or maybe that’s a picture of a different building.
These pictures of a bakery shop had the note “c. 1917 or 1918” and the names of the husband and wife who owned it. Â I think it’s interesting to see how bakery shops were arranged, and there are pictures of the racks and “behind the counter” at this shop.
These next 4 pages from the October 1935 Popular Songs Magazine contain lyrics to the popular songs of the mid-30s, along with pictures of well known singers. This page includes lyrics to Empty Saddles, Juanita, The Franklin D. Roosevelt March, Dancing Til Dawn, and the Beautiful Danube Waltz.
Here is an interesting history of tobacco advertisements using pretty women and pinups as bait, and to gain broader social acceptance of smoking cigarettes! To explain changes in tobacco advertising, you have to take a historical perspective, which this article explains best. Briefly the history of tobacco ads (according to this 1953 article):
I am just posting the rest of these 1960s baby shower cards all at once! These are vertical new baby welcome cards from that 1962 baby shower. I absolutely love the illustrations on the fronts of these cards, and the cute happy rhymes that are inside!
The mother-to-be wrote what gifts she received on the backs of these cards, which I’ve scanned also.
Here are a few of the baby shower rhymes….
Here’s a few more scans of cards from the 1962 baby shower. I’ve included the duplicate cards, so that you can see the imperfections, and that the mom-to-be wrote the gifts she received on the back of each card!
This expectant mother must have had a heck of a party in the heat of that August of 1962! This was the baby shower for her first child, and I think it was the first grandchild on either side. It’s always extra special to be first (speaking as the eldest child). Here are 9 different vintage baby shower cards from 1962. I love the gentle, cute, illustrations… and, ofcourse, the rhymes inside!
What I found most interesting about these early 1960s baby shower and new baby cards, is the frequent golden shoe motif. Also, most of the baby shower cards seem relatively gender-neutral, because ultrasound wasn’t used for sex-determination until the early 70s.
The little rhymes and illustrations inside these baby shower cards are totally cute!
These are such cute baby shower cards! I have included the duplicate card designs. This expectant mother got a few cards that were identical but from different people. Two of these 3 cards have illustrations of chubby healthy babies on them. All fluff and happiness and good energy!
I don’t ever want to have kids, but reading these 1960s baby shower cards just cheers me up! They’re so positive and cute, and fun to say:
A gift for someone Who is due – Hope Baby will like it… And YOU will, too!
Best of luck to all of you, Mom and Dad and Someone New
This shower gift is just for you, and in it you will find, a shower of very good wishes, the warm and friendly kind.”
These baby shower cards are from a party held on August 14, 1962 in what was then a working middle class neighborhood of St. Louis, MO… I got lucky, the shower invitation was in the box! It was thrown at the mother’s home, by her mom.
“A Baby Shower is on the way, So please jot down the time and day.”
I found these early 1960s Baby Shower and New Baby greeting cards for a girl in with some early 1960s baby clothes. The previous owner swore she didn’t want the cards from her baby shower back… so I kept them and scanned them.
I really love the fonts, and the little illustrations and rhymes inside the cards are too cute!
This is a VERY classic, sexy sleeveless summer 1950s/60s little black cocktail dress made out of polyester or acetate with lace over the skirt. It's totally hour glass, and fastens in the back with hooks and eyes and a metal zipper. Go to your next "MadMen" party in...
This mesh dress came labeled “Bridesmaid dress from M___’s 1935 wedding”. It’s classic! The dress was blue mesh over a dark blue slip. Not using it in the 1930s wedding recreation was a mistake, but I was afraid the colors were too dark in comparison to the other dresses. Sometimes I make mistakes, and this was still just about 6 months into my adventures in teaching myself vintage styling and photography!
