Jessica Murray

Timeline of Historical Fashion silhouettes thru the ages – Types of Satin continued

Old Book Scans, The Language of Fashion 1939 Fashion Dictionary

I find this fashion dictionary’s timeline of silhouettes thru the ages to be interesting, because people in certain eras interpret describe history differently than at other times. History is subjective, to a degree, if only because of the process of curating and deciding what to include or exclude in a synopsis. It’s interesting to see what a fashion expert writing this dictionary thought was important, and the descriptions they used, as compared to more modern historical perspectives.

Personal Prologue: Bringing Our Seven Children Back Into the Light

Old Book Scans, Our Seven Children

Old things do not preserve themselves.” In this series opener, I’m bringing Reverend Sam D. Bohnenkamp’s 1962 family memoir back into the light. Step inside a narrative that stretches from 1850s Germany to the brickyards of St. Louis and the rocky farms of Bourbon, Missouri. Chapter I follows the Bohnenkamp family through the heartbreak of a cholera epidemic and the grit of homesteading 120 acres in Franklin County. It’s not just a list of names—it’s a memory dump of barefoot summers, lost graves, and the stubborn survival of a Missouri family.

Baby shower card scans from the 1960s

1960s New Baby and Baby Shower Cards, Misc. Ephemera

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.”

Pinup Gals of World War I and World War II: Mary Pickford and Betty Grable

CheeseCake Pinup Magazine 1953, Old Magazine Scans

In World War I, Mary Pickford became the favorite pinup of soldiers when she dressed in uniform and toured the nation selling Liberty Bonds. In World War II, “demand for it [pictures of Betty Grable”] ran as high as 20,000 per week…”. “Able Grable”‘s legs appear in Army topographic maps designed to teach recruits how to hit their mark.

1935 Wool Bathing Suits, Women’s Sportswear, and Mens’ Underwear…

1935 Chicago Mail Order Company Catalog, Old Catalog Scans

Dive into 1935 summer fashion with highlights from the Chicago Mail Order Company catalog! From wool bathing suits to women’s sportswear, men’s summer suits, and even a quirky zip-on chest supporter, these pages reveal the trends and practical designs that defined an era of innovation and leisure.

1935 Women’s Dresses and Fashion

1935 Chicago Mail Order Company Catalog, Old Catalog Scans

Step back in time to 1935 and discover the timeless elegance of 1930s women’s fashion! Featuring Old Hollywood-inspired glamour, feminine caped-back dresses, dramatic collars, and the rise of “mannish” two-piece outfits, this era balanced chic sophistication with practical designs. Highlights include nautical-themed styles, crepe fabric dresses, and even a sport dress designed with a “suntan back” for that healthy glow. Explore vintage scans from the 1935 Chicago Mail Order Company Catalog and get inspired by the blend of movie star glamour and everyday practicality that defined the decade!

1930s nun and family photos

Old Photo Scans

Discover a unique collection of 1930s photo scans featuring family moments, children, and Catholic nuns. These images offer a window into Great Depression-era fashion, faith, and middle-class life in the Midwest. Explore how modest clothing, short waved hairstyles, and community resilience defined this pivotal moment in history. Dive into this vintage family album for a glimpse into the past.

How to Measure for a Victorian Pattern – and The back pages of the 1892 Delineator Fashion Magazine

Old Magazine Scans, The Delineator January 1892

Whew! Finally done scanning this lengthy Victorian fashion magazine! I broke the spine while scanning it, but atleast now it's all digitally preserved. These last few pages of this magazine include alot of advertisements and illustrations....

St. Louis Fashion Advertisements from 1924

1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant, Old Magazine Scans

Here’s a captivating look at the August 1924 issue of the St. Louis Fashion Pageant, a local society and fashion magazine that reflected the roaring twenties in all its stylish glory. Featuring advertisements for flapper dresses, children’s shoes, and elegant coats, this issue highlights the city’s role as a hub of fashion and innovation. Many fashion companies were based on Washington Avenue, the heart of St. Louis’ bustling garment district, showcasing trends like beaded dresses, wash frocks, and non-wrinkle neckwear. Explore this unique time capsule filled with illustrations, ads, and photography from a pivotal era in American history!

1930s Wedding Photos, and How to Date old photos by hair style

Old Photo Scans

Take a step back in time with these stunning 1930s wedding photos. Captured by St. Louis photographer J.J. Belka, these portraits reveal timeless elegance during the Great Depression. Learn how hairstyles, like the iconic pin curls, can help date old photos. Discover the fascinating intersection of vintage fashion and history through wedding photography trends of this era.

1950s Wedding Photos: A Glimpse into Post-War Romance and Bridal Fashion

Old Photo Scans

Step back in time with these genuine 1950s wedding photos of Mary and her family. Discover post-war bridal fashion trends, the influence of Christian Dior’s New Look on wedding dresses, and how wedding photography evolved during this romantic era. These authentic vintage photographs, spanning from 1913 to the 1950s, reveal three generations of changing wedding customs, fashion, and American culture.

Snake Oil & Success: The Wild World of 1924 Advertisements

1924-1925 Character Reading Magazine, Old Magazine Scans

Step into the wild world of 1924 advertising, where Americans could purchase brain-hacking courses promising 1,000% salary increases, follow diets based on eye color, learn telepathic mind control, and train for glamorous hotel careers. These extraordinary advertisements from Character Reading magazine reveal how the Roaring Twenties birthed modern self-improvement culture—complete with Pelmanism, iridology, “Pep Cocktails,” and correspondence courses promising to transform desperate strivers into successful elites. Discover how snake oil salesmen, legitimate opportunities, and pseudoscientific schemes competed for consumers’ dollars and dreams in an era before advertising regulation, when anything seemed possible and everyone had a secret to sell.

The 7 Rooms of Your Mind: A Guided Tour of Your Own Head

1924-1925 Character Reading Magazine, Old Magazine Scans

Step inside the mind as 1924 imagined it: a seven-room house where energy, intellect, artistry, and spirituality each occupy their own space. This captivating article from Character Reading magazine reveals how the Roaring Twenties understood personality through the now-debunked science of phrenology—offering a fascinating glimpse into vintage psychology, self-improvement culture, and the American obsession with scientific success.

What Your Handwriting Reveals: A 1920s Graphology Workshop on T-Bars and Loops

1924-1925 Character Reading Magazine, Old Magazine Scans

Step into a 1920s graphology workshop where your fountain pen strokes reveal hidden truths. Handwriting expert Hall Cameron’s 1924 analysis decoded personality through T-bars (the “barometer of courage”), the letter F (business mogul or missionary?), and disconnected script (surprise—you’re psychic!). Explore how Jazz Age Americans used handwriting analysis to understand themselves in an era of rapid social change, and discover what your own handwriting might reveal according to vintage personality science.

The 1924 Sales Manual: Selling Cars by Face ShapeThe 1924 Sales Manual That Matched Cars to Face Shapes: A Bizarre Chapter in Automotive HistoryThe 1924 Sales Manual: Selling Cars by Face Shape

1924-1925 Character Reading Magazine, Old Magazine Scans

In 1924, Durant Motors trained its salesmen to do something extraordinary: sell cars based on facial features. Round face? You needed comfort and padded seats. Pear-shaped face with a pointed chin? You craved beauty and luxury (but might not make your payments). This wasn’t one salesman’s quirk—it was official corporate policy, codified in a training manual by character reading expert Edna Purdy Walsh. Step into the strange world where jawlines determined which automobile you’d drive home, and discover how pseudoscience shaped the cutthroat competition of the Roaring Twenties auto industry.

Do You Have the “Mental-Motive” Temperament of a High-Powered Attorney?

1924-1925 Character Reading Magazine, Old Magazine Scans

Before the LSAT and law school rankings, there was phrenology. This remarkable 1924 article from Character Reading Magazine reveals how career counselors determined legal aptitude by examining skull shape and facial bone structure. Real estate lawyers needed prominent “Locality” organs to avoid getting lost, criminal attorneys required heightened “Secretiveness,” and trial lawyers needed “Combativeness” bumps behind their ears. Explore this fascinating glimpse into Jazz Age vocational guidance, when your professional destiny was literally written on your face—and discover what the “Mental-Motive” temperament supposedly revealed about high-powered attorneys of the Roaring Twenties.

Introducing the Founders Pass: My Digital Archive, Unlocked

Editorial

I’m opening up my private scan vault. The new Founders Pass gives you 90 days of access to my growing digital archive: high-res PDFs and zipped image files from rare, useful public-domain publications—including the 1924 St. Louis Fashion Pageant, Character Reading magazines, and a 1916 book of birds. I’m building this as a living collection (not a one-off product drop), and I’m donating 5% of membership revenue to the Internet Archive to support preservation work.

1920s Baby Readings: Determining a Career Before They Can Walk

1924-1925 Character Reading Magazine, Old Magazine Scans

In 1924, anxious parents didn’t just worry about milestones—they sent baby photographs to Character Reading magazine to discover if their infant was destined to become a banker, surgeon, or concert pianist. Explore the fascinating world of 1920s baby character analysis, where phrenology met parental ambition and editors confidently predicted careers based on skull shapes and facial features. From “Baby Dan the banker in the bud” to dietary prescriptions for chemical deficiencies diagnosed from photos, these vintage readings reveal the hopes, anxieties, and pseudoscientific beliefs of Jazz Age parenting. A charming and slightly unsettling glimpse into how every generation tries to unlock their children’s futures.

The “You and I” Faculty: Why Some Men Are Different When You Get Them Alone

1924-1925 Character Reading Magazine, Old Magazine Scans

In December 1924, Character Reading Magazine explored a fascinating concept called “Conjugality”—the brain faculty that supposedly explained why certain men seemed dull at parties but transformed into attentive, passionate companions in private. Rooted in phrenology, this “You and I” faculty offered Jazz Age women a seemingly scientific way to understand selective love, marital compatibility, and the distinction between romantic passion and parental devotion. While the skull-reading science has been thoroughly debunked, the behavioral observations reveal timeless insights about introversion, attachment styles, and the search for lasting love. Explore this captivating glimpse into 1920s relationship psychology and self-improvement culture.

Why Some People Love Storms and Mountains: The “Sublimity” Bump

1924-1925 Character Reading Magazine, Old Magazine Scans

Ever wondered why some people love thunderstorms while others prefer sunny days? In 1924, character readers believed it was all about “Sublimity”—a brain center that governed our love of majesty, grandeur, and the sublime. Explore this fascinating vintage personality theory featuring silent film star Alice Joyce, complete with practical lifestyle predictions and the pseudoscience that captivated Jazz Age America.

Is Your “Personality House” Crumbling? A 1924 Structural Engineer’s Guide to Character

1924-1925 Character Reading Magazine, Old Magazine Scans

What if your personality were a house—would it pass inspection? In December 1924, psychologist Honore Wright asked this revolutionary question in Character Reading Magazine, creating a metaphor that brilliantly merged America’s construction boom with emerging psychology. Walk through “Personality Town” and discover whether your foundation is crumbling, your lights are flickering, or your heating system needs repair. From calcium-rich diets for building “structural bones” to the wild world of 1920s advertisements promising everything from telepathic powers to “iriological diets” based on eye color, this deep dive reveals how the Roaring Twenties shaped modern self-improvement culture—and why these century-old insights remain surprisingly relevant today.

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Jessica Murray

Timeline of Historical Fashion silhouettes thru the ages – Types of Satin continued

Personal Prologue: Bringing Our Seven Children Back Into the Light

Baby shower card scans from the 1960s

Pinup Gals of World War I and World War II: Mary Pickford and Betty Grable

1935 Wool Bathing Suits, Women’s Sportswear, and Mens’ Underwear…

1935 Women’s Dresses and Fashion

1930s nun and family photos

How to Measure for a Victorian Pattern – and The back pages of the 1892 Delineator Fashion Magazine

St. Louis Fashion Advertisements from 1924

1930s Wedding Photos, and How to Date old photos by hair style

1950s Wedding Photos: A Glimpse into Post-War Romance and Bridal Fashion

Snake Oil & Success: The Wild World of 1924 Advertisements

The 7 Rooms of Your Mind: A Guided Tour of Your Own Head

What Your Handwriting Reveals: A 1920s Graphology Workshop on T-Bars and Loops

The 1924 Sales Manual: Selling Cars by Face ShapeThe 1924 Sales Manual That Matched Cars to Face Shapes: A Bizarre Chapter in Automotive HistoryThe 1924 Sales Manual: Selling Cars by Face Shape

Do You Have the “Mental-Motive” Temperament of a High-Powered Attorney?

Introducing the Founders Pass: My Digital Archive, Unlocked

1920s Baby Readings: Determining a Career Before They Can Walk

The “You and I” Faculty: Why Some Men Are Different When You Get Them Alone

Why Some People Love Storms and Mountains: The “Sublimity” Bump

Is Your “Personality House” Crumbling? A 1924 Structural Engineer’s Guide to Character

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