Most people enjoy shopping major retailers and name brands for the holidays, I opted to stay local and stick with vintage shopping.
Not only did I find great vintage items to give as gifts I also managed to score some really rare finds for myself.
Framed Pattern Advertising
Let’s start with this set of framed vintage pattern advertising. The larger of the three framed ads, I got earlier this month, and it is an advertisement for either fashion dresses or dress patterns, I can’t quite tell. I got this lovely framed ad for only $10 at our local River City Trading Post, here in Jenks, Oklahoma. At the top of the image, implies that it maybe an ad from a magazine because it read The Delineator March 1912.
Doing a bit of research I found that The Delineator American women’s magazine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founded by the Butterick Publishing Company. The description on the page list the sizes of the dresses and fashion details about each dress.
Once I hung this frame on the wall, it dawned on me that right before we moved I purchased a set of framed Vogue pattern books from a Joplin antique store, and had never done anything with them. I dug around boxes to find them and hung them up on either side of the larger framed ad.
The Vogue pattern books are from 1931 and 1938. As far as I can tell they are the full pattern book for the year, not just the covers. However, the backs of the frames are sealed and I haven’t been brave enough to cut it open to actually pull out the books to thumb through. I’m awful I know.
Vintage Magazine Finds
Next up were some vintage magazine finds. About a week before Christmas me and the hubby decided to go out and about antiquing around town. We decided to check out the antiques in Broken Arrow.
Ladies Home Journal December 1947
Almost instantly I found a December issue of 1947 Ladies Home Journal. I was ecstatic.
The cover sported a lovely Christmas time setting, mother and child playing with a nativity scene. The magazine itself had lots of great fashion ads. Plus since it was a December issue it also had tons of ads, articles and recipes on Christmas and holiday parties.
Interestingly enough it also had some more heavy subjected articles as well. The magazine year was 1947 only a few years after WWII. As it so happens not everything was as bright and cheery directly after war time as some movies and stories imply. There is an article about Minorities in this issue, specifically speaking of Jews, Japanese and African Americans.
The article talks about how these minorities were being harassed by their fellow neighbors. Apparently many Americans blamed the Jewish migrants for the resign their loved ones had to go fight in the war, there were also lots of resentment towards the Japanese Americans for Pearl Harbor. African Americans weren’t getting any respect either, despite many of them being veterans and in some cases even war heroes.
Despite the racist acts of some, many communities such as Philadelphia were working together to teach others everyone how to integrate minorities within the community. There were even grant programs set up for this, founded by both the Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations.
I felt sad after reading this article, because it seems that history always repeats itself. In 1947 we had animosity against Jewish immigrants who didn’t ask to be uprooted and leave their home country, but had to for the safety of their lives and the lives of their families. Now in 2015 there is a great deal of animosity for the Syrian immigrants who are only fleeing for the same reasons the Jewish did once, for the safety of the lives and the lives of their families. Will we ever learn?
Okay enough deep thought for one article, let’s move on to more fun vintage magazine photos.
Vogue June 1951
Since Christmas it rained three days straight. By Monday morning me and the hubby had major cabin fever and decided to get out and visit some local shops. We ended up back at River City Trading Post, where I found not one but two great vintage magazines.
The first is a June 1951 Vogue magazine. The cover was a little torn and it had some water damage, but I couldn’t resist the images of all the amazing 50’s fashion.
Harper’s Bazaar October 1955
The second find was an October 1955 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. Being an October issue it had lots of great ads for winter coats.
Fashion Finds
Magazines weren’t the only think I managed to score on my after Christmas antiquing adventure. I actually found some really cool vintage/vintage-inspired fashion that fit. I found a couple of cardigans, a sweater and a Voyager West by YouthCraft rain coat.
We’ll that’s all my vintage finds for the month of December. Once I’ve gotten my fashion finds dry cleaned I promise to do a proper post about them.
Wow, wow and wow again! Those magazines are spectacular and am I reading the price tag stickers right, do they say $3.50 each or $8.50? Even at $8.50 (or a fair bit more), that’s still a heck of a deal (around these parts at least). I bought some 30s and 40s magazines in Victoria at a used bookstore last year and paid between $12 and $30 each, which is decently reasonable in a retail setting in Canada these days. Way to go on scoring all of these fabulous vintage treasures!
Happy reading and endlessly lovely New Year’s wishes, sweet lady!
♥ Jessica
Yes, you are correct that is $3.50 for the Vogue and Bazaar magazine, the issue of Ladies Home Journal was $6.50. They were quite a steal so I just had to get them, especially since I don’t come across them often.