Advertisements from Time Magazine (December 1981)

My folks saved lots of magazines corresponding to important events -- as I suspect many people did regarding the recent election -- and the birth of my sister in 1981 was one such event. These wonderful advertisements come from the TIME magazine from December 27, 1981 -- The Year in Pictures issue. Not much creativity in the company that created these two ads, was there?

Lots of cigarette and booze ads here, but also some wonderful ones from Hilton, Bell Systems, Chrysler (with Ricardo Montalban), Azar Nuts and Snap-E-Tom. Enjoy the slideshow below, or click through for the Flickr set.

Vintage Matchbook Covers (1930s)

I've been tackling the arduous task of sorting through boxes of things saved from my grandparent's house, and something that keeps coming up are these amazingly well-preserved matchbook covers. The colors are still vibrant after sixty-plus years. At least a few date from the 1930's for sure, as there are notes and dates written inside most of them. Of particular note is the horribly racist Coon Chicken Inn matchbook -- I found some other stuff related to this, and I'll try to post (please note: we have NO intention of being offensive by posting this, merely pointing out the sadly racist additudes in our history -- also note is was OUTSIDE the Seattle city limits...) The other locations included are: Clover Club in Portland, Oregon; Club Victor and Oasis Night Club from Seattle, Washington; and the Hotel Sir Francis Drake in San Francisco. As always, enjoy the slideshow below, or click through for the Flickr set.

Vintage Postcards of "The Famous Town of Tokyo" (Date Unknown)

I found these postcards for a couple bucks apiece in an antique shop recently. They have such an amazing look to them, and yet it is very hard for me to gleam the date from the images. With the exception of the text "The Famous Town of Tokyo", everything is written using Japanese characters. Can you read? Can you tell us what the captions are? Let us know! Enjoy the slide show below, or visit the Flick set!

Peter Pan Records -- Illustrated Record Sleeves (1950s)

Peter Pan Records was one of the biggest makers of children's records in 1950s, and as it turns out, we've got a bunch of 'em! I've got a couple of posts worth of images related to children's records, so stay tuned for more. These records all belong to my uncle, who loaned them to me for archiving purposes. Our first set includes all the record sleeves still in good condition, with both sides scanned for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy the slideshow below, or click through for full-sized images.

Recordio Discs - Homemade Records (1940s)

In the 1930's and 1940's, many people jumped on the bandwagon of purchasing home recording machines that, in the days before magnetic tape for home use, recorded onto a blank record. Machines were made by a variety of companies, but the Wilcox-Gay Recordio machines were by far the most popular, and can still be found on eBay from time to time. My grandparents used their machine quite a bit when my dad and uncle were born, and thankfully these discs weren't tossed! Dig the cool logos! Enjoy the images in the slideshow below or the discs themselves and the folder that holds them, or click through for the Flickr set. Can you tell which are 7" and which are 10"?