🚬 Collecting Vintage Ashtrays: Full of History and Advertising Not long ago, ashtrays were as common as coffee cups. They sat on kitchen tables, hotel nightstands, restaurant countertops, casino floors, office desks, and airplane armrests. Every bar had them. Every motel room had them. Every waiting room, diner, and department store had them. They were […]
Forgotten Cigarette Machines From America's Past There was a time, not so long ago, when forgotten cigarette machines from America's past stood in the corners of American public life as naturally as pay phones and jukebox selectors. You would find them in hospital lobbies, hotel corridors, diner vestibules, and airport waiting rooms. Nobody thought much […]
🍀 Archiving Irish Stereotypes in Newspaper Strips The comics page of an American newspaper from the late nineteenth or early twentieth century was rarely a neutral space. It reflected the attitudes, anxieties, and biases of the society that produced it, often with a frankness that later generations would find uncomfortable. Among the most persistent patterns […]
🍀 Collecting St. Patrick’s Day Postcards and Paper Ephemera Guide Collecting St. Patrick’s Day Postcards occupies a modest but steady place within the broader field of holiday ephemera. These cards, most commonly produced between 1905 and the early 1920s, reflect the height of the postcard era in the United States and Europe. They were printed […]
Collecting Punchboards and the Hidden World of Store Gambling What Is a Punchboard Collecting Punchboards begins with understanding the object itself. A punchboard is a flat board, most often made of heavy cardboard, filled with hundreds or sometimes thousands of small holes. Each hole contains a tightly rolled paper ticket printed with a number, symbol, […]