This will be my first in a series of “Then and Now” blogs based upon some old magazines I found recently when cleaning out my attic. Our house was built in the year 1919 and had been in the same family until we purchased it in 1996. It’s a well-built old house with good bones from the era of the early 20th century cottage style homes. We bought the house from the estate of the original homeowners – a generation twice removed. We bought it “as is” needing a lot of cosmetic work, but in sound condition. It was stuck in a time warp of 1972 when it had last been remodeled.
When I say we bought it “as is”, that means also that we bought it full of stuff. Nothing in the attic had been cleaned out, and me being the vintage stuff lover that I am, I didn’t push for them to clean it out, knowing that I may come across some interesting stuff – and I have over the years – selling things at auctions and in our antique business. Most was pure junk, but it was always the excitement of finding the hidden treasure among the junk.
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| Attic image borrowed from the website Imagine |
I’ve succeeded over the years getting it pretty well cleaned out and my own junk taking it’s place, but there’s one little corner in the knee wall space that's hard to get to and when I recently tackled it, I came across some wonderful old magazines – some from as early as 1915 – and they’re actually in pretty good condition.
When looking through the magazines, it struck me that many of the same fears and frustrations our country felt almost a century ago are still relevant today. Over and over, the same themes kept coming up in all the magazines. Gas prices, grocery prices, unemployment, financial obligations and hardships, war stories – all these were front page news just like they are today.
There were also the good things in life that we still enjoy as much today as yesterday. Entertaining, fine cars, gardening, decorating, cooking, and yes, even technology.
Join me over the next couple of weeks as I go through these stories and give you some comparisons on Then and Now. I hope you’ll find it as interesting as I have. My first one will be about something I love to do….tablescaping…..then and now - Campbell's Tomato Soup style.
I’ll see you then…..
Hi Glenda. I have certainly missed you! I'm hoping to have my internet back next week! For a moment, I thought that was your loft in the photo, and I was very envious!! How fascinating finding those vintage magazines. I know that they will make for some great posts! Hope all is well with you.
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