Civil War Diaries Read

April 7, 1962, Appleton Post-Crescent

This had to have been an intense presentation, considering the letters Mr. Moon held contained such an emotional impact about the horrors of war.  All the rhetoric of politicians and other leaders tends to go by the wayside when you consider the first-hand accounts from the soldiers that truly were there in the trenches.  Any jingoistic pretense of the goodness of war must be tempered with accounts such as these, in any fight.

Pulley Ad

 

September 3, 1954, Appleton Post-Crescent

The Menasha Wood Split Pulley Company was founded in 1888 by P.V. Lawson, Jr., attorney, author, politician, orator, and mayor of Menasha.   His factory on Little Lake Butte des Morts at the foot of Sixth Street made wood split pulleys which were exported all over the world. The plant consisted of a main factory building, power house, machine shop, bolt factory, warehouse, dry kilns, paint shop, office, and extensive lumber yards.  The factory employed 100 employees when in full operation and reportedly made 150 pulleys daily, besides other wood specialized goods to include hand truck, cogs, spools, picker sticks for woolen mills, cloth boards, paper mill trucks, elevators, trunk slats, and screen doors.  Lawson was mayor from 1886-1889 and would serve additional terms in 1893 and 1896.

The residences on Olde Pulley Lane approximate the location of the old factory.

Spring Cleaning

April 12, 1952, Appleton Post-Crescent

When is the last time you saw a basket like the one in the top photo?  Is that a bushel basket? That's what we called it in my family, even if it didn't hold a true bushel. Perhaps some of us who do enough gardening or yard work have familiarity with such a thing, but for this city dweller who is decades removed from seeing one everyday, it reminds me of my grandparents who were master gardeners in my young eyes.  It was such a common thing that you didn't even give it a second thought.  Their shed had lots of them piled up.  And are those barrels in the lower photo?  So fitting for a town that, in that era, still had a factory turning out barrels and pails.  Today, it's be a plastic barrel for cleaning or a cherry picker to bring the shades down.  These photos look like the old days.

It's A Hit!

April 18, 1952, Appleton Post-Crescent

It's been a while since we featured an ad from the Walter Bros. Brewing Company. This ad is a pleasant marriage of baseball and beer (a tale as old as the sport itself) and is tailor-made for this time of year.

Spring Cleaning Values

April 13, 1960, Appleton Post-Crescent

Drucks provides another great savings opportunity to help with spring cleaning.  And in my house, we actually had one of those canister vacuums advertised at the top of the ad.  It was white and yellow and it seemed to tip over a lot and I recall that the swivel action wasn't so great either.  In reality though, I probably subconsciously sabotaged things because I didn't want to participate in house cleaning!

The Sky's the Limit

April 12, 1958, Appleton Post-Crescent

I remember this car lot very well.  To me, it's reminiscent of the used car lot in the movie American Graffiti.  But aside from that, just look at those great old cars, sitting there under the lights. Who knew at the time that so many of these models would become beloved icons of that simpler time?

Modelers

March 29, 1954, Appleton Post-Crescent

For the time period, these three students most likely had honed their model-building skills on kits of airplane, hot rods, and naval vessels and creating a town to represent American colonial life was likely a breeze.  Do kids even make model kits anymore?  For myself, for the longest time in the '60s, I was entranced with military airplane kits, perhaps due to my brother being in the Air Force, despite having NOTHING to do with the aviation aspect of that service. Still, it was greatly satisfying.  The kits advertised in the comic books I read were always so inviting.