Wouldn't you like to MODERNIZE YOUR KITCHEN?

Just in case the two stoves shown yesterday weren't to your liking I have a few more for you to peruse. Think of this places as the catalogue shopping source for 1937.

All ads from the May 1937 Better Homes & Gardens.

So in alphabetical order I present the latest in cooking convenience.


No longer in business.



Hotpoint is still in business. Click on image to see it larger.



The brief Wikipedia history of Magic Chef. Click on image to see it larger.


A division of Whirlpool.

Wouldn't you like to MODERNIZE YOUR KITCHEN?

I'm in a stove sort of mood. I have no idea what that means.

These ads are both from the May 1937 Better Homes & Gardens magazine.

I've never seen a stove like this one from the Perfection Stove Company. In fact, until now I'd never even heard of the Perfection Stove Company. But let us not impeded our need for information. I found some historic information here.

In 1888, Henry Parsons Crowell was approached by Frank Drury to build, and market, a 'lamp stove'. The two men discussed the practicability of such an item. A patent was applied for; the Cleveland Foundry Company began building and then selling the stove. The 'Perfection Stove Company' was born.

In 1888 the Cleveland Foundry Company was formed. They manufactured a line of oil lamp stoves, along with many lamp companies such as Bradley & Hubbard and Miller. In 1894, the plant started producing portable heaters.  These heaters used the "store lamp" wick that had been standardized by Rochester in 1884. In 1901 Francis Drury approached John D. Rockefeller of Cleveland owner of Standard Oil Company. At the time Standard Oil was delivering kerosene to homes and businesses for use in kerosene lamps. Rockefeller knew that with use of the Drury Stove the demand for this kerosene would increase substantially and it did. Rockerfeller selected the company to design, develop and manufacture for it a complete line of stoves which were to be sold under the name "Perfection" to dealers by a group of 300 Standard Oil salesmen. This arrangement was continued by other oil companies.

The Perfection product lineup was extremely important to the growth of American civilization.  By 1918, over 5,000,000 heaters were in use.  By 1922, over 3,000,000 Perfection kitchen stoves and ranges were in use in American homes!  A sizeable percentage of households used a Perfection product on a daily basis. (SOURCE: Miles Stair's Wick Shop)

Now the Coleman Company I'm familiar with, but only as a company making stoves and lights for camping. I still have an old Coleman camp stove and a couple old Coleman lamps. I can still hear the sound of the lamp lighting and the bright glow at the campsite. But kitchen stoves? I've never seen one.



According to this newspaper column from the June 3, 1937 Lodi News-Sentinel it was a pretty doggone good stove to have out in rural areas.

 

Here's an ad in the same paper a few pages away. Coleman was certainly getting their money's worth.

To see some even older stoves and the men who sold them click here to see my post at Sepia Saturday of a Tappan store in 1927.

MRS. WALTER STAUFFACHER washed clothes

This vintage ad is a prime example showing why ephemera can be so darn interesting. We look at these pieces often not thinking about the people involved who created them. In this particular ad we have information about two women, only one with a recognizable name.


Click on image to see it larger.

The ad comes from the May 1934 Delineator, the same issue that had the Camel cigarette ad I wrote about several years ago. Throughout the issue there are ads in which real woman are referenced as someone the buyer should trust. In this case we have the wife of a dairy farmer, Mrs. Walter Stauffacher, from Monroe, Wisconsin. Sad to say I have not found anything online about Mrs. Stauffacher, but I did discover a W. J. Stauffacher Company on a list of Cheesemakers’ and Dairymen’s Association in Southern Wisconsin dated 1927.

So for Mrs. Stauffacher to be chosen for an ad she must have been of some importance. Besides being a wife of a farmer, why was she chosen? And I have to admit, one irritation for me is that her actual name is nowhere to be found. She is an extension of her husband. I know this is how things were done, but it’s just so dang irritating to not see even her first name. I’m glad this “formality” is no longer used.

The second woman involved in the ad is the illustrator. Unfortunately, though the illustration is signed, I cannot read the last name. Her first name is May. Any ideas on what that last name might be? I did find another ad for P and G done by May which can be seen here. I love the playfulness of her style.

The advertiser, P and G, is Proctor and Gamble. But what is Naphtha Soap? I’ve never heard of it. You can read about it here in a rather interesting piece entitled “On the History and Use of Naphtha In Soap.”

Basically this old piece of paper leaves me with nothing but questions. Who? What? Where? Why? The triple “W” threat.

And what became of Barbara Ann Staufacher and her 20 dresses? Perhaps the dairy business was very very good to the Stauffacher family.

Thank goodness there were NO STOCK PHOTO AGENCIES in 1934

An ad from the 1934 May Delineator.


Click on image to see it larger.

Let us give thanks that at one time there were no stock photo agencies. Sadly there is no information given as to who the illustrator was, which doesn't mean I didn't do a search. Alas, I found nothing.

As if the illustration of the woman wasn't lovely enough, take a look at the cereal image. Stunning.


Click on image to see it larger.

FRED A. MAYER, silhouette artist

Little can be found online about Fred A. Mayer. The only biographical information I found is that he was born in 1904. There are a few books available that he illustrated. Other than that, he's almost unknown.

This article, from the 1940 Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus Magazine and Daily Reviewprovides a little bit about the artist.




Click on either image to see it larger.
(SOURCE: Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus Magazine and Daily Review, 1940)

The art of the silhouette does not have the power it once had, but it's still used today in ways you probably don't even notice. You know that deer crossing sign you see? Silhouette art. Men or women signs for bathrooms...silhouette art. To read a little about the history of silhouette art click here.