SETTING THE STAGE - DON'T FORGET THE ADVERTS

 Post by Doris McCraw

writing as Angela Raines

As a writer sets the stage for the next story, we try to make it real. If you set it in the past, there is a resource many may not think about. Yes, we study traveling in wagons or stagecoaches. We look at what our characters might have worn. Yet, where did they get these items?. When did the stages run, and what were their routes. There is a place where all these things may be found and it's the advertisements in the newspapers.

Photo property of the author

I use 'Newspaper Archive' for a lot of my research. They offer so many options. I also set many of my stories in Colorado, so I use 'Colorado's Historic Newspapers'.

I'll give you a couple of examples:

From the May, 11th 1871 issue of the Rocky Mountain News (daily):

For Sale — A two-story brick house, furnished throughout — 80 x 150 feet of land, fine location. Price $3,500, best bargain in the city. John Clough & Co., Real estate and loan agents

From that same issue the following 'news' item was found:

A middle-aged lady from the country, who had never set for a picture, was in a photograph gallery yesterday for that purpose. Having adjusted her properly in the chair, the operator went to take a look at her through the camera, and was surprised to find she had tucked the bottom of her dress under her feet and under the legs of the chair all around. "Why, Madam., why fix your dress so for?" he asked; "you'll not look half so well that way." "Ah, I know what I am doing; my daughter looked through that thing when she was here to get her picture last week, and she says as soon as you look at that little glass the person you look at turns upside down."

Did you realize that auctions were a thing in 1871? Here is a copy of an advertisement that appears in the paper: 

Rocky Mountain News
May 11, 1871

So the next time you want to add some color, or tidbits for realism take a look at the newspaper; the ads, the personals, and those short pieces of filler. What a treasure trove there is. 

For the reader, you might want to check out a few issues of those historic papers. You might be surprised at what you find.

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Author of "The Agate Gulch" Novellas and "Kiowa Wells" novels.

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

Website: Angela Raines - author

Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here

Post (c) 2021 by Doris McCraw  All Rights Reserved

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Ads from Bygone Years

By Andrea Downing (with apologies for the quality of the photos)

Some time ago, while renovating a Victorian house in the UK, I came upon a bunch of old magazines…very old magazines.  Since then, I’ve encountered and kept a few more because I’m fascinated by the ads and advice and stories in them.  I thought some of you might also enjoy seeing a few of the ads, or even find use for them in an HWR you’re writing—though heaven knows not all of these are appealing. What gets me more than anything is some of the claims, but I also enjoy thinking about how times have changed.

From Petersen’s Magazine of August, 1873, we have the first of a couple of corsets.  Madame Foy claims this one to be a ‘skirt supporter’—I’m not sure how that works.  We also have an ad for the Great Western Gun Works, which will give you an idea of the price of guns during this period. But what amazes me is that Petersen’s was specifically a woman’s magazine—it had patterns to sew the latest fashions and other features directed at women.  Maybe they were thinking of ranching women?

Next is Scribner’s of March, 1878.  There’s this ad directed at the upper crust of society; who else could afford a five-glass landau? At the other end of modes of transport, we have the supposed “World’s ONLY Manufacturer of Wheel Chairs.” In a pre-PC world, there was no hold on how one described disabled people, I note.

Another issue of Petersen’s, this one from August, 1878, has this ad for a truss, looking like something of a cross between the Inquisition tortures and a chastity belt. I guess hernia surgery was not yet developed.

A second issue of Scribner’s, from October 1880, has this delightful ad for a bicycle. Imagine! Riding 1404 miles in 6 days—standing up! My legs ache just thinking of it. And there’s an ad for Vaseline, still with us today, but, look, in those days it made hair grow when nothing else would and was good for pimples, too! But even better is Cocoaine (sic) that prevents hair from falling, softens the hair, soothes irritated scalps and cures dandruff.  Wow. There must’ve been an awful lot of addicts going around with terrific hair.

Over in the UK in April, 1909, in a magazine called Our Home, we see our second corset, the Kosybak.  It had no back lacing or back opening, nor hard, unyielding dangerous busks-it had come to "stay"!  Get it? They don’t tell you how a woman would get into it, but there was a free book which I guess explained everything. Also in this issue was an ad for Valentine’s Extract, which seems to be some extract of walnut for dying hair. And you could get a free bottle to try…

Finally, from Sept. 22, 1917, (during WWI) the Literary Digest shows us that a few products still available today were around then. Although Campbells bought Franco-American in 1915, the logo is still around, though maybe not with a label claiming beef broth is for children and invalids.

Scott tissue is still around (although difficult to find in pandemic times) & hopefully has still ‘never been used before.’

Have a look at The Comptometer, an adding machine they claim is easy enough for a woman to use, thereby saving companies tons of money in paying men! If the men would have been paid $75 a week, one can only imagine what the women were paid.

Genco, a cutlery company, was making razors for the troops, the only ad I spotted  to mention the war.

Did you know there were dishwashers in 1917? No, not the husband of the house; I’m talkin’ electric dishwashers which washed your dishes in five minutes!  My own takes over two hours so maybe they were better then.

And last but certainly not least, we have Lastbestos Roof Tile—fireproof! And as we were later to discover, a whole lot more…

I wonder if in years to come people will think of our current advertisements with the same amazement?

My own HWR does not contain any of these fabulous items, but hopefully you’ll enjoy it just as much! It’s getting some great reviews so why not mosey on over to your favorite site:

  Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Shot-Through-Heart-Andrea-Downing-ebook/dp/B08DHV8VQ5/

Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shot-through-the-heart-andrea-downing/1137387142?ean=9781509232345

iBooks on app

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54751926-shot-through-the-heart

BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/books/shot-through-the-heart-by-andrea-downing

Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/shot-through-the-heart-18

Gunslinger Shiloh Coltrane has returned home to work the family's Wyoming ranch, only to find there's still violence ahead. His sister and nephew have been murdered, and the killers are at large.
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