Museum Artifacts: Morton’s Free Running Salt and Sausage Seasoning (1930s) + Morton Salt Cardboard Store Display and Advertising Blotters (1950s)
Made By: Morton Salt Company, 1357 N. Elston Ave., Chicago, IL
“Out of every 10 pounds of salt produced in this country, 9 you never see! . . . Of the salt you do see—table and household salt—only a little more than a billion pounds are consumed each year.
Museum Artifact: Planert Ice Skate Sharpening Jig (1910s) and Ice Skate Box (1930s)
Made By: F.W. Planert & Sons, Inc., 935-941 N Damen Ave., Chicago, IL
“Perfect design—perfect alignment—perfect fit and perfect performance. The New Planert All Steel—Full Tubular Skates are now the most popular of all skates. Their beautiful stream lines—their perfect fitting fine leather shoes and wonderful quality steel construction has won the hearts of every boy and girl who appreciates speed,
Museum Artifact: Lucky Brown Hair Pressing Oil, 1938
Made By: Valmor Products Co. / Famous Products Co., 2241 S. Indiana Ave., Chicago, IL
Whether you enjoy debating the ethics of cultural appropriation, the definition of true art, or the line between female empowerment and objectification, the story of the Valmor Products Company basically covers all the bases—like a pulp-novel catalog of 20th century American contradictions.
Museum Artifact: Pepsodent Antiseptic Bottle, c. 1930s
Made By: The Pepsodent Co., 6901 W. 65th Street, Chicago, IL
“Pepsodent Mouth Wash kills the stubborn germs in the fastest time it is possible for science to record . . . This remarkable discovery is a new and powerful weapon in fighting germ infections and diseases. It combats instantly the social evil of bad breath.” —Pepsodent Antiseptic advertisement,
Museum Artifact: Art-O-Lite Reflector Art Lamp, c. 1930s
Made By: American Reflector & Lighting Company, 100 South Jefferson St., Chicago, IL
“There are depths of feeling in every work of art that are lost to the beholder until they are revealed at their full worth with Art-O-Lite Reflectors.” —American Reflector & Lighting Company advertisement, 1923
For a business that spent roughly a century specializing in illumination,
Museum Artifact: Tinkertoy Wonder Builder Set, c. 1930s
Made By: The Toy Tinkers, Inc., 2012 Ridge Ave., Evanston, IL
“Toys haven’t been considered a ‘regular business’ in the United States until very recent years. We relied on Japan and Europe to supply our children; and, by and large, a very inferior article they supplied. But toys are coming up here in a business way these days,
Museum Artifact: First Edition “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Illustrated Book by Robert L. May, 1939
Made By: Montgomery Ward & Co., Inc., 758 N. Larrabee Street, Chicago, IL
“Today children all over the world read and hear about the little deer who started out in life as a loser just as I did. But they learn that when he gave himself for others his handicap became the very means through which he achieved happiness.
Museum Artifacts: Chicago Roller Skates w/ White Boots and No. 78 SPL Wheels (c. 1939), Chicago Roller Skates w/ Brown Boots (c. 1945), and Chicago Skates without boots (c. 1920s)
Made By: Chicago Roller Skate Company, 4458 W. Lake St., Chicago, IL
“They used to call him ‘Slow-Poke’ when he had those old-fashioned, slow, hard-rolling skates. But, Oh Boy! On ‘Chicagos’ he whizzes to the lead like a flash.
Museum Artifact: No. 2745 Handy Pen-Filling Ink Stand, c. 1930
Made By: Eugene Dietzgen Co., 990 W. Fullerton Ave., Chicago, IL
“Wherever Dietzgen products go, something important is always brewing. It may be in a little office in some huge factory where a new high-altitude plane is being born on the drawing board. It may be in far-off Africa where new flying fields or military highways are to take shape amid burning sands for a new turn in war strategy.
Museum Artifact: Wide Gauge “Pocahontas” Electric Model Train Set with No. 4637 “Shasta” Locomotive, c. 1928, and O-Gauge Cast Iron Locomotive No. 3195, c. 1930.
Made by: American Flyer MFG Co., 2229 S. Halsted St., Chicago, IL
“Just Like Real Trains: The new 1928 American Flyer Rainbow Line radiates an atmosphere of supreme quality. Its exquisite beauty, realistic design, and skillful workmanship will instantly capture your admiration.
Museum Artifacts: Franklin D. Roosevelt Pinback Campaign Button (1936), and 22 Pinbacks of Flags from Around the World (c. 1920s)
Made By: The Green Duck Company, 1725 W. North Ave., Chicago, IL
“We were as happy to be of service to the GOP as to the Democrats, and vice versa. Where politics is concerned, ‘I’m For Me’ and Green Duck is for Green Duck.
Museum Artifact: Bally Mechanical Slot Machine Reel, c. 1930s
Made By: Bally MFG Co., 2640 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago, IL
Bally is one of the most recognizable and yet seemingly untethered brand names in America. It’s been associated—depending on your age and demographic—with arcade video games, casinos, rollercoaster theme parks, fitness club chains, and, starting in 2021, a stable of regional TV sports networks.
Museum Artifacts: 1933 Chicago World’s Fair Postcards (C.T. American Art and C.T. Colortone), published by Max Rigot Selling Company
Made By: Curt Teich & Company, 1733-1755 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago, IL
“If one were seeking the vernacular aesthetic of a period, the postcard is where you will find it . . . It is the least elitist form of artefact.” —Tom Phillips,
Museum Artifacts: Cast Iron Fry Cutter (1930s) & Stainless Steel Ice Cream Scoop, (1960s)
Made By: Bloomfield MFG Co. / Bloomfield Industries, 3333 S. Wells St. and 4546 W. 47th St.
Some men have lived and learned through living
Some men have learned by seein’ true
You cannot judge from what they’re sayin’
It’s real clear from what they do
—lyrics by Michael Bloomfield from the song “Good Old Guy,”
Museum Artifact: AMPRO Precision Projector, KS model, c. 1936
Made By: The Ampro Corporation., 2839-51 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL
“Everything that projection engineers could wish to achieve . . . everything that you movie-makers have felt should go into the ideal 16mm mechanism . . . everything you could possibly wish for, is combined in the AMPRO Precision Projector.” —advertisement in Movie Makers magazine,
Museum Artifact: Komic Kamera Film Strip Viewer, 1934
Made By: Allied MFG Co., 1338 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL
Once upon a time, during a fleeting moment of optimism smack dab in the solar plexus of the Great Depression, an 18 year-old kid named Harold B. Shapiro applied for a patent on a device he called a “film exhibitor”—a small bakelite box intended for the “direct viewing of scenic or other picture films .
Museum Artifact: Tailor’s Measuring Tape, c. 1930s
Made By: Kling Bros. & Co. Inc., 2300 W. Wabansia Ave, Chicago, IL
“Garments that combine character and charm with lines that are clean cut, comfortable, and correct. . . . Are you one of the ten thousand dealers who know the immeasurable satisfaction to be found in KLING-MADE clothing specialties?”—1920 ad for Kling Bros.
Museum Artifact: Bambino World’s Fair Baseball Board Game, 1933
Made By: The Bambino Products Co., 103-105 S. Jefferson St., Chicago, IL
George Herman “Babe” Ruth—the Great Bambino—was arguably the most famous person in the United States in 1933. Even in the twilight of his baseball career, at age 38, he was literally and figuratively a larger-than-life character; a celebrity as much as a sportsman.
Museum Artifact: Princess Pat Duo-Tone Rouge, c. 1931
Made By: Princess Pat, Ltd., 2709 South Wells Street, Chicago, IL
“She is exquisite, this woman of today. She is frank—too vivid and intense for pretense. She revels in luxury . . . Color, line, softness, she perceives and strives for. She does not fear her mirror.” —excerpt from Princess Pat sales booklet,
Museum Artifact: Knights of Columbus Ceremonial Sword, c. 1930s
Made By: T. C. Gleason MFG Co., 325 W. Madison St., Chicago, IL
A Knights of Columbus sword, as you might presume, is made for symbolic, decorative use—not for combat. That being said, the sword in our collection, likely dating from the 1930s, is just sharp enough—and rusty enough—to at least pose a minor threat of tetanus.
Museum Artifacts: (1) “U.S. Automatic” Pencil Sharpener, 1908; (1) “Giant,” (1) ‘Gem,” (2) “Chicago” (1920s), and (4) “Dexter” sharpeners, 1930s
Made By: Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co. / Spengler-Loomis MFG Co., 58 E. Washington St., Chicago, IL . Factory: 2415 Kishwaukee Street, Rockford, IL.
For many of us, the sight of an old desk-mounted, mechanical pencil sharpener brings back some sensory-charged childhood memories—the thrilling turn of the crank,
