White text and white and red image of a smiling coffee cup with eyes on a red background

Peace Coffee has roasted coffee beans in Minneapolis, Minnesota since 1996. Its mission is to produce organic, fair-trade coffee and support ethical farming practices while remaining environmentally conscious. As Peace Coffee's success grew, they forged multiple partnerships with large retailers, including Costco, Target, and Whole Foods. People can order a cup of brewed Peace Coffee at cafes in the Minneapolis region and or buy beans online, with drink recipes and brew guides available.

Image of blue, red and white macaroni and cheese box with cigarettes coming out of the box and red text at the top and near the bottom of the button. Background is white with rust stains on the sides and bottom borders. 

Starting in 1994 the INFACT Corporate Accountability organization formed a protest of Kraft Foods, due to its connection with Philip Morris Tobacco Company. The purpose of the boycott was to educate consumers of the way Philip Morris was using advertisements which would appeal to younger people, encouraging them to start smoking, while also selling the popular Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Dinner to families. The boycott was held for nine years; a Harris Interactive poll from 2001 indicated that 16% of respondents to their survey had boycotted the products over the previous year.

Sepia-toned photograph of a Victorian-era woman's head and shoulders on an orange background

What would Mrs. Grundy say? She would probably say that today’s fashion is far too revealing, popular music and television too suggestive, and modern technology distracting young people from their traditional values. 

Mrs. Grundy originally appeared in 1798 as a character in the play “Speed the Plough” by Thomas Morton. The play is set in a rural English village and is about a family of farmers, the Ashfield’s. Sir Philip Blandford plans to evict them, but it is soon revealed that their son, Henry, is actually the illegitimate son of Sir Philip, resolving the conflict and securing Henry as the rightful heir to Sir Phillip’s estate. Throughout the play, Henry’s mother, Dame Ashfield, grows increasingly concerned with the opinion of their neighbor, Mrs. Grundy, and continuously asks herself and others, “What would Mrs. Grundy say?” Mrs. Grundy herself never actually appears throughout the entirety of the play and only exists in Dame Ashfield’s anxious questioning. Mrs. Grundy becomes an unseen character symbolizing societal pressures and strict traditional values, as well as the role of public opinion is shaping one's behavior. 

Just a few years after the play was first performed, “Mrs. Grundy” was adopted as a term, often used to criticize someone for being excessively prude or moral. By the 20th century, Mrs. Grundy became a political symbol and “grundyism” emerged and is still a relevant term used today, especially in discussions of media censorship. As defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, grundyism is “​​a narrow prudish intolerant conventionality especially as to the proprieties.” 

Red and blue text on a white background; the number "1" is illustrated to look like the button on a touch-tone phone

By the year 1912, phone calls could be made as far apart as New York and Colorado and by 1915 the technology for calls that stretched fully across the country had been invented. By no means easily accessible or widespread, people had to go to specialty phone boxes and human operators that would route calls in order to conduct long distance calls. It wasn’t until 1951 that telephone companies had advanced to the point that direct dialing long distance calls became an option on the phones people had in their businesses and homes. The first long distance direct dial call was between the mayor of Englewood, New Jersey and the mayor of Alameda, California on November 10, 1951.

White text on a red background

Please contact us if you have more information.

Blue and red text on a white background

Amid political frustration, it can be challenging to decide who to vote for. A common sentiment amongst undecided voters, the phrase seen here is also a popular slogan within third party candidates in the United States and their supporters. Third party candidates are diverse in their viewpoints, but share a similar "rebelling" stance against the two-party system—and those who vote on strict Democratic or Republican party lines.

Red text on a white background with a blue rim

Please contact us if you have more information.

White background with an illustration of the heads of the four members of the Monkees surrounding a black Monkees text logo with black text above and below 

The Monkees was the name of a band created for a TV show by the same name in 1966. The band was comprised of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. The show ran on NBC from 1966-1968, but the pop rock band gained real popularity, with hit songs such as “I’m a Believer.” The television program won two Emmys in its first year and the group had four albums hit the Billboard chart in one year. In the 1980s, the group toured and made special appearances around the country; in 1996, they released a reunion album. In the years after the death of Jones and Took, Nesmith and Dolenz went on tour as the Monkees once more in 2021.  

White background with an illustration of the heads of the four members of the Monkees in a red car with a red text logo above

The Monkees was a band created for a TV show by the same name in 1966. The band members included Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. The Monkees show ran on NBC from 1966-1968, but the pop rock band gained real world popularity, with hit songs such as “I’m a Believer.” In the 1980s the group would go on tours and special appearances, and they put out a 1996 reunion album. The television program won two Emmys in its first year and the group had four albums hit the Billboard chart in one year. In the years after the death of Jones and Took, Nesmith and Dolenz went on tour as The Monkees once more in 2021. 

Illustration of a rooster with a red comb on a blue background surrounded by red text on a white background 

Composed of “choice grains and seeds,” Red Comb Poultry Feed was advertised in 1910 as being, “a carefully balanced ration for Chicks from the ‘Cradle to the Grav-y’.” The Edwards and Loomis Company, manufacturers of Red Comb Poultry Feed and Red Horns Dairy Feeds, kept an office in Chicago. 

This button was found in the walls of a house in Chicago built in 1905. Was the button received as a promotional item, dropped, and lost in the house in the early 1900s? How did it get there? The mystery may never be solved…