Blue text on a a silver background

The Contractors’ Furniture and Carpet Co. was in operation from the late 1940s through the 1950s in District 5 of Chicago, IL. Contractors’ issued several advertising campaigns using pocket-sized measuring tapes, some of which featured popular drink recipes.

Measuring tapes with centimeter and inch markings were developed in the 1820s. Prior to this development, tailors would use a strip of paper unique to each customer with a coded system of notches made into the paper to indicate the person’s measurements. Since the notch system was not codified, each tailor had their own individual code. The introduction of marked fabric measuring tapes allowed for standardized drafts to be made for garments such as a basic shirt.

Blue text on a white background and a blue and white illustration of a bank building

North West Federal Bank opened on January 1, 1925 in Chicago, in the area now known as Portage Park. The bank closed on February 20, 1982, in a major merger with LaSalle Bank N.A. In 2007, LaSalle Bank N.A. merged with Bank of America. North West Federal Bank's slogan in 1977 was, “A sound place to save." They advertised being open 63 hours a week.

Yellow text on a dark brown background

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Black and white illustration of a range on white background with an outer red edge with white text and red text on an inner white circle with a black stripe across the center with white text

Eternal kitchen ranges with "eternametal" flues were the main feature of an advertising campaign by Engman-Matthews Range. A kitchen range company founded by Harry Engman Jr. in the early 20th century, Engman-Matthews was based in South Bend, Indiana, where several other kitchen range companies operated at the time. One such company, The South Bend Range company, was founded by Jacob Woolverton and William Kizer in 1898.

The South Bend Range company primarily sold coal and wood kitchen ranges, and one of their early partners was Harry Engman Jr. Engman Jr. left not long after beginning his partnership with South Bend Range to establish his own stove manufacturing company, Engman-Matthews Range. Engman-Matthews marketed "eternametal" amalgamated copper and steel kitchen ranges that were supposed to outlast any wear and tear. While their competitor, South Bend Range Company, continued selling ranges late into the 20th century, Engman-Matthews Range did not last past the end of the 1920s. 

Illustration of a building with a blue sky and green tree over a dark brown area with white text and dark brown text on a white background

Cutler's Funeral Home, now Cutler-O'Neill-Meyer-Woodring, is located in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Its former buildings were built in the mid-to-late 1800s.

Prior to the 1970s, many funeral homes, including Cutler's, operated ambulance services. Funeral home hearses were convenient emergency vehicles due to their ability to fit a person laying down on a stretcher. This unregulated practice gradually ended with the passage of the 1966 Highway Safety Act, which established stricter federal guidelines for emergency medical services. Individual states still maintain varying EMS rules and regulations. 

Blue text next to an illustration of a red and white wheel chair on a white background

Born in 1919 in Clio, Alabama, George Wallace was the 45th Democratic governor of his home state, serving four non-consecutive terms. Wallace ran for President three times, but his 1972 campaign was cut short due to an assassination attempt. He was shot and ultimately paralyzed from the waist down. Because of this, he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Wallace returned to serve as governor two years after the assassination attempt, holding the office from 1975-1979 and 1983-1987. He was most well known for his staunch opposition to desegregation although in the late 1970s, during his third term as governor, he renounced his views.

Illustration of a blue winged shape on top of red and white stripes with an outer blue ring with white text

This pin is believed to be a Stewart-Warner promotion for selling war bonds in WWII. The central “wingled shield” design is consistent with Stewart-Warner advertising in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The red, white, and blue color scheme and stars and stripe design strongly suggest US patriotism. Stewart-Warner converted their plants to the war effort and took out aggressive advertising for war bonds, so it seems likely that this was promotion button recognizing war bond buyers and inducing others to buy war bonds.

Stewart-Warner started in Chicago as Stewart & Clark in 1905. They made automotive speedometers and horns and bought their rival, Warner Instrument Company, in 1912. They diversified into phonographs, Alenite and Zerk brand grease fittings, radios, and refrigerators by the late 1930s. During World War II, they exhorted Americans to buy war bonds with advertising verging on scare tactics. Postwar products included printed circuit boards and stadium scoreboards. Stewart-Warner was sold to British Tire and Rubber in 1987, and operations moved to Mexico two years later. The speedometer business was sold off and survives. In fact, they still used the “winged shield” logo on their website, and you can buy new Stewart-warner “Wings” gauges today.

Blue text on a white background

Fred A. Seaton served as a U.S. Senator for the state of Nebraska from 1951 to 1952. He went on to be the Secretary of the Interior under President Dwight D. Eisenhower before vying for Nebraska governorship in 1962. To promote his candidacy, Seaton distributed buttons reading “Friend of Fred” to the Nebraska electorate. However, he was ultimately unsuccessful in the race and lost to the incumbent Democrat Frank B. Morrison.

Red illustration of two people with black and white text on a red and white background

George Wallace and Shirley Chisholm never ran on the same ticket, but a tragic event brought them together and forged an unlikely alliance.

Wallace was, at the time of the 1972 Democratic primary, a staunch supporter of segregation, though he would later recant this stance. Chisholm was also a candidate in the primary, though she had little hope that she would win. When Wallace was shot and paralyzed, cutting his campaign short, Chisholm visited him in the hospital. Chisholm later said that Wallace was surprised to see her. He was so touched by the political risk she took in visiting a vocal segregationist that he cried.

To characterize their connection as a friendship might be a stretch, but Chisholm’s gesture of compassion made an impression on Wallace. He later helped Chisholm bring Southern congressmen around on the issue of extending minimum wage protections to domestic workers.

White text on a blue background

Henry Wallace (1888-1965) was the 33rd Vice President of the United States, founder of the Progressive Party, and the party’s first nominee in the 1948 Presidential election. Appointed as Secretary of Agriculture by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, Wallace was later selected to be his running mate in the 1940 election. After World War II, Wallace was increasingly critical of President Truman and his policies regarding the Cold War and used the Progressive Party to further an agenda which included national health insurance and rectifying relations with the Soviet Union.