The American Home: May 1959

On a recent adventure to North Carolina, my friend Hugo made a pit-stop on the side of a road to read a historical marker. Before he knew it, the marker lead him to Cromer's Covered Bridge, and then to a rundown family store.

Curious, Hugo entered the abandoned store:


"Inside there were remnants of what they once sold, awkwardly distributed as if the store had been abandoned in a rush and a tornado had passed over. Half the roof was missing, so it was quite exposed to the elements. Hence my surprise to find an issue of American Home in perfect condition dating from May 1959!"

Inside American Home, Hugo saw an ad for a paper bag clip, so that folks could keep their grocery bags nicely organized in their kitchen cabinets:


Wow, so there was a time before plastic bags!!!

Hugo sent me a couple more photos of ads in the magazine:

"Keep in mind this is 1959. A time when plastic bags had not made a significant appearance. A time when the milk carton was just being introduced. A time when cars were huge. A time when cellphones were not even in science fiction but there were phonebooths on the road. A time when people were actually concerned with water purification, long before the scares of the environmental movement of the late 60's. A time when people, woman in particular, were actually concerned about their waistlines. Like big cars, it seems big people had always been a part of the American way of life. So I hope you find these ads as illuminating and entertaining as I did."

To see more photos from Hugo's recent adventure, click here.