ITEM 200: Wooden Hanging Wall Mirror
Found on: 6/13/15
Materials: wood, glass
Damage/wear: scratches and chipping, white paint stain, base is unstable
Provenance: Taiwan
Factory/production details: This was manufactured in an unknown location in Taiwan for an unknown company.
Date or date range: unknown
Still in production: unknown
Rare: unknown
Still attainable from: unknown
Value: unknown
Use: This was hung on a wall as decoration and/or for someone to look at him- or herself. The mirror has a small platform for the placement of small objects. Strangely, the back of the mirror has a removable panel, similar to picture frames, implying that one might be able to replace the mirror with an image if one became tired of seeing one’s own face.
ITEM 198: Standing Owl Doll Named “Ralph”
Found on: 7/27/15
Materials: synthetic leather-like fabric, cotton or cotton-like fabric, synthetic fiber, synthetic fur, synthetic feathers, plastic
Damage/wear: surface of jacket is flaking, base is unstable
Provenance: Taiwan
Production details: There is no information about this owl, other than a sticker saying it was made in Taiwan. On the base, there is a gold-colored plate reading “RALPH,” which suggests that there may exist (or have existed) other owl characters, perhaps with different outfits.
Date or date range: unknown
Still in production: unknown
Rare: unknown
Still attainable from: unknown
Value: unknown
Use: This was either a toy for a child or was used to decorate someone’s home. Perhaps it was meant to convey a nautical theme, since the owl is wearing what looks like a rain jacket and boots and is holding some rope. Incidentally, the rope is very similar to that which is missing from Item 136, empty spool of 3/8″ double braid nylon rope, white and gold (300 ft.), 4700lb. breaking strength.
ITEM 199: Silk Skirt
Found on: 7/1/15
Materials: silk, rayon
Damage/wear: none
Provenance: India
Factory/production details: This was manufactured at an unknown location in India for an unknown company.
Date or date range: unknown
Still in production: unknown
Rare: unknown
Still attainable from: unknown
Value: unknown
Use: This is a skirt that would have been worn by a woman, who would wrap it around herself a few times and then secure it with the ties.
ITEM 187: RC Sportsman, October 1979 Issue
Found on: 6/30/15
Materials: paper
Damage/wear: yellowing
Provenance: RC Sportsman printing facility, Reno, NV
Production details: It is unknown when RC Sportsman began, and when it ended. At the time of this issue, the publisher and editor was Jim Sunday. User “TLyttle” on a rcgroups.com forum claims that Jim Sunday send him a “huffy” response to his letter asking about RC Sportsman after it folded. “[C]ould be that he lost a bucket of money on the venture, that would explain his attitude…” TLyttle speculates. The magazine at some other point was published by Ed Sweeney, who also published American Aircraft Modeler and whose son was continuing the tradition as late as 2012.
This issue identifies RC Sportsman as being from Reno, NV, and since it doesn’t seem to have been a very large publication, it seems likely this was printed in Reno, NV as well.
Date or date range: October 1979
Still in production: no
Rare: yes
Still attainable from: not currently available, other 1970s RC Sportsman issues available on eBay
Value: retailed for 95 cents (about $3.12 adjusted for inflation); 1970s issues of RC Sportsman now sell for $11-19 on eBay
Use: This magazine was meant for a radio control enthusiast. It contains articles about recent RC competitions, new models, mathematics related to structural design, and different types of engines. It also contains advertisements for related products and, in the middle, 8 page that comprise the pattern for a model airplane called “Buccaneer,” designed by Ross Woodcock and meant to be constructed out of balsa wood. The cover story describes the F3B World Soaring Championship in Amay, Belgium, with the caption under the photo reading:
The singular most crowd pleasing flite [sic] put in by anyone at the F3B 2nd World Soaring Championships was by this lady and her flying broomstick. Two of these rogallo caped, .40 powered witches were flown by the local club during demonstrations.
ITEM 178: Money Gift Wrap
Found on: 8/1/15
Materials: paper, plastic
Damage/wear: none
Provenance: (former) Cleo Wrap plant, US; possibly 4025 Viscount Ave., Memphis, TN
Production details: This item was manufactured by Cleo Wrap, a wrapping paper company founded by Charles Wurtzburger and named after Cleopatra. It existed at least as early as 1953, which is when its Memphis, TN plant was established. In 1965, Wurtzburger sold the company to Gibson Greetings, Inc., a major American greeting card manufacturer founded in 1850 by a group of Scottish brothers who had brought a lithography press when they immigrated to the US. Cleo at some point had five factories, including a gift wrap factory in Memphis and a gift tag factory in Bloomington, IN (later moved to Reynosa, Mexico, and McAllen, TX). In 1994, it turned out that Gibson had overstated Cleo’s year-end inventory by $8.8 million, leading to five separate class action suits by investors. The next year, Gibson sold Cleo to CSS Industries, a greeting card company founded in 1923 originally as a holding company. Although CSS closed four of Cleo’s five factories, the company continued to produce wrapping paper that was sold at Wal-Mart, Kmart, Sears, Walgreens, and other such stores: in 2003, it produced enough wrapping paper to circle the earth 15 times. In 2011, CSS Industries sold Cleo to Impact Innovations, Inc., a paper products company founded in 1968 in Clara City, Minnesota. This was shortly after Cleo announced plans to close its last remaining plant, a 1.75 million square foot factory and warehouse that during its peak had been the largest employer in Memphis. That plant had generally good reviews from employees (except for two reviews seemingly written by the same disgruntled machine operator). “During my employment at Cleo Inc it was an environment of family and friends,” says one reviewer. “Since this company has closed we have all remained in touch with each other on a regular base [sic].” Another employee laments that “[I] would still be at cleo if they woulnt have moved to china [sic]”. It’s possible this paper was made at the Memphis plant, which appears empty on StreetView but still has a small sign on a chain link fence reading, “Cleo Inc Receiving.” Turning back the history slider to 2007 – before the plant closed – one sees the parking lot full of cars.
Date or date range: before 1995 (label still lists Cleo as a division of Gibson)
Still in production: no
Rare: yes
Still attainable from: this pattern not currently available; other patterns available on eBay and Etsy
Value: other 1990s Cleo wrapping paper is $4.95 on Etsy
Use: This would have been used to wrap a gift, perhaps by or for someone with a sense of humor.
ITEM 190: Flashcard from Longman ESL Literacy
Found on: 6/21/15
Materials: paper, plastic
Damage/wear: none
Provenance: ?
Production details: This is a photocopied and laminated page from a book published by Longman Publishing Group (now Pearson Longman). That company was founded in London by Thomas Longman in 1724 as Longman Company. Its publications included dictionaries and educational guides (such as Historical and Miscellaneous Questions for the Use of Young People in 1857). The company was family-owned until 1948 and was bought by Pearson, a global publisher, in 1968. Pearson Longman specialized, and continues to specialize, in educational materials, with the Longman division being used primarily for English as a second language. The Longman name and brand, however, has been phrased out, and what used to be pearsonlongman.com is now pearsonELT.com.
The book that this flashcard is from was the 1991 edition of Longman ESL Literacy, written by Yvonne Wong Nishio, a Los Angeles Unified School District teacher and counselor. The book went through several editions, most recently in 2006. It’s unclear where it was published.
Date or date range: in or after 1991
Still in production: no; it’s possible a more current edition is being produced
Rare: no
Still attainable from: 2006 edition available on Amazon
Value: 2006 edition is $25.22 on Amazon; 1991 edition is for some reason $708.66 on Amazon
Use: This flashcard was copied out of Longman ESL Literacy by someone who was teaching English as a second language. Longman ESL Literacy is intended for beginner students who are not yet ready for a Longman Level 1 course. For instance, Unit 1 covers the alphabet, and Unit 2 covers numbers. Because the book is intended for teachers, it includes lesson plans, activities, tests, and flashcards. The teacher photocopied one of the flashcards and laminated it for longer classroom use. Presumably, each flashcard shows an action or a situation for which the students was supposed to come up with an appropriate English phrase. This illustration shows a man pointing at something in a store, while a store employee points at it as well. A label that the teacher has placed on the back side reads, “May I help you?”
ITEM 194: Technical Instruments Microscope
Found on: 6/10/15
Materials: metal, glass, plastic
Damage/wear: scratches and worn surface
Provenance: Japan
Production details: This microscope was made by an unknown manufacturer in an unknown location in Japan for Technical Instruments, a Northern California supplier of microscopy products and services. Technical Instruments, also known as Hyphenated Systems, is headquartered in Burlingame, CA (not far from the Bureau of Suspended Objects) and has existed at least as early as the 1950s. At some point it also offered another somewhat similar microscope model, gray and with a mirror instead of an electrical light; this model was also made in Japan.
Date or date range: unknown, looks like it could be from the 70s and was found with other items from the 70s
Still in production: no
Rare: ?
Still attainable from: not currently available
Value: used and missing stage was previously $25 on eBay
Use: This was used in a San Francisco school, probably in a science classroom. Students would have used it to look at microscopic specimens (pond water, cheek swabs, etc.).
ITEM 185: Summer 1968 Disneyland Ticketbook
Found on: 7/11/15
Materials: paper, cardboard
Damage/wear: missing tickets
Provenance: US, at an unknown Globe Ticket printing facilitiy
Production details: This ticket was produced by Globe Ticket Company. According to company lore, it was started in 1868 when a 12 year old boy named Walter E. Hering found a $5 bill in front of his house. He used it to buy a printing press and started selling calling cards. His company went on to print tickets for the Ringling Brothers Circus, Woodstock, the 1989 Presidential Inauguration, and the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
In 1900, the company established a printing and 5-story brick warehouse at 112 North 12th St. in Philadelphia. By the time this ticket was printed, it had other locations, including the Los Angeles facility where this ticket was made. The original Philadelphia facility, a 5-story brick building, has since been listed on the National Register of Historic Places; the inside has been converted to condos and a dry cleaning business occupies the first floor. Meanwhile, Globe Ticket continues to sell tickets, along with wristbands, cash carrying cases, press passes, penny social cards, punches, and more.
The ticket’s design was produced by Walt Disney Productions (currently Walt Disney Company). Disney was originally founded as Disney Brother Studios by the animator Walt Disney and his brother Roy, a businessman, in 1923. The business was incorporated as Walt Disney Productions, Ltd. in 1929. It produced animated films and, during World War II, comical propaganda shorts. The word Disneyland was first used as the name of a regular television series that Disney began in 1950 – on which a preview (co-hosted by Ronald Reagan) of Disneyland the theme park was broadcast in 1955. Between 1965 and 1970 (during which time this ticket was likely printed), park attendance grew from 6.5 to 10 million annually. The ticket design was largely unchanged from the mid 1960s to the late 1970s. However, after Walt Disney died in December 1966, the pink stamp of his signature (visible on earlier tickets) was replaced with “WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS,” as seen here.
The Walt Disney Company continues to produce films and TV shows, and it now owns and licenses 14 theme parks. Disneyland tickets are now one- or several-day passes; they stopped using the ticket-per-ride in 1981 under the pressure of competition with the neighboring Six Flags: Magic Mountain.
Date or date range: May 1968
Still in production: no
Rare: somewhat (tickets from this specific year; vintage Disneyland tickets in general are easy to find)
Still attainable from: eBay
Value: retailed for $5.75 (about $40 adjusted for inflation); would currently be $120 with the tickets still in it
Use: This ticket book originally contained 15 “coupons” that were identified as either A, B, C, D, or E, with each letter indicating a value category. “E” tickets got you on the biggest or best rides, “A” on the smallest ones. A person bought this at Disneyland in the summer of 1968 and marked 16 rides that he or she wanted to go on. This means he or she likely went on 15 of the following (note: links are to 60s and 70s footage whenever possible):
• Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (1965 - present) - speaking animatronic version of Abraham Lincoln that debuted at the New York World’s Fair in 1964 and Disneyland in 1965
• People Mover (1967 - 1995) - tram system / tour of Tomorrowland; played this music on the loading platform
• Tomorrowland Jets (1956 - present) - ride in which “jets” make circles around a central rocket. It was originally called Astro Jets, but United Airlines complained that it was free advertising for Astrojet, a service provided by American Airlines. Its name was changed to Rocket Jets in late 1967, but the name isn’t updated on this ticket. That might be because (judging from the appearance of the ink) Globe Ticket seems to have stamped and not printed these tickets, so it may have taken time to update the stamp.
• Tomorrowland Autopia (1955 - present) - attraction in which parkgoers drive cars on an enclosed track. The name was a portmanteau of “automobile” and “utopia”; since the country’s interstate highway system was still under development at the time, it was supposed to represent the future of highways. The cars generate exhaust, so park workers near the ride are compensated an extra 20 cents an hour.
• Submarine Voyage (1959-1998) - a boat ride where the rider could look through portholes at lagoons, an underwater ship graveyard, the North Pole, the deep sea, mermaids, Atlantis, and a sea serpent. The ships were modeled after a nuclear submarine and cost $80,000 each to build. This was one of the first rides to require an “E” ticket.
• Monorail via Disneyland Hotel (1959 - present) - transportation from the Disneyland Hotel to the park; first monorail in the US.
• King Arthur Carrousel (1955 - present) - a carrousel attraction in Fantasyland; the carrousel was purchased from Sunnyside Amusement Park in Toronto, which opened in 1922. Some parts of it may date back to 1875. When it was purchased, only some of the animals on it were “jumping” horses – additional horses from Coney Island had to be added.
• Casey Jr. Circus Train (1955 - present) - miniature train / slow roller coaster, named after the train in Dumbo (1941), which passes through miniature versions of Disney film scenes. Meant for small children.
• Peter Pan’s Flight (1955 - present) - indoor dark ride in which parkgoers “flew” through scenes of the nursery, London, Neverland, and Skull Rock from Peter Pan (1953), while music from the film’s soundtrack played. People were initially confused about why Peter Pan was not in the ride, not grasping that the flying motion was supposed to make them feel like Peter Pan themselves.
• Storybook Land Canal Boats (1955 - present) - similar to the Casey Jr. Circus Train, except with boats that are scaled-down replicas of Dutch, English and French boats. The boat passes into a cave shaved to look like Monstro the whale from Pinocchio (1940) and past miniature scenes from other films. After the ticket-per-ride system was scrapped, the booth where they used to collect tickets (”D” tickets in the case of this ride) was converted into a lighthouse.
• Alice in Wonderland (1958 - present) - indoor dark ride in which parkgoers ride in caterpillar-shaped trains into a “rabbit” hole and see scenes and characters from Alice and Wonderland (1951)
• Matterhorn Bobsleds (1959 - present) - rollercoaster that mimics bobsledding on the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Swiss Alps. The “mountain” started as a pile of dirt excavated from the moat around Sleeping Beauty Castle. Disneyland put benches on the pile and encouraged its use as a picnic area, but instead people used it as a place to make out at night. While Walt Disney was filming Third Man on the Mountain (1959) in the Alps, he was inspired to turn the hill into Matterhorn. Throughout the day, park employees dressed as Swiss climbers can occasionally be seen scaling the peak along with Mickey Mouse and Goofy.
• It’s a Small World (1966 - present) - indoor dark boat ride in which riders see animatronic version of children from around the world singing “It’s a Small World After All.” A version of the ride originally debuted in the UNICEF pavilion at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
• Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland (1960 - 1979) - miniature train ride through a desert environment with animatronic desert animals and anthropomorphic cacti; closed in 1979 to make room for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
• Jungle Cruise (1955 - present) - riverboat cruise down versions of major rivers in Asia, Africa and South America with animatronic elephants and other jungle animals; boats are replicas of tramp steamers and were inspired by the film The African Queen (1951).
• Swiss Family Treehouse (1962 - 1999) - treehouse in which visitors can walk around and see scenes from Swiss Family Robinson (1960); the attraction required a “C” ticket. It has since been replaced with Tarzan’s Treehouse.
ITEM 197: Killinger Hi-Jacs Coasters
Found on: 8/15
Materials: cotton
Damage/wear: some scratches on box
Provenance: Marion, VA
Factory/production details: These coasters were made by the Killinger Company. It’s unclear when the Killinger Company was founded, but it existed at least as early as 1940, and this iteration of Hi-Jacs may have been among its first. The company was founded by George Glenn Killinger, who served as the Chief of Psychobiological Service for the War Shipping Administration during World War II and who edited The Psychobiological Program of the War Shipping Administration in 1947. The book describes a program of questioning for incoming soldiers that lumps together what are understood to be social and physical ailments:
…several items from the Inventory are of themselves indicative of probable maladjustment: thus, items dealing with headaches, fainting spells, head injuries, dizziness, enuresis, visits to a doctor or hospital for nervousness, convulsions, arrests and imprisonments are termed ‘stop’ items. A trainee who gives a deviant response to even one of these stop items is called in for special interview regardless of his total score. The personal background data are also scanned for possible indications of mental deviation.
At the time of this book’s writing, according to one of its footnotes, Killinger was already heading the Killinger Company in Marion, VA. Either the company only made coasters, or those are its only products that are remembered. In addition to Hi-Jacs, it also made Lo-Jacs for use with wine glasses. Given that it didn’t seem to produce much else and that this is an early version of Hi-Jacs, it’s likely this item was manufactured in Marion.
Killinger went on to work as the Director of Education for the US Bureau of Prisons and later on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. In 1965 he became the founding director of the Institute of Contemporary Corrections and Behavioral Sciences at Sam Houston University in Huntsville, TX. Meanwhile, Hi-Jacs continued to be produced into the 1960s, with varying designs of boxes and coasters. It’s unclear why and when the Killinger Company went out of business. George Killinger died in 1993.
Date or date range: 1940s
Still in production: no
Rare: no
Still attainable from: Etsy, eBay
Value: $13-18
Use: These are meant to be put on the bottoms of cups in order to prevent stains from forming on the surfaces of furniture or clothing. Each one fits snugly around a pint glass and would probably work with smaller-sized glasses as well. Additionally, the coasters could be used to help someone tell his or her cup from others. The inside of the box provides washing instructions, reminds you to put the coaster on before filling your glass, and suggests that these might “add interest to parties.” Early on, according to a 1940 LIFE magazine ad, they could be ordered with three-letter monograms.
ITEM 189: USAF International Correspondence School Booklets
Found on: 6/30
Materials: paper
Damage/wear: yellowing
Provenance: U.S.; likely at ICS printing facility on Ash and Wyoming St., Scranton, PA
Oroduction details: These booklets were published by the International Textbook Company, a subsidiary of the International Correspondence School, founded in 1895 in Scranton, PA. The ICS began a few years earlier as a Q&A column in Colliery Engineer and Metal Miner, a Shenandoah, PA mining journal published by the founder of ICS, Thomas J. Foster. At the time, extensive testing was required of miners and inspectors was called for in response to the New Pennsylvania Mine Safety Act of 1885. The questions on the tests were detailed and confusing; Foster invited miners to send in questions to be answered and published by the journal staff. This led to a mining school, which led to the formation of ICS. The school published and distributed instructional booklets with examinations that students would take and mail in for evaluation. The booklets covered utilitarian subjects: salesmanship, management, freight logistics, grammar, automobile engines, electronics, heating, geometrical drawing, telephone and radio operation, audio amplifiers, woodworking, milling, metallurgy and metallography, metalwork, chemistry, hydraulics, and more. These offerings were known altogether as “The International Library of Technology.”
At the turn of the century, one out of every 27 American adults had taken an ICS course, and by 1930, four million people had enrolled cumulatively. During World War II, ICS was awarded a War Department contract to develop training manuals – it’s possible these booklets are a product of that, unless the War Department commissioned something more combat-specific. In general, the ICS saw its mission as fostering “practical men with a technical education, and technical men with a practical education,” with an emphasis on upward economic mobility for those who were willing to educate themselves. It’s unclear why the company had “international” in its name, and further unclear why these booklets have Great Britain copyrights. ICS went bankrupt in 1996, possibly because the associate degrees offered by trade schools and community colleges had absorbed the demand for vocational training. After that, the corporate history of ICS is murky. For some undetermined period of time, it was known as Education Direct, and at some later point became Penn Foster Career School, which was owned by Thomson Corporation, one of the world’s largest information companies at the time. The Wicks Group, a private equity firm, bought Penn Foster in 2007, and in 2009 sold it to the Princeton Review, an educational support company who then sold it to Charlesbank Capital Partners, a private equity firm, in 2012. That company was later named Education Holdings 1, Inc., and filed for bankruptcy in 2013. It’s thus unclear who owns Penn Foster at the moment, but in the meantime, it continues to offer online vocational degrees.
ICS initially occupied part of the Coal Exchange Building in Scranton. As the company grew, it built a large four-story brick building on the corner of Ash and Wyoming Streets in Scranton, PA, largely for the purposes of printing. According to a 1914 history of ICS, in 1910 the printing facility processed five and a half tons of paper a day, took in 8,000 cattle hides and 6,000 goat hides a year for binding, and turned out 1,000 textbooks a day, averaging 500 pages each. It seems likely that these booklets were made in this building, unless ICS expanded further to meet demand. The Ash and Wyoming building no longer exists and has been replaced with either a football field or a Wendy’s.
Date or date range: 1941-5
Still in production: no
Rare: no, though it may be rare to find ones with USAF stamp
Still attainable from: eBay
Value: a grouping of 5 similar booklets is typically $5-8 on eBay
Use: The stamps on most of the covers read:
This volume is supplied for use in the study of a course in the UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES INSTITUTE - all correspondence concerning this publication should be addressed to the U. S. Armed Forces institute
The U.S. Armed Forces Institute was founded in 1942 in order to support soldiers whose schooling had been interrupted or who simply wanted to use their spare time for personal education. The institute offered 64 courses in subjects “having obvious usefulness for military men – mathematics, applied science, and technical courses for the most part.” The courses were so popular with soldiers overseas that the USAFI faced logistical challenges coordinating the mail involved. In a 1945 issue of Journal of Chemical Education, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Information and Education Division of the Army Service Forces admits that bored men overseas tend not to be picky about the quality of their courses, and that “actually, some of the Institute’s courses are not of superlative quality”:
They are the best courses which are available … Many of the country’s outstanding colleges and universities have been most generous in making available the cream of their courses for incorporation in the USAFI offerings. The fact remains, however, that some of the Institute’s courses are in no wise extraordinary in quality.
(It’s impossible to determine whether the ICS booklets are being referred to here, but it’s certainly possible.)
The booklets in this pile include: Weights and Measures, Powers and Roots, Decimals, Formulas, Mensuration, Fractions, Elements of Arithmetic, and Ratio and Proportion, which suggests that these were part of a mathematics program. The odd one out is High-Speed Diesel Engines (figures 2-4) - it does not have a stamp and is from a few years later (1945) than the others. Perhaps the user encountered the booklets in the army and later chose to purchase this one separately.
High Speed Diesel Engines, as an example, contains descriptions and diagrams of the inner workings of several types of diesel engines (direct-injection type, precombustion chamber type, surface-ignition oil engine, etc.) with accompanying labeled illustrations. The last two pages of the booklet are a test, with questions like “what are the disadvantages of the injection to fuel by means of compressed air?” and instructions to mail your answers to the International Correspondence School. Presumably these answers were returned with some kind of evaluation; someone completing enough or certain courses could earn a degree that would have been recognized by employers at the time. So, either this person was merely interested in diesel engines, or perhaps hoped to get a related job in the future.