Museum Artifact: Rock-Ola Hi-Fidelity 120 Wall Box, 1953
Made By: Rock-Ola Manufacturing Corp., 800 North Kedzie Avenue, Chicago, IL
It’s one of the quintessential brand names of American pop culture. Rock-Ola—a word that celebrates and encapsulates both the rock n’ roll explosion of the jukebox’s 1950s golden age and the historic roots of the classic “Victrola” talking machines.
Museum Artifact: Tiger-Ey No. 100-0 Plastic Truck Reflector, c. 1950s
Made by: Do-Ray Lamp Company, 1458 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Vagabond “120” Camera, c. 1951
Made By: United States Camera Co. / Pho-Tak Corporation, 17 N. Loomis St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Liquisan Paint and Varnish Stripper, 1950s
Made By: J. F. Kerns Company, 350 W. Ontario Street, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Lady Esther Face Powder Boxes, c. 1950s
Made By: Lady Esther, Ltd., 7171 W. 65th St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Bowman Cottage Cheese container, c. 1950s
Made By: Bowman Dairy Company, 140 W. Ontario Street, Chicago, IL + Numerous plant locations
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Thor Speed Drill, type 201, c. 1956
Made By: Speedway Manufacturing Co. (division of Thor Power Tool Co.), 1834-1875 S. 52nd Ave. (Laramie Ave.)., Cicero, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Rival Dog Food Coin Banks, 1950s
Made By: Rival Packing Co., 4500 S. Tripp Ave., Chicago, IL
Gimme Ri-val Dog Food, Arf Arf, Arf Arf!
Gimme Ri-val Dog Food, Woof Woof, Woof Woof!
Your Dog’s Eyes Will Shine—Coat Look Fine
On Nourishing Ri-val Dog Food,
Museum Artifact: Reliable Cold Water Wall Size Paste, c. 1950s
Made By: Reliable Paste Company, 3560 S. Shields Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Nestor Johnson MFG Co., 1900 N. Springfield Ave., Chicago, IL
Skillfully shuffling a deck of cards, much like stoically smoking a pack of cigarettes, was a universal method of establishing one’s coolness in 1950s America. The risks of the manual shuffle, however—much like the cigarette smoking—were numerous and potentially deadly. And I’m not just talking about the carpal tunnel and paper cuts. If an amateur card shark failed to evenly redistribute his hearts and clubs,
Museum Artifact: Baby Ruth Display Box, c. 1950s
Made By: Curtiss Candy Company, 337 E. Illinois St., Chicago, IL
“There was never a crack in the integrity of Otto Schnering.”
In 1953—right around the same time the vintage Baby Ruth display box in our collection was made—radio host and author Henry J. Taylor went on the air and delivered a stirring speech / eulogy for the man they used to call the “Candy Bar King.” Taylor was a former business associate and longtime friend of Otto Schnering,
Museum Artifact: Original Lincoln Logs Set 1C, c. 1958
Made By: Lincoln Logs, 1750 N. Lawndale Ave., Chicago, IL
“When I completed the design for ‘Lincoln Logs’ toy construction blocks, their success encouraged me, and making wooden objects became my temporary source of income. Marshsall Field’s bought all I could make.” –John Lloyd Wright, from his memoir My Father, Frank Lloyd Wright,
Museum Artifact: Brunswick Black Scoring Crayons, c. 1950s
Made By: The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Co., 623-633 S. Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Motorola Volumatic AM Car Radio, 1956
Made By: Motorola Inc. / Galvin MFG Corp., 4545 W. Augusta Blvd., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: 3-in-1 Closet Spud Wrench, c. 1960s
Made By: Chicago Specialty MFG Co., 2954 W. Lawrence Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Jays Potato Chip Tin, 1950s
Made By: Jays Foods, Inc., 825 E. 99th Street, Chicago, IL
For over 75 years, Chicagoans have voraciously chomped away on handfuls of Jays Potato Chips—sharing in the communal assumption that some guy named Jay must have invented the salty snack for them back in the proverbial day. If you give it a closer look, however, the familiar Jays logo—with its conspicuous lack of an apostrophe—raises some questions.
Motorola Inc. / Galvin MFG Corp., 4545 W. Augusta Blvd., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Archived Reader Comments:
“This radio is a Motorola Roto-tenna portable radio, Corsair model 5P31A, circa 1957. The case is metal, covered in Grey Tweed Miracle Fabric; with maroon plastic trim. The rotating handle, an exclusive Motorola design,
Museum Artifacts: Chelsea Hotel “Fire Escape” Lighted Sign and Lighted “Exit” Sign, c. 1950s
Made By: Western Fluorescent Light Co., 3242-4 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Western Fluorescent Light Co., 3242-4 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Two-Bat Table Tennis Set, 1954
Made By: Metal Moss MFG Co., 2215 S Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL [South Loop}
While ping pong is perhaps most simply described as a miniaturized, parlor room version of tennis, I prefer to look at tennis as an inefficiently over-sized adaptation of ping pong. Beyond being the greatest test of hand-eye coordination (and cunning) yet devised by mankind,
Museum Artifact: Compco 8mm Film Reel & Can, c. 1950s
Made By: Compco Corp., 1800 N. Spaulding Ave.
In the middle of the 20th century, home-made 8mm movies weren’t thought of as fuzzy sentimental keepsakes of long-ago family memories. They were hip technology—the Youtube of the times, giving millions of middle class folks the chance to see themselves (and maybe their kids, too,
Museum Artifact: Simonsen Metal Toolbox / Tackle Box, c. 1950s
Made By: Simonsen Metal Products Co., 4444 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL
Edward H. Simonsen was born in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1891, the son of Danish immigrants. From there, his life unfolded in typical “American Dream” fashion—or at least that’s the nuts and bolts version we’re left to infer. He moved to Chicago in his youth,
Herold MFG Co. / Utility MFG / Spartus Corp, 711-715 W. Lake St. and 2110 W. Walnut St., Chicago, IL
The Acro-Flash is one of more than a dozen bakelite minicams in the museum collection, all produced by the same manufacturer. Jack Galter’s Spartus Corp. famously operated under about 50 other names between 1939 and 1960. In this case, we can date the Acro-Flash to the early 1950s, when Spartus sales manager Harold Rubin was handed the reins of the company and briefly rechristened it Herold Products Co.
