Museum Artifact: Hanson No. 24 U.S. Family Scale, c. 1900
Made By: Hanson Bros. Scale Company, 427 W. Randolph St. / 525 N. Ada Street, Chicago IL
“Judging from the large increase in orders reported by the Hanson Bros. Manufacturing Company, 18-30 Randolph street, dealers and jobbers are finding the U.S. family scale a very profitable, quick-selling article to handle. The Hanson Brothers manufacture a high grade family scale,
Museum Artifact: Crown Baking Powder Container, c. 1900s
Made By: The J.P. Dieter Company, 60 Waldo Place (Randolph and Desplaines St.), Chicago, IL
Unlike his Chicago contemporaries and rivals over at the Calumet Baking Powder Co., J.P. Dieter’s successful food products company didn’t survive long into the 20th century. This tin of Crown Baking Powder, however, still looks vibrant in its fire-hydrant-red more than 100 years after it was made.
Museum Artifact: Anacin Tablet Medicine Tin, c. 1928
Made By: The Anacin Company, 30 E. Kinzie Street, Chicago, IL
The Anacin brand is one of the oldest continuously manufactured commercial drugs in the country, dating back to its invention by a Minnesota chemist named William M. Knight in 1915. Don’t let the product’s longevity and mainstream availability fool you, however.
Like most other pain relievers from its era,
Museum Artifact: Tarnishproof Tinsel Garlands, 1960s
Made By: Art-Rite Products Co., 1355 Blue Island Ave., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Angel Dainty Dyes Color Packets, 1930s
Made by: Angel Dainty Dye Co., 5201 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL
Their fabric dyes were promoted as colorful miracles in a paper packet, but the Angel Dainty Dye Company itself may have been founded on a dastardly fib.
“The Angel Dainty Dye Co., Chicago, have something which everyone wants,” read an ad in an 1899 issue of the American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record,
Museum Artifact: Promotional Paperweight, c. 1920s
Made By: C. H. Hanson Co., 303 W. Erie St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: “Hercules” Telephone Box, c. 1908
Made By: Swedish-American Telephone Co., 5235 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago, IL
There aren’t a lot of Swedish things left in Chicago’s original Swedish neighborhood these days. In just the past few years, Andersonville has lost its beloved Swedish Bakery, along with Ann Sather’s restaurant, Erickson Jewelers, Erickson’s Deli (no relation), and even the old iconic neighborhood water tower—painted for decades in the blue and gold of the Motherland (a facsimile has since been installed).
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: “Little Giant” Ratcheting Screw Jack, c. 1917
Made By: William E. Pratt Manufacturing Co., 35 W. Lake St., & 190 N. State St., Chicago, IL , Foundry in Joliet, IL
On the great Venn diagram of Chicago industry, at the sliver-sized intersection of Model T Fords, decoy ducks, and the atomic bomb, you can find the unique domain of the Wm.
Museum Artifact: Slingerland Tempo King Bass Drum Pedal, 1960s
Made By: Slingerland Drum Company, 6633 N. Milwaukee Ave
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: 999 Polish for Automobiles, Pianos & Furniture, 1920s
Made By: Damon MFG Co., 325 W. Ohio Street, Chicago, IL
“Oxidation, it is pointed out by the manufacturer of Damon’s 999 automobile and furniture polish, is the reason for loss of luster and deadened appearance in any varnish finish. It is claimed 999 polish keeps the surface waterproof and airtight with pure wax,
Museum Artifact: Peerless Maid Peermints Tin, c. 1930s
Made By: Peerless Confection Company, 1250 W Schubert Avenue, Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Sterling Desk Fan, c. 1940
Made By: Chicago Electric MFG, Co., 6333 W. 65th Street., Chicago, IL
Some time in the early 1970s, the singer/songwriter Gram Parsons—pioneer of the genre later known as “alternative country”—was hanging out with his buddy Keith Richards, talking about song ideas.
“I’ve been writing about a guy that builds cars,” Parsons said—this according to Richards’ own account in his 2010 memoir,
Museum Artifact: Bakelite Galvanometer, 1960s
Made By: W. M. Welch Scientific Co., 1515 N. Sedgwick St., Chicago, IL
Research is underway on this one and a full write-up will be coming soon.
Museum Artifact: Chicago Mail Order Shoe Horn, c. 1930s
Made By: Chicago Mail Order Co., S. Indiana Ave & E. 26th St., Chicago, IL
Following on the heels of their Chicago neighbors Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck (pun intended considering the item on display here), the Chicago Mail Order Co. enjoyed a lengthy run of success of its own from the turn of the century well into the 1970s–although much of that was accomplished under its second name,
Museum Artifact: DeWitt’s Foot Powder, 1920s
Made By: E.C. DeWitt & Co., Inc., 1127 N. LaSalle St., Chicago, IL
It probably wouldn’t be fair or accurate to call Elden C. DeWitt a “snake oil salesman.” For one thing, the guy’s been dead for nearly a century, so unless a secret diary surfaces, we’ll never know for sure if he genuinely believed in the quirky patent medicines he peddled.
Museum Artifact: The Universal No. 134 Washboard, c. 1920s
Made By: National Washboard Co., 72 W. Adams Street, Chicago, IL
Long before “upcycling” and “repurposing” became part of the antiquing lexicon, it was the washboard that practically invented re-invention—evolving from a contrivance of laborious laundering practices into a peppy and versatile musical instrument.
The artifact in our own museum collection,
Museum Artifact: Eagle Speed Salon Hair Dryer, c. 1930
Made By: The Wm. Meyer Co., 1644 N. Honore Street, 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.
Museum Artifact: Wood Wall Telephone, c. 1905
Made By: Chicago Telephone Supply Co., 28 W. Washington St., Chicago, IL. Relocated to Elkhart, IN, in 1902
In the August 1900 issue of everybody’s favorite McKinley-era trade publication, Telephone Magazine, the Chicago Telephone Supply Company is referred to as “one of the oldest of independent factories, manufacturing everything that enters into the production of Chicago telephones,
Museum Artifact: Detect-O-Ray Photo-Electric Switch, 1940s
Made By: Detect-O-Ray Company, 2622 N. Halsted St., Chicago, IL
Its name sounds like a comic-book doomsday device and it looks more than a little like an evil robot owl, but sadly, the Detect-O-Ray is neither one of those things. In fact, this intimidating technological marvel of the World War II era was briefly marketed—of all places—in the pages of the F.A.O.
