Vintage Christmas

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'Tis the season for sentimentality and fond memories of Christmasses past... Everyone gathered happily together, feasting on food and kinship (no matter if those remembrances are true, imagined, or manufactured by the media or local mall). There's a lovely set of Merry Xmases gone by in Froggyboggler's photoset (images above). The sweet black and white snapshots in the set make it more personal.


These images above are from the Vintage Christmas Flickr pool. { I'm dreaming of a white Christmas and Squirelly Girls } And a few from my own collection, below, that I've made into mirrors and buttons this season.

They're all so pretty

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This afternoon, UPPERCASE is stepping back in time and becoming a typewriter store. We will have up to nine machines available for sale and a portion of my collection of typewriters and memorabilia will be on display as well. Those of you who have already signed up on the typewriter list will get first dibs on the machines; at 5:30 any remaining machines will be available to the general public. I encourage you to stop by and see the glorious display of obsolete-but-we-love-it technology starting at 4pm.

Did you know that the Royal Typewriter company's Calgary office was located on 6th Avenue and 1st Street on the main level of the Lougheed Building (Grand Theatre) from the 1920s to the 1940s? It is nice to know that I am carrying on the typewriter tradition on the other side of the city block! If anyone has any images of the typewriter office from that time, I would love to see them!

{images above from a Remington Typewriter ad, October 1956, personal collection.}

Celluloid Advertising Mirrors

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Celluloid advertising mirrors were common in the early 1900s and were mainly used to advertise products to women, such as hygiene products, household appliances and foodstuffs. Mirrors were also a popular giveaway in promoting typewriters. {The images above from current ebay auctions, the typewriter mirrors are from Chuck & Rick's Typewriter Museum.}

"Celluloid is generally regarded as the first modern plastic. It was introduced in 1871 by the Celluloid Manufacturing Company of Albany, NY. The use of celluloid began with the manufacturing of billiard balls and was intended as a replacement for ivory. However, by the late 1800s it was used for all sorts of products from billiard balls to bobbin lace prickers, bracelets, button hooks, buttons, cameo brooches, cameo earrings, charm bracelets, dolls, folding toothpicks, fountain pen bodies, guitar picks, hair combs, hand mirrors, hat pins, knife handles, letter openers, match safes, mechanical pencils, money clips, necklaces, paperweights, pin-packs, pocket mirrors, ring boxes, rulers, shoehorns, stick pins, tatting shuttles, thimbles, toys, vanity boxes and many other items.

The celluloid products mentioned above were made between the late 1800s and 1940s. Buttons were made by the millions for use on clothing and jewelry such as brooches, earrings, bracelets and necklaces also saw wide spread use. Vintage fountain pen bodies made of celluloid are a very popular collectible today.

Some of these products were advertising giveaways distributed by every kind of business all across the United States. The most popular advertising celluloid giveaways were pin-backs and pocket mirrors."

A new (old) product

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Here's something I've wanted to put together for a long time and finally made it happen yesterday. I call them a "Lettermix" and the package contains an assortment of woodtype letters, numbers and punctuation. They make a great gift for those typographically-inclined. There are just three sets left, available in our physical store. If they happen to be left by the end of the weekend, I'll upload them to the online shop as well.

The label is designed using Hoefler & Frere-Jones' typeface Knockout, which I purchased in its entirety this week. It was a total splurge, but I needed an infusion of typographical energy!

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UPDATE: We are thrilled to be mentioned on H&JF's News, Notes & Observations Typographic Gifts for Designers. I've uploaded the one remaining set to the online shop. (If you are purchasing Christmas gifts, please check the shipping deadlines on the shop's front page.)

Type Tuesday: haberdashery

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Haberdashery. A great word for many great things. These images are from the I love Haberdashery pool on Flickr. { 1.  2.  3.  4. } {Visit Jane Brocket's Yarnstorm blog for some great images. I am currently reading her book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity. I highly recommended it for its beautiful images and inspiring text.}


Vintage spools: { 1. 2. 3. 4. }

Pictures from LIFE

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When I was image searching for yesterday's Type Tuesday posts (Danny Kaye as the letter E), I stumbled into a new Google feature: the Life magazine photo archive.

"Only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published. The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints. We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos."

I couldn't find anything about using the images online or purchasing the images for print publication, other than a link to purchase merchandise in the form of framed prints. (Images are copyright to Time Inc.)

Typewriter Week

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In conclusion of "Typewriter Week", here are portraits of each of my main machines and snapshots of some of my typewriter memorabilia collection. I hope you've enjoyed this week's posts — I've certainly had fun finding all these images and celebrating my obsession. I will continue to post about typewriters in the UPPERCASE journal, but we'll also resume to our usual content next week.

Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians, and I'll see you soon. (Please note that UPPERCASE and the Art Central building will be closed on Sunday and Monday. The online shop is open, though, for a final weekend of Old School art. Click on the link on the righthand side of the site.)