There’s something about looking at something old that gives you a nostalgic appreciation for what was going on at the time. It also gives you a refreshed appreciation for what is new.
This is what happened when I recently came across this “vintage” issue of Popular Mechanics magazine from 1937. More of a book than a magazine, this book was from a time when people actually READ for fun. Clearly evident by the lack of advertising space and the abundant useful handy tips with hand drawn illustrations. The amazing thing about these articles were that they were FULL of ACTUAL INFORMATION! The type that actually taught the reader things. Go figure….The only other thing I appreciated more about thumbing through this book was the .50 cent price tag.
Do you have any vintage books or magazines? Send us a pic or shout it out in the comments!
Hit the jump for photos of the book!
Do you have any vintage books or magazines? Send us a pic or shout it out in the comments!
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Did you find this in your garage? I got one of these from 1954. Most of it actually is advertising if you look completely through it. The difference is that the ads are there to educate readers as well as sell them on the product.
ha yea I believe that’s the one that you happened upon.
Why can’t advertising be like that now-a-days…. I might actually like ads in magazines then.
The book you have displayed is an Annual. Popular Mechanics was and is a monthly magazine. Twelve months of the Shop Notes section of the magazine were republished in an annual volume, Popular Mechanics Shop Notes, from 1905 to 1959.
1905-1923 have been republished by Lee Valley Tools,http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=42563&cat=1,46096,46100, as well as an index.
I own the complete collection, 1905-1959, collected over the years from antique stores, flea markets, and finally, ebay. They regularly appear on ebay. The quality of information is unsurpassed. The founder of Popular Mechanics, H. H. Windsor, and his son H. H. Windsor Jr., had on their masthead their mission statement: Easy Ways to Do Hard Things. Sometimes those easy ways involved welding, soldering, tapping, filing, chopping mortises, drilling glass. There was an assumption of competence that is scarce these days. Nevertheless, there are some astonishingly good ideas in every issue.
Take a look at hisibley.com for the kinds of things people who read shop notes might build. The bibliography on the right has a list of links.
Howard Fink´s last blog ..The Sibleys, 1955 and 1927