{"id":7944,"date":"2014-08-08T15:07:33","date_gmt":"2014-08-08T15:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=7944"},"modified":"2017-04-05T15:57:51","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T19:57:51","slug":"vintage-ads-our-ancestors-shopping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/vintage-ads-our-ancestors-shopping.html","title":{"rendered":"Vintage Ads & Our Ancestors\u2019 Shopping"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: Mary Harrell-Sesniak is a genealogist, author and editor with a strong technology background. In this blog post, Mary finds vintage advertisements and articles in old newspapers and historical books to gain insights into a part of our ancestors\u2019 lives: shopping.<\/em><\/p>\n

Take a walk down the \u201cpast lane\u201d of our ancestors\u2019 shopping lives by delving into historical newspapers.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll find marvelous articles and vintage advertisements to gain insight into purchases that surrounded them in their daily lives.<\/p>\n

Vintage Advertisements<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iconic imagery, such as this 1900 advertisement, puts a face to historical eras and displays important visuals of clothing, hairstyles and accessories. They\u2019re marvelous pieces of history\u2014and as such, are highly sought-after collectibles.<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t this ad inspire you to slurp a Coca-Cola while dolled up in frilly plumes and pearls?<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>
Source: Wikipedia\u2019s article \u201cAdvertising\u201d displaying a vintage Coca-Cola advertisement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Advertisements in Historical Books<\/strong><\/p>\n

Advertisements abound across every historical newspaper, and are also located within GenealogyBank\u2019s impressive collection of advertising ephemera. Use the Historical Books<\/a> search page to search the books collection for vintage advertisements.<\/p>\n

\"search<\/a><\/p>\n

Try entering a business name if you know where your family worked\u2014and if you don\u2019t, query the search engine for a type of trade. You\u2019ll be amused at what you find.<\/p>\n

\"vintage<\/a><\/p>\n

Popular Shopping Items<\/strong><\/p>\n

The popular items of yesterday have certainly changed, so explore newspaper feature pages for intriguing reports. Don\u2019t forget newspaper shipping reports. As so many goods arrived by ships, you\u2019ll soon discover what were the interests of the day.<\/p>\n

Most people would assume that tea was the popular drink of the 18th Century. It was, but another beverage was highly sought after: cocoa.<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t this report confirm what chocaholics already suspect\u2014that our forefathers and mothers loved chocolate as much as we do? I imagine the shortage of cocoa might have been alarming news for some.<\/p>\n

\"article<\/a>
American Weekly Mercury (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 16 March 1727, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Types of Genealogy Discoveries from Vintage Ads<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is much more to advertisements than you can imagine\u2014they can provide all sorts of family history information and clues.<\/p>\n

You might identify information about:<\/p>\n