February 2022 – The Thrifty Sisters

It is Super Bowl Sunday…the day before Valentines…and we are in the midst of the Winter Olympics – but instead of going for the gold, I’m going for the OLD!

I found lots of great Christmas and sewing treasures, as well as a bunch of really cool old books – many from the early 1900s but also some from the 30s and 40s. I also found an “Olympic Hairstyle” book from 1968…turns out it was hair styles from the Olympics of Hairstyling, not hairstyles worn by Olympians…but still pretty poignant.

One of my favorite finds of the weekend was a cool set of vintage postcards with various saints. They were in a large frame that was cracked up pretty badly…and there was extensive water damage causing several of the cards to stick to the glass. I carefully removed as many of the postcards as I could salvage and was delighted to find a newspaper from 1915 in the frame behind them that had been used to help secure them in the frame! There were also some interesting doll finds on this treasure hunting expedition.

The other big “win” was finding several vintage ornaments that somehow managed to survive the bins – including 6 Shiny Brites.

Ornate notion drawers from an old sewing machine

I just realized that the paper was from February 13th, 1915…107 years ago today! Among the various articles there are references to World War I, and the sailing of the Lusitania (that would be sunk by a German U-Boat less than 3 months later, ultimately leading to the United State’s entry into the war) – It also has a very fitting reference to St. Valentine’s Day and an interesting connection to the suffragist movement. I guess my effort to rescue a few saints turned up a reference to another.

Equal Suffragists Adopt St. Valentine As Big Vote Winner

Each man who sends a suffragist a token of affection to be asked to indorse “The Cause” and pledge to vote for amendment. Saint Valentine has been adopted as the patron saint of the Pennsylvania suffragists. Moreover they intend to put him to practical use.

The secret leaked out at local headquarters today when it was announced that every suffragist in the state who receives a valentine tomorrow—and there are several hundred thousands who have reasons to expect one—will ask the donor to supplement his symbol of devotion by a pledge to vote for the suffrage amendment to the constitution, election day.

The originator of the idea to win the masculine votes essential to a feminine victory at the polls is Miss Sara Miller of Harrisburg. When she put it up to the executives as state headquarters, associates and officials gave it their hearty indorsement, believing it to have possibilities highly practical as well as romantic.

These possibilities were explained briefly today by Mrs. Frank M. Roessing, president of the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association, who returned to Pittsburgh from the state capital today.

“St Valentine offerings are usually indicative of affection,” she said. “Where there is affection it is fair to assume that there is also the desire to please. The pledge of a masculine vote in favor of the suffrage amendment will please every sincere suffragist. We hope St. Valentine will help us get a lot of them. There’s the whole story in a nutshell.”

Persons with a penchant for figuring may now take out their pads and pencils and estimate the number of valentines it will take to assure a “Votes for Women” victory at the polls this year. The suffragists admit that the number needed will run into big figures, but they are not at all depressed by the outlook. Some of the fairer Pittsburg suffragists, it is whispered, figure that they can swing even more than one vote on St. Valentine’s Day.

I also learned, among other things about the Indianapolis HooFeds (also called the Hoosiers), a major league Baseball team! The Hoosier hold the distinction of placing first every season they played in the short-lived Federal League (The Hoosiers won the title in 1913 and 1914 before being transferred to Newark where they became known as the Peppers). The league itself lasted from 1913-1915). Another fun fact about this short-lived league: Wrigley Field came to be as a result of the Federal League, playing host to the Chicago Whales before it went on to become the home of the Cubs.

Thrifting tips:

Apparently the Goodwill Outlet will still price books separately if you ask (even though their signage no longer references book prices (or has bins dedicated for books). I had a full bag of books that I got for $6, much less than it would have cost me if I were paying by the pound.

In the rescue of the 1915 newspaper, I found space saving vacuum bag to be the perfect size for helping me to keep it safe while I got it home. The tip here is simply to look around to see what supplies might be present.

Curious to see one of the Olympic Hairstyles? This one was definitely a winner!

With a snow storm predicted for next week, I decided to squeeze in a thrifting trip this weekend at the spur of the moment. I was channeling “board games” (specifically a vintage Nancy Drew game I’d somehow just learned about). I didn’t find the Nancy Drew game, but I did find several others…along with some illustrations that look like they might be prior to 1900 and a magazine from 1903, along with a great hymnal that was in really bad shape so I’m not going to feel too bad about repurposing it for some junk journaling. I also found some fun vintage Christmas pieces and a few sewing patterns.

The coral-colored suitcase was one of the first things I spotted on this trip. It had been turned into a dog bed, but I plan to remove the staples and felt covered pad and recover the insides to make it good as new and functional for some exciting purpose.

I took a gamble on some old art supplies…and have been watching some You Tube videos to see if I can revive the paints. I’ve also seen warnings that it may be ill-advised since older paints are more likely to have materials that are now considered toxic. If I do revive them, I will proceed with caution. In the meantime, I thought the bottles would look good as part of an art-related shadowbox.

I also stopped by a regular Goodwill…thinking that I might have better luck there looking for vintage board games (i.e., before they are sent over to the bins). I left with two small tin plates that were beautifully decorated and a binder that I’m going to use to organize some of my ephemera (along with some plastic organizer pockets that I found on an earlier thrifting trick).