The previous owners of our house lived there for four decades. In that time, they collected a fair share of household products which you certainly won’t find on store shelves today.
During our little tour of these household products from a bygone era, don’t forget the local civil defense warning signals.
If it’s a simple alert, turn your crystal set to 1240 and wait for instructions.
However, if it’s an attack, take cover immediately!
While you are huddled in your basement during the air raid, you can prepare for the inevitable nuclear fallout by freezing some of your foodstuffs with these Bes-Pak Waxed Paperboard Freezer Boxes.
Did the radioactive ash inconveniently melt some holes in your roof?
No matter, you’ve got a can of Master-Mixed Asbestos Fiber Cement!
A look on the back shows it was a product from Sears, Roebuck and Company.
I have not yet been brave enough to open it.
If your wife gets too hysterical due to the bombs falling, you can calm her down with a dose of this chloroform and a handkerchief over her face.
Better living through chemistry, indeed.
Also, for “every surface and every purpose”, this Gold Dekorator [sic] Spray Paint for styrofoam.
Only 99 cents, and look how happy the housewife is to cover every object in her living room with this stuff!
I’m not quite sure what to call this, or what its purpose is.
I assume it’s a sprinkler head of some sort, because it’s got a thread and gasket which looks to fit on the end of a hose.
Last, but certainly not least, is this bottle of O’Darby Irish Cream Liqueur. I’d really like to know when this was last made.
Check out the Wisconsin tax stamp on the neck. When was that last used? I don’t recall seeing those on bottles of booze since my youth.
We opened this up the other day (the bottle was still sealed) and the contents had almost totally coagulated. All that poured out were a few drops of a very dark sticky liquid.
Tasty!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this little tour through the products of America’s past as much as I have in finding them. As I continue to explore our new home, I’m sure I’ll find more of these little gems to provide a follow up.