People are often attracted to old advertisements and photos showing old cars. Both effectively evoke a bygone era more eloquently than several pages of text - at least when I consider the text found on this blog.
My father acquired a copy of the The National Geographic Magazine of March 1927. At that cover date he was one month old - so he may not have been the actual purchaser. Years later, his tally on the cover exclaims that there are 59 pages of ads in this magazine of about 400 pages. A 1927 subscription to the magazine cost US $51.65 per year in 2019 dollars when corrected for US inflation.
In North America, near the end of the Roaring Twenties, the ad business was experiencing unprecedented growth. Industry was booming and people were more literate than ever. Industrial jobs were beginning to provide structured time 'off' and disposable income.
This disposable income might be used to purchase more efficient appliances for the home - such as central-heating furnaces (both oil and gas), kitchen ventilator fans or cabinet-style powered clothes dryers. Or, the 'new economy' worker of the 1920s might choose to see the wider world beyond their own local geography. The advertisements in the National Geographic of 1927 addressed both of these interests.
Of course, there were also ads for luxury goods such as autos, radios, gravestones, imported 'German field glasses', home movie projectors and beautiful fountain pens - but not alcohol.
This disposable income might be used to purchase more efficient appliances for the home - such as central-heating furnaces (both oil and gas), kitchen ventilator fans or cabinet-style powered clothes dryers. Or, the 'new economy' worker of the 1920s might choose to see the wider world beyond their own local geography. The advertisements in the National Geographic of 1927 addressed both of these interests.
Of course, there were also ads for luxury goods such as autos, radios, gravestones, imported 'German field glasses', home movie projectors and beautiful fountain pens - but not alcohol.
The railroad ads often promote the geographical attractions along their routes.
I have included a couple of non-railroad ads which I hope you find interesting.
Below: I wonder if they still have that circular banquette?
