I decided to do a personalized birthday card for him using authentic advertisements and trivia from the year he was born. It took a lot of digging through old newspaper archives and magazines available (for free) online but I did it and got his birthday 'poster' card finished this morning.
I found some of the facts to be pretty interesting! Even though I couldn't use 99% of what I was reading - I went down a lot of 'rabbit holes' on the internet digging up more information on some of the random things I saw or read. Many of the companies selling items back then are long gone now (even many well known companies didn't make it). I would see a name and start to get lost in genealogy searches. I found myself accidentally looking through old high school year books from the 1920's. LOL.
LOTS of side-trips with this little weekend endeavor I thought would be a quick project.
But it was fun!
I thought I'd share a couple facts for you to ponder over your morning coffee too.
Life expectancy in
1900 was 48.2 years for males and 50.7 years for females.
Source: U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics (BLS)
The cost of living
increased at least 63.1% and possibly as much as 78.6% between 1914 and
1921.
Source: National Industrial
Conference Board.
Milk cost an
average of 33¢ per half gallon in 1920.
Source: U.S. BLS
Coffee cost an
average of 47¢ per pound in 1920.
Source: U.S. BLS
In the 1920s,
about one tenth of people in the 18-21 age group attended college.
Source: U.S.
Bureau of Education
Cars cost an
average of $2,537 in 1920.
Source: Automotive Industries
A 1920 Model-T Ford
was priced at $440
Source: Recorded in the Automobile Trade Journal, Nov 1 1920
issue
Gasoline cost an
average of 21.7¢ per gallon in 1929.
Source: USDA
In 1925, motor
vehicles were scrapped at an average age of 6.5 years.
Source: Automobile Manufacturers Association
In 1926, only about 4% of workers earned enough to be required to file a federal income tax return. Source: NBER
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Thanks for sharing morning coffee with me!