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M.Leddy + dowdyworld   146

Bicycle safety, 1954
From Life magazine.
dowdyworld  photography 
8 days ago by M.Leddy
Shoe repairmen in the news
Shoe repairmen are the new typewriter repairmen.
dowdyworld 
8 days ago by M.Leddy
Recently updated
Another excerpt from the 1962 pamphlet manifesto of the Anti-Digit Dialing League.
dowdyworld  telephone 
4 weeks ago by M.Leddy
Phones Are For People
I am now the proud custodian of a copy of the Anti-Digit Dialing League’s pamphlet manifesto Phones Are For People (1962).
dowdyworld  telephone 
4 weeks ago by M.Leddy
Best drugstore in the movies?
The real star of the film Tension is the drugstore, an “All-Nite Service” establishment at the corner of St. Ann’s and Thirteenth, wherever that is.
dowdyworld  film 
5 weeks ago by M.Leddy
Phone manners
From the 1940 New York City telephone directories, pictures show best, fair, and poor distances between moth and mouthpiece.
dowdyworld  telephone 
5 weeks ago by M.Leddy
The Anti-Digit Dialing League
A short-lived movement that arose in 1962 that opposed “creeping numeralism” and fought a losing battle to preserve the use of telephone exchange names.
dowdyworld  telephone 
6 weeks ago by M.Leddy
Arteries of New York City
A 1941 Encyclopedia Britannica film.
dowdyworld  film  NewYorkCity 
february 2012 by M.Leddy
SSNs
A 1938 photograph.
analog  dowdyworld  photography 
january 2012 by M.Leddy
Radio buttons
Burma-Shave!
dowdyworld  humor  technology 
january 2012 by M.Leddy
Wheeldex
A Rolodex predecessor, from Executive Suite.
dowdyworld  stationery 
january 2012 by M.Leddy
Television antennas and other relics
Diane Schirf is remembering relics.
dowdyworld  technology  television 
january 2012 by M.Leddy
Featured merchandise
“Large stores retain private forecasting services to know in advance which merchandise to feature.” A Golden Science illustration.
art  dowdyworld  weather 
december 2011 by M.Leddy
Henry buys liverwurst
Where else are you gonna find liverwurst in the comics?
comics  dowdyworld 
december 2011 by M.Leddy
Mail chutes and phone booths
Diane Schirf writes about “relics.”
dowdyworld  mail  telephone 
december 2011 by M.Leddy
Canned goods
Life magazine photograph, 1941.
dowdyworld  photography 
november 2011 by M.Leddy
An old Life never dies
“This back-date magazine store sounds like a 1953 Internet.”
dowdyworld  magazines 
november 2011 by M.Leddy
Day & Meyer, Murray & Young
The New York Times reports on the storage warehouse of Day & Meyer, Murray & Young.
dowdyworld  NewYorkCity 
november 2011 by M.Leddy
Zenith All-Speed Record Changer
“There’s something poignant about the prepared-for-all-eventualities mindset that this turntable is meant to satisfy.”
advertising  dowdyworld  technology 
october 2011 by M.Leddy
Dale Carnegie 2.0
Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People has been updated as How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age.
dowdyworld  writing 
october 2011 by M.Leddy
Brown October
A&P ad with a phrase from John Greenleaf Whittier.
advertising  dowdyworld  poetry 
october 2011 by M.Leddy
Diane Schirf’s relics
“The one-color, non-sticky postage stamp.”
dowdyworld  mail 
september 2011 by M.Leddy
Letters
Letters from the world of Gracious Living, From Alfred Stuart Myers’s Letters for All Occasions (1952).
dowdyworld  letters 
september 2011 by M.Leddy
For an autograph album
Things to write in an autograph album
dowdyworld 
september 2011 by M.Leddy
Young-adult letters
A Boston Globe article on young-adult letter-writers.
analog  dowdyworld  letters 
august 2011 by M.Leddy
“RAISE GIANT FROGS”
“Get ready now for next spawn”: from Popular Mechanics, 1938.
advertising  dowdyworld 
august 2011 by M.Leddy
Henry mystery
A mysterious object in a comic strip.
comics  dowdyworld 
july 2011 by M.Leddy
Orange Crate Art: Glover’s Mange Medicine
Mange medicine for humans: a 1941 ad from Life magazine.
advertising  dowdyworld 
july 2011 by M.Leddy
Carbon cruising
Junk mail, with fake carbon paper.
dowdyworld  ephemera  mail 
july 2011 by M.Leddy
Ethel's Beauty Salon
A business card evokes Veronica Lake
dowdyworld  ephemera  film 
june 2011 by M.Leddy
The Electric Soup Kitchen
From 1940: a gimmick to sell soup in soda fountains, luncheonettes, and tea rooms.
culture  dowdyworld  food  soup 
june 2011 by M.Leddy
Storybook Gardens
In the Wisconsin Dells, Storybook Gardens is no more.
culture  dowdyworld  stories 
may 2011 by M.Leddy
The Clabber Girl Museum
A delight for anyone interested in American material culture
dowdyworld  ephemera  materialculture 
april 2011 by M.Leddy
Digital natives and typewriters
“[A]s someone who remembers Eaton’s Corrasable Bond, the tedium of centering titles, the far greater tedium of retyping whole pages after dropping a line in transcription, and the sheer racket, I feel no nostalgia for the typewriter as an object of use.”
analog  dowdyworld  technology  typewriter 
april 2011 by M.Leddy
Olivetti again
“Time Life Inc. photographer Michael Rougier, taking pictures of passing people trying outdoor typewriter at Olivetti Fifth Ave.” A 1955 photograph from Life.
dowdyworld  photography  typewriter 
march 2011 by M.Leddy
Q.: “Where are you going to get a typewriter?”
Photograph of the sample Olivetti typewriter standing outside the Olivetti showroom, NYC
dowdyworld  typewriter 
march 2011 by M.Leddy
Snail Mail
“Without ZIP CODE the growing U.S. Mail load would move at a snail’s pace — if it moved at all!”: an advertisement from Life, November 22, 1968.
advertising  dowdyworld  mail 
february 2011 by M.Leddy
“A DONUT IS ALL THIS”
1943 infographic from the Donut Corp. of America
dowdyworld  food 
january 2011 by M.Leddy
Eagle Verithin display case
A colored-pencil display
dowdyworld  pencils  writinginstruments 
november 2010 by M.Leddy
Virignia Heffernan on the telephone
The disappearing analog telephone call
analog  dowdyworld  telephone 
october 2010 by M.Leddy
Wooden phone booths
Long may they stand.
dowdyworld  telephone 
october 2010 by M.Leddy
"THIS IS FUN"
1940s ad for mystery fun-producing food
advertising  culture  dowdyworld  food 
october 2010 by M.Leddy
Coming soon: fun
A 1940s ad for a food that means fun. Can you guess what it is?
advertising  culture  dowdyworld  food 
october 2010 by M.Leddy
Personal Post Office Scale
A nifty, dowdy tool
dowdyworld  mail 
october 2010 by M.Leddy
The all-in-one room
Mid-20th-century living, with Mary and Russel Wright
culture  design  dowdyworld 
august 2010 by M.Leddy
Easier living with Mary and Russel Wright
Modern living, mid-20th-century
culture  design  dowdyworld 
august 2010 by M.Leddy
Dowdy mug
A gift from my son
dowdyworld 
july 2010 by M.Leddy
Orange telephone art
Retro telephone, orange
dowdyworld  technology  telephone 
july 2010 by M.Leddy
New York, 1964: record stores
From Hart's Guide to New York City
dowdyworld  NewYorkCity  records  1964 
may 2010 by M.Leddy
New York, 1964: Schrafft's
From Hart's Guide to New York City
dowdyworld  NewYorkCity  1964 
may 2010 by M.Leddy
New York, 1964: Chock full o'Nuts
From Hart's Guide to New York City
Chockfullo'Nuts  dowdyworld  NewYorkCity  1964 
may 2010 by M.Leddy
Angela Lansbury and Basil Rathbone
Eating lunch
dowdyworld  lunch  photography 
april 2010 by M.Leddy
Chock full o'Nuts lunch hour
Eisenstaedt photograph
dowdyworld  lunch  photography 
april 2010 by M.Leddy
The government-issue pen
Washington Post article on a dowdy writing instrument
dowdyworld  pens  writing 
april 2010 by M.Leddy
"REUSE THIS CARTON!"
Value-added shopping, with Draplin Design Co.
dowdyworld  signage 
april 2010 by M.Leddy
Orange soda art
Nesbitt's, 1953 ad
advertising  dowdyworld 
april 2010 by M.Leddy
"A sort of jump-seat Mona Lisa"
A J.D. Salinger sentence with a jump-seat
dowdyworld  Salinger 
march 2010 by M.Leddy
WNEW jingles
"Eleven-three-oh in New York"
dowdyworld  NewYorkCity  radio 
march 2010 by M.Leddy
Harvey Wang's New York
Great book on people in disappearing lines of work
dowdyworld  NewYorkCity  photography  work 
march 2010 by M.Leddy
Telephone exchange names on screen
CHelsea, from The Dark Corner (1946)
dowdyworld  film  telephone 
march 2010 by M.Leddy
Stopette
An item in a catalogue, from J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey
dowdyworld  fiction  writing 
february 2010 by M.Leddy
Sal Hepatica
An item in a catalogue, from J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey
dowdyworld  fiction  writing 
february 2010 by M.Leddy
Musterole
An item in a catalogue, from J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey
dowdyworld  fiction  writing 
february 2010 by M.Leddy
Argyrol
An item in a catalogue, from J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey
dowdyworld  fiction  writing 
february 2010 by M.Leddy
A Salinger catalogue
From Franny and Zooey, the contents of a medicine cabinet
dowdyworld  fiction  writing 
february 2010 by M.Leddy
Card-file steals scene in TV debut
Card-file, from Father Knows Best
dowdyworld  indexcards  stationery  television 
january 2010 by M.Leddy
Father Knows Best Christmas episode
Strange, stranger
Christmas  dowdyworld  television 
december 2009 by M.Leddy
PUSH
An old metal sign, good advice for reading, writing, and teaching.
dowdyworld  reading  signage  teaching  writing 
november 2009 by M.Leddy
“Trailing-edge technology”
A photography exhibit on the work of men and women in vanishing trades.
dowdyworld  photography 
november 2009 by M.Leddy
“A Woman in the House”
A very strange episode of Father Knows Best
dowdyworld  television 
october 2009 by M.Leddy
"Betty's Graduation"
Suprisingly poignant dialogue from Father Knows Best
dowdyworld  life  television  impermanence  time 
october 2009 by M.Leddy
Plaid really warmer
"Is plaid really warmer than other fabrics? Yes!"
dowdyworld 
october 2009 by M.Leddy
The Blob and I
Communing with the dowdy world on film
dowdyworld  film 
october 2009 by M.Leddy
"Sound-testing a MONGOL"
Pencil ad, 1940
dowdyworld  pencils  writinginstruments 
october 2009 by M.Leddy
On letters and mailboxes
Excerpt from Slywy's piece on letters and mailboxes
dowdyworld  letters  mail  writing 
september 2009 by M.Leddy
The scents and sounds of an office
Mimeograph ink, typewriters, and so on
dowdyworld 
september 2009 by M.Leddy
Re: Schaefer
"If anyone knows a good remedy to remove the Schaefer jingle from a human head, please advise."
advertising  dowdyworld 
september 2009 by M.Leddy
SCHAEFER
Crossword puzzle clue brings back the past
advertising  dowdyworld 
september 2009 by M.Leddy
A Mad Men sort of man, sort of
Another exhibit from the Museum of Supplies: Beach's "Common Sense" Traveler's Expense Book
dowdyworld  stationery 
september 2009 by M.Leddy
NYPD typewriters
Still in use! With carbon-paper forms!
dowdyworld  typewriter 
july 2009 by M.Leddy
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