Today (october 26th) is National Pumpkin Day! In honor of this unofficial holiday, I get to go through some of my absolute favorite things: Vintage labels, recipes and advertisements. Now, TECHNICALLY this post isn’t strictly family history or genealogy, but it IS about the pumpkin things your ancestors and relatives would have found in their kitchens and grocery stores, so it sort of fits, in its own weird way. The nostalgia these products invoke make me happy.
So here are 40 examples of vintage pumpkin!
PRODUCE CRATE AND CAN LABELS
I am obsessed with produce crate labels. There is something so beautiful to me about the aesthetic that I am just drawn to them. It hearkens back to a simpler time, the color, the typesetting, the images that they invoke. I LITERALLY wish I could go to these old farms and pick their pumpkins…and from what I have heard and understand, old fashioned pumpkins made the best pies. I think I am an old soul.
PUMPKIN SEEDS
Old seed packets really have such a pleasing look about them. So many different seed types, so many local companies selling them. I wish I could purchase some now and plant a garden of pumpkins for myself. Todays seed packets just dont have the same effect on me.
METAL TINS OF SPICES
Todays spice cabinets look very different. Most shelves are stocked with round plastic or glass (if you’re fancy) shaker bottles.The herbs and spices lose their savor very quickly, unlike the old vintage tins. I remember my grandmothers, and even my mother had these old school cans!. Of course you can still find tins today, but they are not the same. They all have the rolled and softened edges and the easy pry lids… These old metal tins were dangerous! They had a little tab you had to have almost superhuman finger strength to pull back to get to the spice inside the can. .. Cut your finger and you may need a tetanus shot 🙂
RECIPE CARDS
Back in the day it was an unspoken rule of good hospitality that if someone complimented your cooking or asked how you made it, you wrote out the recipe on a card and gave it to them. Many of our grandmothers and great grandmothers all had recipe boxes filled with index cards full of neat writing. If you had a daughter who was a secretary and had access to a typewriter then it would be typed out. Many of the recipes say who it came from , perhaps a date and how they knew this person. For example Helen was from the beauty shop. Many of the recipes will give measurements, but we all know those are approximations because grandma cooked with her heart and was just assuming that the sprinkle of salt she put in was 1/2 a teaspoon.
ADVERTISEMENTS AND THE ADVENT OF CONVENIENCE
There is something so telling to me about vintage advertisements. These companies KNEW that more women were back in the workforce, they saw a total lifestyle shift. Women weren’t staying home and slaving away over a hot stove to provide 3 squares to their families. They didn’t have time to make that pie crust from scratch, or boil, strain and mash that pumpkin. They didn’t have the inclination to go through their recipe box and make a list and write everything down. There is a distinct progression that we can see of the old homemaker who made everything from scratch to what advertisers termed the modern woman who “Aint got time for that”. Advertisers and companies really played into a womans sense of freedom from the kitchen, the changing times and how many women were no longer interested in being kept at home keeping house. Recipes became modified , ingredients became pre-packaged and pre-made so all you had to do was add water, stick it in the oven and bake. Cans started adding recipes right to the labels as a way to draw women to that product, it was convenient and the recipe was right there! Companies would put out glossy full page magazine ads showing how EASY and CONVENIENT it was to seem like a world class cook with only a few ingredients and promises of “Just like grandma used to make”. I remember my friends mom had an envelope of newspaper clippings and magazine pages ripped out and all she had to do was take it to the grocery store and pull out whatever recipe she was looking at and buy the 3 or 4 ingredients. Products were produced to make the life easier, make everything quicker, bigger, better . Homemade from scratch really was a thing of the past and advertisers were able to tap into the whole idea of fast and time saving and convenient but still made with love . The humble pumpkin was no exception.
I do think that there has been a resurgence in popularity in the old ways and old recipes. I love seeing traditional family recipes being made and shared, the increased awareness due to the internet and social media.
You know how they say everything comes back around, what was once old is new again? Like mom jeans, or acid washed pants? I personally would LOVE to see the vintage aesthetic make a comeback!
I hope you have enjoyed this blast from the not so distant past!
