1-10 of 23 Hubssort by Hot Best Latest

63

Koans For Canned Soup

Canned soup can be the answer to many meal time dilemmas, but is it also a path to enlightenment? Um, no, not really. But it is entertaining.

4 comments    entertainment humor retro
68

Some 1930s Cleaning Magic

You think it's hard to clean up grime now? Check out the 1930s version of the Magic Sponge (and the dirtiest wall ever in an ad) to appreciate modern cleansers. Bonus mothball tablet ad included!

1 comment    1930s ads magic sponge
77

Dr. Trask's Magnetic Ointment

Over on my history blog I've written about several Victorian cures which featured adjectives like magnetic or electric: there were chains, teething necklaces, oils, soaps, brushes and therapeutic belts and corsets - just to name a few (I know that...

4 comments    patent medicines
75

The Liquid Pearl

Back in the Victorian era, face paint really WAS paint - or arsenic, or lead. Face enameling was expensive (and dangerous) - either at the chiropodist's (!) - or at home with some DIY Liquid Pearl.

5 comments    history of fashion
70

Merchant's Gargling Oil

A typical Victorian patent medicine tends to have a startling name, a ridiculously wide range of uses, a flurry of hyberbole (often in the form of fascinating letters from happily cured folks) and - if we're...

1 comment    contest patent medicine history of medicine
70

The Great 1910 Candy Breakfast

Permission to eat candy for breakfast from a professor old enough to be your great great grandfather!

1 comment    new york breakfast candy
71

Toothpaste To Go, 1890

I love looking through old magazines and books. You really find the most extraordinary things, recipes and weird products and odd customs and ideas. My favorite era is the VIctorian period, though if you read my retro blog you'll know that I love...

1 comment    toothpaste tooth powder dentifrice
63

The Hub of the Universe (Also of Shirts)

The Hub of the Universe This 1883 shirt advertisement is not a message to the future reader and writers of HubPages, but is referring to the "Hub" Shirt Emporium in Boston, Massachusetts. And the store was called that because just as New York is...

2 comments    hub boston shirts
65

The Joys of Peppermint

I never realized how much I like peppermint before I wrote this - or how many times a day I use tings with peppermint oil in them. Peppermint tea is one of my favorite after dinner drinks, though. And on...

2 comments    natural remedies peppermint
72

The Thousand Golden Buddhas of Staten Island

When I was in grade school back in the 70s, in New York City, we went on a lot of field trips to some pretty cool places: the Metropolitan Museum (for the hieroglyphics and mummies), the Planetarium (constellations projected onto the ceiling, neck...

6 comments    museum buddhism tibetan
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