Some of the most iconic images of the Great Depression were the migrant mother photos of a woman named Florence Thompson, taken by Dorothea Lange. While one picture was famous, there were several other shots taken at the same time. See them here!
Vintage family & old-fashioned parenting
Remember getting drinks in vintage Dixie Cups? While many of us recall them from childhood because of their cute designs, they weren’t invented simply for convenience.
Do you remember Shrinky Dinks? They were DIY crafts that could be made by coloring on a plastic sheet, cutting out the various shapes, and then shrinking them down using heat.
Imagine, up above the clouds enjoying a cheeseburger from McDonald’s for lunch or dinner. McDonaldland cookies for dessert. That’s what United Airlines’ McDonald’s Friendly Skies Meals offered kids in the 1990s!
George Burns & Gracie Allen were not only married in real life, their work from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s made them one of the biggest comedy duos in Hollywood. Meet the wacky couple here!
Here’s a look back at some sweet vintage Mother’s Day cards from the 20th century, including a few of the 240 million greeting cards for mom that were sold in just one year, back in 1959.
Have a look back at these cute vintage Fisher-Price dollhouses from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s! Take a look at how they changed over the years, and see which one you remember best.
When you were a kid, there was nothing else like the joy of an old-fashioned treehouse or fort: a little getaway that you built (maybe with some help) that could be a clubhouse or castle or spaceship or simply a place for a little peace and quiet.
These vintage Rig-a-Jig toy sets were popular back in the fifties, and were sort of a hybrid of TInkertoys, Lego and an Erector Set. See how they worked, and what you could create with them, here!
More than 100 years ago, see how antique baby carriages like these were styled with beautiful designs, made from wicker, metal and wood – sometimes embellished with wooden spindles and woven reeds.
Put together a half dozen pieces of this DIY fun furniture for kids, and your child will have endless play ideas. Made from just one simple box construction, the pieces are great for pretend games, the right size to use as table and chairs.
Wonder Horses and other horse ride-on toys made kids’ dreams come true! There were different styles & sizes for all ages of children – and for decades, they were among the most popular requests made of Santa. Here’s a look!
Candy Land, the vintage board game that made millions of kids dream of an ice cream & lollipop world
Here, take a look back at some of the game pieces, cards, and several game boards for the vintage Candy Land game. Which ones do you remember most?
Back in the seventies and eighties, these vintage Fisher-Price dolls enchanted millions of little kids. They were available in a few different sizes, styles and colors, and you could get them a lot of different outfits.
These vintage Sew Magic & Sew Perfect toys were working sewing machines that let kids do real sewing, but without having to use needle and thread by hand.
Hopefully, these vintage 1970s Playskool toys, dolls, ride-ons and more will bring back some happy memories! They may also remind you of a simpler time, when most toys were joyfully kid-powered.
Gen X kids got to prove that these 1980s fruit snacks – non-perishable packaged sweet and chewy treats – would be big sellers… and the forerunners of the dozens of similar snacks on the market today.
Take a look back at these adorable antique baby portraits from the 1800s, captured in these pictures on cabinet cards, cartes des visite, and other antique photographic prints from long ago.
Somewhere in that golden haze after Sesame Street, there was a little TV show called New Zoo Revue. Take a look back to that oh-so-retro kids’ show here!
To the average American girl, between the ages of, say, 10 and 17, slumber parties are as important as pizza, add-a-beads and Judy Blume.
Originally envisioned as a beer garden, this Florida destination has grown and grown. Here, see what the famous vintage Busch Gardens amusement park was like from the 1950s right through to the 1990s.
These pretty and old-fashioned paper Christmas ornaments are so easy to make, kids and adults can work on them together! As a bonus, they’re very cheap to create. Get directions and diagrams here.
The old-fashioned benefits of breastfeeding are many, no matter what century you’re living in. Here’s a look back at some of what experts were saying about nursing babies back in the early 1900s.
Check out some vintage 1940s birthday cards – along with old-fashioned greeting cards for Halloween, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween and beyond.
The Waltons was a story of a large family living in Virginia during the Great Depression. The classic TV show originally aired from 1972 through 1981. Find out what the cast thought of the program here.
All of these unidentified antique photos was taken in Ohio before the Civil War, but we will probably never know who any of the people in these old daguerreotypes were.
The old Sears Wish Book catalog was perfectly named – it was where kids and adults alike would dream about all the things that Santa (or a special elf) might bring for Christmas. Find out its history here!
Step back and time and enjoy these charmingly vintage Christmas scenes celebrations from the 1940s through the 1970s.
In the 1974 holiday classic TV special from the Rankin-Bass team, The Year Without a Santa Claus, brothers Heat Miser and Snow Miser memorably performed their signature tunes.
If you think fashions in the eighties were bad, just wait until you see these ’80s maternity clothes – the often tent-like outfits pregnant women were wearing.
When this article was published, touting the wonders of c-section deliveries, they stated that the cesarean rate was one out of 20 births. And that
From homemade ornaments to DIY candy crafts, this collection of retro Christmas trimmings and craft ideas will give you some new ideas for old-fashioned holiday fun!
Called “the world’s greatest toy catalog,” vintage FAO Schwarz toy catalogs like this gives you a peek at what children of all ages loved to play with back in the sixties.
Check out these old school toys: vintage ’80s Playskool play sets, which kids could use to imagine and build their own mini worlds.
In the ’80s, vintage Crispy Critters cereal had little animal shapes like rhinos, hippos, lions and camels, and a lightly-sweetened crunch. Remember it?
Take a look at more than 40 of the cute vintage plush toys and sweet stuffed animals that millions of kids cuddled back in the ’80s.
These old Betty Crocker Storybook Dinnerware sets featured vintage kid-friendly characters like Peter Rabbit, Raggedy Ann & Andy, 3 Little Pigs and more. See them again here!
Here’s a little guide from the thirties to teach people how to make art using their vintage manual typewriters – pretty much old-fashioned ascii art and old-school smileys!
These cute vintage greeting cards were sent to parents in the ’60s to welcome a new baby to the world. Here are some of the sentiments people shared 50+ years ago!
These fun vintage coin-operated rides – including horses and rockets – lived in front of drugstores and grocery stores across the country, and made millions of kids smile.
Barbie wasn’t just a doll – she had an empire! Look back at Vintage Barbie play sets, complete with friends and family, fabulous dollhouses, pools, pets… and lots and lots of fashionable clothing.
As long as there have been kids, there have been _bored_ kids. For parents in the ’60s, one magazine offered these great old-fashioned ways to have fun.
Did you ever have one of these vintage Paas Halloween makeup kits from the eighties, so you could go trick-or-treating looking like a vampire, clown, werewolf or ghost?
Here is a collection of tips from the past, for researching your past – namely, how to start a genealogical record for your family. Get ideas for tracking down your ancestry here!
Remember having fun in vintage playhouses & forts like these? Take a look back at some of these retro play structures through the decades, from the ’50s through the ’80s!
Sesame Street started in 1969 as a daily TV show for preschoolers, featuring a street filled with puppets and humans who told stories, sang and danced.
Vintage Hoppity Hop toys – and the Hoppity Horse – were inflated vinyl balls with a handle. Kids and adults alike would climb on and bounce for fun. Take a look back!
In the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, old-fashioned maternity wear existed – but its main job was to help the mom-to-be hide her pregnancy. Here’s a look back at fashions to help women camouflage that bump!
Antique Ladies’ Home Journal magazine cover: March 1890 Featuring “Mrs Harrison’s Daily Life in the White House”, “A Man’s Idea of Home Comfort”, “Hints on
Look years back at teachers, students and old school classrooms from more than a century ago, and see what education was like back then.
See some of the vintage baby gear from the 1950s that parents used when raising our parents and grandparents – including a lot that wouldn’t be considered safe today.
If you think there couldn’t be much that’s changed about vintage baby bottles in the past 100 years or so, you may be surprised. Here’s a look!
