Signs of the Times--only ambitious young men
 can become Watkins Salesmen

This isn't a candy recipe page, but I found it rather interesting to scan over.  If my great-grandmother were living in today's world, I suspect that she would be an ambitious young woman.  She was in her own time as her time would allow.   She graduated from High School (Normal School) and was qualified to go and teach school.  My daughter now has the watch that was given to her as a gift when she graduated.  It was on a pin and also had a link so it could be worn as a necklace.









She was an avid reader, poetry writer, and crafts person.  Here is a page in her Watkins catalog scrapbook and photos of the necklaces that she made from the patterns.

I still have both of these bead necklaces.  I had to do some repair work on one where the thread had rotted and the beads had fallen off.  













I suspect that when Grandma made them, they were secured with a velvet ribbon.   I made the red and the teal colored bead chains for them.










Then and now....continued again.

In my previous blog I mentioned the scrapbook of art patterns my great grandmother kept by glueing newspaper clippings into a 1913 Watkins catalog.

It is fun to look through those pages that did not have something pasted on them.  Some have almanac information for each month of the year.   There are ads for the Watkins products  but often the 'ad' is in the article for how to use the product.   It is interesting to read some of the 'medicinal' ads,  with the products being good for self diagnosis of what ails the reader. 

Other pages have household tips and recipes.   Check out this page of recipes for different kinds of candy.

 

 Some of these sound diet breakingly delicious.  Maybe you would like to try one.  Then, as you sit back and enjoy, think back to what life might have been like in 1913.

 

...to be continued.

 

 

 



Have you ever run across a very old, more than 'vintage' magazine unexpectedly?  Yesterday as I was cleaning my workroom I rediscovered an old 1913 Watkins sales catalog.  It came from my great-grandmother.  Why would I keep something like that?  Well, my great-grandmother was a very frugal person, and nothing went to waste if it could be recycled into something else.  She used this magazine as her scrapbook where she cut and pasted patterns for crocheting, tatting, and beading that she had cut out from newspapers.  I now have a diary of sorts of that part of her life.  

...to be continued.

I feel like I am studying to for an MBA with all the reading I am doing to learn about on line marketing and social networking.  For someone who is new to all this, it is a lot to take in.   Part of the challenge is keeping it in balance with the creative aspects of the business so that I actually have something to sell.