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“America’s Kitchens” exhibit in Concord, New Hampshire — retro road trip

Posted by: • June 24, 2009

On days when warmth is the most important need of the human heart,
the kitchen is the place you can find it;
it dries the wet socks, it cools the hot little brain.”
—E.B. White, 1956

hoosier-kitchen

Need a place to point the station wagon this summer vacation? You’ll be sure to torture the pre-teens at “America’s Kitchens,” a new traveling exhibition organized by Historic New England. It has just begun its national tour in Concord, New Hampshire, where it will run through January 17, 2010. Next stops will be Long Island and Cape Cod.  Heck yeah there is more →

“America’s Kitchens” – I bought the book, too

Posted by: • June 24, 2009

history of american kitchens“America’s Kitchens” by Nancy Carlisle, Melinda Talbot Nasardinov, and Jennifer Pustz is possibly the only comprehensive book on the history of the American kitchen. I am reading it right now. This is just the stuff I love: How Hoosier cabinets, frozen food, open plan architecture and other tweaky things changed the way we live in, and use, our kitchens. And I like to hear the story right from the beginning, too…because virtually no development can be understood in isolation. For example, when I was busy researching “Why steel kitchen cabinets?” it took me all the way back to…Florence Nightingale…Another story for another day. I supported Historic New England by paying them full price.  You can get an even better deal at Amazon…via my Pamazon store, of course.

46 years of Aladdin Home catalogs

Posted by: • June 12, 2009

1954-aladdin-homeWOW, THIS IS AN AMAZING TREASURE TROVE: An online archive of 46 years of Aladdin Home Sales Catalogs, courtesy of Central Michigan University and its Clarke Historical Library. I’m serious: Complete catalogs: Page through for hours and watch the history of middle-class housing styles in the first half of the American 20th century unfold. The catalogs were the principal marketing method for the houses…. So also you get all kinds of little detail that paints a picture of how people lived, what they considered when looking for a house… See the dramatic shifts during the Depression and wartimes, for example. They are little social history books.  Aladdin’s were kit houses… manufactured houses like the famous Sears’  models. These kinds of homes are EVERYWHERE across America. Heck yeah there is more →

The history of the milkman: Who killed him?

Posted by: • June 3, 2009

holstein-dairy-cowshighlawn_logo

DID YOU STILL HAVE A MILKMAN growing up? (Do you look suspiciously like him? tee hee.) Historic New England has a really wonderful virtual-online exhibit about the history of milk home delivery from 1860-1960. The exhibit also helps explain some of the history of modern kitchens. Alas, we retro renovators know how the story ends. –> Heck yeah there is more →

My home show talk in Eugene, Oregon

Posted by: • March 23, 2009

1942-hotpoint-war-bonds

How to boil down a year-and-a-half of Retro Renovation learning into a 45-minute home show talk? A number of readers have asked… no, I don’t have it on video, sorry… but here’s what I talked about at my recent talks at the Lane County Home Show in Eugene, Oregon. A mix of… social history… vintage 40s 50s and 60s eye candy… my own story and how I got into the blog… and products and ideas to preserve, restore and renovate modest, middle class ranches, capes, colonials, splits and bungalows.  Oh – and read on for some other fun stuff from the show, too! Heck yeah there is more →