Image copyright RPS, please do not post elsewhere
Something I had never heard of before, an annual almanac put out by the Singer Sewing Machine company. It is my latest find from the frequent junk auction near my residence. It is filled with the usual suspect information akin to the still published Old Farmer's Almanac, but of course peppered with useful articles and advertising about Singer sewing machines. This particular one still has a string through the hole in the upper corner, for hanging in an easily accessible location and its condition indicates that it was consulted frequently. It is a fascinating look back into another time; a postal rate chart (two cents an ounce for a first class letter), time of transit table from New York City to various locations around the world (two days to Quebec, 33 days to Singapore), an article on "The Family Medicine Cabinet." No one now knows what Jamaica Ginger was used for, on page 30, it was recommended as a stimulant for severe pain.
Also on page 30 is the following advice:
"Every sewing-machine operator should have a piece of white (cloth or paper) and a piece of black to put under the needle in threading. When the thread is black use the white cloth; with white thread the black. One who has never tried this will be pleasantly surprised with the help it gives."
Image copyright RPS, please do not post elsewhere
Some of the Singer promotional articles are a historical gold mine. I'm especially intrigued by a discussion of their cabinet making processes in the almanac. And then there is the proclamation that Singer sewing machines were "America's chief contribution to civilization." (p. 45) Arrogant? Maybe not, the 1997 special edition of Life magazine listed the invention of the sewing machine at number 67 in their "100 Events of the Past 1,000 Years," and quoted Gandhi as claiming that the sewing machine was, "one of the few useful things ever invented." (p. 57) Learning to sew certainly has changed my life.
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