Why on earth would she have saved these...?

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WOW!

That's a great find! If you're going to store it, do so in an archival grade container (acid free, lignin free). Also, the best archival environment is likely 68 degrees F and 50% relative humidity.

Can you tell I've got some archival training?
Dave
 
No disrepect intended but their diet did nothing to "postpone" the estate sale. alr2903
 
What a diverse collection. Butter and margarine and lite margarine. Wasnt there a decent fried chicken restaurant nearby? Had no idea Land O Lakes made ice cream. Love the Mrs Pauls boxes. Wonder if I can still find the onions?
 
Any Space Bars or Breakfast Square boxes? An old box of Captain Crunch would go perfect with your shirt,Robert. What a fun find!

Jim
 
One would sure wonder why in the world she saved all of these but what fun she did. They would make a really neat collage just the way you have them. How was the rest of the house? Was she/he a saver??
 
Good Lord!

Apparently....

It's contagious!

LOL.

Seriously, those Aunt Jemima packages are probably quite collectible. There's a older black woman in Richmond, CA, who collects all sorts of racist objects, and these Aunt Jemima images would fit right in.

Who would of thought that hoarded recyclable food packaging would be a window into the past?
 
I must agree with Greg, what an awesome time capsule. It was probably destined for the rubbish bin, and got misplaced instead. But then again, it might have been the work of a hoarder. We'll never know.
 
I talked with Rick this morning and he had a thought about these. Maybe she saved them for her children or grandchildren and they used them to play store with.
 
Jello 123 (Reply #13 pic)

Oh man...I loved making that stuff when I was a kid, especially the cherry flavor. 3 different layers with Jello gelatin on the bottom.
 
Terry the rest of the house was relatively clean and neat. Fred had two big vacuum scores, but I'll let him share that when he has the pictures ready.

We're planning on going out and buying some acid free art binders like we use for vintage magazine ads to store some of the best of these boxes in for eternity.

I received an email this morning which I suspect is the real reason for this...

"What you found in the lady's attic were known then as "Qualifiers". All those boxes and labels were treasures to what was then known as "refunders". For example, the Aunt Jemima boxes. Perhaps at the specific time that those boxes were saved Aunt Jemima wasn't offering a money refund, so we'd save them for when an offer would come along.

The offer might state: Using this official form, attach 3 Aunt Jemima face circles to receive a $1 refund. Offer expires July 31, 1967. (Some companies would refund your $.15 postage.)

So many people would save all these brand name wrappers and wait., In those years there were refunder's magazines, clubs, exchange groups, etc. It really was a big deal, a time when many women were still at home and able to fool around with all these things.

On the down side, it was really a lot of work, and a mess. But a dollar meant so much more back then.

Hope this helps solve that mystery".
 
Some of these would seem to be good material for playing store. Many elementary schools used to have play stores to teach children about arithmetic and making change, like the old word problems. It even seems like in the dimmest reaches of my memory I can remember some sort of pretend store with fake boxes and cans and a little shopping cart. It was probably advertised for Christmas. I'll bet that an old Sears catalog would have the fake store set up in the toys section, although I don't think it would be very popular unless it played into the female desire to shop. I think a couple of sisters on my street set up a play store with packages like these. I don't remember the store as well as the AMP in the basement.
 
Wow! Absolutely fascinating, Robert! It'd be great to see these at the wash-in. I can remember some of that packaging in the late '70s and early '80s growing up. I used to save cardboard food boxes, spice cans, and a myriad of other junk when I was little--wish I would've saved it. I do save spice cans again, though. If anyone has or knows of anyone who has old spice cans destined for the garbage, by all means let me know!

Rob
 

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