They kept everything.

Ask

My Grandparents kept everything, and it all ended up in my lap. This collection of stuff ranged from the cool (WWII V-Mail from my Uncle Frank) to the "you've got to be kidding me" (receipts from a trip taken in the 50s). I've weeded out a lot of the nonsense and kept the more interesting (at least what was interesting to me). In turn I decided to create this site to not only post some items, but also as a research exercise. Most items are from Chicago and Detroit, but of course family trips expanded their reach of hoarding. I hope you enjoy this very random collection. Frank Kownacki

theme by Robin Wragg

 
This is a promo for the War Bond drive effort of WWII.  It’s about an inch long, and has a little lip on the back end.  I think this was meant to be put over the breast pock of your shirt.  Otherwise, I can’t really think of where else this was meant to be displayed.  The company, Stewart-Warner in Chicago, was where my Grandpa Ehemann worked.  I know that he was a radio maker and also a model maker (industrial models), both of which would have been employed by this company (they also made instrument gauges like speedometers).  Though at this time I’m not sure what he was exactly doing.  I do know that his job gave his the standing of being part of the war effort, which allowed him to have a larger gas ration. The 7th drive of the war loan campaign began after V-E Day and became the most famous of the drives because of its artistic use of the flag raising on Iwo Jima with the tag line of “Now - All Together.”  (There was even an 8th drive that began after V-J Day.)  It’s surprisingly hard to find a listing of all of the campaigns but thanks to Google I was able to track down this announcement of the launching of the 7th campaign in a newspaper.  As for this little lapel pin (or whatever you want to call it) I gave it to my brother in-law.  He loves WWII stuff and it’s only fair to share the wealth. 

This is a promo for the War Bond drive effort of WWII.  It’s about an inch long, and has a little lip on the back end.  I think this was meant to be put over the breast pock of your shirt.  Otherwise, I can’t really think of where else this was meant to be displayed.  The company, Stewart-Warner in Chicago, was where my Grandpa Ehemann worked.  I know that he was a radio maker and also a model maker (industrial models), both of which would have been employed by this company (they also made instrument gauges like speedometers).  Though at this time I’m not sure what he was exactly doing.  I do know that his job gave his the standing of being part of the war effort, which allowed him to have a larger gas ration.

The 7th drive of the war loan campaign began after V-E Day and became the most famous of the drives because of its artistic use of the flag raising on Iwo Jima with the tag line of “Now - All Together.”  (There was even an 8th drive that began after V-J Day.)  It’s surprisingly hard to find a listing of all of the campaigns but thanks to Google I was able to track down this announcement of the launching of the 7th campaign in a newspaper. 

As for this little lapel pin (or whatever you want to call it) I gave it to my brother in-law.  He loves WWII stuff and it’s only fair to share the wealth. 

4 notes:

  1. familyephemera posted this
  archive