The Duluth Public Library’s Nostalgic Newsstand Sale was clever and pleasurable for a number of reasons.
Just by calling it a “newsstand,” I got nostalgic. Newsstands were ubiquitous in my youth. I started my comic collection by walking to the newsstand on Third and Wisconsin in Milwaukee with my mom.
- The contents of the sale fit every kind of nostalgia — I mostly bought magazines from the lifetimes of my grandparents and great grandparents.
- The library basically convinced me to pay to recycle things for it. Most of the magazines I cut into bits for collaging or for writing — like this post here.
- I’m having some fun looking at the advertisements and making connections to Duluth. This advertisement for Pierce-Arrow automobiles is opening some doors for me.
According to what a small amount of Googling tells me, “The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was an American motor vehicle manufacturer based in Buffalo, New York, which was active from 1901 to 1938.” Just being made in Buffalo resonates for me, because Buffalo is our sister city as a “climate refuge city.”
But there are more connections — the Congdons owned a Pierce-Arrow. As recorded in a cool series of posts on Medium.
One of Clara’s diaries highlights their fantastic trip through Europe in 1911. Chester and Clara and daughters Marjorie and Helen toured through Germany, France, Italy, England, Wales and Scotland. They had the chauffeur Rudolph Miller accompany them and even had their 1911 Pierce Arrow shipped to Europe rather than renting a car.
For more about Pierce-Arrow, visit its Wikipedia page. I’m hoping to find more treasures as I plumb through the past.
