Coupons, Paper Dolls, Paying it Forward!

A gentleman I know works at our local Jewel grocery. Jewel has been part of Chicago’s Dominick’s chain and is a cut above other chains when it comes to unusual.  My mom loved shopping there, as she knew almost everyone.  She knew this particular person, too; I’ll call him S.

 

Repro of antique print from my collection.  C. 1840s or 50s.  Caption reads "Mamma has given me this doll because I have been industrious."

Public Domain.  Sketch of a little boy destroying his sister's dolls.

 

Yesterday, S and I were chatting at the check out, and we got around to coupons.  He told me something that stuck.  His hobby is to take the special inserts with coupons, especially on Sunday, and clip and organize all the coupons there.  It doesn’t matter what store they are from, or if he uses the product or not.  Then, he gives them to people who can use them.  For instance, if he sees a young woman with babies, he gives her coupons for diapers and baby products.  Such a simple gesture, yet what a wonderful way of paying it forward!  (And, finding bargains at that).

 

Tom Kelley Postcards from my Collection. This set was a gift.  He is famous for photographing Marilyn Monroe and giving her first break.

Another lovely woman, called R, belongs to our astronomy club.  Her quiet time ritual involves a cup of coffee in the morning, a donut, and clipping interesting stories from the local paper.  Where relevant, she shares them with our club.  My piano teacher loves to read the paper and clip interesting items, too.  We early scrap bookers know the value of doing this, so do those of us who teach.  My aunt used to clip stories for me from the California papers and send them to me; I used many in school as writing prompts or as subject for class discussion. Marcia Collier, author of Ebay for Dummies, suggested on a PBS program, that clipping stories from the paper on major stories, like a famous murder, controversial news or political events, the death of a famous person, etc. is a good way to gather online inventory.   I know very early newspaper pieces on events like The Battle of Little Big Horn are historical documents and are valuable.

 

Historical documents dealing with meteorites.  Planetary Studies Foundation.  Photo by me.

Professor Marilyn Gelfman Karp, author of In flagrante Collecto, talks about keeping interesting ads, bits of paper ephemera, even the warning tags on your pillows ad mattress, to preserve bits of contemporary history and popular culture that would otherwise be lost.  She has a point.  I go back to my scrap books time and time again, and have written articles about their contents on about.com.    Betty Furness, who used to appear on The Today Show for fashion and collectibles, suggested saving a few colorful ads per year for their graphics. This is how advertising card and paper doll collecting became famous.  Myself, I save old fashion ads, doll ads, Absolut Vodka ads, and Coca Cola/old soft drink ads. 

Vintage pattern, my collection.

Vintage Christmas pictographs by children.  My collection.

Vintage advent calendar.  My collection.

 

Paper doll collectors know the value of clipping pictures, saving old magazines, looking for paper dolls in all the odd places.  Some of the best examples we have are hand made or come from the funny pages.  In that light, I love to cut out old Peanuts comics, and an old boyfriend used to save Opus for me.  It’s fun to take them out and look at them.

 

Also fun are the paper airplanes, rockets, and models I’m discovering.  I am curating and selling a collection for a professor of mine who has collected them all his life.  There are over 2000, with many left.  Anyone who is interested should contact me. 

 

Vintage air planes and space craft for sale.  Lower left has a solar powered motor.

More antique and vintage gliders.

Paper space craft.

Other fun things to clip are recipes, especially from older publications columns like Dear Abby, Hints from Heloise, and sometimes, chapters from novel that are serialized in the paper.  My grandmother loved to cut out poems she read in the paper with her pinking shears.  She used safety pins to create impromptu little notebooks.  Many novelists including Melville and Emily Bronte got ideas for books and stories from newspaper stories.  Why not!!  We never know where information comes from, and in our own way, we are recycling.

 

I even have files of things I print from The Internet.  Websites aren’t up forever, and sometimes paper and books are just more important.    That’s why there are still special collections libraries and why Dr. David Levy, famous astronomer who has discovered more comets than anyone, and who has identified sixty one minor planets, keeps his observation logs in notebooks, now in demand in university libraries and other foundations.  It’s why book stores still exist, and why presidential libraries are built.  Rock, paper, scissors!  Paper and scissors work together.

By Stephanie Hammonds

 

In memory of my friend, artist, writer, doll collector, Stephanie Hammonds, who loved collecting paper ephemera of all kinds.

 

 

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