Thursday, June 21, 2012

The General Dry Goods House at the Philadelphia Wanamaker's


I should have a new entry for the Wanamaker Series1 posted with the next 24 hours or so. In the meantime, to tide us over, here's a fabulous old advertising card for the famed Philadelphia department store.2 It's just slightly larger than a business card, measuring 3 inches wide by 2⅜ inches tall.

The front states: "A visit requested to the Grand Depot General Dry Goods House, 13th St. Philadelphia. John Wanamaker."

And here's the back of the card, which goes into more detail as it touts the hats, shoes, clothing, linens, hosiery, underwear and more that were available.


Footnotes
1. The Wanamaker Series is centered around all the great stuff I'm finding inside a battered copy of "The Wanamaker Diary" for 1910. Start here and then go through the first three installments.
2. I bought this card earlier this year at a New Oxford, Pennsylvania, antiques store. (But not the same store where I purchased "Famous Fairy Tales for Children," the slim 1930 volume that led me on a rambling tale involving laxatives, Littlestown and Ed Wood.

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