A colorful bird appears on the front of this Victorian trade card, which is slightly smaller than a standard postcard. According to the reverse side, "The way to get a card like this is to buy a package of MAGIC YEAST CAKES."
It's interesting to think that late 19th century consumers would have been motivated to buy one product over another because of the presence of a picture of a bird. But it's also extremely hard for us to imagine the enthusiasm with which the public of that time embraced and collected these cards.
Magic Yeast Cakes were a product of E.W. Gillett of Chicago. In 1929, E.W. Gillett merged with four other companies to create Standard Brands. And, in turn, Standard Brands become part of Nabisco in 1981.
In doing some other research into Magic Yeast Cakes and Gillett, I came across a creepy piece of ephemera.
A publication called Happy Hours was apparently once distributed free to buyers of Magic Yeast Cakes. And this link shows one of the illustrations that appeared within. Boo!
Chris - I enjoyed reading your blog for Capper's Farmer. I have an interest in paper related old farm history and information. Is there a way to automatically see each blog that you do for Capper's?
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