From the readers: Lazy days of summer edition

Ye olde mailbag has been pretty sparse lately, which I think is mostly a reflection on my lack of posting consistently.

With regard to a December 2016 post — Christmas postcard mailed to Mattoon, Wisconsin, in 1910 — I received some nice messages from a woman named Diane, correcting one of my guesses. Here are the notes from Diane:

I was looking for local postcards/photos of the Mattoon, Wisconsin, area and found you have a card sent to Ethel Pollock. She is my grandma's cousin, Ethel Arabelle Pollock. She never married and lived her entire life in the Mattoon area. Ethel was born December 18, 1890, and died January 16, 1954, and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery near Mattoon. Ethel is the daughter of Albert and Bertha (Knowles) Pollock. I live in the town of Hutchins (Mattoon address at one time) and the Pollocks came here right after the Civil War. I am not sure who Mrs. Patzel is, though. She may have lived in this area at one time.

Thank you for the information, Diane! I hope to send you this postcard if I can track it down in whatever shoebox it's currently residing within.

Keeping America beautiful with "NEW miracle Plastic": There were a couple of Facebook comments about this one:

• Tom Beiter writes: "100% of crying Native Americans approve."
• Wendyvee of the awesome Roadside Wonders writes: "One set of my grandparents had a vinyl (or pleather) bag that hung from something on the passenger side of the car. Pretty sure that it was an ad specialty from the dealer (or maybe insurance company)."

Lamenting what we'll never know about Phyllis J. Stalnaker Harris: Most of the feedback on this post was noted in the previous "From the readers." Here are a couple that have come in since then:

• Babz writes: "Oh for goodness sake. The entire point of the meme is the obvious fact that she was much more than the label law enforcement or society put on her. Sheesh."
• Daveguy1 writes: "It's funny: the San Diego police of that time may have done her a strange favor — by labelling her that way, they elicit our sympathy for her, and [she] seems a heroic free spirit. I think she has a really soulful look in her eyes. I wish I could've known her."

When the USA made cool things like chicken drink coasters: Matt from 4 Color Cowboy (an ephemera blog) writes: "These are fantastic. They could probably reprint them, slap 'em on Etsy, and they would sell."

10 years ago today: A Papergreat precursor: Joan writes: "I remember that Vincent Price report! (And the fond days of sorting the books. Let's sort more books!)"

Mystery RPPC: Long-ago toddler with fuzzy toy: Joan writes: "That is a Right Fine Friend." [Advertisement: Want to send (stuffed animal) Friends and smiles around the world? Support Pengins for Everyone via its website or Facebook page.]

Farewell to a book: Tom from the great blog Garage Sale Finds writes: "Looks like a cool book and love that cover, not to mention Golden Age comic artist Alex Schomburg inside! I'm in the planning stages of building a Little Free Library. My daughter can't decide how she wants it to look. I plan on stocking it with all the vintage kids books I can't seem to stop bringing home from garage sales."

Coupons from the E.H. Koester Bakery Co.: Regarding this 2011 post, Helga writes: "My grandmother lived on the 700 block of W. Lexington until 1980! As a child, we would go down to Koester for the day old bread and raisin rolls I think. The scents of baking bread was one of my childhood memories with her. I am always in search of a pic of her house. 717 W. Lexington."