for_sv's blog

Before Time and Newsweek were America's news magazines of choice, and when the only impeached president was Andrew Johnson -- Harper's Weekly gave America its news and entertainment. From 1857 to 1872, Harper's was the leading media outfit of the nation, and advertisers eagerly sought to hawk their wares on its pages. Famous retailers like Tiffany and Macy's advertised their businesses alongside Civil War products like brass artificial legs. In some ads, women were admonished in verse to buy suits as a cure for cranky husbands. A sewing-machine company kept its ads in step with politics, changing its celebrity endorsement from Mrs. Jefferson Davis before the Civil War to Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant after the war. Even without clever jingles or catch phrases, these antique ads still make an impact -- just like biscuits made with yeast so powerful that you had to nail them to the baking sheet.