Sunday, November 30, 2008
Jersey City billhead
It is easy to see why vintage billheads are so collectible: many feature beautiful engravings of actual streets that were idealized as the heart of industry, when factories, forges and mills were bustling and manufacturing was king. You could build a history lesson around this billhead.
As you can see, forging was the specialty of Theo. Smith & Sons. No date, but listing blacksmiths on top tells you horses were still critical for commerce. Fertilizer dryers and tallow rendering evokes farm life; New Jersey was no doubt still largely countryside at this time, although Newark was already a thriving urban center. Clam shell dredges and orange peel buckets? Hmmm. Perhaps the Hudson River was still fishable. But I'm stumped on the significance of the peel buckets.
I have just found your site, and it is just lovely and full of wonderful memories.
ReplyDeleteI did not find an email to contact you to ask if any of these lovely old pictures can be downloaded and used for scrapbook backgrounds.
Could you let me know? Thank you, Edna B
missednascraps@yahoo.com