One of the things I did on Christmas Eve was pull down my mother-in-law‘s copy of the 1912 Chicago Blue Book. She was born in Chicago, and remained there until she moved to Washington, DC in 1942 to help in the war effort as a cartographer at Army Map Service, so many of her books and other memorabilia are related to Chicago.

I love old advertisements, and the Blue Book was filled with hundreds of them. Here are a few of my favorites.

Need a private detective, ladies? Then you should get in touch with Cora M. Strayer.

I nominate this milk product as the most unappetizing of 1912 (and 2010 as well): GERM-NO! Yum yum!

And I toss in this ad for a swimming school simply because I always find the old-timey benign use of the swastika intriguing.

Our current ads will surely look just as quaint 98 years from now. Wish I could be around to see them!