New Year – 2013

We ain’t got nothin’ but we’ll give you all half of that!

Nevada State Journal (Reno, Nevada) Jan 1, 1913

NOW WRITE IT!

Newark Advocate (Newark, Ohio) Jan 1, 1913

It’s All Yours

Albuquerque Tribune (Albuquerque, New Mexico) Jan 1, 1963

Old-Time Christmas Tree

The Old-Time Christmas Tree.

I oft recall the Christmas tree
That bloomed when we were boys;
It seems a mystery to me
How it could hold the toys
That clung in clusters on each limb
Like grapes upon a vine,
While many a colored candle’s glim
On baubles bright would shine.

All through the reeking branches’ rifts
The wayward, wandering wax
Would gurgle over gaudy gifts,
And leave long tallow tracks;
Soft pills of purple paraffine
Would punctuate the hair
Of dolls and make their tresses’ sheen
A polka-dot affair.

The limp wax-drippings, light and dark,
Seeped down without surcease,
Bedecking beasts in Noah’s ark
With rainbow stripes of grease;
And lo a miracle was wrought
When falling candle clots
The litheless little leopard caught
And changed the creature’s spots.

The tainted touch of tinted grease,
Made a kaleidoscope
Of many a toy; the lamb’s white fleece
Was flecked like mottled soap;
The dark-bay horse was dappled blue,
The elephant turned green,
And other beasts assumed a hue
That ne’er before was seen.

Now distance lends enchantment to
Those lights of long ago,
And oft we fancy that they won
Our hearts with radiant glow;
The Yuletide tree when we were young
Seems fairer far than all
The boyhood pictures that are hung
On memory’s wide wall.

– T.B. Chrystal in N.Y. World.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Dec 23, 1912

Postermaster Makes a Christmas Concession

Image from Old Pictures

WILL PERMIT WRITING “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS”

“Not to opened until Christmas” written across packages sent through the mails at his season of the year will not be considered by the postoffice department as writing, and as a result such packages will be passed and delivered by carriers.

This is one of the many concessions being made by the authorities in order to induce the general public to send gifts early and thus relieve the congestion that is sure to result if everything is deferred until near the holidays.

Orders have been issued by Postmaster General Hitchcock, at Washington, to the effect that this year the rule prohibiting the writing of a message of any kind on the face of mail matter except the address will not be enforced so as to permit persons to write “Not to be opened until Christmas.” This has come about through the fact that express companies and other common carriers permit the practice, and Uncle Same desires to extend the same courtesy to gain a two fold benefit from this concession, both getting from this a large volume of business, because hundreds will send parcels by mail now who would otherwise have used the express route, and also inducing persons to send their mail early and avoid the Christmas rush.

The Gettsyburg Times (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania) Dec 9, 1911

What’s For Dinner?

Hotel Witter – Demolished in 1950 (South Wood County Historical Museum)

What was served for Thanksgiving Dinner in 1929:

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin) Nov 26, 1929

Cranberry Jell Easily Made by Newest Recipe

Use of Baking Powder Makes Less Sugar Necessary In Preparation of Sauce

With Thanksgiving close at hand the homemaker is thinking seriously of pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. A new cranberry recipe made with Rumford all-phosphate baking powder is offered here.

Prepare as usual in proportion of one quart of cranberries to 2 cups water. Cook till berries are tender. If preferred clear, rub through sieve to take out seeds and skins.

Return to the fire adding to every quart of fruit 1 cup of sugar (instead of the usual two cups) and 1 level teaspoon of baking powder. Cook only till the sugar is dissolved. Chill before serving.

This cranberry sauce will be sweet and fresh-flavored with fine, clear color.

Note the great saving in sugar. Also consider the advantages in preparing fruit sauces with a minimum of sugar for invalids and children.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Nov 14, 1932

From the Sheboygan Spirit: This hotel was built in the early 1890s and torn down in 1960.

What The Grand Hotel  served for Thanksgiving in 1946:

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Nov 27, 1946

Deep-Dish Cranberry Pie

3 cups cranberries
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt

Boil the cranberries in the water until they “pop.” Add sugar and salt. Cool somewhat. Pour into a deep pie dish. Cover with a layer of plain pastry, fitting pastry firmly over edge of dish. (The pastry should be slashed to allow escape of steam.) Bake at 450 F. for 15 minutes.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) May 1, 1936

Cold Water Pastry

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lard
4 to 6 tablespoons cold water

Cut lard into flour and salt until the crumbs are the size of dried peas. Add the water slowly, using just enough to make the dough hold together.

Roll on a floured board.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) May 1, 1936

Happy Thanksgiving!

Everything Cranberry

All images of cranberry workers from cranlib’s photostream on flickr

THE WINTER BERRY.

In cooking cranberries it is well to remember that they should never be put into a tin dish. Either agate or porcelain dishes should be used.

Cranberry Conserve. – Extract the juice from an orange, then cover the peeling with cold water and cook slowly until tender. Scrape out the white bitter part and cut the peel into narrow strips with the scissors. Simmer one and a half cups of raisins until tender; add the orange peel and the juice and a quart of cranberries. If needed, add more water to make a cupful of liquid. Cover and cook for ten minutes or until the berries are done. Then add two cups of sugar and simmer until thick.

Cranberry Trifle. – Cook a quart of berries with one pint of water until the berries pop open; rub through a sieve, return to the fire and add one pound of sugar. Stir until it is dissolved, then let boil two minutes; cool and beat until light with a wire egg beater, then fold in the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs. Pile in a glass dish and serve. Cranberry shortcake and cranberry pie are old favorites for desserts..

Baked Apples With Cranberries. – Select large, perfect, sweet apples, remove the cores and fill the cavities with thick cranberry jelly. Set the apples in a pan of water in the oven, and bake until the apples are done. Put each apple in a glass sauce dish and serve with whipped cream.

Cranberry Roll. – Cream two tablespoonfuls of butter, add a cup of sugar, a half cup of cold water and two cups of flour sifted with a tablespoonful of baking powder and a dash of nutmeg.  Beat until perfectly smooth, then add another cup of flour and roll out the dough to an inch in thickness. Spread thickly with jam or jelly, roll up closely, pressing the ends together. Lay on a plate and steam for three hours. Cut in slices and serve with cream.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Dec 11, 1911

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CRANBERRY COFFEE CAKE

1/2 pound cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup flour (bread)
1 egg
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons milk

Inspect and wash 1/2 pound of cranberries. Make a think syrup by boiling the sugar and water for 10 minutes. Add the cranberries to the syrup and simmer until they are clear and transparent. Pour this into the bottom of a cake pan. Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Blend the butter with the dry ingredients. Beat the egg with the milk and add to mixture. Spread this batter on top of the cranberries and bake 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Cut in squares and serve with hard sauce. This amount will fill a pan 8 inches square.

HARD SAUCE

1/3 cup butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or lemon extract
2 tablespoons boiling water

Cream butter, add gradually while beating the sugar. Add vanilla or lemon extract. Beat gradually into the mixture the boiling water. This makes unusually fluffy and light hard sauce.

Sheboygan Press (Sheboygan, Wisconsin) Dec 7, 1935

Magic Cranberry Pie

1 1/3 cups Borden’s Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup Eatmor cranberry pulp, drained
2 egg yolks
Baked 9-inch pie shell of Krusteaz

Blend together sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, cranberry pulp and egg yolks. Pour into baked shell. This pie may also be served with a meringue made of two egg whites beaten still and sweetened with two tablespoons of granulated sugar, browned in a moderate oven (350 degrees) for 10 minutes.

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Nov 20, 1936

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Cranberry Relish Right Complement To Turkey Dinner

By GAYNOR MADDOX
NEA Staff Writer

For brilliant color in the Thanksgiving menu serve this jellied cranberry molded salad:

Jellied Cranberry Relish Salad

Two cups fresh cranberries, 1 lemon, quartered and seeded; 1 apple, peeled, cored and quartered; 1 orange, quartered and seeded; 1 cup sugar, 1 package fruit-flavored gelatin.

Put cranberries and fruit through food chopper. Combine with sugar and let stand a few hours to blend. Prepare fruit-flavored gelatin as directed on package, reducing water by 1-4 cup; chill until syrupy. Stir into drained cranberry relish mixture. Fill mold and chill until firm. Unmold on lettuce or watercress and serve garnished with orange sections.

Or if you want your cranberries in the salad course, just combine pineapple and pears, bananas and walnuts, lettuce and watercress. top off with a generous handful of crunchy fresh cranberries for color and texture.

Finally — and what an old-fashioned and zestful end to the Big Meal of the Year — there’s cranberry pie.

Cranberry Pie

One recipe favorite pastry, 2 1-4 cups sugar, 1-2 cup water, 104 cup raisins, 2 cups apples slices, 4 cups fresh cranberries, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons water.

Roll out half pastry and fit into 9-inch pan. Combine sugar, water, raisins, apple slices and cranberries in saucepan. Cook until cranberries pop — about 10 minutes. Make a paste of cornstarch and remaining water, stir into fruit and continue cooking until thick and clear — about 5 minutes. Cool and pour into pie shell. Roll out remaining pastry and cut in strips. Arrange criss-cross fashion over top. Bake in hot over (425 degrees F.) 25 minutes.

Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, Texas) Nov 16, 1950

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A Wealth of Tradition

Image from House Divided

THANKSGIVING STARTED BY WOMAN

The tireless efforts of a woman — Sarah Hale, a widow with nine children — were responsible for establishing Thanksgiving day as a national holiday, the only holiday of its kind in the world! And it’s still the tireless efforts of the women which help to preserve the hearty feasting today.

The first Thanksgiving day, unlike what you may remember from your history lesson, was not a harvest festival, but marked the surrender of Burgoyne and was held in December, 1777, called by the Continental congress. President Washington called the next one, and the next, but many years were skipped before the holiday appeared again, and the dates varied so it was sometimes held in May. President Lincoln tried for the annual observation, but it was through the efforts of Mrs. Hale, as editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, that Thanksgiving became a national holiday under Andrew Johnson, and has been celebrated on the last Thursday in November ever since.

Since then Thanksgiving has moved along under its own momentum, and this year when President Hoover proclaims the day, a wealth of tradition surrounds the festive board. Are you, as a modern thanks-giver, ready to carry out the traditions of the harvest feast?

San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Texas) Nov 18, 1932

Eatmor Cranberries!

Dinner Time is Cranberry Time

Sheboygan Press — Oct 23, 1931

Ask Your Man if He Remembers Criss-Cross Cranberry Pie

Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune –  Oct 30, 1931

Not Just a Holiday Treat — GOOD Every Day!

Try These Delightful Recipes

Wisconsin Rapids  Daily Tribune — Sep 23, 1936

Halloween Art

The witch is astride this night for a ride,
Old Satan and she together;
Now out and now in,
Thru thick and thru thin,
No matter what be the weather.

– Robt. Herrick

The Herald – Junior Section (Los Angeles, California) Oct 31, 1909

Pioneers Frightening the Indians With Hallowe’en Tricks

– Hazel Cox

The Herald – Junior Section (Los Angeles, California) Oct 31, 1909

In the Houses of Rich and Poor Alike, Its Joyful Customs will be Observed

The Herald (Los Angeles, California) Oct 31, 1897

Halloween

– Helen Knecht

Los Angeles Herald (Los Angeles, California) Oct 30, 1910

Christopher Columbus Day

Edwardsville Intelligencer (Edwardsville, Illinois) Oct 15, 1965

Christopher Columbus discovered America 426 years ago. The kaiser discovered it just about 425 years later, and to show his contempt for Spain he sinks an occasional ship of King Alfonso’s fleet.

New Castle News (New Castle, Pennsylvania) Oct 28, 1918

Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Oct 12, 1921

Empty Chair Day

Karl Marx and the Empty Chair

Image from iOwnTheWorld