Rasco Stores - Line Drawn Bird (unknown between 1950s and 1970s)

A cute little bird brings a Rasco gift of needles for the home seamstress. This was possibly a Christmas season give-away -- the bird's feathers resemble pine needles and he has a ribbon in his beak.

Front and Back

RASCO variety stores were founded in 1934 by F. S. Rasco in Fullerton CA.  Marketing for new stores included a wide variety of merchandise, credit terms and for a grand opening prizes and other give aways for customers.  At the 1966 opening of a Henderson NV RASCO store, "packages of assorted needles" were included among the giveaways.  No way to know what that needlebook looked like but it is an interesting acknowledgement that needlebooks were used as promotional items by RASCO stores. 

Inside

 The RASCO variety stores were headquartered in  Burbank CA and were located in the Western United States primarily in California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.  Founded in 1934 by F. S. Rasco, the RASCO stores were bought by Gamble-Skogmo and closed in the early 1980s.

















“Chain Store Opening Here.” Prescott [AZ] Evening Courier, 3 Oct. 1945, p. 1, 8, news.google.com/newspapers?nid=897&dat=19451003&id=UrdaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=F1ADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4027,5238099&hl=en.

“New Rasco Store Adds To Fine Merchant Services To This Community, RASCO Store Will Make Debut Here On Thursday.” Henderson [NV] Home News, 15 Nov. 1966, pp. 1–2, hendersonlibraries.sobeklibrary.com/HL00001577/00001/search?search=rasco.

“Gamble-Skogmo.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Mar. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamble-Skogmo#F._S._Rasco_&_Company.

Vi-Co Chocolate Drink (between 1957 and 1969)

     What is Vi-Co?  That's chocolate milk in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Quebec!

Front

.The Saskatchewan Cooperative Creameries registered the trademark “Co-Op.” in 1925.  The trademark "Vi-Co" was used as early as 1939 and was registered in 1957 in Canada for chocolate drinks.  The back of the needlebook shows that the Vi-Co mark is registered dating this to 1957 or later

Back

In dating this needlebook, a useful piece of information is the history of the postal zoning system used in Toronto.  Toronto was renumbered to a three-digit code in 1969 with an alphanumeric postal code introduced in 1971.  This needlebook has the address of the Goodwill Advertising Products agency as "Toronto 5" on the inside.

Inside

“Canadian Trademarks Details.” Canadian Trademarks Details 0120435-0 - Canadian Trademarks Database - Intellectual Property and Copyright - Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/viewTrademark.html?id=0120435-0&lang=eng&status=OK&fileNumber=0120435&extension=0&startingDocumentIndexOnPage=1.

“Canadian Trademarks Details.” Canadian Trademarks Details 0230777-0 - Canadian Trademarks Database - Intellectual Property and Copyright - Canadian Intellectual Property Office - Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/viewTrademark.html?id=0230777-0&lang=eng&status=OK&fileNumber=0230777&extension=0&startingDocumentIndexOnPage=1.

Civilization.ca - A Chronology of Canadian Postal History, www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/chrono/ch1971ae.shtml.

House of Commons Debates, 28th Parliament, 1st ... - Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources, parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.debates_HOC2801_10/710?r=0&s=1.

Needlebooks Online! American Patchwork & Quilting

HappyHourStitches shared her Virginia Slims needlebooks passed down from her grandmother and gave us a peek at the great historic needlebooks from collector Martha Klatt in the February 2018 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting. 



Klatt, Martha. “Collector's Corner: Needlebooks.” American Patchwork and Quilting, Feb. 2018, p. 104.

Hygeia Coffee 1925

Everyone loves a great cup of coffee and you couldn't find a better, purer coffee than the one the Rockefellers, Morgans and Vanderbilts drink!  

Front

Hygeia was the Greek goddess of health and in an age when pure food laws were being enacted, this coffee's name symbolized a healthy drink that had not been adulterated.

Back

This pin card includes the pun "Pin Your Faith to Hygeia Coffee" with the advertising text prominently featured on the inside where it would be seen by a woman searching for a pin or looking for the current years calendar.

Inside

Master Charge - Security Pacific Bank (between 1969 - 1971)

Master Charge (today known as MasterCard) was a bank-issued, nationwide consumer credit card  created in the mid-1960s by as a competitor to BankAmericard (now Visa).

Front

Back

Initially, the California Bankcard Association created Mastercard in the mid-1960s  as a way to extend bank credit to consumers.  The California Bankcard Association became the Western States Bankcard Association (WSBA - seen on the front of the needle case following the expiration date) This association in conjunction with eastern banks formed the Interbank Card Association with the lower case "i" logo shown on the lower, right, front of the needlecase.

In dating the needlebook, I assumed the needlebook was issued before the June 1971 expiration date on the front of the needlebook.

Inside

Josev. The History of MasterCard. 7 Mar. 2012, www.gobankingrates.com/credit/the-history-mastercard/.

“The History of Credit Card Processing.” The History of Credit Card Processing, www.gotmerchant.com/history_of_credit_card_processing.php.

Tsosie, Claire. “The History of the Credit Card.” NerdWallet, 10 Feb. 2017, www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/history-credit-card/.

“We've Been Making History for 50 Years.” Mastercard History & Key Milestones, www.mastercard.us/en-us/about-mastercard/who-we-are/history.html

Safeway Guaranteed Products (c. 1955)

Front

 This needle book advertises Safeway house brand detergents and soaps for laundry and household use.  Beginning in 1955, Safeway began an overhaul of its private label brands and consolidated and streamline its offerings while giving the division manager more control over the products he offered.  Retail private label sales at this time were almost 15 percent of total Safeway sales.

The Safeway "S" appeared on Safeway private label brands as a signal of the product quality.

Back

The Safeway brands advertised on this needlebook (Scamper, Brocade, White Magic, and Su-Perb) were all available in the late 1950s and, with the exception of Scamper, appear to have been available still in 1968.

I date this needlebook to approximately 1955 based on the "Scamper" bottle pictured on the front touting the product as "NEW PINK" Scamper.  An newspaper advertisement from that year touts the benefits of the new, pink, Scamper formula in treating a woman's hands gently.

Inside

The New Way at Safeway. archive.org/stream/TheNewWayAtSafeway1958#page/n0/mode/1up.

Safeway. “Remarkable New Liquid Detergent; It's Pink!; Scamper Saves Your Hands As It Washes Your Dishes!” The Enterprise [Lexington Park MD], 22 Sept. 1955, p. 6. http://stmalib.archivalweb.com/scans/stmalib/ENTERPRISE/1955/1955-09-22_006.pdf

Tkaye. “1968 Safeway Private Labels.” Safeway Store Brands - Groceteria.com, 25 Jan. 2006, www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1013.