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Friday, October 26, 2018

Posters, descriptions, and prescriptions!

As a docent at the Swannanoa Valley History Museum (it's really called an even longer name, S.V. Museum and History Center,) last Wednesday afternoon, I looked far and wide for posters.  After all, a history museum has lots of antiques.  I found some signs...close I thought.  And displays.  So I'm checking them for the theme prompt of Sepia Saturday this week.


Our theme image for this week asks you to seek out any adverts in your collection - either up front or in the background - and feature them in your post on or around Saturday 27th October 2018.


When I moved to Black Mountain NC in 2007, there was still a small airport/airfield, with a radio station on the same property.  I don't remember any planes coming or going (the small ones of course). Sanavo was the aviation gasoline and oil before Exxon or Standard oil companies.  Most old metal signs in the area have the pock marks of someone's target practice with their rifles.

Then that area was bulldozed and became the Ingles Grocery Chain main warehouse...a huge building.  And some other industries took over the radio station buildings and the antenna was gone also.




The next two displays talk about area buildings.





Our nearby town of Swannanoa used to have a big mill, Beacon Blankets.  There's a good display of how that industry was very successful until it's close in 2002.  The empty building then burned just before I moved here.

One of the Beacon products of the 40s and 50s.


 There were beautiful designs woven into the blankets, many with a Native American chevron design, and bright colors.


These might be considered posters (the last 2 photos)


Asheville's newspaper covered the building of the railroad into Black Mountain.  There are also books about the area, including the railroad engineering.  The museum also has a little diorama with an electric train that you can play with.  

And what about the prescriptions? There's a display which shows some of the earliest prescriptions filled by a local pharmacy.
That "drug store" is no longer in business.


An old calendar shows what many ads looked like (1967?) I remember many calendars hanging on the wall advertising a lot of different things.

And some advertising used to hang on a screen door to a "general store."


 Starting Friday evening, Ghost Tours of Black Mountain will be conducted by the Swannanoa museum, and here's their own poster on the door.  There is rain forecast, so the tours will be conducted with umbrellas.

 A poster for an event here in Black Mountain, an art show this Saturday. I think the rain will have passed on through by then.

A Black Mountain College poster from Asheville Art Museum in 1978.  The college closed in 1956, but there's a lot of abiding interest in it and it's innovative methods in the 40s and 50s.  There's an excellent exhibit at the Swannanoa History Museum here in Black Mountain about the College -up until Dec. 8, 2018.



Have a happy weekend!

7 comments:

  1. Wow - I think you touched every base! Nice going!! I used to run around putting up posters for our theatre group's plays and choral concerts - pinning them on bulletin boards provided for that purpose, or asking store owners to display them in their windows. Unfortunately, I never thought to take pictures of them on display. I still have copies of some of those posters and maybe one day I'll use them in a future Sepia Post.

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  2. Wonderful post! I love old ads and posters.

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  3. Good post. I could use those blankets or the robes as it gets cooler here. Those ads still sell me today.

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  4. Those blankets and robe fabrics were lovely. They look soft as well. I enjoyed the walk through the museum!

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  5. I love the illustrations used for the vintage Beacon blankets. Conveying warmth and softness in a picture is not easy.

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  6. Wonderful collection of vintage and modern posters capturing the history of your area. Almost like being there after reviewing this wide selection on your post!

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