A freelance copywriter, Paula Zargaj-Reynolds' obsession with advertising includes collecting vintage advertising ephemera and posting it on her blog, Found in Mom's Basement. In the following interview, we talk about her passion and how it translates into a great blog.
ephemera: First, I have to tell you how much I enjoy your blog; it's wonderful. When did you become interested in vintage ads?
Z-R: I have a sentimental attachment to advertising that goes back to my childhood. My family moved to the States from Communist Yugoslavia in the 1960s. You can't imagine the culture shock. Even now it's hard to know where to begin to describe my wonder at the awesome spectacle of American consumer goods. The sheer number of choices was breathtaking. I probably looked like an idiot my first time in an American toy store. I have no doubt I walked around with my mouth agape – my parents probably did, too. And what introduced me to even more great stuff than I could ever have imagined existed? Advertising. It became my reference guide to American goods and culture. I spent so much time studying ads that it should come as no surprise that I ended up in the business – I'm a copywriter.
Why vintage advertising in particular? Quite simply, I like old things. They have a romance about them that makes new items look garish in comparison. Even the most humble objects – a vintage sewing needle book, for example – become worthy of admiration when they've survived in tact for decades. And old things always feel better to the touch, old paper especially. It has a tactile quality that makes it so much more satisfying to turn the pages of an old book or magazine than it does a new one.
ephemera: I grew up in Chicago in the 70s, and I was stunned, as a kid, to see all the largess in the toy stores. I'll never forget my first trip to Bargain Town (forerunner to Toys R Us); it was like a Las Vegas whorehouse for tots.
Did you begin consciously, knowing what you would collect, or did you just one day discover what you were doing?
Z-R: I started my first advertising blog, Advertising Is Good For You a few years ago as a way of driving traffic to my website and generating some freelance copywriting business. In researching ideas for that blog, I kept coming across all these wonderful vintage ads. Then it just hit me one day that I should start a second blog devoted to vintage advertising. And that's how Found in Mom's Basement was born.
The more vintage ads I find, the more fascinated I am by them. At first, I was posting only images I'd found on the Internet. But it wasn't long before I was coming home from flea markets and used bookstores with armloads of old magazines full of ads I wanted to scan.
ephemera: What challenges or obstacles do you encounter as a collector? How do you overcome these challenges?
Z-R: There's a seemingly endless supply of old magazines out there and they're relatively inexpensive. Other types of advertising ephemera are costlier so I have to be more discerning when I purchase things like recipe booklets, brochures, and can labels.
I do have one regret and that is that I have to tear up so many old magazines. For one thing, it's the only way to get a good scan of the ads. For another, I'd need an airplane hangar to be able to keep in tact and store all the old magazines I find.
ephemera: What are your favorite vintage ads?
Z-R: I should mention that I know very little about the intrinsic value of any of this stuff. I collect what I think is visually appealing or interesting in some other way. That said, I have a longstanding love affair with the post-war 1940s and 1950s in America. I like the aesthetic from that period and I like the shiny, fresh-scrubbed optimism it projects. Of course, those decades were neither as happy nor as innocent as the advertisers wanted you to think. African-Americans and immigrants are depicted as offensive stereotypes. Women are often made to look like idiots. And cigarettes weren't the only products making outrageous claims in their ads.
ephemera: For those folks interested in vintage ads, what resources do you recommend?
Z-R: My most valuable tools are my computer and scanner. They allow me to record the pieces and share them with the world. And I think collections should be shared. I'm touched and humbled by how many people email me to tell me they enjoy looking at the vintage ads on my blog. For some, it's a trip down memory lane. Others like the historic aspect of it because the ads reflect how society has changed over the decades. Some appreciate the artistry of the illustrations, photography, use of color. And for a lot of people it's just fun – which I think is as legitimate a reason as any.
ephemera: This has been a delight. Thank you for taking time to share experiences and blog with the ephemera readers.
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