The Archivist's Library

Vintage 1950s Planters Mr. Peanut advertising whistle in red and gold plastic, shaped like the mascot in a top hat

Mr. Peanut 🥜 How a Suffolk, VA Schoolboy Create...

The verified history behind Mr. Peanut: a schoolboy's five-dollar drawing, an immigrant founder, and a century of American advertising.

Mr. Peanut 🥜 How a Suffolk, VA Schoolboy Create...

The verified history behind Mr. Peanut: a schoolboy's five-dollar drawing, an immigrant founder, and a century of American advertising.

1945 Pennsylvania Railroad gold bond certificate with an engraved station illustration and attached coupons.

Penn Central 🚂 How Three Rail Giants Merged, Th...

How three storied American railroads merged in 1968 and collapsed into the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history just two years later.

Penn Central 🚂 How Three Rail Giants Merged, Th...

How three storied American railroads merged in 1968 and collapsed into the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history just two years later.

Yellow chromolithograph broom label with elk head medallion, marked No. 6 Elk, Hamburg Broom Works, Hamburg Pennsylvania, 1920s.

Antique Broom Labels 🧹 Hamburg PA's Lost Broom ...

How a small Pennsylvania town became a broom-making capital, and why its colorful old trade labels still turn up in collections today.

Antique Broom Labels 🧹 Hamburg PA's Lost Broom ...

How a small Pennsylvania town became a broom-making capital, and why its colorful old trade labels still turn up in collections today.

Antique 1910s nitric acid poison label from Graham and Wortham's Drug Store in Corvallis, Oregon, featuring a skull and crossbones warning.

Antique Poison Labels ☠️ Why 1910s Drugstores M...

Long before federal law required it, small-town druggists were already marking poison with color, texture, and skulls. Here is why ☠️

Antique Poison Labels ☠️ Why 1910s Drugstores M...

Long before federal law required it, small-town druggists were already marking poison with color, texture, and skulls. Here is why ☠️

Vintage 1938 Glen Ale beer label from the Glen Brewing Company of Watkins Glen, New York, with a heart-shaped waterfall design on a yellow background.

Vintage Beer Labels 🍺 The Lost Breweries of Pos...

They poured for a whole town, then vanished. The vivid New Old Stock labels of America's lost local breweries—how to read, date, and collect them.

Vintage Beer Labels 🍺 The Lost Breweries of Pos...

They poured for a whole town, then vanished. The vivid New Old Stock labels of America's lost local breweries—how to read, date, and collect them.

Vintage 1950s San Francisco tin litho special police badge pinned to its original illustrated dime-store card.

Vintage Tin Litho Police Badges 🚔 The Made-in-J...

The dime-store toy badges of 1950s America: how tin litho police badges were made in Japan, sold for pennies, and survive today as New Old Stock.

Vintage Tin Litho Police Badges 🚔 The Made-in-J...

The dime-store toy badges of 1950s America: how tin litho police badges were made in Japan, sold for pennies, and survive today as New Old Stock.