Thursday, April 2, 2026

Easter Parade of 1946 Ads

Easter-themed ads in the Lorain Journal during the 1946 holiday season are a mixed bag (or basket if you prefer). The era of the big royalty-free clip art books (like those produced by Harry Volk Corporation) didn't really begin until the 1950s. So some ads have what appears to be artwork created by a professional artist at an ad agency, while other ads seem to have illustrations that were done locally, perhaps by a Journal staffer in the newspaper's art department. 

In either case, it is all fun to look at.
So here is – what else? – an ample sample of ads that appeared in the Lorain Journal around Easter 1946. You'll find ads from Sears, Smith & Gerhart, the Reidy Scanlan Company, Sutter's, and others.
April 10, 1946
April 15, 1946
April 15, 1946
April 17, 1946
April 18, 1946
The name of this drug store makes me think it would be
more at home on Red Square than Downtown Lorain
April 18, 1946
April 18, 1946

3 comments:

  1. The typesetting in that Peoples ad would have taken half of forever. I wonder if this was a chain and the ad was supplied as a mat. Perhaps home office was in Beijing, per Dan's suggestion.

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  2. Whenever I see "Reidy Scanlan," I always think funeral home before anything else.

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  3. Hey Dan - whenever I hear Sutter’s I think hot roast beef sandwich smothered in gravy and mashed potatoes. Also, before working at the Journal my college job was delivering furniture for Reidy Scanlan.
    Part of our job was unloading caskets and setting up for funerals.
    Todd

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