Hey, folks...I've been slowly going through some of the old things my late father and I accumulated over our 40+ years of collecting. This may be something you guys are already familiar with, but I sure got a kick out of it. If not, you'll have a good time checking out this "time machine" back to the days before Topps or Bowman ever thought about selling gumcards.
I ran across this 1945 NEWS FROM HOME magazine issued by an insurance company group. The magazine was created specifically for servicemen stationed abroad during WW2 and is filled with nostalgia-laden articles similar to the more recent "Reminisce" or "Good Old Days" magazines.
The editors described the month's cover as follows: "To oldsters and others who are not so venerable, the montage of cigarette cards on the cover and on pages 10 and 11 of this issue may bring back nostalgic memories of carefree boyhood days when the collecting of these colorful trophies was a popular pastime. It was an educational as well as entertaining hobby, and many a lad acquired a fund of information from his card collection far less painfully than from his schoolbooks."
Could they have said it any better?
Here's the interior article. Note that none of that recent Goudey junk qualified for coverage.
And I guess card flipping has been around longer than I thought...
(Also posted on the Non-Sports Forum Board)