Last week, I wrote about electric cars that were sold at a downtown Lancaster dealership in 1909.
Today, I learned that old electric cars will be a major feature of this year’s Kutztown Folk Festival in Berks County, from June 27 to July 5.
A number of early electric vehicles will be on display at the festival. Many […]

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Here’s some evidence that, even in the so-called era of “cheap gas,” there were consumers thinking about fuel economy.
The Chevrolet ad below, which was published in the New Era on Feb. 5, 1959, touted the fuel efficiency of the “Hi-Thrift 6″ engine, which “Goes and goes and goes on a gallon!”
I thought it was interesting, however, […]

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Here’s an interesting little article that was published in the New Era on Dec. 12, 1958.
It’s an Associated Press piece reporting on predictions by America’s top industrial and business leaders on what life would be like in 1987.
Among the most accurate of the predictions is that everyone would have pocket telephones, although it took a little longer than […]

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America runs on…
…Sugar!
At least that’s the message the Franklin Sugar Refining Co. delivered to readers of the Nov. 20, 1958, New Era, in which the ad below was published.
So don’t throw out that leftover Halloween candy just yet. And don’t try to slow those kids down. When the candy runs out, give ‘em some sugar cubes, and watch ‘em spin.
Do I hear a […]

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Seventy-five years ago, on Sept. 21, 1933, the New Era published the first two-color ad in local newspaper history.
Below is the short article that ran at the top of Page 1 that day, followed by the splashy red-and-black Texaco ad itself, which was published on Page 12. And below that is an enlarged copy of the ad text, in case […]

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Quiz time: When was the following statement written?
“If there was ever occasion to consider the wisdom of conserving any of the mineral treasures with which the country has been endowed and of hunting for serviceable substitutes, the policy is certainly applicable to petroleum in an extreme degree.”
Was the statement made earlier this year? Or in […]

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