As you probably know, the Intelligencer Journal and New Era will merge on Monday.
You can read today’s story, with the details and historical context, by clicking here.
The Eras Past column will continue, under the new title Flashback Lancaster. It will draw on the archives of both newspapers and run on page B1 on Mondays.

[Read more →]

My, my, how the downtown Lancaster retail scene has changed in 75 years.
At right is a list of stores participating in “Lancaster Sales Day” in 1934. The list was published in the New Era on Jan. 22 of that year. It’s a nice Who’s Who from the retail landscape of that day.
But only a few of the […]

[Read more →]

Thanks to The Associated Press and General Motors, we present to you today some nostalgic photos from GM history. The captions are above the photos.
The 1977 Pontiac Ventura SJ:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The 1969 Chevrolet Impala Custom Coupe:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The 1965 Buick Riviera (note the car phones):

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The 1965 Pontiac GTO:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A Chevrolet Corvair is displayed at the 46th Paris Auto Show at the Grand […]

[Read more →]

The Associated Press distributed an interesting story today recapping the history of nationalization efforts in the United States.
It provides some context to the General Motors situation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. assumption of a controlling interest in General Motors Corp. isn’t the first time the government has nationalized a company or an industry. It has taken […]

[Read more →]

The article and left and the ad at right ran in the New Era in early 1959. I stumbled across them at about the same time, and found the juxtaposition interesting. 
The Big 3 U.S. automakers sound reluctant to admit their plans to build some small cars for 1960. Meanwhile, Chrysler is importing French-made Simcas and Brubaker […]

[Read more →]

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner isn’t the first federal official to feel a little snookered by an industry paying big executive bonuses at the same time it’s getting special help from the government.
Geithner is under fire for bonuses paid at AIG. But 25 years ago, U.S Trade Representative William E. Brock was upset about bonuses paid to Detroit […]

[Read more →]

The article below, published in the New Era in March 1930, caught my eye because of its use of the phrase “New Capitalism.” That’s a term that seems to get tossed around quite a bit (you can read the results of a Google search here). So I thought it was interesting to see one businessman’s definition of the phrase 79 […]

[Read more →]

Here’s an interesting cartoon that was published in the New Era on March 3, 1909, which was the day before William Howard Taft was inaugurated as the new President of the United States.
In the cartoon, Uncle Sam is wishing outgoing President Theodore Roosevelt well and congratulating him on a job well done.
But the caption caught my […]

[Read more →]

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, […]

[Read more →]

In these tough economic times, it may come as a surprise that more than $1 billion sits unclaimed by its owners in Pennsylvania. That’s about 500 times more than the $2 million that was unclaimed 75 years ago (see article below).
The Pennsylvania Treasury Department maintains a database of thousands of abandoned bank accounts, forgotten stock certificates, uncashed checks, unclaimed life-insurance policies and […]

[Read more →]