Page 4 - 2019 August The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
P. 4
Publisher’s Corner
Growing up watching the general store journalofantiques.com
Publisher
F 1930, chances are our only real association with the 19th Town’s more prominent citizens. Our maxine@journalofantiques.com
or those of us who grew up in a city or were born after a community, and its owner, one of the
Maxine Carter-Lome
century general store is what we saw on TV and
contemporary image of a group of locals
experienced at restoration villages such as Colonial
Jeffrey Lome
Williamsburg, Old Sturbridge Village or Old Bethpage Village sitting around a pot-bellied stove in the Maxine Carter-Lome Business Manager
general store playing checkers and
Restoration. I’m a product of the 1960s and 70s sitcoms so shooting the breeze is one based in fact jeffrey@journalofantiques.com
what I knew before putting this issue together was basically portrayed by made-for-TV characters. Managing Editor
what I saw on such TV shows as Little House on the Prairie, In the first half of the19th century, the general store played Judy Gonyeau
Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres. Although each show was an important role in American commerce in what was then editorial@journalofantiques.com
set in a different time period, each made a trip to town and the primarily a credit, barter, and trade economy. The storekeeper Contributing Writer
general store an important fixture of life in their characters’ worked with the farmers in his community to bring their fresh Erica P. Lome
small, rural town, and its shopkeeper, a central character actor. produce and farm-made goods to the nearest city market, Sales Representatives
Who could forget Drucker’s General Store in the fictional using their market value to purchase inventory for his Pat Rainka
community of Hooterville, the “town” central to life on journalofantiques@gmail.com
shop and customers. In this role, the storekeeper was his
Petticoat Junction and Green Acres? The Store’s owner, Sam community’s primary and regular conduit to what was Art Director
Drucker, portrayed on both shows by the late actor Frank Lynn Cotterman
happening in the “big city,” bringing back news, the latest fash-
Cady, was a key character on both sitcoms, providing the girls ions, and the newest products to his more isolated community. ads@journalofantiques.com
on Petticoat Junction, and Oliver and Lisa Douglas on Green Since most general stores were not that big, every inch of Graphic Design/Production
Acres, with everything from the staples of life to news, Jill Montague
shelf-lined wall space was filled with inventory, typically laid out
gossip, and unsolicited advice. True to the businesses and Administrative Assistant
in sections. What was not on a shelf could be found on the
store-keepers upon which this iconic character was based, Sam countertops, and in barrels and wooden crates on the floor. Susan French
Drucker sleeps in the back room of the general store and is also Early on, the general store’s inventory focused on the staples but info@journalofantiques.com
the Town’s postmaster, constable, Justice of the Peace,
after the Civil War, America changed, and so did the general
store and its consuming public. You can learn more about the
Superintendent of Schools, and editor, publisher, and 508-347-1960
apparently sole employee of the Hooterville World-Guardian, rise and fall of the 19th century general stores on page 21. Toll free:
the town’s weekly newspaper. He also operates a “bank,” As a collectible category, this one is huge, popular, and can
which is merely a cash box kept under the counter in his store, be very affordable and accessible. In this issue, we look at some 888-698-0734
plays the bass drum in the Hooterville Volunteer Fire Fax: 508-347-0911
of the collectible items most associated with the general store:
coffee grinders, countertop scales, notions, and packaging –
Department Band, and is a fireman with the Hooterville Mailing:
Volunteer Fire Department. from apothecary jars to tin spice boxes, cheese boxes, and P. O. Box 950
sacks. We also look at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
On Little House on the Prairie, a trip to Oleson’s Sturbridge, MA 01566
Mercantile, the only general merchandise store in Walnut E-mail:
in Springdale, AK, housing a collection dedicated to
Grove, was a central experience on the show. Like Sam info@journalofantiques.com
preserving the Mooney-Barker Drugstore Collection, saying,
Drucker, Harriet and Nels Oleson, and their children Nellie “They never threw anything out.”
and Willie lived above the store, which carried everything Competition from department stores, specialty stores, UPS and FedEx
Shipping Address:
from fabric and notions to cookware and anything else Charles catalogs, and traveling salesmen ultimately led to the
46 Hall Road
Ingalls needed that he could not make, build, or grow. Going demise of the local general store as it was, and as we’ve grown Sturbridge, MA 01566
into town and to the general store was an outing enjoyed by up remembering it from our favorite TV shows. The last self-
the whole family as it offered something and more for the SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
proclaimed continuously operating general store in America
entire family. Although these shows stopped airing decades closed its doors in 2012. Sadly, nostalgia alone could not make 12 Monthly Issues: $28. US
ago, both Oleson’s Mercantile and Drucker’s General Store it a sustainable business. Single Issue Rate: $5.
have a fan-based Facebook page in their memory, a lasting info@journalofantiques.com
tribute to the general store legacy. The Journal of
In westward-expanding rural farming and mining Antiques and Collectibles
communities across North America in the 19th century, a is published monthly,
general store helped to turn outposts into fledgling towns. In Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher 12 times per year, by
addition to being a mercantile, the general store often served Weathervane Enterprises, Inc.
as a post office, bank, pharmacy, marketplace, message center, 46 Hall Road
and source for news and gossip. It was the center of life in Sturbridge MA 01566.
Periodicals postage paid at
Sturbridge MA.
Subscribe Today! " POSTMASTER:
3 Options — Send address changes to
Pick the one that is Right For Y ou!
The Journal of Antiques
In Print! and Collectibles
Get our magazine delivered each month right to your door!
Online!
Get our online version with special inserts delivered to your Inbox!
and
Online!
Both In Print ISSN: (1539-5618)
Enjoy our printed version at your leisure and keep our
magazine with you—on your computer , phone, ipad—wherever you are! P.O. Box 950
2 W ays to Subscribe! Sturbridge, MA 01566
Go Online journalofantiques.com/subscribe. The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
to our secure webpage:
Or, simply fill out this form and mail it to: reserves the right to reject any advertising that
P .O. Box 950, Sturbridge, MA 01566
does not comply with our standards. The Journal
Name: Phone: will not be liable for any errors or omissions but
will print a correction in the following issue if
Street Address: Email: notification of such error is sent by the appropriate
deadline. Original manuscripts are welcomed by
City: State: Zip: qualified writers. We assume no responsibility for
Check Enclosed, or MasterCard VISA AMEX Discover loss of unsolicited material.
Please charge my
Card #: Expiration Date: Copyright 2019
Signature: All rights reserved
T ype of Subscription:
(check one)
In Print: 1 Y ear/$282 Y ears/$48 Online: 1 Y ear/$28 2 Y ears/$48
1 Y ear/$40
Both! In Print & Online: 2 Y ears/$60 08/19
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
2
Growing up watching the general store journalofantiques.com
Publisher
F 1930, chances are our only real association with the 19th Town’s more prominent citizens. Our maxine@journalofantiques.com
or those of us who grew up in a city or were born after a community, and its owner, one of the
Maxine Carter-Lome
century general store is what we saw on TV and
contemporary image of a group of locals
experienced at restoration villages such as Colonial
Jeffrey Lome
Williamsburg, Old Sturbridge Village or Old Bethpage Village sitting around a pot-bellied stove in the Maxine Carter-Lome Business Manager
general store playing checkers and
Restoration. I’m a product of the 1960s and 70s sitcoms so shooting the breeze is one based in fact jeffrey@journalofantiques.com
what I knew before putting this issue together was basically portrayed by made-for-TV characters. Managing Editor
what I saw on such TV shows as Little House on the Prairie, In the first half of the19th century, the general store played Judy Gonyeau
Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres. Although each show was an important role in American commerce in what was then editorial@journalofantiques.com
set in a different time period, each made a trip to town and the primarily a credit, barter, and trade economy. The storekeeper Contributing Writer
general store an important fixture of life in their characters’ worked with the farmers in his community to bring their fresh Erica P. Lome
small, rural town, and its shopkeeper, a central character actor. produce and farm-made goods to the nearest city market, Sales Representatives
Who could forget Drucker’s General Store in the fictional using their market value to purchase inventory for his Pat Rainka
community of Hooterville, the “town” central to life on journalofantiques@gmail.com
shop and customers. In this role, the storekeeper was his
Petticoat Junction and Green Acres? The Store’s owner, Sam community’s primary and regular conduit to what was Art Director
Drucker, portrayed on both shows by the late actor Frank Lynn Cotterman
happening in the “big city,” bringing back news, the latest fash-
Cady, was a key character on both sitcoms, providing the girls ions, and the newest products to his more isolated community. ads@journalofantiques.com
on Petticoat Junction, and Oliver and Lisa Douglas on Green Since most general stores were not that big, every inch of Graphic Design/Production
Acres, with everything from the staples of life to news, Jill Montague
shelf-lined wall space was filled with inventory, typically laid out
gossip, and unsolicited advice. True to the businesses and Administrative Assistant
in sections. What was not on a shelf could be found on the
store-keepers upon which this iconic character was based, Sam countertops, and in barrels and wooden crates on the floor. Susan French
Drucker sleeps in the back room of the general store and is also Early on, the general store’s inventory focused on the staples but info@journalofantiques.com
the Town’s postmaster, constable, Justice of the Peace,
after the Civil War, America changed, and so did the general
store and its consuming public. You can learn more about the
Superintendent of Schools, and editor, publisher, and 508-347-1960
apparently sole employee of the Hooterville World-Guardian, rise and fall of the 19th century general stores on page 21. Toll free:
the town’s weekly newspaper. He also operates a “bank,” As a collectible category, this one is huge, popular, and can
which is merely a cash box kept under the counter in his store, be very affordable and accessible. In this issue, we look at some 888-698-0734
plays the bass drum in the Hooterville Volunteer Fire Fax: 508-347-0911
of the collectible items most associated with the general store:
coffee grinders, countertop scales, notions, and packaging –
Department Band, and is a fireman with the Hooterville Mailing:
Volunteer Fire Department. from apothecary jars to tin spice boxes, cheese boxes, and P. O. Box 950
sacks. We also look at the Shiloh Museum of Ozark History
On Little House on the Prairie, a trip to Oleson’s Sturbridge, MA 01566
Mercantile, the only general merchandise store in Walnut E-mail:
in Springdale, AK, housing a collection dedicated to
Grove, was a central experience on the show. Like Sam info@journalofantiques.com
preserving the Mooney-Barker Drugstore Collection, saying,
Drucker, Harriet and Nels Oleson, and their children Nellie “They never threw anything out.”
and Willie lived above the store, which carried everything Competition from department stores, specialty stores, UPS and FedEx
Shipping Address:
from fabric and notions to cookware and anything else Charles catalogs, and traveling salesmen ultimately led to the
46 Hall Road
Ingalls needed that he could not make, build, or grow. Going demise of the local general store as it was, and as we’ve grown Sturbridge, MA 01566
into town and to the general store was an outing enjoyed by up remembering it from our favorite TV shows. The last self-
the whole family as it offered something and more for the SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
proclaimed continuously operating general store in America
entire family. Although these shows stopped airing decades closed its doors in 2012. Sadly, nostalgia alone could not make 12 Monthly Issues: $28. US
ago, both Oleson’s Mercantile and Drucker’s General Store it a sustainable business. Single Issue Rate: $5.
have a fan-based Facebook page in their memory, a lasting info@journalofantiques.com
tribute to the general store legacy. The Journal of
In westward-expanding rural farming and mining Antiques and Collectibles
communities across North America in the 19th century, a is published monthly,
general store helped to turn outposts into fledgling towns. In Maxine Carter-Lome, Publisher 12 times per year, by
addition to being a mercantile, the general store often served Weathervane Enterprises, Inc.
as a post office, bank, pharmacy, marketplace, message center, 46 Hall Road
and source for news and gossip. It was the center of life in Sturbridge MA 01566.
Periodicals postage paid at
Sturbridge MA.
Subscribe Today! " POSTMASTER:
3 Options — Send address changes to
Pick the one that is Right For Y ou!
The Journal of Antiques
In Print! and Collectibles
Get our magazine delivered each month right to your door!
Online!
Get our online version with special inserts delivered to your Inbox!
and
Online!
Both In Print ISSN: (1539-5618)
Enjoy our printed version at your leisure and keep our
magazine with you—on your computer , phone, ipad—wherever you are! P.O. Box 950
2 W ays to Subscribe! Sturbridge, MA 01566
Go Online journalofantiques.com/subscribe. The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
to our secure webpage:
Or, simply fill out this form and mail it to: reserves the right to reject any advertising that
P .O. Box 950, Sturbridge, MA 01566
does not comply with our standards. The Journal
Name: Phone: will not be liable for any errors or omissions but
will print a correction in the following issue if
Street Address: Email: notification of such error is sent by the appropriate
deadline. Original manuscripts are welcomed by
City: State: Zip: qualified writers. We assume no responsibility for
Check Enclosed, or MasterCard VISA AMEX Discover loss of unsolicited material.
Please charge my
Card #: Expiration Date: Copyright 2019
Signature: All rights reserved
T ype of Subscription:
(check one)
In Print: 1 Y ear/$282 Y ears/$48 Online: 1 Y ear/$28 2 Y ears/$48
1 Y ear/$40
Both! In Print & Online: 2 Y ears/$60 08/19
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
2
