Prof. Hamilton's Diary: April 11, 1935
He picks up his mother-in-law at the bus station; cigarette companies seduce women
As it was the first full day of vacation, Professor Hamilton slept late today, then did some work at the house. He caught the street car downtown, meeting Margaret’s mother, who he calls “Mother Gatchel,” at the bus station. They took the streetcar back to his house. “Talked and had tea, etc. in a.m.,” he wrote.
In the afternoon, he made arrangements at a hotel for the honor society banquet he was organizing.
Among the major changes in women’s social behavior during the 1920s was drinking in bars and smoking in public. It’s been so long since cigarette ads in print media were legal — the ban began in 1989 — that it seems quite shocking to see large Lucky Strike ads like this one almost daily in the Reading Times of 1935. Paid subscribers can read on about this social phenomenon and its sad consequences.
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