1940's Weekend

A few weeks ago the Cincinnati History Museum hosted a 1940's weekend, complete with old cars, 1940's style music and re-enactors in period costume. For those of you who don't know, the Cincinnati History Museum is at the Union Terminal (a miniature of it is picture above), one of the most famous train stations in the U.S. So of course we girls had to go!
Unfortunately, tickets were expensive, so only Jessica and I were able to attend the exhibit and demonstration part of the event, while Mom and Charlotte sat in the lobby and people-watched. :)
Here are some pictures that I snapped during the time we were there, starting out with some miniatures of the Queen City: Cincinnati, OH.





They had an old trolley car, complete with old-fashioned signs for businesses that were around back in the 1940's.

Propaganda posters!

Red Cross nurse uniforms.
We girls actually were able to talk to a lady who was reenacting as a Red Cross nurse, and we learned some pretty interesting local history as well as a piece on the uniforms which I'll share with you here.

After a certain period of time in WWII, the Red Cross stopped supplying uniforms to volunteers. So new volunteers had to come up with their own. That's why you see some 1940's McCall and Simplicity patterns advertised as being suitable to be made up as a Red Cross uniform. For those ladies who didn't sew, they had the option of heading down to the nearest uniform supplier and picking out a dress in the appropriate color, and then sewing on the red cross patch. Pretty interesting, huh?

Perhaps a good idea then, but it's still propaganda, you know. :P

V for Victory! And that means V-day!


It was pretty neat to see this old coke machine. So different, and much more classy, compared to the clunky plastic vending machines of today. Don't you wish you could live "back in the day" sometimes?

They also had mannequins dressed up and posed in action in scenes such as the one above, of a lady sewing a parachute.

One of the demonstrations that we girls really wanted to see was the 1940's hair and makeup demonstration. Alas, we lost track of time, so we only made it for the very last bit, but we still learned some new facts about beauty in the 1940's. Did you know that not only would they wear red nail-polish during the war, but also blue, green and yellow (you can see the shades on the table on the left hand side in the picture above)? I must say, I was shocked!

The last room Jessica and I went into before we headed off for the day was the one above, where they had several vintage bicycles displayed. There was a folding bike (you can just see it on the left hand side), an early 1900's "giant wheel" (not the proper term, but oh well) model, and a gorgeous Schwinn, with a wasp like main body. There was also a demonstration going on for how they made the sound effects in old radio shows. Did you know that in order to achieve a bicycle sound, they would use one of those old fashioned hand crank whisks? It sounded exactly like the whirring wheels of the contraptions shown above.

Have you ever been to a 1940's weekend?

Was it big? or small like the Cincy Museum's?

Oh, and if you all want to experience a piece of the 1940's for yourself, check out Remembering WWII: Living History, Education & Honor. This free event will be taking place down in Linden, TN, on September 27th, this month! We girls are going to be there, enjoying the sights and sounds of the crazy era that was the 1940's. Why not take a look yourself?

Blessings,

Brigid

the Middle Sister and Singer