The Lake Madison Chautauqua programs contain many advertisements about
services and goods of the day. Through these advertisements we begin to
understand what were important necessities of the day, and perhaps what were a
luxury.
Have students sort the advertisements from the 1907 Lake Madison Chautauqua
program into two piles, those that are for goods and those that were for
services. Further sort the piles into those that were necessary, such as
food, and those that were non-essential.
Advertisements from the 1907 Lake Madison Chautauqua
program
Carefully read the advertisements and answer the following
questions:
- Where could you go to buy a ladies shirtwaist and kid gloves?
- Where could you buy men's clothes?
- Who is the dentist?
- What store has hand painted china?
- What is the name of the lady who makes women's hats?
- What is the slogan for Jack's Restaurant?
- Who carries 'snappy up-to-date' shoes?
- Where would you go to buy aspirin? (yes, you could buy it as aspirin had
been available since 1897) and eye glasses?
- How does the Madison State Bank recommend you save $120?
- What brand of ice cream does C. W. Winther make?
Answers
Additional Activities
- Compare the ads of 1907 with those in the local newspaper of today.
Use a Venn
diagram.
- Have students develop a service or goods that they would like to include
in the Chautauqua program. Use either a word processor or a publishing
program to create their ad.