Jeep History at Camp Holabird

In 1918, the U.S. Army created Camp Holabird in Baltimore, Maryland and in 1940, it was the site where a prototype four wheel drive reconnaissance vehicle – what later became the Jeep – was tested. The facility was shut down in 1973 and later turned into an industrial park.

As Legend magazine shows, Remnants of the part Camp Holabird played in the development of the famous Jeep still survive today. An earlier visit to Holabird in 2009 is at On the Trail of Jeep History, Part 3.

An early Jeep (Bantam BRC-40), probably at Holabird (H.Q.D – Holabird Quartermaster Depot. Source: Military Vehicle Photos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons/www.olive-drab.com

Christmas Party at Herman Miller

Save the date and get in the Christmas spirit with these vintage designs created by the Herman Miller Company for their 1978 Employee Christmas Party.

Fa la la
Design: Linda Powell. Source: West Michigan Graphic Design Archives
Ho Ho Ho
Design: Linda Powell. Source: West Michigan Graphic Design Archives
Smack
Smack? Yeah, like under the mistletoe. Design: Linda Powell. Source: West Michigan Graphic Design Archives

Featured image: Jingle Christmas Party Poster, Linda Powell, Herman Miller, Inc. Source: Western Michigan Graphic Design Archives

Libbey Golden Foliage

Remember the Silver Foliage glassware by Libbey? Well here’s the more popular Golden Foliage in a less common shape: the sugar and creamer set with a metal caddy, and the 16 oz. hostess pitcher with a removable handle. Found, unexpectedly, at a freecycle event.

Handle off.
What else are you gonna use a sugar cube for?
Both items shown here in the 1962 Libbey catalog.

1930s Soviet Propaganda Porcelain

This Soviet-era porcelain vase commemorating the North Pole -1 expedition is pretty accurate: four men and a dog named Vesely were dropped off on a drifting ice floe about 12 miles from the North Pole in May, 1937. By the time they were picked up (at great cost) off of Greenland in February, 1938, the ice floe had shrunk considerably in size.

Propaganda porcelain first started to be produced following the Soviet nationalisation of the Imperial Porcelain Factory in 1918. The factory storage was filled with uncoloured plates, vases, and tea sets, which were all used as the bases for a novel form of Soviet propaganda. 

Soviet Colonial Porcelain: How Plates, Vases and Tea-Sets Support the Conquest of Land by Sasha Setsakova

The Science of the North Pole Drifting Stations