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Beth C-H
Retired Special Collections librarian with a wicked cool ruler collection
Recent Activity
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This linen postcard arrived yesterday, and while I love the design, and while the card fits right into my Collection Policy, it just feels like something is missing: Made of paper? yes Ruler image? yes Ad for Ostrich and Alligator Farm? yes, Casper's, in St. Augustine, Florida Where's the part... Continue reading
Posted Feb 16, 2025 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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Purchase (etsy) -- "PearlVintageGoods" = Penny Zimmerman-Wills, Illinois -- received February 2014 Continue reading
Posted Feb 14, 2025 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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Not with this device. Over the past six months I've been collecting diabetes-related ephemera to donate to a fund-raising auction later this year, and yesterday I received in the email an ebay purchase: a small book with a comb binding, titled "Your Diabetes and How to Live with It," by... Continue reading
Posted Feb 2, 2025 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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Many of the things in my ruler collection aren't actually rulers; they are other objects, in many formats, that have a ruler theme. Here's a good example: earlier this month I bought a custom order from an etsy seller, who sold me four sets of these beautiful school-themed bookmarks, which... Continue reading
Posted Dec 29, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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This makes me feel old. After buying this blotter with a ruler on it (the whole reason I bought it), I did some research about Butter-Nut Bread, and found lots of newspaper articles and web sites that discuss the Butternut jingle: "Tut, tut, nothing but, Butternut Bread!" Not anything I... Continue reading
Posted Dec 28, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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Not an actual ruler, but it fits the Collection Policy just fine: made of paper, and has a ruler theme or image. Barbara Robinson's book My Brother Louis Measures Worms (HarperTrophy, 2005) is pretty funny, too. Purchase (ebay) -- Collectibles Books and Music LLC, Reno, NV -- received 2 December... Continue reading
Posted Dec 3, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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Last week, when I bought this ruler blotter on Ebay, I didn't realize that I already had eight other Kali-sten-iks shoes blotters in the collection. Seven! So now I have nine, and each one is different. The blotters were printed with a blank space for the individual business to print... Continue reading
Posted Dec 1, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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This new addition came to the collection thanks to the observant eyes of ephemera dealer (and postcards, trade cards, postal history, etc.) Jose Rodriguez of Cartophilians / Rodriguez Archives LLC, in Cheshire, Connecticut. He can spot a measuring instrument from a mile away. (Just like I can.) At the far... Continue reading
Posted Nov 27, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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This trade card was available to businesses who needed to promote their offerings by printing their contact information on the back, and my collection has many from the same printer (Farmer, Livermore & Co., Providence, Rhode Island). The back promotes Geo. H. Richard's Men's and Boy's One Price Clothing House,... Continue reading
Posted Nov 22, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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This new accession is so full of jokes it's not funny. No, wait, it is wicked funny! Before I revised my collection policy to "paper only," my ruler collection had almost 40 different fish-measure examples, both legitimate fishing tools and fish-measurement jokes. Apparently, people who catch fish like to exaggerate... Continue reading
Posted Nov 22, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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These two beautiful new greeting cards arrived from Sutton, UK, in October, the work of etsy sellers Cyril Paris and Giorgia Grassini (business name Parisinni). Their illustrations (ink/pen) and printmaking found a perfect home in my ruler collection. In the images, one card is scanned with its envelope, the other... Continue reading
Posted Nov 7, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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You'll have to guess who I voted for. (Hint: her birthday was October 20th.) Harris-Walz images: Purchase (etsy) -- Design8Billion -- received 20 October 2024 Ruler template: Purchase (etsy) -- Jessica Laurie, JLaurieStudio Continue reading
Posted Nov 5, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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This new accession is an advertising postcard from a shoe company in Des Moines, Iowa. W.L. Shoe Co. (hook= "The Sleepless Shoemen") went in an out of business from the 1890s until it was bought out in 1929 by the Field Shoe Co. This advertising postcard features a monthly calendar... Continue reading
Posted Nov 5, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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She's got my vote. Cat image: Purchase (etsy) - Design8Billion - received 20 October 2024 Opinions expressed are my own. Continue reading
Posted Oct 20, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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My hands are pretty much always cold. But not today. Right now we're watching Joe Biden and Kamala Harris speaking to union leaders in Pittsburgh, PA, and I'm inspired. When I tested the stress monitor a minute ago it showed bright green. (CALM!) Happy Labor Day to all. Purchase (ebay)... Continue reading
Posted Sep 2, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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Not the first time I've shown this custom-made left-handed ruler, but definitely my favorite in this category, so I want to share it again. It was a gift from the former Curator of the Harvard Theatre Collection, Fredric Woodbridge Wilson, when I left my job there after six years (1999-2005).... Continue reading
Posted Aug 13, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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And I don't usually like "cute" stuff. I'll have to let the folks at the Zollstockmuseum in Germany know about this card! (Description in English: https://www.brandenburg-tourism.com/poi/dahme-seenland/museums/folding-rulers-museum/ ) Purchase (etsy) -- "winterfolly" = Mary M. Byrkit, Dexter, MI -- received 30 July 2024 Continue reading
Posted Jul 30, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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This may well be the coolest new addition to my ruler collection in a really long time. It's an advertising postcard issued by Livermoore & Knight in 1898, and while at first it looks "ordinary," it's not, at all. This postcard, complete with a mailing address, two stamps and two... Continue reading
Posted Jul 5, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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Another blotter with a great variety of fonts, and lots of information crammed into a small space. (I do love the "ombre*-style" background coloring.) "This one is a promotion for Eclipse brand lawn movers, available for sale at Hoornbeck Bros. in Napanoch, New York. *From Wikipedia: Ombré / ˈɒmbreɪ /... Continue reading
Posted Jun 29, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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This blotter checks all three and is just perfect for my collection. (There are actually three rulers pictured on the blotter...) Purchase (ebay) -- "dmephemera" = Dean f. Canter, Sharpesville, PA -- received 17 May 2024 Continue reading
Posted Jun 27, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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I love a good ruler joke, especially when paired with a blotter joke, and you can't get a much better one than this description for an ink blotter that has a ruler along one edge! This one is an advertising piece by the Rialto Theatre in Westfield [NJ], for the... Continue reading
Posted Jun 27, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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These two rulers were published by The Diversity Store, in South Riding, VA. I think I need to ask them to add the word "ruler" to the descriptions of the relevant bookmarks, because a search for the word "ruler" produces nothing (nothing!), but plenty of the bookmarks they have for... Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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This ad is from 1951, clipped from an unknown magazine. The big question is where to file it: in the fish-measure section, or the peter-meter section. Purchase (ebay) -- "lelandcollectibles" = Eclectic Collection, Sherwood, OR -- received 28 May 2024 Continue reading
Posted Jun 26, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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Now let's get rid of that creepy little leprechaun icon. I hate that thing. Continue reading
Posted Jun 18, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection
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Sort of like those S&H Green Stamps from our childhoods: I bought this beautiful pre-1893 trade card because of its design and the illustration, but found the whole message about premiums even more fascinating than the tape measure image.. There's hardly any information about the "Shred Cocoanut" itself. Now I'll... Continue reading
Posted Jun 16, 2024 at Beth's Ruler Collection