For this weeks blogpost I decided to return to the BC Historic Newspapers collection in order to find something from the past to write on. In my opinion, the most interesting part of the newspaper is Classified ads where people place advertisements for all the goods and services they are looking to buy, sell, and trade. I selected the Aldergrove Star newspaper to look through for this post because it had a classifieds section in every newspaper, and several decades of printings during late 20th century are available on Open Collections. Found below are some of the most intriguing ads that I’ve found. As always, there is a bit of additional commentary with each advertisement.
There were a lot of missing animals in the lost and found section, but the strangest of them was a whole entire heifer. She should have been easy to find as cattle aren’t particularly good at hiding.
At some point, someone decided to take upon themselves the title “The MANURE KING.” That was a very bold choice for them to make.
Are these party supplies for birthdays? Weddings? Retirements? Who had spare party supplies and supposed that someone else would like to pay to use them?
The Arena vote must have been very divisive if it was tearing relationships apart.
Free dog with purchase of go-cart. Don’t mind the typo.
PLUMBING? PLUMBING!
Are three Chinchillas an ideal Christmas gift? They also come with their own home at no additional cost.
There isn’t anything particularly strange or humorous about this classified ad, but I am surprised that changing your name resulted in a public notice in a newspaper. I hope Annie enjoyed the new name!
These people were truly ahead of their time. While many people today shop through websites or apps like Amazon and Doordash, it is considered a modern luxury. But shopping delivery services were also available through the classifieds in ’79!
This was one of the most peculiar of job advertisements. How many people have the skills to both lighthouse keep and baby sit?
Why did someone need a watchman for only three nights? What could they have been doing? This reads like the introduction to a mystery novel.
The advertiser should have made this open to women too. But you really don’t see opportunities like this anymore.
There were a lot of personal ads that were essentially Ye Olde Tinder profiles, and this one was the most quintessential among them.
This advertisement made me realize how much I take modern free document creation software for granted.
The Langley Senior Ukulele Ensemble lacked funding and they decided to address it with a Giant Garage sale.
Thank you for reading!
Stores were legally obligated to close on Sundays. This must of made weekly planning for groceries and errands much more difficult.
