My latest crush is on these late 1950s, early 1960s didactic posters by a little Pennsylvania school supplies publisher Hayes Publishing. Their Health, Good Manners and Safety series of posters were made for teachers to put up in the classroom. They have terrific good (but bad) period illustrations and would look so sharp framed in a group. I have several to choose from in the shop and at my booth at the Brooklyn Flea.
The outfits and hairdos are so perfectly square!
The posters below would be great accessories for a retro kitchen.
And, a sweet one for a little girl's bedroom….
If you are into vintage kids decor, these would look just swell with old flash cards or wooden blocks.
But, if you're taste runs to the slightly less cheery, I also have some great black & white prints from the 1930s. This ones a little darker…
These prints are matted and ready to frame- one is funnier than the next and some include very detailed anatomical illustrations of our sexual apparatus…perhaps not for small children?
I have to stick in this little piece of 1950s ephemera- it's a gem. I know it's kind of random, but I find the double entendre hilarious.
One more classroom image to leave you with- a detail from a French school poster L'Hiver in which children are seen frolicking in the snow…in shorts. I'd love to see what Hayes Publishing would have had to say about that.
